The Days of Summer - Day Seventy-three through Day Seventy-nine

For many people, Labor Day Weekend marked the unofficial end of summer.  I say we still have two full weeks remaining!  Here is installment eleven of The Days of Summer, my summer photography project.  If you've been following along, you've already seen parts one through ten.  If you just stumbled upon this blog for the first time...  Welcome!  You can get caught up on previous parts of the project starting here.  I started this project on the Summer Solstice (June 21st) and am photographing every day until the Fall Equinox (September 22nd).  So far I have taken more than ten thousand photos this summer, but I have only shared seventy-two images to date (one image to represent each day of my summer).

Here are the images for Day 73 through Day 79.  Enjoy!

Day 73 (01 September) - Native bee on Rudbeckia laciniata

This image of a small native bee (less than 1/4 inch long) on a Cut-leaved Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) was photographed late in the day in our home pollinator garden.  This image was cropped to a square to focus on the bee and flower and eliminate some of the background.

Day 74 (02 September) - Golden fields 

This photograph was taken at my go to site for photography this summer, Forest Hill Nature Area.  Goldenrods are now in full bloom.  I like several things about this image.  First the colors - golden flowers, green leaves, dark green trees, and the blue of the sky.  I also like the lines of this image - the curve of the plants in the meadow mirrored by the treeline and the radiating clouds.  Finally I like the pattern of the clouds themselves.

Day 75 (03 September) - The beginning of the end of summer

Labor Day may not be the official end of summer, but it seemed as if a switch flipped on September 1st.  Many plants that were in bloom stopped and their leaves began to change from green to yellow or brown.  This image of a Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia) and Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum sp.) was another image taken at Forest Hill Nature Area.

 Day 76 (04 September) - A feast of thistles

This image of a male American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) was taken at Chipp-A-Waters Park.  American Goldfinches feed almost exclusively on seeds and thistles are one of their favorite sources of food.  Goldfinches have been my nemesis bird this summer.  I have not been able to get near enough to photograph one this summer.  Until now.  I started photographing this bird from about thirty feet and slowly walked up on it (never moving my camera from my eye) until I was only about five feet away.  It was fun to watch him tossing clumps of thistledown into the air as he foraged for seeds.  The hardest part was choosing which photo I liked best.

Day 77 (05 September) - In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines

This is another image from Chipp-A-Waters Park.  I photographed this Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) in a pine plantation near the west edge of the park.  This image is all about light and shadow.

Day 78 (06 September) - Tag!  You're it!

Our first Monarch of 2018 has emerged from its chrysalis.  It was tagged and released into our home native pollinator garden.  As most of them do when released, it promptly flew up into a tree and perched out of sight and out of reach.

Day 79 (07 September) - Dewdrops

This morning we woke up to a world soaked with dew/fog/rain or some combination of the three.  After dropping Shara off at work, but before heading to the office, I stopped at Mill Pond Park with the hope of getting a few good images.  This picture of dewdrops on an orbweaver web was my favorite.  I did adjust both the light and color on this image - dropping down the light and bringing up the color to help the dewdrops pop out from the background.

Upcoming Event - Monarch Butterfly Celebration (Saturday 15 September 2018, 12:00PM - 4:00PM)

Join me on Saturday September 15th from 12:00PM (noon) to 4:00PM at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways for the annual Monarch Butterfly Celebration.  I will be handing out pollinator posters and information on pollinator conservation. 

I will also (hopefully) have Monarch butterflies to release on that date.  We have been collecting caterpillars from the wild for the past week and have about sixty in various states of metamorphosis.  The majority of our Monarch are now in chrysalises and should be emerging as adults a day or two in the days around the Butterfly Celebration.  Every butterfly that we release will be tagged as part of the Monarch Watch Tagging Program.

Here are a few pics from the Monarch currently residing in our home.

The Days of Summer - Day Fifty-two through Day Fifty-eight

It's a little late, but here is installment eight of my Days of Summer photo project.  This project started on the Summer Solstice (21 June 2018) and will continue until the Fall Equinox (22 September 2018).  The intent of this project is to get outdoors every day and photograph something in nature.  I am picking one photograph from each day to share as part of this project.  To see the previous installments click here.

On to the photos!

Day 52 (11 August 2018) - My what big ears you have!

This image of a fawn was taken at Forest Hill Nature Area.  While photographing bees and butterflies among the wildflowers of Forest Hill's native grassland restoration I noticed a pair of fawn watching me.  Sometimes, if you move slowly and carefully, you can walk right up to a deer without scaring it away.  Over the course of several minutes i was able to walk to within about 20 yards of this fawn.  This picture was taken when it turned to watch a car pass on nearby Rich Road.  I picked this image because of the pattern created by the veins on the back of the fawn's ears.  They remind me of a butterflies wings.  Check the picture for Day 58 (below) if you don't believe me.

Day 53 (12 August 2018) - Perseid Meteor

On August 12, Shara and I went back to Forest Hill to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower (and hopefully to get a few photos).  We saw several spectacular fireballs crossing the sky, but unfortunately they were no in the direction that my camera was pointed at the time.  I did manage to get several lesser meteors on camera.  To see the meteor in this image click on the photo to enlarge it.  The meteor is just above the band of clouds near the left side of the image.

Day 54 (13 August 2018) - Lunch

This picture of a Black-and-Yellow Argiope spider (Argiope aurentia) was photographed in its web at Mill Pond Park in Mt. Pleasant.  I was actually photographing a different Argiope when I glanced to the right and spotted this lady less than a meter away.  This picture shows the underside of the spider as she perches on her web near a silk-wrapped insect that she will make a meal of later.  Again, this picture is best viewed by clicking on it.  If you look close you can see a line of silk emerging from her spinnerets.

Day 55 (14 August 2018) - A Different Kind of Grasshopper

This is my second grasshopper image that I have shared as part of this project.  I photographed a Carolina Locust at Chipp-A-Waters Park on Day 41.  This grasshopper was also photographed at Chipp-A-Waters park, but this grasshopper belongs to a different species.  This is a Differential Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis).  This grasshopper allowed me to creep very close and photograph it with my longest lens from just under a meter away (the minimum focusing distance for this lens).

Day 56 (15 August 2018) - Gotcha!

While working on this project, there have been days when I have had a difficult time selecting a picture to share.  Sometimes I don't like any of the pictures all that much; other times I have too many photos that I like.  On other occasions, I have known right away which photo was going to be the "winner" for the day.  This picture of a Jagged Ambush Bug with a European Honeybee was an easy choice.  I captured this image at Forest Hill Nature Area late in the day.  The sun was almost on the horizon and I was heading back to my truck to meet Shara when I glanced at this Lance-leaf Goldenrod as I was passing it by.

Day 57 (16 August 2018) - Rainy Day Boxelder

This picture was also taken at Forest Hill Nature Area.  It is easy to stop here on my way home from Mt. Pleasant.  August 16th was kind of a "blah" day for photography.  It was cloudy all day and threatened rain while I was at Forest Hill.  I probably would have been better off photographing something up close rather than landscapes, but I thought this image of a Boxelder (Acer negundo) against the gray sky best represented the day.

Day 58 (17 August 2018) -  Monarch on Rosinweed

The final image in this set was taken in our home native pollinator garden.  It seems to be a very good year for Monarch butterflies here in Mid-Michigan.  We have repeatedly had one visiting our plants.  In the past we have noticed maybe one or two Monarchs in our garden each year.  This year they are an almost daily visitor.  We do have some milkweed plants (the Monarch's only larval host plant), but right now the main attraction is nectar especially from Cup Plant and Rosinweed.  These two plant species are attracting dozens of bumble bees and hundreds of honey bees in addition to the butterfly visitors.

The Days of Summer - Day Forty-five through Day Fifty-one

This is part seven of my Days of Summer photography project.   Beginning with the Summer Solstice (21 June 2018) and ending with the Fall Equinox (22 September 2018), I am making it a point to get outdoors and photograph something every single day.  One photograph from each day is being selected for this project and shared here.

The previous installments of this project can be found at the links below:

Part Six
Part Five
Part Four
Part Three
Part Two
Part One

I hope you enjoy the photos from this past week - one of them might be quite a surprise.

Day 45 (04 August 2018) - A Banded Bird

The first image of the week was taken at Forest Hill Nature Area.  If you look closely at This female Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) you might notice that her left leg sports a band.  Between this picture and several others of this bird I was able to make out a couple numbers on the band.  With that information, I contacted Mike Bishop at Alma College - he is running a banding project at Forest Hill.  With the numbers I gave him, Mike was able to narrow it down to one of two birds that he banded on June 28th of this year.  We both thought this was pretty cool.

This photograph has been cropped into a landscape format - taking some off the top and bottom of the image.  I just thought it was the most appealing of all the different crops that I tried.  I like how the bird looks like she is about the launch herself at the goldenrod to the left of the image.

The Days of Summer - Day Thirty-one through Day Thirty-seven

This is installment five of my Days of Summer photography project.  (Click here to view the photos from part four.)  The intent of this project is to get outdoors everyday to photograph something in nature and to pick a single image to represent each day of the summer from the Summer Solstice (21 June 2018) to the Fall Equinox (22 September 2018).  Five weeks into summer, this has been a very rewarding project.  It takes time, but I think I am producing some of my best photography ever.  I am definitely learning more about my camera and lenses.

Enjoy.

Day 31 (21 July 2018) - Raindrops on Rosinweed

This image a raindrops on a Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium) was photographed at home in our native pollinator garden during a lull between rain showers.

Day 32 (22 July 2018) - Monarch on Purple Coneflower

This photograph was taken at Forest Hill Nature Area during a very windy afternoon.  At one point this Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) nearly blew off the top of this Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purperea).  Despite the wind, this was a great day for pollinator photography.  I was able to photograph five butterfly species, a couple moths, numerous bees, and several wasp species.  Picking a single image for the day was difficult, but I like the position of the butterfly facing into the wind and the grass blades blowing in from the left of the picture.

Day 33 (23 July 2018) -Early Fall Colors

This picture of Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea) berries and leaves was also taken at Forest Hill Nature Area.  Many of the dogwood leaves were already changing color.  This is not necessarily a sign of fall, but a sign of stress such as too little rain.

Day 34 (24 July 2018) - Green Frog

This picture was taken at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant.  I heard several Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans) calling from a small wetland area near the back of the park.  Most of the frogs dove into the pond when I approached but this one let me approach to about five or six feet.  This image has been cropped from a horizontal to a vertical image.

Day 35 - Yeah, Here Come the Rooster

This image and the next one were actually taken indoors.  I spent much of last week at the Isabella County Fair.  County fairs are an integral part of summer across much of the United States.  This rooster was one of the many animals entered in the fair by 4H members.

If you understand the title of this image, bonus points for you!  If you don't...

Day 36 (26 July 2018) - Charolais Steer

Another image from the Isabella County Fair.  Raising beef cattle is one of the most popular projects for 4H members in the area.  It quite something to watch a nine or ten year old kid weighing maybe 100 pounds walk a full grown steer around the arena and present it for judging.  I photographed the Charolais steer  in the beef cattle barn as it stared at me from its stall.

Day 37 (27 July 2018) - Stormcloud

The final picture of the week was photographed in southern Isabella County on my way home from work.  I watched this storm approached from the west and raced to try to intersect it in a place where I could get a good image.  Don't worry, I never went above the speed limit - the gravel road that I was traveling on would not allow for speeds much above 30 mph in most sections.  I like this picture because of the contrast between the dark water laden bottom of the cloud and the sun shining through the top.

Native Species Profile - Wild Bergamot

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), also known as Bee Balm, is the most widespread of four Monarda species found in Michigan.  Nationally it has been recorded in all but four states (AK, HI, CA, FL) and across most of the temperate provinces of Canada.  It can grow in a variety of habitats including open woodlands, savannas, prairies, fields, dunes, etc.  It normally grows in dry habitats but is occasionally found in wetlands.

Bumble bee and Silver-spotted Skipper on Wild Bergamot

Wild Bergamot is a member of the Mint Family (Lamiaceae).  Like all other mints, it has stems with a square cross-section and opposite pairs of leaves.  The plants can grow to a height of 4 feet and are topped with a single rounded flower head.  This flower head measures 1 - 3 inches across.  Flowers begin blooming near the center of the head first and continue outward to the margins.  Flowers are typically pink or lavender colored.  Individual flowers on the head are tubular and may be up to an inch long.  Near the tip, each tubular flower splits into several protruding lips.  The lower lips serve as a landing place for pollinators.

Wild Bergamot - note tubular flowers and opposite pairs of leaves

Wild Bergamot has a distinctive strong scent that reminds some people of mint and others of oregano.  Anyone who drinks Earl Grey tea will recognize this smell, although in Earl Grey tea the smell comes from the peal of the Bergamot Orange.

A Snowberry Clearwing Moth (a bumble bee mimic) prepares to nectar on Wild Bergamot

Wild Bergamot is an important nectar source for many insects including bumble bees, bee flies, hummingbird and bumblebee moths, sphinx moths, skippers, and butterflies.  It is also visited by hummingbirds.  This plant spread by rhizomes and seeds so it often forms large colonies.  Large colonies can easily attract hundreds of pollinators at a time.


Basic Information

Wild Bergamot 
Monarda fistulosa

Height:  2.5 - 4’ tall

Habitat:  dry areas; fields, open woods, prairies, fields, sand dunes, savannas

Flower Color:  lavender to pink

Bloom Time:  July – August

The Days of Summer - Day Ten through Day Sixteen

This is the second installment of my Days of Summer photo project.  To read about the project and see the first installment click here.

Day 10 (30 June 2018) - Wheatfield

Agriculture may not be the first thing that you think of when you hear the word Michigan, but it is one of the leading industries in the state.  This image of a ripening field of wheat was taken along the border of Isabella County and Gratiot County.  I spent the morning at Forest Hill Nature Area photographing wildflowers in a restored grassland.  Deciding to take a different route home, I passed by this field a couple of miles from Forest Hill.  I've been admiring wheat fields for the past several weeks, but never found one that I could easily photograph.  Stopping here was a no-brainer.

Day 11 (01 July 2018) - Ragged Fringed Orchid

This photo was taken at the Williamston Township Community Park in Ingham County, MI.  I stopped at this park to revisit an older grassland restoration that I have photographed several times over the years.  A pair of Ragged Fringed Orchids (Platanthera psycodes) was my reward.

Day 12 (02 July 2018) - Moss Sporophytes

Mosses are small; thus they are easily overlooked.  For those that take the time to notice them, they are well worth the effort.  One of the best books I have read in recent years is about moss.  These white balloon-like structures are reproductive bodies known as sporophytes.  When conditions are right, they will each release hundred or thousands of spores into the world.  We often associate mosses with shady woodland habitats, but these mosses were growing on bare sandy soil on land owned by Shepherd Public Schools.

Day 13 (03 July 2018) - Last of the Brood

This Days of Summer project means that I have to photograph something every day.  It means I have to get outdoors and away from my desk.  Fortunately Isabella County has lots of public land within a short drive of my office.  This picture of a Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) with a single poult (chick) was taken at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant.  Seeing a hen with only a single chick raises so many questions.  Was this the only egg that hatched?  Were the other eggs stolen by predators such as raccoons? Did predators get the rest of its nest mates?

Unlike most of my photographs, this image has been edited.  It has been cropped from the original size (about 50%) and the highlights have been toned down to bring some of the color back into the image.

Day 14 (04 July 2018) - Curious Fawn

The Fourth of July found me exploring the Maple River State Game Area.  This curious White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawn wanted to check me out up close.  Unlike the previous picture, this one has not been cropped.  The fawn was that close and approaching closer.  It probably would have allowed me to touch it if I hadn't shooed it away into the woods.

Day 15 (05 July 2018) - Great Spangled Fritillaries

Yesterday I visited the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Sylvan Solace Preserve for about an hour in the middle of the day.  Mid-day may not be the best time for photography, but the heat of the day does bring out the pollinators.  I was luck to spot this pair of mating Great Spangled Fritillaries (Speyeria Cybele).

Day 16 (06 July (2018) - Chicory Flowers 

My final photo for the week is of a pair of Common Chicory (Cichorium intybus) flowers.  This photograph was taken at the Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum early this morning.  Originally from Europe, Chicory is a common roadside plant in Mid-Michigan.  Even though this plant is not native to North America, it is well-behaved and likes roadsides and other waste places.    This is one of my favorite flowers to photograph.  The pale blue color is absolutely beautiful.  You have to get up early to photograph Chicory, by mid-day the flowers have closed up tight.

Field Trip - Maple River State Game Area

Yesterday (04 July 2018) I took a short trip to the Maple River State Game Area (MRSGA).  I have lived in Mid-Michigan for the majority of my life, but I have never visited MRSGA before despite driving through part of it hundreds of times.  I grew up in the area and hunted and fished in several State Game/Wildlife Areas as a youth, but because MRSGA has been managed primarily for waterfowl and I have never been a duck or goose hunter so this area was mostly not on my radar.

With no other plans for the morning I decided it was finally time to explore the area a little.  My trip took me to a part of the game area known as the East Unit (Wetlands Wildlife Management Unit).  This Unit is located on both sides of US-127 between St. Johns and Ithaca.  The East Unit is further (confusingly) subdivided into smaller sections also known as units.  The highway itself separates Unit A on the west side of the road from Unit B on the east side of the road.  Several other Units stretch further east from Unit B including a Wildlife Refuge that is closed to the public from September 1st to December 1st. 

There is a parking lot located along US-127 at the northwest corner of Unit B.  This is where I began my visit.  Unit B like most of these other units is enclosed by a series of dikes that allow the water level to be raised or lowered on a seasonal basis.  I walked east along the dike on the north edge of the unit to the dike that separates Unit B from the Wildlife Refuge and followed that dike south.  I returned to my truck by the same route.

The berm along the north edge of Unit B

Along the east edge of the unit is a wood observation tower.  This tower is actually visible from the highway.  The tower was my goal of my hike.  For some reason I didn't take any photos of the tower, but I did take several of the view from the top.  There is also a handicap-accessible ground blind along the North boundary of Unit B.  The view right now consists entirely of tall cattails; I did not take any photos from there.

The view South from the observation tower - berms and a ditch can be seen on the left of the image

Southeast - a better view of the ditches and berms that mark the edges of the Units

West-northwest - the highway is the white line on the horizon

East - looking across the Wildlife Refuge

It didn't seem like it at the time, but I was able to see and photograph a surprising amount of wildlife.  This included butterflies such as Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) and Eastern Tailed Blue (Cupido comyntas).  I also saw several species of Skippers, a Fritillary, and a bunch of small brown butterflies with eyespots on their wings including Wood Nymphs (Cercyonis pegala).

Monarch

Eastern Tailed Blue

I also saw lots of birds.  A partial list includes Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) , Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), Great Blue Heron (Ardia Herodias) , Green Heron (Butorides virescens), Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum), Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).

Red-winged Blackbirds in a drowned tree

 

Red-winged Blackbird on cattail

 

Juvenile Bald Eagle being chased by Red-winged Blackbird

Cedar Waxwing

American Goldfinch

Green Heron

A young Wood Duck runs across the water to hide in some cattails

In one of the ditches I noticed a schools of smallish (6-8 inch) Large-mouthed Bass and Bluegill sunfish.

I also saw several White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) including this buck. 

I also had a fawn run up to me and approach within ten feet.  I'm not sure why it came up to me, except maybe curiosity.  It saw me well before it approached.  I shooed it away when it got too close, but I was able to get several good photos before it ran into the woods.

I plan to go back to Maple River State Game Area, but probably not until next spring.  I want to see if I can photograph some of the thousands of migratory waterfowl that pass through every year.