Chasing Butterflies

August 22, 2025

On a warm, sunny afternoon in early April, when it felt like spring might be settling in for good, I went looking for Mourning Cloak butterflies. This butterfly has dark, reddish-brown wings with a lacy-looking yellow edge that reminded someone long ago of the traditional garments worn by people in mourning and they dubbed it a ‘Mourning Cloak’ In Britain, however, they call it a Camberwell Beauty, a name that originated from its discovery in Camberwell, South London in 1748.

**Mourning Cloak butterfly Portman Preserve April 12, 2025**

I spotted my very first “winter” Mourning Cloak a few years ago in late March while there was still snow on the ground! The temperature had climbed to a balmy 65-degrees, but I still didn’t expect to see a butterfly floating languidly over a pile of snow! It seemed so incongruous! Prior to that day in March, I had no idea that some butterflies, like the Mourning Cloak, overwintered as adults!

**Mourning Cloak butterfly three years earlier on the same date and the same location (April 12, 2022 Portman Preserve, Mattawan, Michigan)**

Butterflies that overwinter as adults tuck themselves away in tree cavities, leaf litter, cracks in rocks, loose bark, and the crevices of unheated buildings in order to survive. When they emerge on a warm spring-like day, they feed on tree sap, particularly from oak and maple trees, to regain their strength. If the cold temperatures resume, which they inevitably do, overwintering adult butterflies head back to their hiding places and wait for warmer weather.

**‘Summer’ Mourning Cloak July 9, 2023**

Butterflies that don’t overwinter as adults spend the winter as a chrysalis, a caterpillar, or an egg. Other butterflies, like the monarch, migrate south to find more hospitable accommodations.

When I ventured out in early April looking for a Mourning Cloak butterfly, I was pleasantly surprised to find several of them darting about! I also found a few Eastern Commas, and one tiny Spring Azure butterfly! Spring Azures don’t overwinter as adults like the Mourning Cloaks and the Eastern Commas, but spend the cold winter months as a chrysalis. In late winter or early spring, they emerge as adults, find a mate, lay eggs, and die within just a few days!

**Eastern Comma butterfly April 12, 2025**

**A tiny Spring Azure on April 12, 2025**

After finding these three different butterflies so early in the season, I was hopeful that I would find even more varieties during the month of May. I went to several different nature preserves over the course of that month and managed to find even more butterflies than I did in April, but most of them were very, very small and not particularly colorful. I LOVE finding the bigger, flashier butterflies like the monarchs, fritillaries, and swallowtails, especially when they land on the bright orange butterfly weed, pink swamp milkweed, lavender bee balm, yellow salsify, or the beautiful magenta-colored ironweed. The combination makes for some stunning pictures.

The collection of butterflies I ended up with in May included a Hobomok Skipper, Little Wood Satyr, Pepper and Salt Skipper, Silver Spotted Skipper, Zabulon Skipper, a Wild Indigo Dusky Wing, Red-spotted Admiral, Viceroy, Eastern Comma, and several Pearl Crescents.

In June, I saw my first Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and my first Spangled Fritillary of the season, plus two small butterflies that were different from the ones I had seen in May: a tiny Eastern-tailed Blue, and a little Essex Skipper. Both have wingspans of about an inch!

**Silver-spotted Skipper on Bee Balm June 29, 2025**

July was my very best month for chasing butterflies! There were enough swallowtails, fritillaries, monarchs, viceroys, and red-spotted admirals to keep me happy, and there were a few I hadn’t yet seen during May and June: an American Lady, an Appalachian Brown, a Coral Hairstreak, a Little Glassy Wing Skipper, a Northern Broken Dash, a Northern Pearly Eye, a Tawny Emperor, and an Orange Sulphur. Whew!

**Coral Hairstreak butterfly on Butterfly Weed**

**Little Glassywing Skipper on Bee Balm**

**Northern Broken Dash butterfly on Bee Balm**

August didn’t bring me any new butterflies, but I continued to enjoy the butterflies I had already seen as they fluttered delicately through the various fields of fading summer flowers that I like to visit.

**Black Swallowtail Butterfly on Bull Thistle**

**Eastern Giant Swallowtail on Purple Coneflower**

**Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Ironweed**

**Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, black morph**, **on Bee Balm**

**Great Spangled Fritillary on Butterfly Weed**

If you want to help overwintering insects like Mourning Cloaks and Eastern Commas, you can start by not cleaning up your yard too early in the spring! Leave all that leaf litter beneath your trees and in your gardens. It’s likely to contain overwintering caterpillars, eggs, or adult butterflies. You can also set up a fruit feeding station in the spring with overripe bananas, cantaloupe, or rotting fruit that will provide sustenance for the mourning cloaks and other butterflies that have been overwintering.

To continue enjoying these wonderful butterflies as well as other creatures, we all need to assume responsibility for maintaining as many natural areas as we can, including our own backyards, and refrain from the widespread use of insecticides!

**Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Meadow Salsify**

Habitat loss and the use of insecticides are killing the creatures we love—not just the ones we don’t love!

What saves them, saves us.

Troubled Times

June 23, 2025

With all of the terrifying actions of this current administration, my picture walks have become more and more imperative to my mental health. When I’m out taking pictures, I am lost in my own world, focused on those fleeting moments of beauty and joy that, at least for a few hours, give me the illusion of a better world—but even that can be a struggle.

Yesterday, I left the house by 7:00 a.m., before the oppressive heat of the day was expected to settle in, and went for a picture walk hoping to find monarchs, viceroys, or swallowtails flitting about in the fields or perched on newly emerged flowers. They were nowhere to be found!

You don’t have to look hard or long to find proof that we are at a crisis point regarding our butterfly populations.

“A new study published today in Science has found that populations of butterflies across the United States are declining. In addition to dramatic declines for individual species, the study concluded that total abundance of butterflies has declined by 22% from 2000 to 2020. That means that for every five butterflies seen 20 years ago, now there are only four.”

This is both disturbing and alarming. Sadly, the reasons for their decline are all too familiar: habitat loss, climate change, and pesticide use. Almost every creature I love to photograph faces these same challenges. We are stewards of this earth and bear the responsibility for those losses; either through the people we elect, the poisons we use in our own yards, or the habitats we desecrate. It’s on us.

**This Blanding’s Turtle is just one of many creatures whose numbers are in decline due to habitat loss**

On a happier note, my early morning walk was filled with a multitude of much smaller butterflies than the monarchs or the swallowtails– mostly little essex skippers and the slightly larger silver-spotted skippers. I was also delighted to find a large contingent of dragonflies– eight different types to be exact, and one damselfly!

**A tiny Essex Skipper butterfly on Meadow Hawkweed**

**Silver-spotted Skipper on a small Oxeye Daisy**

**Small White butterfly** **on a tiny bit of clover**

The previous day, I had gone on an early evening walk, also trying to avoid the heat of the day and hoping to capitalize on the soft, warm light of the setting sun. Apart from the mosquitoes, early evening is a perfect time of day for nature shots! Everything seems quieter, more relaxed– even the colors quiet down! And there are creatures I rarely see, like sandhill cranes, skittish bunnies, and industrious little muskrats.

**One of two Sandhill Cranes foraging in the early evening light**

**Eastern Cottontail that hadn’t yet noticed me**

**Mama Wood Duck and her eight obedient offspring**

Sometimes, when the whole day stretches before me with no appointments or obligations, I pack myself a snack and go on a ‘field trip!’ Luckily for me, there are at least a half dozen nature preserves within an hour’s drive of where we live and I rotate through them on a regular basis. It’s always fun to go someplace ‘new’ even if I’ve been there before!

**Male Red-winged Blackbird with a damselfly snack**

In the long run, it doesn’t really matter where I take pictures, or what time of day I go, or even if I don’t find something out of the ordinary; it’s the walk itself that’s kept me sane throughout these troubled times, and the connections that have been forged as a result.

Some Days…

August 23, 2024

Some days it’s really hard for me to push myself out the door and go for a picture walk—even though it’s something I love to do. Today was one of those days. I’d already gone for a long, leisurely walk with friends earlier in the day, and I’d already taken enough pictures. There was no logical reason to go out again. But it was a perfectly beautiful day; not hot, not humid, not windy. It would be a shame to waste all that loveliness by sitting in the house– and I would always wonder what I’d missed if I didn’t go. As it turned out, I would have missed everything!

My walk started out, as it often does, down by the creek behind our house where the dragonflies gather. I’ve found blue dashers, familiar bluets, slaty skimmers, Eastern pondhawks, and Eastern amberwings at the creek all summer long, but today there was a surprise–an American rubyspot damselfly! It’s one of the prettiest little damselflies I’ve ever seen, but rarely find. My trip out the door had already paid off!

Next on my route was the nearby WMU Business Technology and Research Park with its vast expanse of prairie grasses and wildflowers where I was hoping to find a few lingering butterflies or, perhaps, the first praying mantis of the season. There were so many possibilities! What first caught my attention, though, was a stunning green darner dragonfly, floating above the grasses looking for a place to land. I rarely see them, or get a picture, so I tracked its movements through the air hoping it would land somewhere that would be easy enough to photograph. Unfortunately, it chose a spot about 15 feet away and below my line of sight. I carefully picked my way through the high grass hoping to find it, hoping not to disturb it, and hoping not to acquire a few ticks along the way! I succeeded on all counts!

**Female Common Green Darner Dragonfly**

The fields of tall grass and wild flowers at the business park have beautifully mowed trails all the way through. One of those paths that I particularly like to walk has praying mantises along the way–and now is the time to find them!

**WMU Business Technology and Research Park mowed path**

They like hanging out on the tall stalks as they look for love. But they’re so well camouflaged that it’s almost impossible to find them! It’s like the ultimate Where’s Waldo challenge, but without the red and white striped hats to distinguish them! Sometimes, I’ll find 10 or more on a single walk; today I only found one, but it was almost as exciting as winning the lottery! And there were more surprises ahead!

After spotting the praying mantis, I very quietly and cautiously headed over to the small pond across the road where I once found a giant snapping turtle draped across a large rock. On rare occasions, I’ve also found a great blue heron standing motionlessly along the edges waiting for its his next meal to swim by.

**Giant Snapping turtle that I found on a previous visit to the pond behind Floyd Hall**

I’d barely crossed the road when I spotted the great blue heron! He was standing on the opposite side of the pond in his familiar stoic pose. From experience, I knew this bird might not move for a very long time. Great blue herons are extremely patient birds as they wait for their next meal. I took a few pictures as he stood there, and then I too waited, hoping for a better shot. Eventually, this magnificent bird very cautiously moved one of its legs, and then the other as it crept forward into the water. It occurred to me in that quiet moment of concentration that we were both doing the very same thing; standing quietly and watching our prey, then moving ever so slowly towards it, hoping to make the catch!

From the pond behind Floyd Hall, I headed over to another pond where I hoped to find one of the green herons that visited regularly. What first caught my eye, though, was a mallard hybrid of some sort that had a wide band of white around its neck. It was wider than I what I usually see on a male mallard and I worried that it might be a piece of plastic. So, I zoomed in and quickly realized that this was just another goofy looking duck. Mallards breed with a wide variety of other ducks including domestic ducks, American black ducks and Northern pintails– all of which result in some very odd-looking offspring, including this one!

**The odd duck with the wide white neck band**

But my best surprise was still waiting for me.

I went to the footbridge that crosses over the pond hoping to find the elusive green heron. As I stood at one end of the bridge with my camera pointed towards the pond, a red-tailed hawk landed on the railing to my left at the other end of the bridge– only 20 feet away! It took my breath away! I really, really wanted a picture but I didn’t know if my settings were right, and I knew if he saw me move, he’d fly away. So, I very, very slowly turned my camera in his direction and quickly took a burst of shots, hoping for the best. Perhaps he noticed my barely perceptible movements or heard the click of my camera; within fifteen seconds, he was gone! Wow! I’ve never been that close to a hawk before!

**Red-tailed Hawk on the footbridge 20 feet from me!**

**The hawk turned in my direction and took off as quickly as he came**

After the hawk flew off, the green heron flew in and I got the shot!

**Green Heron contemplating his next meal**

On my slow amble towards home, a few butterflies posed politely for pictures and my picture walk was complete!

**Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on spotted knapweed**

It was the best day ever– among a bucketful of best days where I’ve been lucky enough to still do all the things I love.

**Monarch Butterfly on spotted knapweed**

Waning Days of Color

September 2023

A few days ago, I visited the Paw Paw Prairie Fen Preserve in Mattawan, Michigan, one of our local nature areas. It’s a beautiful preserve with a well-maintained 1.5 mile trail that meanders through wild flowers, trees, ponds, and tall prairie grasses. The land is owned and maintained by The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit organization.

**BOTTLEBRUSH GRASS**
Bottlebrush grass is a perennial grass native to the eastern United States and Canada. Bottlebrush Grass gets its name from the spiky seed heads that look just like the brush used to clean bottles,

“In 2004, this site was slated for a housing development. Topsoil had been removed, road routes had been laid out and neighborhood landscaping was being installed. The Nature Conservancy was alerted to rare wetland communities here and began negotiations to acquire the land. Today The Nature Conservancy owns 106 acres along the east branch of the Paw Paw River, including rare prairie fens, and a beautiful array of prairie plants and wildlife.” (from the descriptive sign at the entrance of the preserve)

**JOE PYE WEED**
This plant was likely named for Joseph Shauquethqueat, a highly-respected Mohican sachem or paramount chief, also known to white neighbors as Joe Pye, who lived in the Mohican community in Stockbridge, Massachusetts in the late 1700’s to early 1800’s. Joe Pye weed has a long history of medicinal use, including as a diuretic, for easing urinary tract issues, joint stiffness, and gout. It is also used to treat reproductive issues and diabetes.

I started my picture walk at 2:30 in the afternoon hoping to eventually catch the late afternoon sun. For the first hour and a half, I saw virtually nothing to photograph, except for a few random plants, and an untold number of autumn meadowhawk dragonflies. I had been hoping for butterflies and birds, and a much wider variety of dragonflies. I had even hoped to find a praying mantis or two. But there were only the meadowhawks, and a few interesting plants to entertain me.

**AUTUMN MEADOWHAWK**
The autumn meadowhawk is a bright red or yellow dragonfly that has yellow legs. It lingers longer through the summer season than most dragonflies.

Autumn meadowhawks, as the name implies, are most active from late summer through fall, and are abundant in open meadows or prairies like the one I was in. They are often the last dragonflies you will see as the colder weather sets in. If there hasn’t been a hard freeze, it’s even possible to find them in November!

**AMERICAN GOLDFINCH**
Goldfinches are among the strictest vegetarians in the bird world, selecting an entirely vegetable diet and only inadvertently swallowing an occasional insect.

At the ninety minute mark, I finally spotted something other than a meadowhawk– a praying mantis! There were probably hundreds of them hidden in the grasses all around me, but praying mantids are particularly well-camouflaged and extremely hard to find! I was thrilled that this one was out in the open and clinging to the underside of a stalk of goldenrod. The most fascinating thing about this insect is its ability to rotate its heads 180 degrees! No other insect can do this, and it’s particularly creepy to zoom in on one and find it staring back at you from over its shoulder!

**PRAYING MANTIS**
The praying mantis is so named because when waiting for prey, it holds its
front legs in an upright position as if they are folded in prayer. Don’t be fooled
by its angelic pose, however, because the mantid is a deadly predator!

While I was watching the praying mantis, a small bird flew across my peripheral field and landed in a distant tree. It wasn’t close enough for a good picture, but I took a few quick shots anyway so that I could identify it later. The bird turned out to be an Eastern Wood-Peewee; an olive-gray bird with dark wings and an off-white belly. It’s bigger than a Black-capped Chickadee but smaller than an Eastern Bluebird.

**EASTERN WOOD PEEWEE**
The Eastern Wood-Pewee’s plaintive song of three sliding notes (*pee-a-weeeee*) is distinctive and easy to learn. (This photo was taken on a different walk.)

Thirty minutes later, I came across my best surprise of the day, a ruby-throated hummingbird! They are usually on the move and hard to capture, but this one landed on a branch and sat for a spell.

**RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD**
The extremely short legs of the ruby-throated hummingbird prevent it from walking or hopping. The best it can do is shuffle along a perch.

Once the hummingbird flew off, I continued down the path and found my first and only monarch for the day perched on a lovely stand of deep purple ironweed—the perfect plant for a monarch photo! Later, a great spangled fritillary came along and landed on the very same plant! Ironweed is an absolute butterfly magnet! The clusters of hairy purple to pink flowers are irresistible to pollinators, especially swallowtails and monarchs.

**MONARCH BUTTERFLY ON IRONWEED**
White spots on monarch butterfly wings may help them fly better during long migration from Canada to Mexico, new research shows. These spots are believed to alter the airflow patterns around the monarch’s wings, enhancing their flight efficiency. Remarkably, monarchs are the only insects known to embark on such an extensive journey.

**GREAT SPANGLED FRITILLARY ON IRONWEED**
Great spangled fritillaries are relatively large butterflies with a wingspan of 2 to 4 inches and a length of 3.5 to almost 4 inches!

I had a hard time pulling myself away from the butterflies, but there was a small pond nearby and I had noticed cedar waxwings there earlier in my walk. They had been flying back and forth across the pond catching insects. This time of year, cedar waxwings supplement their fruity diet with protein-rich insects like mayflies, dragonflies, and stoneflies, which they often catch on the wing.

**CEDAR WAXWING**
The name “waxwing” comes from the waxy red secretions found on the tips of the secondaries of some birds. The exact function of these tips is not known, but they may help attract mates.

Three hours into my slow, rambling walk, I was ready to head back to my car, but there was one more surprise waiting for me– a very, very tiny American copper butterfly that only flies about two feet above the ground. The upperside of its forewings are a bright copper color with black spots and a gray border. The hindwings are grayish-brown with a copper border. It’s quite a pretty little butterfly when you can see it close-up.

All through the fen, I kept thinking about the changes that were taking place around me; all the beautiful flowers that were already fading away, all the colorful birds and insects that had already left or would soon be leaving, and all the green, leafy trees that would soon be barren.

**FEMALE EASTERN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL**
There was one eastern tiger swallowtail that flew by but it didn’t stop for a picture. This one was taken on a previous picture walk.

It’s not that I dread the changing of the seasons or the coming of winter; I’ll still be traipsing about in the snow looking for a another pretty picture. But I’ll miss the rich variety of birds and insects, and the huge palette of colors that spring and summer throw across the landscape. I always have.

**GRAY CATBIRD**
The catbirds were chattering in the trees around me but never came out for a picture. This picture is from a previous walk.

On the Road Again

June 5, 2023

We just returned from our first real get-away adventure in almost three years. For the better part of the last three years, we had stayed close to home waiting for the pandemic to end. When it was mostly over, and we were ready to travel, our aging dog could no longer go with us or stay in a kennel. She needed a great deal of care. On April 18^th of this year, we had to say our final goodbyes. It was a bittersweet moment in time. After a stressful, isolating pandemic and a heart-wrenching year of doggie hospice, we needed to cut loose.

Our dear, little dog, Brandy who had a long, slow decline.

We headed out to the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. My husband, Mel, had registered to attend a Tenkara fishing get-together/campout near Westby, Wisconsin and I tagged along to take pictures. After three years of home-grown subject matter, I was eager to explore a new environment.

**A beautiful columbine growing along the roadside**

The Driftless area is approximately 8500 square miles of land, mostly in Southwest Wisconsin, that was untouched by glaciers during the last ice age. The term “driftless” indicates a lack of glacial drift, the deposits of silt, gravel, and rock that retreating glaciers leave behind. As a result, the landscape is characterized by steep, limestone-based hills, spring fed waterfalls, deeply carved river valleys, and the largest concentration of cold-water trout streams in the world! It was a perfect place for Mel to go Tenkara fishing.

Tenkara is a method of fly fishing that originated in the mountains of Japan. It uses very long rods with fixed lengths of casting line attached to the rod-tip, and simple, wet flies as lures. This method of fishing was developed to catch trout in free-flowing rivers like the ones found in the Driftless Areas of Wisconsin. I don’t fish, but I was happy enough to go wandering down the back roads near where Mel was fishing to look for birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and flowers; but not GNATS!

Those little buggers came at me with a vengeance! They were in my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. They were on my sweaty skin. They landed wherever they could find moisture! Gnats are drawn to the carbon dioxide we exhale, as well as the sweet, fruity smells of our shampoos and lotions. There’s no way to get away from them! I was just one giant, sweet-smelling moisture buffet!

**Deer on the edge of the road who was curious about my presence**

I hustled back to the car as fast as I could to see if my insect repellent Buff would help. (https://www.buff.com/us/insect-shieldr-neckwear) A Buff is a long tube of thin material that you can pull over your head to cover everything but your eyes. My eyes were protected, at least somewhat, by my glasses. The Buff was a tremendous help; it allowed me take pictures, but it didn’t stop all the gnats who really wanted to get me from crawling into my Buff or going behind my glasses! I did have bug repellent on, but it was no match for these guys! Later, we went to a store and found a repellent that was recommended for gnats and it seemed to work for about an hour before needing to be replenished. It was a welcome relief!

**Me and my Buff fending off the gnats!!**

In spite of the gnats, and the unseasonably hot temperatures, it was good to be on the road again; to engage in our favorite hobbies in a new environment, to sleep outside in our tent and hear the barred owls calling, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?” and to wake up in the morning to the sound of birds filling the air with their joyful noise. It was a welcome respite from the unwelcome ‘noise’ in our everyday lives.

**Dot-tailed White-faced dragonfly in the obelisk position to cool off**

In just a few days, we’ll be on the road again; to the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota for a five-day canoe trip with friends.

Can’t wait!

**Great Blue Heron overhead (note the shadow of its head on the lower wing!)**

**A teeny tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird high up on a utility wire!**

**Snapping Turtle feasting on the tadpoles**

Three Gifts

June 4, 2022

I have a mental checklist that I review every time I leave the house for a picture walk: Is my camera battery fully charged? Is my memory card inserted? Do I have an extra card and an extra battery? Do I have my phone and is it fully charged? Do I have my monopod? But, after what happened yesterday, I should probably switch my mental list to an real list!

I was off on another picture adventure and eager to see what surprises awaited me. My destination was a favorite nature center about an hour away from home. Whenever I go on a picture adventure, I feel an immediate sense of calm wash over me once I arrive. Yesterday was no exception. I drove into the parking lot, took a deep, relaxing breath, and prepared for my three-hour escape into nature’s arms– until I realized there was no memory card in my camera!!

Canada Goose on a nest and goose parents with their goslings

I had made this mistake before and had come prepared with an emergency back-up card! Perfect! Once the card was inserted, I happily set off into the ‘wild’ hoping for a day filled with beautiful little creatures and colorful flowers. My joy was short-lived.

Female Mallard and a Semi-palmated Plover

Forty-five minutes into my walk, after taking only three measly pictures, my memory card said ‘full’!! What??? How could that be?? I tried every ‘high tech’ solution I could think of to remedy the situation: pull the card out and put it back in; turn off the camera, turn it back on, and re-format the memory card–repeatedly. Nothing worked! It was time for plan B! Look for the nearest store!

I hustled back to my car as fast as a marginally nimble 75 year-old can hustle on an uneven boardwalk with an expensive camera, a 600mm lens, and a 5 foot monopod! Once in my car, I drove as quickly as was legally possible to the nearest store to find another memory card– and hope that it worked. It didn’t. But I had already driven back to the nature center before I found out!

At that point, I could have just thrown in the towel. I could have just gone for a ‘regular’ walk and not taken pictures. But it was completely impossible for me to do that! This particular nature center had a butterfly house. It was the perfect place for close-up shots of stunning and unusual butterflies. I had to stay!

White Peacock Butterfly in the Butterfly House at the Nature Center

Female Common Whitetail Dragonfly and a Hobomok Butterfly

Garden White Butterfly in the Butterfly House at the Nature Center

Monarch Butterfly in the Butterfly House at the Nature Center

So, I went back into town to a different store and looked for a different memory card. While standing in the aisle reading the descriptions on each of the various cards, I suddenly realized why the first card hadn’t work and dashed out of the store. Back to the nature center for my third and final attempt at trying to salvage what was left of an otherwise lovely day!

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly in the Butterfly House at the Nature Center

Zebra Longwing Butterfly in the Butterfly House at the Nature Center

I had first arrived at the nature center at 9:00 a.m. It was now noon. The soft morning light was long gone, as was the cool morning air. It had been a frustrating start to what was supposed to have been a calm and relaxing day. I was totally frazzled.

But, keeping things in perspective is everything. The day was still young. The weather was still great and, most of all, I was very much alive and well, doing something I dearly loved— three priceless gifts that not everyone gets to enjoy. It was all I really needed to remember and off I went…

Everyday Surprises

November 5, 2021

Over the last several years, I’ve gone on hundreds of picture walks and taken thousands of pictures. I often visit the same preserves and nature centers over and over again and take pictures of the very same plants and creatures that I did before. On the surface, this might seem like an extremely boring thing to do; that I would run out of things to photograph that were interesting or novel or fun. The truth is, it never stops being fun. Every day is different and every walk brings new surprises —even if the subject matter is the same.

On rare occasions, the surprise will be a brand-new bird or a brand-new insect! More often than not, I photograph things that I’m already quite familiar with. The surprise comes when that familiar thing is in an unexpected place or shows up at an unexpected time of year. For example, I’ve taken an embarrassingly high number of bullfrog pictures. By any reasonable standard, I don’t need another bullfrog! But a few days ago, on a cool October afternoon, I was surprised to find a big green bullfrog perched comfortably on a log soaking in what little sun he could find. It was barely 50 degrees! I thought all the frogs would be hunkered down staying ‘warm’ under water! So I took his picture– to remind myself that frogs can tolerate much cooler temperatures than I had expected.

Last winter, in late January, I was surprised to find an Oregon Junco sitting in a tree not far from our back deck! Oregon Juncos aren’t usually found this far east, but there he was! After doing a little research, I discovered that on very rare occasions Oregon Juncos will show up in the western lower peninsula of Michigan! I learned something new!

Sometimes, the surprise I find is as simple as getting a picture at all!! Belted Kingfishers, for instance, are notoriously skittish birds. It is impossible to sneak up on one. They always see me coming no matter how carefully I approach. Whenever I’m lucky enough to actually get a picture of one, it’s because I had arrived first and the Belted Kingfisher came by later, totally unaware of my presence!

The secret to finding so many surprises, I think, is to stay curious and to expect the unexpected. Even the most ordinary things can yield extraordinary surprises.

All of the pictures here represent a surprise of one sort or another.

This is the American Bullfrog I found on a cool October day when it seemed much too chilly for any sensible frogs to be out and about!

This is the Oregon Junco that came to our backyard last January. Typically, these birds do not wander this far east. On rare occasions, though, Oregon Juncos will show up in the western lower peninsula of Michigan!

Here is one of the best pictures I’ve ever gotten of a Belted Kingfisher. He didn’t see me because I had gotten there first!

This injured Barn Owl was in an enclosure at a nature center and easy to photograph. The surprise was that the picture turned out at all– there were cage wires between my camera and the owl, but they didn’t show up in the picture!

This injured Juvenile Turkey Vulture was also at a nature center and behind cage wires. I was surprised that the wires didn’t show up in the picture and that I could see such fine detail in the Turkey Vulture’s Face.

This Virginia Giant Fly was a surprise for two reasons: I had never seen one before and it’s such a beautiful insect!

Eastern Bluebirds still surprise me because, for the longest time, I didn’t realize that many of them stay here in Michigan all winter, especially in the lower peninsula where I live.

I was really surprised to find this Monarch Butterfly out and about on a late October day. I thought they had all left!

These Common Mergansers took me by surprise because I rarely see them and they are such beautiful birds!

I always look for Praying Mantises in the late summer and early fall, but they are usually so well camouflaged, that I’m actually quite surprised if I find one– especially if it’s in a good position to photograph!

Dark-eyed Juncos are usually on the ground foraging for food and are hard to notice. This one surprised me by landing up in a tree with colorful leaves in the background making him much easier to spot!

Milkweed pods can disperse a surprisingly large number of seeds–sometimes as many as 200!

The Common Grackle, a bird many people dislike for its aggressive behavior,
is surprisingly beautiful bird in the right light.

I was surprised to learn that White-throated Sparrows sometimes cross-breed with Dark-eyed Juncos!

This Yellow-rumped Warbler was a very pleasant surprise when it landed right where I wanted it to– on this brightly colored stem of a Pokeweed plant.

Even though we see these beautiful Fall colors every year in Michigan, they never cease to surprise and delight me!

When you maintain a sense of curiosity and wonder about the natural world, there will always be surprises!