Checking all the Boxes

October 12, 2020

The other day, I was talking with a friend about this hobby of mine that I love–nature photography; about picture walks, about writing a blog, about being outdoors every day. After listening to me ramble on enthusiastically, she said, “It really checks off all the boxes for you, doesn’t it?”

“Well, yes, I guess it does,” I replied. And then proceeded to get lost in my head visualizing all of those tiny boxes…

Box Number One is the ‘exercise box’. I get out and go for a picture walk almost every day. I may not walk fast and I may not walk far, but I do get up and out the door for three or four hours at a crack–sometimes more. At age 73, that might be considered an accomplishment!

**Autumn Meadowhawk and an Eastern Phantom Cranefly**

Box Number Two is ‘connecting with nature’. As soon as I arrive at the woods or fields where I’ll be taking pictures, a sense of calm washes over me as I get ready to explore all the possibilities that lay ahead. I am so focused on looking for things to photograph, that I totally forget about anything that might have worried me before I left the house. A picture walk feels so much like a form of meditation that I decided to Google the words “photography as meditation” to see if anything came up. I was quite surprised to find that not only had articles been written on this topic, there was actually a book with the same title, ‘Photography as Meditation’!!

**Fall Leaves and a Red-legged Grasshopper**

Box Number Three is ‘making connections with others’. One of the things I really like to do after taking my pictures, is to share them with others. There are so many interesting things to see out there! When I share what I’ve found with others, it starts a conversation. Those pictures and those conversations lead to writing a story, such as this blog, which then leads to Box Number Four.

**Solitary Sandpiper and a Pectoral Sandpiper**

**Palm Warbler and a White-breasted Nuthatch**

I love to write. I love pulling my thoughts together and putting them down on ‘paper’. Writing things out forces me to clarify what I’ve seen and what I’ve learned. My hope is that those stories prove interesting or educational or somehow beneficial to someone else. If nothing else, though, the stories I write serve as ‘memory keepers’ for me when, years from now (or maybe next week!) the details of a particular walk will have eluded me!

**Small Copper Butterfly and a Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle**

There are certainly other boxes that could be checked off, such as ‘picture walks vacation destinations’ and ‘picture walks creative projects’, but the four I’ve described are at the very top of my list and are all the motivation I need to get out the door for another day of exploration.

The Peace of Wild Things

September 19, 2020

This poem by Wendell Berry was posted recently by a friend and it really resonated with me, especially during these very stressful and troubling times. It speaks volumes about the peace we can find in nature and of the comfort it can provide.

There’s nothing more that I can add to this beautiful poem, so here are a few of my wild things to enjoy vicariously…

Virginia Ctenucha Moth and Male Widow Skimmer Dragonfly

Cabbage White and Common Buckeye Butterflies

House Sparrow and Black-capped Chickadee

Eastern Phoebe and White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-legged Grasshopper, White-faced Meadowhawk Dragonfly, Familiar Bluet Damselfly and a Halloween Pennant Dragonfly

Painted Lady Butterfly and Spotted Spreadwing Damselfly

Silver Linings

September 1, 2020

I love going out in the cool morning light for a picture walk, especially during these hot summer days when the afternoon temperatures have been well into the 90s! But our lovely summer days are quickly coming to an end, a bittersweet reminder that fall and winter are close at hand. I am looking forward to the cool, crisp days of fall, but am acutely aware that they will come at a price– all the colorful butterflies, dragonflies and frogs that I love to photograph will soon be gone. Come winter, the world will be even more monochromatic.

***Autumn Meadowhawk and Eastern Pondhawk***

***Common Jewelweed and a Redbud leaf***

That said, my walk the other morning was a perfect blend of Summer and Fall. It was deliciously cool in the morning, sunny and warm by the afternoon; much too cold for the frogs and dragonflies as the day began, but plenty warm a few hours later for all my favorite creatures to be out sunning themselves!

***Differential Grasshopper and a Widow Skimmer***

***Black Saddlebags and a Blue Dasher***

Knowing full well that colder weather is nipping at my heels, I’ve been out nearly every day for at least a couple of hours trying to capture what’s left of summer. Because of the pandemic, we haven’t traveled far and I’ve been limited to visiting the same preserves and natural areas closest to home many times over. When I’m in the midst of taking my 700^th picture of a monarch or a blue dasher or a bullfrog in the same preserve I’ve been to hundreds of times, I stave off the potential monotony of it all by telling myself “It’s all practice, Jeanne, It’s all practice”– It’s a different day and a different light, every shot I take is a new challenge!

***Common Buckeye and a Silver-spotted Skipper***

The silver lining to going back to the same places over and over again is that I really get to know its inhabitants; a case in point is the Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery. I’ve been going there at least twice a week for years—and even more so during this pandemic. It’s a wonderful place to explore with dozens of ponds and lots of wildflowers. I’ve been there so many times that I know the best places to look for frogs; the most likely places to find the swallows perched on limbs, and which ponds the kingfishers favor most. I thoroughly enjoy this knowledge and this familiarity —but I am still longing for a change of venue.

***American Goldfinch and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird***

**Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a Starling**

Hopefully, by this time next year, the world will be open again and we can all feel safe in our travels—however small those travels may be.

Racing the Sun

August 16, 2020

My favorite time of day for going on a picture walk is early, early morning– just as the sun is coming up. It’s a quiet, peaceful time of day when the rest of the world is not yet awake and not yet making noise. It’s a time of day when it’s easier to hear the birds and easier to notice the movement of the grasses where a wiggling bug or bird might emerge.

One of my favorite early morning shots was this little chipmunk perched in a tree with an abundance of colorful flowers in the background.

Oftentimes, there’s a mist across the water that adds to the dreaminess of an early morning walk. If I’m lucky, I’ll catch a dragonfly or two laden with dew drops and not quite ready to fly, or a spider web sparkling in the sunlight. The morning sun has a way of making everything look fresher and brighter and more saturated. The problem is, the morning sun doesn’t last long and I always feel like I’m racing against it for a few good shots.

Familiar Bluet Damselfly on a dewy blade of grass

Early morning mist on the pond at the Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Mattawan, Michigan

The race begins long before I leave the house. In truth, it starts the night before when I lay my clothes out in the guest room so that, come morning, I can get ready without waking up my better half. In order to win my race against the sun in these waning days of summer, I need to be out the door by 6:00 or 6:30 a.m., depending on how far I have to drive. If I leave later than I should have, then the race becomes literal!

I love finding the frogs when I’m out on a walk. Sometimes, it’s a bit like a Where’s Waldo challenge!

Spider web laden with dew and an Eastern Kingbird

Once I arrive at my destination, the race continues– because I want to be everywhere at once before the sun is too high in the sky. If you’ve never been in a race against the sun, it’s hard to explain the urgency—or the delight, if you win!

Calico Pennant Dragonfly and a Northern Rough-winged Swallow

(All of the pictures in this post were taken in the early morning sun.)

A Photography Journey

August 4, 2020

As I pondered what to write today, I was thinking back on my short but immensely gratifying photography journey.

**Barn Swallow and a Belted Kingfisher**

**Eastern Kingbird and Willow Flycatcher**

It started innocently enough in the fall of 2016, when my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I had no idea! But, he likes finding things that surprise me, so I gave it some thought. What I came up with was “a better camera”. For many, many years, all I had was a very small, pocket-sized, Canon Powershot.

**Brown Thrasher and Female Red-winged Blackbird**

Once I told Mel about my ‘better camera’ idea, he went to work researching it. What he came up with was another model of the Canon Powershot –but a bigger, better version with a built-in zoom lens. I now refer to this camera as my ‘gateway drug’! As soon as I realized what was possible with a better camera, I was hooked!

**Eastern Giant Swallowtail on Bull Thistle and a Great Spangled Fritillary** **on Coneflower**

**Eastern Tiger Swallowtail** **on Butterfly Bush**

**Monarch on Butterfly Weed and a Red-spotted Admiral on Queen Anne’s Lace**

It wasn’t long before I was outdoors nearly every day taking pictures of birds, butterflies, frogs, turtles– anything I could find that grabbed my attention. Eventually, though, I started musing about what I might be able to do with an even better camera—one that could capture the birds that were even farther away, and would also have a faster response time.

**Blue Dasher and a Twelve-spotted Skimmer**

Since Mel enjoys doing the research and I do not, he’s the one who went to work looking for another camera, one that would take a detachable telephoto lens. What he came up with was a Nikon D3400 and a 75-300mm lens. Once it arrived, I was out the door!

Snowberry Clearwing Moth **(aka hummingbird moth)** **on Spotted Knapweed and Bee** **Balm**

I think another year went by, maybe less, and I found myself wanting to capture creatures that were even farther away. Mel took off on another search and came up with a 150-600mm lens from Sigma that would probably do the trick. But it was much longer and much heavier than the one I currently had and I was hesitant. When it arrived, I was still hesitant. It just seemed too big and too heavy for me to handle comfortably. But I was eager to take close-ups and quickly overcame my reluctance. I have not put it down since!

**Spicebush Swallowtail on Butterfly Weed and a Viceroy** **on Button Bush**

Eventually, the constant lifting and focusing with a lens that size made my back ache and I reluctantly added a monopod to my set up. It’s a bit of a bother sometimes to have the monopod attached, but I can now focus on a subject for an indefinite amount of time without having to give my back a break.

**This insect was a huge surprise! It’s a female BOTFLY laying an egg on a blade of grass. I’ve never seen one before and didn’t know we even had them in the U.S.!**

After the Nikon D3400, came a Nikon D5600, which is what I have been using for the last couple of years. This camera and I have gone on a picture walk together nearly every day and I have taken hundreds of pictures with it on each of those walks. Periodically, I have checked to see how much ‘shutter life’ it had left.

**Juvenile Great Blue Heron and Halloween Pennant Dragonflies mating**

My D5600 had been given a shutter life of 100,000 shots. When I last checked, I had taken well over 151,000 pictures! I felt as if we were on borrowed time and decided to start looking for a new one.

**Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (dark morph) and a Pearl Crescent Butterfly**

Once again, Mel returned to the drawing board to find a camera that was well suited for wildlife photography. What he found was a Nikon D500. It arrived a just a few days ago and we have already become fast friends!

**Red-spotted Admiral and a Silver-spotted Skipper**

With a shutter life of 200,000 shots, I’m looking forward to many years and many pleasant journeys with my newest walking companion!

Red Saddlebags with Mites

March 26, 2020

In the midst of this global pandemic, I feel grateful that I can still go out for walks. No matter how anxious or stressed I am by all the heartache and suffering this pandemic has caused, if I can get out for a while and take pictures, I always feel better when I return.

Green Heron and a Louisianna Waterthrush

I enjoy going to a wide variety of places in hopes of finding a wide variety of interesting things to photograph. But, when I’m limited in the number of choices I have, I just change the time of day that I go– which changes the light as well as the creatures who might be out and about. In the past ten days, I’ve been to nine places, two of which were repeat visits. No matter how many times I go, I always manage to find something that surprises or delights me. If nothing else, it’s all good photography practice. When I do find something unusual, it’s fun to do a little research later and find out more about it.

Great Blue Heron and a Black-necked Stilt

One thing that has really helped my research endeavors is an app called iNaturalist. When I don’t know the name of the bird or bug or plant I’ve photographed, I enter the picture into the app and, within a few seconds, I get back several suggestions as to what it might be. Once I am reasonably certain that I have correctly identified my subject, I go online for more information. That’s how I identified this dragonfly called a Red Saddlebags.

“ The red-mantled saddlebags or red saddlebags is a species of skimmer dragonfly found throughout the eastern United States. It has translucent wings with red veins, and has characteristic dark red blotches at their proximal base, which makes the dragonfly look as if it is carrying saddlebags when flying.”

One interesting thing that you can see on this dragonfly are tiny red dots. A few years ago, this phenomenon surprised me. You can’t really see them with the naked eye (unless, perhaps, the dragonfly is in your hand), so, I was quite surprised the first time I saw the red spots on a dragonfly when I had enlarged a picture on my computer. They’re called mites.

“…these bright red mites, from the tick family, are hitchhikers that feed on body fluids. They jump off when the host drops down over a new pond or wetland.”

Apparently, these mites have little or no adverse effect on their host dragonfly, unless you happen to be a male dragonfly with a body full of them, in which case, you might not be as successful as your friends during the mating process.

White Peacock Butterfly and a Tri-colored Heron

Anhinga and Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Wherever you are in this world living through this pandemic, I wish you good health. If you are able, take a restorative walk outside now and then and look for something that surprises or delights you. If that’s not possible (or not particularly fun for you!), I hope these virtual walks serve a similar purpose!

Stay well.

Hello Sunshine!

February 5, 2020

After months and months of dreary Michigan skies, it was a welcome relief to finally arrive in Florida for 10-weeks of respite. It’s not that I don’t like winter, I actually love the snow; but in Michigan, it doesn’t come often and it doesn’t stay long. Most of the time it turns to slush. The straw that breaks the camel’s back, though, is the never-ending days of gray. I can live with the slush, but it’s hard to forego sunshine day after day.

I totally missed this alligator at first, thinking it was a rock!

So, for the last four years, we have loaded up our cameras, fishing gear, inflatable kayaks and our two very old dogs to head south, to sunnier skies, to warmer days and never ending picture opportunities.

We arrived at our rental destination late Monday afternoon and I could barely contain myself. I was so tired of sitting in the car for days on end that I could hardly wait until Tuesday morning to go for a picture walk! As soon as the sun was up, that’s exactly what I did.

Osprey makes a ‘one-handed’ catch in Ollie’s Pond!

My first picture walk on Tuesday morning was around the wonderful little Ollie’s Pond. Later in the day, I went to the Larry Taylor Kiwanis Park not far from our rental. Today, Mel and I went to two more parks. After months of relative blight in Michigan, I felt as if I had won the lottery: Cormorants, Anhingas, Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Mergansers, Little Blue Herons, Tri-colored herons, Blue-winged teals…the list was almost endless.

Female and Male Hooded Mergansers at Kiwanis Park

I was simultaneously overwhelmed and rejuvenated with all there was to see!