Vernal: A Spring Photo Project (Day 41 - Day 50)

It has been nearly a month since I shared anything on this blog.  I've have been photographing every single day for my Vernal photo project, but I have suffered from both a lack of time (and often a lack of motivation) to write.  It's been so long since I have written that my mom has started to yell at me...

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.

The Days of Summer - Day Thirty-eight through Day Forty-four

This is part six of my current photography project - The Days of Summer.

In the past, I have had times where I have gone days or even weeks without taking photographs.  This summer I set out to change that tendency.  I gave myself the task of recording images every single day between the Summer Solstice and the Fall Equinox.  Not only do I need to photograph something every day, but I am also sharing a single photo from each day on this blog.

To see the previous installment (part four) check out this link.

Day 38 (28 July 2018) - Lights! Camera! Moths...

The week of 21 - 29 July was National Moth Week.  In celebration, I hosted two mothing events on the nights of 27 July (for the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy) and 28 July (for the Chippewa Valley Audubon Club).  This image is from the latter event at Mission Creek Woodland Park in Mt. Pleasant.  This image was taken shortly after the sun went down as the moths had barely started to come in.  Lots of moths were drawn to the lights, but this image was my favorite of the night.

Day 39 (29 July 2018) - Woodpecker Feather

This picture of a woodpecker flight feather was taken during a hike to the top of Bundy Hill.  This feather belongs to either a Downy Woodpecker or a Hairy Woodpecker.  Although these two species look very much alike, they are not closely related.  The current theory is that the Downy evolved to look more like the Hairy so it wouldn't be harassed by the larger bird.

My general philosophy in regards to photo editing is that "Less is More."  This picture is probably the most heavily edited image I have ever posted on this blog.  It has been rotated 180 degrees from the original - I liked the quill better in the lower left of the image than in the upper right.  The image has also been cropped to better focus on the feather.  Even though I prefer to "crop with my feet" (move closer to the subject), I am usually okay with cropping an image down to better focus on the main subject.   I have also adjusted the brightness of this image.  The picture was taken in direct sunlight and the colors were rather washed out in the original.

Day 40 (30 July 2018) - Oh, Hello!

This picture of a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus) on a Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) was photographed at Forest Hill Nature Area.  The beetle was feeding on pollen and nectar on the small individual flowers.  To highlight the beetle against the sky, I lay on my back in the middle of a trail, leaned against my camera bag for support and, and aimed the camera upward.  I probably shot two dozen images of this beetle as it crawled around the flower, but the pose in this picture made it my favorite.  This image has been cropped slightly to reduce the amount of open space at the top and left of the picture.

 Day 41 (31 July 2018) - Carolina Locust

Unlike the previous two pictures.  This image has not been edited at all.  I photographed this Carolina Locust (Dissosteira carolina) at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant.  To get this picture I lay on a slab of limestone along the edge of the Chippewa River and focused tightly on the grasshopper.  I was at the minimum focus distance for the lens on my camera.  By working so close, I lost a little bit of detail on the legs, but check out the veining on the wings and the pattern on the head, thorax, and abdomen!

Day 42 (01 August 2018) - Halloween Pennant

This image was also photographed at Chipp-A-Waters Park.  After photographing the Carolina Locust on the 31st, I noticed a Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina) hunting in a grassy area along the riverbank.  Despite repeated attempts, I was never able to get a picture that I made me happy.  I went back the next morning to try again.  I actually arrived too early and had to wait for insects to begin flying.  Eventually this Pennant showed up and I was able to get several photos.  I cropped this from a horizontal to a vertical image.  I liked the original, but I liked the vertical crop just a little bit more.

Day 43 (02 August 2018)

This picture was taken at North Higgins Lake State Park.  I spent the day doing a pair of activities for a summer camp being held by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.  Due to stormy weather, we adjusted the schedule a little bit.  This left me with some time before my morning activity.  Although this is not the greatest image, I like the repetition of the spherical water droplets throughout the picture.

Day 44 (03 August 2018)

My final photo for the week was taken at Mission Creek Woodland Park.  Although sometimes I have a plan I go out to take photos (like with the Halloween Pennant pictured above), at other times it pays to just wander and see what happens.  I found these Crown Coral (Clavicorona pyxidata or Artomyces pyxidatus) growing on a rotten log in the middle of the woods.  If I hadn't wandered away from the trail I never would have discovered them.  Coral fungi are some of the coolest looking fungi that grow in Mid-Michigan, but I sometimes find them a challenge to photograph because they are such a start contrast to the dark wood.  I decided to crop this picture as a square eliminating another clump of fungus to the left of the picture.

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.

High water (21 FEB 2018)

Over the last several days, Mid-Michigan has experienced between 1.5 and 2.0 inches of rain.  Add in melting snow and many local rivers have gone past flood stage.  Here are a few photos from Mt Pleasant's Mill Pond Park, Island Park, and Pickens Field taken early yesterday morning.  Most of these areas flood on an annual basis or even more frequently.

Mill Pond Park

Island Park/Pickens Field

It's a wet wet wet wet world!

Foolishly, or hopefully, I scheduled several outdoor programs for this week.  Predictably, it rained and I had to cancel those programs. This meant I was stuck in the office with nothing planned for the day.

What do I do in such a situation? 

Go outside.

A very wet walk at Mill Pond Park ensued.  In order to keep my camera somewhat dry I kept it hidden in my raincoat and only brought it out when I wanted to take a picture.  Even with these precautions I noticed that several images are obscured by water on the lens.

Chippewa River weir at Mill Pond Park

Rain dappling the surface of the Chippewa River

Pedestrian bridge at Mill Pond Park

Maple leaf

A trail through the woods, covered with leaves and underwater

Silver Maple and American Basswood leaves in the Chippewa River floodplain

There is still a bit of fall color to be seen

Some maple trees are just changing color now

Poison Ivy berries

Silver Maple leaves in the Chippewa River