The goal of this project is to get outdoors every single day and document what is happening throughout the entire season. Some days I take hundreds of photographs and on other days I may take less than a dozen. Regardless of how many images I take each day, they have been pared down to a single photo to represent each day.
Enjoy the most recent set of images!
Day 21 (09 April 2019) - Oh, Canada!
This photograph was taken at Forest Hill Nature Area. A pair of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) are nesting atop a muskrat lodge on the north side of the property. Sometimes they will sit silently as you pass by, but other times they make a big ruckus (as seen in this picture). I like how this image captures the gander (the male goose) in mid "Honk". This photo has been cropped from a horizontal to a vertical format. I think the simplicity makes it a stronger image.
Day 22 (10 April 2019) - Ramping up to spring...
One of the earliest plants in the local woods is the Wild Leek (Alium tricoccum). Also known as "ramps" the leaves of this species emerge from the forest floor before most of the other wildflowers, but it won't flower until summer. By that point the leaves will have all dried up for the year. Considered by many a choice wild edible, over-harvesting has reduced the population of this plant in many areas. I photographed these plants at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant - please not that harvesting is not allowed in any park in Mt. Pleasant.
Day 23 (11 April 2019) - Bloodroot Leaves
We have a small patch of Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) in our native pollinator garden. The plants here often emerge a week or more before the same species in Mt. Pleasant. Our Bloodroot is already blooming and I have yet to find a single plant in Mt. Pleasant.
Day 24 (12 April 2019) - Birch Grove
This photo has taken late in the day at Forest Hill Nature Area. I like the minimalist look of the bare trunks of birch against the darker trees in the forest behind. Although this photo could just as well represent late fall, it was my favorite image of the day so it became part of this collection.
Day 25 (13 April 2019) - Brown-headed Cowbirds
April 25th found me back at Forest Hill for the third time in five days. My favorite picture of the day was this trio of Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) perched on a grape vine covered thicket of dogwood. The top bird and the bird to the right are both females; the male is on the left. I tried several different crops of this image to remove the twig on the right, but ultimately decided that the original looked best. I like the repetition of the birds' forms and the warm tones created by the afternoon light.
Day 26 (14 April 2019) - White-throated Sparrow and a Brief Return to Winter
Winter gave us one last blast on April 14th. We only received about two inches of snow in Alma, but areas north and west of Mt. Pleasant ended up with six to nine inches! I hadn't filled the birdfeeders in a couple of weeks, but the snow brought the birds back, including this White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). I photographed this bird perched on a gate in our back yard. If you look closely you can see snow falling in the background.
Day 27 (15 April 2019) - Wood Duck Pair
I photographed this pair of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant. This is one of three pairs that I saw in the oxbow pond at the back of the park. This was the only pair that I was able to get a photograph of. The colorful male is on the left and the more drab female on the right. This image has been cropped to a widescreen (16:9) format.
Day 28 (16 April 2019) - Skunk Cabbage
I have frequently said on this blog that Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is my favorite wildflower. I can't resist photographing it each and every spring, especially once its leaves begin to emerge. I think my eyes just crave green after a long winter lacking the color. I love how the color "pops" against the rich browns of last autumn's leaves. This photo was taken at Mission Creek Woodland Park during a light rain. This might be my favorite weather to photograph in, the rain and even light just enhances the colors of everything in the woods.
Day 29 (17 April 2019) - Dutchman's Breeches Buds
This image was taken at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant. I couldn't find a single wildflower in bloom last week, but these Duchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) are almost there. When these flowers are mature, they will look like little pairs of pantaloons pinned up by their ankles to dry. There is a large patch of these flowers at Chipp-A-Waters Park - follow the trail to toward the back of the park and look for an interpretive sign highlighting wildflowers. The plants are right there near the sign along with close to a dozen other species of spring ephemerals.
Day 30 (18 April 2019) - Nesting Dove
The final photo in the set was taken from our front porch. Every year we have an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) nest on one of our roof brackets. Every year we have a Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) use one of the old robin nests as the base for its own nest. Normally the robin is the first to nest, but this year the dove decided to get the jump on things and got the first pick of nesting locations. This picture has been cropped to a square format.
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