Here you go, Mom.
Day 41 (29 April 2019) - Rise up
The fiddlehead of ferns emerging from the ground are one of my favorite spring photography subjects. I have been taking pictures of them since I before I purchase my first "real" camera. Between film and digital I probably have hundreds of images like this in my archives, but I continue to take more. Why? Because it screams "SPRING" and after a winter devoid of color - anything green is more than welcome. This photograph was taken at Mill Pond Park in Mt. Pleasant.
Day 42 (30 April 2019) - Raindrops on Tulips
Most of the plants in our garden are native to Michigan with one major exception - tulips and other spring bulbs. I can't get enough tulips. Every few years I plant a couple hundred in the garden on the south side of the house. In addition to the tulips, we have several other spring flowering bulbs: alliums, grape hyacinth (which spread like crazy on its own), crocuses, and striped squill. But the tulips are the star of the show - my favorites are these variegated ones that have petals that fade from red in the center through orange to yellow on the edges. This photograph of tulips covered with raindrops was underexposed a little bit to deepen the colors of the petals and the image has been cropped around the edges.
Day 43 (01 May 2019) - May Day Raindrops
Rain was a common theme for the beginning of May. I took this image of raindrops hitting a pool of water on land owned by Shepherd Public Schools near the south end of Shepherd.
Day 44 (02 May 2019) - Dutchman's Breeches
Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) is perhaps my favorite spring wildflower (after skunk cabbage). I photographed this stem of dutchman's breeches flowers at Chipp-A-Waters Park. For many years I knew of only one patch of this flower in Mt. Pleasant, but in recent years it has both expanded at Chipp-A-Waters Park and begun to grow at another location along the river. I chose this photograph because of the way the raindrops have beaded up on the flowers and stem.
Day 45 (03 May 2019) - Mayapples
What would the month of may be without mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum)? I love how these plants pop up out of the ground and unfurl like small umbrellas over the course of several days. This photograph was taken at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Audubon Woods Preserve. This species spreads both by seed and clonally by spreading roots. Audubon Woods is home to several large colonies Mayapple. I imaging that if you were to look at the genetic makeup of any single colony you would find that the majority of the plants share the exact same DNA.
Day 46 (04 May 2019) - Grape hyacinth
This is the fifth day in a row that my photograph featured raindrops. When we moved into our house eight years ago there was already a flower bed planted on the south side of the house. One of the plants present was grape hyacinth. Over time the as we have added other species of plants the hyacinth has "migrated". Now many of the plants appear in the lawn. I don't really mind. They add a lot of color and when mowed the leaves look similar to the grass. In this image I like the contrast between the vibrant green, deep dark purple, and the glowing raindrops. Although there is no focal point thimage just works for me.
Day 47 (05 May 2019) - White Trout Lily
If I want to see white trout lily (Erythronium albidum) in Mt. Pleasant I have to search a certain patch of woods. Many years I search without finding a single bloom. I once went five years between sightings. It isn't that the plants are not there, but rather that they take so long to bloom. Their corms (bulbs) need to store up enough sugars to produce a bloom. In non-flowering years, the plant produces a single speckled leaf. It can take up to seven (or maybe more) years for a plant to store enough sugar. This year I was able find a few flowers in bloom. I like all the detail on the pistil and stamen in this image. You can also see specks of pollen on the petals. This image is worth clicking on to enlarge the details.
Day 48 (06 May 2019) - Love is in the air...
I thought I missed American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) breeding season this year. I heard them calling at Chipp-A-Waters Park during the last week of April. Then nothing more as the period of cold rainy weather hit mid-Michigan. Thus I was actually kind of surprised when I heard them calling again. There is a small wetland near the the canoe landing at the park. Around the edge of this wetland could be seen several dozen toads calling periodically from the shallows. This individual let me sit about five feet away as I waited for it to call again. I like this image because not only can you see the fully inflated throat sac, but you can also see the ripples in the water cause by its calling.
Day 49 (07 May 2019) - Hide-and-seek
For me 2019 has bee the year of the wood duck. It seems like every time I walked into the woods in April or early May I would see at least one pair. On May 7th, while walking a trail at Mill Pond Park in Mt. Pleasant, I passed a small seasonal wetland. Something caught my eye. This wood duck drake was doing his best to "hide" perched atop this downed log, but his camouflage scheme left something to be desired.
Day 50 (08 May 2019) - A view of the sky
My final image of this set was taken at Chipp-A-Waters Park. We spend so much time looking down, sometimes it's just nice to look up and take in the sky over our heads. I like how the trees frame this opening, the bright green of their newly emerging leaves, an the varying shades of blue sky.
