Category: Photography
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Mite
This is a red velvet mite. I snapped the photo yesterday at Blandford Nature Center.
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A Small Piece of Night
A few weeks ago Cynthia and I went for a long walk through Seidman Park, a beautiful bunch of trails which cover a gamut of terrain, from marsh to ravine, to field and forest. Around the south end of the park we noticed that some trees had several odd-looking objects hanging from the branches. Curiosity drove me to pull one off and bring it home:
I suspected that it was a cocoon of some kind, and a few minutes of browsing the internet confirmed that it was the cocoon of a Promethea Moth (Callosamia promethea). I left it on a table in my house for a few weeks, then this afternoon, upon returning home from a truly whacky day, I discovered that it had hatched.
It was still shaky and soft and moving slowly, pumping its wings up to full size and letting the tissues dry and firm up. This made it quite easy to photograph.
I left it alone and went out. Upon returning a few hours later I saw that it seemed to be ready to be let out, so I took it to my back yard and set it on a low branch.
About an hour later I looked outside just in time to see a small piece of midnight flutter past a streetlight on its way to places unknown.
The saturniid moths, never all that common, are becoming increasingly rare due, in no small part, to light pollution. During mating season they orient themselves by the light of the moon, and with so many bright man-made lights out in the world, the moths get confused as to where they should fly, and so miss one another. When your entire adult life lasts a week, getting stood up for a date is a deeply tragic affair.
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Kestrel
Posted because Cynthia helped identify this one.
I have been trying to get back into the habit of carrying my camera around, and Monday after work, while walking to my car, it paid off with this photo.
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Things Left Behind
Both photos taken in Egypt Valley, near the Cannonsburg ski area, in early March.
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Muskegon State Park
At the beginning of the month Cynthia and I drove to Muskegon State Park and spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon wandering the dunes, looking at the lake and chasing birds.
The WWII submarine USS Silversides is moored to the south bank of the channel which connects Muskegon Lake to Lake Michigan.
The right place at the right time: I just happened to snap a photo of some terrists infiltrating our defenses. Let this be a demonstration that a patriotic American Citizen, armed only with a semi-obsolete digital camera, can be a buffer between the Axles of Evil and the Free World!
The clear sky and late fall sun made the dunes bright enough that they were hard to look at.
The lee side of the dunes had a little more variety. In particular, lots of plants covered with tiny burrs.
This is the Muskegon-to-Milwaukee ferry, sitting undefended at the edge of Muskegon Lake. If those terrists capture the Silversides, they could cause untold damage to our Freedom (© 2006 USA) — No! Our God Given Right (© 2006 USA) — to cross the Big Lake on a boat! I will immediately propose a bill to extend the Terrists Dressed Like Ducks season to the entire year!
The knife-edge of a dune. This photo does a good job of demonstrating how bright and contrast-ey everything looked.
A view from the big lake, looking back along the channel to the east.
Cynthia and I decided that this is a snow bunting.
Facing north from the breakwater. State park, as far as the eye can see.
Cynthia walking along the dunes on our way back to the car. -
A Walk by The Lake
A few Sundays ago Cynthia and I went for a long walk around Pickerel Lake, near Cannonsburg Ski Area in West Michigan.
We picked a beautiful day — clear skies, light breeze, with an invigorating chill in the air. This shot is facing North from the walkway.
I didn’t know there were beavers in this part of the state. This one appears to have been busy.
The trees the beavers knock over are quickly turned into sustenance for all sorts of strange things.
On the north side of the lake is a large pine grove, thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers circa the 1920s.
Earlier this fall the grove was turned into a labyrinth. Cynthia and I wandered into it, and decided to obey the rules and find our way through to the other side. It took us about half an hour. Though we could see the whole maze from any point in it, the rope which defined the boundaries was difficult to see clearly. A path which appeared promising from one angle often tapered down to a point with no way through.
At one point a single thin sunbeam made its way into the maze at the perfect angle to illuminate a single strip of bark on one of the trees. From a distance it looked like a flame.
Another shot of the lake from the East end, facing into the breeze. -
Longhorn
A longhorn beetle which I have not yet successfully identified. Photo taken in late May.
