Vernal: A Spring Photo Project (Day 51 through Day 60)

I've fallen way behind on sharing the images from my spring photography project.  Here are my photos from Day 51 (09 May) through Day 60 (18 May).  If you haven't been following along, my goal is to photograph something outdoors in nature every single day this spring.

Day 51 (09 May 2019) - Tulips

I love tulips.  They are the only non-native flower that I regularly add to our home garden.  Last fall we planted nearly three hundred tulip bulbs all red, orange, and yellow.  I love the pop of color that they add to spring.

Day 52 (10 May 2019) - Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a birder.  I do not chase birds, but this spring the birds seemed to find me everywhere I went.  This blue-gray gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) was photographed at Mission Creek Woodland Park as it foraged on low branches of an eastern hemlock tree.  A second after I captured this image the bird flew off.

Day 53 (11 May 2019) - World Migratory Bird Celebration

So this photograph was taken indoors.  It's the only image of this entire photography project to be taken inside a building.  (I also took one indoor image during my Summer 2018 photography project.)  This picture shows my friend Rebecca Lessard with Pearl the red-tailed hawk at the World Migratory Bird Day Celebration at the Ziibiwing Center in Mt. Pleasant.  Rebecca is the founder and executive director of Wings of Wonder, a raptor rehabilitation center located near Empire, MI.  She has been the presenter at the Ziibiwing Center WMB Celebration several times.  I think this is the best image that I have ever taken of Rebecca - she is a blur of motion when presenting and it's almost impossible to photograph her well in low light.

Day 54 (12 May 2019) - Jack-in-the-pulpit

Forest Hill Natura Area is not particularly rich in spring woodland wildflowers, but I did manage to find several jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) plants in the South Woods.  I love all the shades of green in this image.  This photo was taken right at ground level using the LCD live viewer to compose the shot - I like this feature as it means I no longer have to lay on the ground to shoot images from this angle.

Day 55 (13 May 2019) - Northern Parula Warbler

Another bird that found me.  This male Northern Parula (Setophaga americana) landed on a branch right at eye level during a walk through Mill Pond Park.  Normally these birds are found high in the canopy, but they will be found lower in the forest during migration.  Although as I said before, I am not a birder, it's hard not to admire a bird as beautiful as this one.

Day 56 (14 May 2019) - Large-flowered Trillium

The Chippewa Watershed Conservancy has recently been gifted a new property along the Chippewa River east of Mt. Pleasant.  This property consists of three acres of riverbank and will eventually be developed as a preserve with a canoe landing.  On May 14th a small group visited the property to conduct a biological survey.  I identified approximately forty species of herbaceous plants including this large-flowered trillium (Trillium grandiflorum).  This image has be deliberately underexposed so that the highlight didn't completely wash out.  I like that you can see all the little grains of pollen both on the stamens and on the white petals surrounding the stamens.

Day 57 (15 May 2019) - Waxing Gibbous Moon

I have really grown to enjoy photographing the moon.  Fortunately, the sky in Alma is dark enough that I can do it right from my driveway any time the notion strikes me.  I recently purchased a new (better) tripod head that holds long lenses in place much better than what I was previously using, making this kind of photography easier.  This image of a waxing gibbous moon has been cropped to a 16:9 widescreen format for no other reason than I like how it looks.

Day 58 (16 May 2019) - Common Blue Violet

Another image photographed at home.  Common blue violets (Viola sororia) are slowly trying to take over both as a groundcover is our flower gardens and as the dominant plant in parts of our lawn.  The seeds of this flower are eagerly collected by ants.  The ants eat a fleshy coating known as an eliasome and discard the seeds in their garbage middens where they sprout easily.  I like the details such as the hairs of the flower's beard and the dark veins on the petals.

Day 59 (17 May 2019) - Environmental Education Day

For each of the past ten years the Isabella Conservation District has hosted an environmental education day for third grade classrooms in the county.  This year over 550 students and 100 adults attended.  One of the many highlights is a live display of Michigan reptiles and amphibians.  I love how the students in this image are interacting calmly and with curiosity toward an eastern garter snake.

Day 60 (18 May 2019) - Bleeding Hearts

Another photograph from our home flower gardens.  While tulips are my favorite garden flower, Shara loves bleeding hearts.  She is still upset about the bleeding heart plants that we left behind when we moved more than eight years ago.  (I will admit that the bleeding hearts that we planted in Alma have not yet grown to the magnificence of the plants that we left behind.)  One of the first photographs that I ever took with my first digital SLR camera was of a bleeding heart flower in that garden.  I cropped this image to a 16:9 widescreen format to focus solely on the flowers and remove some of the distracting foliage of other plants.

A long way from the tundra

I spent Friday and Saturday (24 & 25 March) at the Michigan Science Teachers Association (MSTA) annual conference in Novi, MI.  On Friday I presented two programs titled "Michigan Mammals" and "Michigan Trees".  On Saturday I spent several hours manning a booth for the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE).

Yesterday (26 March) I decided to drive into Mt. Pleasant to drop off the materials that I had taken to Novi to use in my presentations.  On the way to Mt. Pleasant I noticed a flock of large birds flying over the road and landing in a field of corn stubble.  I was expecting Canada Geese (Branta canadensis); it is common to find them in fields, feeding on waste corn.

I was not expecting to see Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus).

I was especially not expecting to see hundreds of Tundra Swans!

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me - violating the First Rule of Photography.  I though for a minute about returning home, but decided to continue on to Mt. Pleasant.  When I returned home, about an hour later, there were even more swans in the field.   I rushed home to retrieve my camera and drove back to the site.

I parked along the side of the road and began to photograph from inside my truck.  Small flocks continued to arrive while I sat there.

By the time I left, there were approximately four to five hundred swans on the ground, feeding on corn and posturing to impress mates or intimidate rivals.  I made this estimate by counting the number of swans in a section of the field and multiplying that by the approximate length of entire flock.  Most of the swans had the pure white plumage of adults, but some still had the grey tint of immature birds (especially on the neck and head).  In addition to the swans, there were also approximately one hundred Canada Geese in the field.

 

Usually I only see flocks this size at the Maple River State Game Area near US-127.  Usually they are far out in the water away from the highway, with no way to see them up close.

When I drove by the field again this morning all of the swans were gone - but we did see a few in another field closer to Mt. Pleasant.  It was really exciting to have the opportunity to see and photograph these birds. 

UPDATE:  Right now (27 MAR at 9:00 AM) there is a flock (approximately 100 swans) in the field west of the Soaring Eagle Casino. 

A Change in Seasons

An early morning Red-winged Blackbird (11 March 2016)

 
The calendar may say that Spring does not begin for another 9 days, but the Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) beg to differ.  On Saturday (05 March) I began to hear them in the Lansing area.  By Wednesday (09 March) they were everywhere in Mid-Michigan.  To be more exact, male Red-winged Blackbirds are everywhere.  They are busy trying to impress each other and jockeying for territory.  It may take a couple of weeks to sort out which bird ends up with the best places in the landscape.  In the meantime, the females should find their way north to Mid-Michigan.  They will then set about choosing their own territories (within those of a male).  A dominant male bird may have several females living in his territory and will mate with each of them.  The females select a mate based on territory - a male with a good territory will more likely have good genes to pass on to his offspring.  So it doesn't bother them that their mate may have other mates. 

Monarch Migration

We spent this past weekend near Manistee, MI.  Manistee is located about thirds of the way up the eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan.  Like all of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan is a major obstacle for migrating Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus).  When they hit a large obstacle such as this, they tend to fly along it rather than attempting to cross over its width.

Monarch circling back into the trees at Lake Bluff Audubon Sanctuary, Manistee, MI (26 SEP 2015)

Over the course of the weekend, we frequently saw Monarchs flying southward along the shoreline of the lake.  On Saturday night while watching the sunset we counted approximately 20 Monarchs fly past us over a 30 minute period. 

Monarch heading south along Lake Michigan at Lake Bluff Audubon Sanctuary, Manistee, MI (26 SEP 2015)

The peak migration period for Monarchs in Michigan is probably over, but there is still a steady stream of them heading south out of the state.  I managed to get three photos of Monarchs as they passed by our position.

Monarch migrating south at sunset - Lake Bluff Audubon Sanctuary, Manistee, MI (26 SEP 2015)