Vernal: A Spring Photo Project (Day 71 through Day 80)

Here come more photographs from my spring photography project.  To see the previous set of photos click this link.

Day 71 (29 May 2019) - Green Frog 

This image of a male green frog (Lithobates clamitans) was taken in Mt. Pleasant at Chipp-A-Waters Park.  Earlier in the spring I shared a photograph of an American toad taken in the same pond - both species breed in this pond, but at different times.  The fact that this is a male frog can be determined by the size of its tympanum (the circle behind its eye).  Female green frogs will have a tympanum the same size as their eye while the tympanum of a male frog is larger than the eye.  These frogs are often heard before they are seen as they announce their presence with a loud PLUNK! sounding like someone plucking a single out-of-tune guitar string.  This photograph has been cropped to a widescreen (16:9) format to eliminate some distracting elements at the top of the image.

Day 72 (30 May 2019) - Wild Geranium 

I selected this image of wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) because of color.  I like how the pink of the flowers contrasts with the varying shades of green from the geranium itself and surrounding plants.  This photograph was taken at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Sylvan Solace Preserve.  Wild Geranium has long been one of my favorite wildflowers to photograph.

Day 73 (31 May 2019) - Mayapple 

This photograph was taken at Mill Pond Park in Mt. Pleasant.  Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) produces a single large while flower beneath as pair of large umbrella-like leaves.  From above its almost impossible to see the flowers, but from below...  This image was taken by holding the camera at ground level and using the moveable digital viewer to compose the image.

Day 74 (01 June 2019) - White-tailed Fawn 

June 1st was National Trails Day.  I was scheduled to lead hikes at four CWC preserves, but the weather was horrible almost the entire day.  We dodged thunderstorms and rain all morning with even heavier rain due early afternoon.   Everyone bailed on the hike scheduled for 1:00 except me and Shara.  Despite the rain we went for a short hike at Hall's Lake Natural Area.  I kept my camera tucked inside my raincoat for most of the hike, but I did bring it out when we spotted this white-tailed deer fawn.  Despite the rain, the hike was worth it for this picture.

Day 75 (02 June 2019) - Portrait of an Iris

In the last set of photographs I shared an image of a Siberian iris photographed in our home flower garden.  This iris image comes from our gardens too, but this is a bearded iris.  I deliberately shot this image to focus on the iris' beard.

Day 76 (03 June 2019) - Monarch Egg 

On June 3rd I decided to stop at Forest Hill Nature Area on the way home.  Large parts of the property were mowed down last fall and then (apparently) sprayed with herbicide this spring.  I can only assume the intent is to replant these areas with native seed sometime this year.  Right now walking through these areas is rather depressing.

However, I did notice that the herbicide did not kill all of the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).  On a whim I decided to search the milkweed plants for a monarch butterfly egg.  I found this one on the second plant I searched.  This image has been cropped down to about 30% of the original size and has been the brightness of the image has been adjusted.


Day 77 (04 June 2019) - Impressions of grass @ icd office

The photograph for Day 77 was taken at the Isabella Conservation District Office.  The wind was constantly creating waves in the grassy field behind the office.  I decided to work with the wind and create an Impressionist photograph of the scene.  The image above was shot at 1/6 second at f/32 to capture the blur of the grass as the wind moved it around.  This image reminds me a bit of some of the landscapes in Frederick Remington's later paintings that were heavily influenced by Impressionism.  Of this set of ten photographs, this is my favorite image.

Day 78 (05 June 2019) - Dead Man's Fingers

A trip to Mission Creek Woodland Park yielded this photograph of the appropriately-named Dead Man's Fingers fungus poking out of the ground.  I like this image more for the subject than I do for the composition.

Day 79 (06 June 2019) - Common Whitetail

I love photographing dragonflies... when they will sit still for more than a few seconds. 

This female common whitetail (Plathemis lydia) perched on a blade of grass a few inches off the ground at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant.  She sat still as I approached to within about 4 feet and stayed there long enough for me to snap several dozen photos from more than one angle.  This picture has been cropped from a horizontal to a vertical image.

Day 80 (07 June 2019) - Raindrops on Spiderwort leaf @ Saginaw Chippewa academy 

The final image of this set was taken at 7:30 in the morning at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy's native pollinator garden.  The garden has reached its early summer glory with hordes of coreopsis, penstemon, Canada anemone, and spiderwort bursting into bloom.  On this morning the star of the show as not the flowers but rather the thousands of water droplets left by an overnight rain shower.  My favorite image of the day was of this single large droplet poised on the end of a spiderwort leaf.  A couple of smaller drops sit further back along the leaf and droplets in the background refract circular globes of light.  If you look closely at the central water drop you can see an inverted image of the background plants and sky.

Nothing significant

Tree Swallow nestling

Continuing with the theme of baby animals...

Yesterday after work, we stopped to check on the nesting boxes at the Ziibiwing Center.  We only looked into three of the seven boxes.  In two cases the female bird was sitting on the nest when we opened the box - we quickly closed those boxes back up to avoid disturbing them further.

In the third box, this is what we found...

This Tree Swallow nestling was no more than a few hours old.  The rest of the eggs should be hatching within a day or two.

Bluebird and Swallow eggs

Yesterday (24 May), we stopped after work to check on the nesting boxes at the Ziibiwing Center.  Out of seven boxes, we found five active nests - one Eastern Bluebird (Sialis sialis) nest and four Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) nests.  The remaining two boxes showed evidence of House Sparrows and were cleaned out.

Here are photos of four of the active nests; the fifth nest had a swallow in the box and we didn't open it.

First up is the Bluebird nest.  This box was also used by a pair of Bluebirds in 2016 - last year they successfully raised five young.  The colder weather this spring has delayed nesting for many birds.  At this point last year, the Bluebird chicks were a week old.  As of yesterday they were still eggs.

Eastern Bluebird eggs (photo by Shara LeValley)

Next is a picture of a Tree Swallow nest.  You'll notice the difference in nests right away.  Bluebirds construct their nests of fine grasses.  So do Tree Swallows, but then they line their nests with feathers.
This nest got a late start - the bird have only laid one egg so far.

Tree Swallow nest and egg (photo by Shara LeValley)

The final two active nest both contained six Tree Swallow eggs.

Tree Swallow eggs (photo by Shara LeValley)

Another Tree Swallow nest (photo by Shara LeValley)

We'll check on the boxes again next week - hopefully there will be baby birds to show.

More Photos from the RAM Center at North Higgins Lake State Park

Yesterday was the first full day of 2016, Michigan DNR Academy of Natural Resources.  I had a little bit of time before and after class sessions to explore and photograph the area around the RAM Center.  A few of the photographs have been labeled, but not all of them.

Deer remains among conifer trees

Backlit spider web

Snail eggs on a decaying log

Daddy-long-legs (not a spider) camouflaged against pine bark

Birch Bark curls

Shelf fungus on a birch log

Daddy-long-legs on birch

Ripples in Higgins Lake

First Monarch and eggs of 2016

A bonus post today.

I went out in the field behind the office to check on the growth of milkweed plants.  To my surprise, a Monarch Butterfly (Danaus Plexippus) popped up from behind a clump of grapevines.  I ran across the field to follow it.  When it finally landed on a Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), I could see that it was a female.  Of course, I was violating the First Rule of Photography (TAKE YOUR CAMERA WITH YOU.) so I didn't get any pictures of her.

After she took off, I saw that she had laid two eggs on the plant.  After getting my camera, I photographed them and then found a third egg in the area where I originally spotted the Monarch.

A pair of Monarch eggs on a Common Milkweed plant (26 May 2016)

TAKE YOUR CAMERA WITH YOU!

On the Bluebird Trail

Yesterday afternoon, Shara and I stopped at the Ziibiwing Center to check on the nest boxes along their new Bluebird Trail.  Most of the boxes are unoccupied - it is not unusual for birds to take a while to discover and use new nesting boxes.

However, one of the boxes contained a full clutch of five Eastern Bluebird eggs.

Eastern Bluebird nests are made entirely of grasses - photo by Shara LeValley

Eastern Bluebird eggs - photo by Shara LeValley

There were several pairs of Tree Swallows flying around the nest boxes.  Now that the weather has finally begun to warm up, I expect that they will also begin too nest soon.

Don't forget to come by the Ziibiwing Center this Saturday (May 14th) for the annual Bird Day Celebration.

A Frog and a Blackbird Egg

Yesterday I spent the morning at Mill Pond Park with 4th grade students from Ganiard Elementary.  Recently, I had visited their classrooms to give a presentation on wetland habitats - the field trip was an extension of that presentation.  During their field trip, the students spent most of their time searching for and identifying aquatic macroinvertebrates. 

Macroinvertebrates were not the only animals that were observed.  Students also noted muskrat lodges, sunning turtles, Canada Geese, and Red-winged Blackbirds.  Several very observant students discovered a few surprises like this well-camouflaged Green Frog.

Green Frog at Mill Pond Park.

Staring contest

Even more well-hidden was a Red-Winged Blackbird nest, nestled in among the cattails.

Red-winged Blackbird nest among cattails

Tucked down in the bottom of the nest was a single pale blue egg, mottled with dark spots.

Red-winged Blackbird egg

An Un-EGGS-pected Find

On Wednesday (28 May 2014) I conducted a program on Woodland Ecology for a class of sixth grade students from Mt. Pleasant.  We took a tour through Chipp-A-Waters Park looking at invasive species like Dame's Rocket and Garlic Mustard, examining trees killed by Emerald Ash Borer, talking about the role of mosquitoes in the environment, looking at how the Chippewa River has changed its course over time, and examining native plants.

About five minutes after the students left to return to school I made a surprising discovery.  While photographing a Feathery False Solomon's Seal flower (#84 on the 2014 list),  I looked down by my feet and saw this:

A hidden nest

It appears to be a Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) nest.  Female turkey lay their eggs directly on the ground, scraping away leaves and other debris to form a shallow depression.

This nest held a total of eight eggs.  I moved away the leaves that were lightly covering the eggs to take a few photos and re-covered them when I was done.

Wild Turkey eggs

I have seen Wild Turkeys in Mt. Pleasant numerous times, both adults and poults (young turkeys), but this is the first time that I have ever found a nest.  I hope that it survives and the young have the opportunity to grow to adulthood.

A Wild Turkey hen - photographed at Chipp-A-Waters Park in 2009