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.
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