Green Darner Surprise

I am recently returned from a backpacking trip up in Pictured Rocks Nat'l Lakeshore in the U.P.  I can't wait to get hoppin' on the photos I took up there, but I haven't had a chance to take a look at them yet.  So I will share with you some images I shot a few weeks ago.

I was out in the Brighton Rec Area, near the swamp where we've been doing our volunteer work, doing a little garlic mustard recon.  It is getting late in the season already to be pulling it--as soon as the seed pods dry out you can do more harm than good by spreading the seeds when you pull, so it's best to leave it alone.  I wanted to make a pass through our target areas to check for stragglers, then do a little work in some outlying areas.

I came across a few plants near the trail and started yanking them out of the ground.  A had just reached for a plant, and started to wrap my hand around it, when I realized there was a very large insect clinging to the stalk. I instinctively yanked my hand back.

Anax junius, Common Green Darner

To my surprise, hanging motionless from the garlic mustard plant, was a green darner.  I grabbed the camera to take a few shots.  This insect was huge, at least as big as my iPhone.

I took several shots, then pulled the plant and laid it against some other foliage.  The darner never moved, except to rearrange it's feet. What a beauty! I have to assume that it was fresh from the larval stage, so clean and unmarred. Not a nick to be seen.

The eyes on this creature are amazing, wrapping almost all the way around its head. Was it studying me like I was studying it?

Wings so delicate and yet so strong.  We watched some dragonflies over the dunes at Pictured Rocks and their maneuverability is just incredible. They can go every direction but backwards, it seems. I'm not much of a bug person but these creatures are simply beyond words.

Empire Bluffs and Sleeping Bear Dunes

Sleeping Bear Dunes, con't:

The highlight of the trip for me was, and always is, a hike up to Empire Bluffs. This is without a doubt one of the most scenic spots I have even been in.

The hike is about 3/4 of a mile, not long but mostly uphill as you climb the backside of the bluff.  The woods' spring wildflowers were mostly done, but the sweet white violet was in its glory.  Carpets of it blanketed the forest floor.

Viola canedensis

 It was hot, and by the time we reached the boardwalk that leads to the bluff we felt like we'd walked all day.  But the reward is worth it.

View from Empire Bluffs. South Manitou Island is visible on the horizon on the right.

At the end of the trail, which runs along the top of the bluff for perhaps a few hundred feet there's a seating area. No one was there, and we took off our shoes and socks and sat for a while, enjoying the sun, and wind, and the sand between our toes.

The Sleeping Bear.

This big old tree, having long since tumbled down the dune, marked the end of the trail. I liked the impermenance of the graffiti on it, constantly worn away by the wind-driven sand.

America got it right when it named this place the most beautiful in the country.

Chasing Vireos

Sleeping Bear Dunes con't:

One of the first things I noticed when we got to the campground was the beautiful, melodic song of one particular bird whose territory seemed to encompass our campsite.  It's song sounded very similar to an American robin, which were plentiful in the woods, and I didn't pay it much attention. But at 5am the next morning, when it began to sing directly over our tent, I paid it a great deal of attention. I finally was him later that morning and was surprised to see it was definitely not a robin.

So hard to ID from underneath.

So after breakfast I got my camera and started following him around the campsite. I had not a clue what it was. He was working the middle canopy areas of the woods around our site, clearly gleaning insects.  I could tell his breast and belly were white, he had a dark eyeline, and at some point I caught a glimpse of his back, which was olive.

Got himself some breakfast!

What the heck is it?

I was without a bird book (duh!) so I got out my iPhone and opened the iBird app.  I put in all of the info I was certain about, but the search did not give me anything that made sense.

I hadn't slept well the night before so after our Alligator Hill hike and a plate of nachos I tried to take a nap in the tent.  I may have slept for five minutes when I heard the little stinker right above the tent once again. I crawled out, cursing quietly, and got my camera. This time he was lower down in the canopy.  Right off the bat, before I'd even gotten him in focus, he catches a cranefly.

Mmmm, got it by the head.

Then he paused long enough for me to get a really good look at him. Lori watched with her binoculars. Then we got iBird fired up again and started paging through options.  Vireos were our second guess and sure enough, this guy turned out to be a Red-eyed vireo. In our defense we could not see his red eye as clearly as it stands out in this photo.

Ah ha!

We wanted to check our guess so I decided to play the song on my phone.  I have never done this before as I really don't like to disturb things, but I was curious what his reaction would be.  If he responded we figured we were right. Three seconds into the song he came zipping into our campsite and landed in a tree six feet off the ground.  I gave my phone to Lori and grabbed my camera.  She played it one more time and he swooped down from his perch and flew mere inches past her nose, then landed in a cedar directly across from me.

Reading about the Red-eyed vireo on the Cornell site I was embarrassed to see that this is a very common bird in Eastern forests. Goodness knows how many times I've heard one and thought it was something else. Silly girl, I clearly have a lot yet to learn!

Alligator Hill Hike

Sleeping Bear Dunes con't

Having done all of our business on Wednesday Lori and I had Thursday to do a bit of exploring.  I knew I wanted to spend the afternoon on Empire Bluffs, perhaps the prettiest view anywhere, so we opted for a morning hike up Alligator Hill, which is practically across the road from the D.H. Day campground.

Right off the parking area are these big concrete structures.  We were baffled until we read the sign at the far end which explained they were ovens used to make charcoal out of the logging wastes years ago.  I thought they were kind of creepy.

The area is mostly wooded but the trail passes through a few small meadows.  I was disappointed to find out this gorgeous plant is not native to the U.S.  Cynoglossum officinale, or Hound's tooth, is actually considered a noxious weed out west where cattle are king.  It produces seeds that stick to everything and the plant is toxic to livestock.  Rats.

The hike in is generally uphill, through dense woods of young trees.

The view at the top is well worth the effort.

I am coming to believe that there is not a more gorgeous view than that of Lake Michigan from high atop on overlooking bluff.  This is Sleeping Bear Bay, looking east.  This area includes Glen Arbor, Glen Haven and the D.H. Day campground.  

The view of the bay to the west.  You can just make out South Manitou Island on the horizon. It is such a restful, meditative place, and we spent some time here soaking in the view.  We were here a few days before the Memorial Day weekend crowds, so we had the place to ourselves.

We hiked back the we we'd come as it was getting quite warm and I knew the route would be shady.  We stopped at Al's in Glen Arbor and shared a plate of nachos, then hung out at the campsite for awhile.  I spent a good deal of time chasing a bird who had been working over the tree canopy around our site.  He had a sweet, melodic song like a robin, and I was determined to figure out what it was.  That's coming up next.

Artwork--"By Any Other Name"

Have a new piece done just in time for a show this weekend, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts' Art Fair.  I did a grosbeak years ago when I was playing around with acrylics.  I believe I gave it to my aunt, who is an RBG nut, for Christmas.

"By Any Other Name." Rose-breasted grosbeak, colored pencil and ink on Bristol board.  8" x 10" framed to 11" x 14"  $395.00

This beautiful bird shows up at our feeders in early to mid-May.  Sometimes he brings a lady friend, and at least once they had babies--I know because I found a dead fledgling under my feeders behind my studio, compliments our neighbor's cat.  Anyway, I love the detail in this piece, there are so many colors that one misses when this bird is viewed from afar. I'm glad I finally got around to revisiting this gorgeous bird.

The name of course comes from the (I believe) Shakespeare quote, "A rose by any other name is still a rose."

Ironically enough, the Woodson Museum's Birds in Art exhibition is currently at the KIA.  I applied this year but did not get selected.  I'll have to go check it out while I'm in town.

Quick Trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes

Between show season madness and editing Holly Wild book two madness and gardening/planting madness, Lori and I managed to find a few days last week to make a quick trip up to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  Like so many of our trips, this one combined some fun and relaxation with work.

Lori had been Artist-In-Residence at the dunes in 2007 and got to know the park's director fairly well.  When we published book one of the Holly Wild series, Lori contacted her and asked about getting the book into their gift shop. They ordered 18 copies!! So while we were up in the park we stopped by the Visitor's Center in Empire and dropped the books off.

Before heading into Glen Arbor to make a stop at Cottage Books to drop off more copies of Holly Wild, we stopped at the D.H. Day campground to get our site and set up.  There are a handful of sites in this rustic campground that are quite close to--although not right on--the beach, and these are nearly always full.  We found a great site though that is much farther back into the woods than the others and really gives a feeling of seclusion, especially when the park is mostly empty as it was on Wednesday.  That changed by Thursday evening as the holiday weekenders started to arrive, but for about 24 hours it was our little slice of heaven.

After going into Glen Arbor we came back to the campground and walked down to the beach.  The Lake Michigan side of the state is very sandy and covered in places with dunes 400 feet high.  This area, Sleeping Bear Bay, is close to lake level, although one can see large dunes at either end of the bay.

The dogwood along the boardwalk were blooming.  The boardwalk is meant to keep people from trampling the fragile dune habitat but many people ignore the the signs and run willy-nilly across the sand anyway.

It's been very dry in the area so far this year, and already plants were looking a bit yellow and tired out.

We stumbled upon this sweet sentiment someone left on the beach.  We both very nearly stepped on it.

The afternoon was cloudy and the sky a little hazy.  While they really needed rain, we hoped it would wait until we had gone home.

Sleeping Bear Bay, with South Manitou Island on the right.

As soon as we set foot on the beach, we were besiged by swarms of these tiny insects.  We have no idea what they are, and thank goodness they didn't bite, but they made being by the water unpleasant to say the least.  They got into everything, including my hair, clothes, nose, behind my glasses, and inside the hood on my camera lens.  We spent only ten minutes or so by the water before we gave up and went back to camp.

Trail Cam Images

This past Christmas Santa brought us Bear Track girls a trail camera.  We'd talked for years about getting one but never got around to it, so I was very excited when one showed up under our tree.

We have five acres of mixed habitat.  Historically it was black oak barren, but years of human abuse have left it covered with autumn olive and other invasive species.  It's part open grassland, part shrubland, part mixed hardwood/conifer woods.  We have lots of critters, some we knew, some we only suspected.  The trail cam would help verify who is here and when they come around.

The biggest challenge was figuring out where to put it.  We first put it by the chicken coop, but didn't get any pictures of anything but the dog.  We next tried behind my studio, where the bird feeders are, thinking they would draw in critters.  We did get a few good shots, like this white-tailed deer...

...and this terrible twosome, angling for the suet and getting a drink from my wagon bird bath. 

But mostly we got pictures of me filling the feeders, or of the dog, or of nothing at all.  I think most of the action took place so far away the sensor just didn't pick up the movement.

It is recommended that the camera be placed where it faces north to reduce glare from the sun on the lens.  We were finding it hard to find a tree of the right size in the right place facing a worn path, but finally one day, out looking for morel mushrooms, we found the perfect spot.  The trail it faces passes into our neighbor's property and through this sheltered spot, and it has proved to be a good choice.

Right off the bat we got lots of rabbit photos.  Rabbits are good because they're a prey animal and will bring other animals into this area.

Then the camera captured this wonderful pose by a doe.  I laugh because I could not have taken a better shot than this if I'd been sitting in a blind being eaten by mosquitoes.  This is much more pleasant!

This next image was a big surprise.  I have only seen a turkey on our property once in six years, so to catch this hen crossing the trail was a thrill.

Nice shot of two white-tail rumps.

Finally we got a shot of what we had been hoping for--an animal we knew was out there but had never seen on our property.  This gorgeous coyote paused briefly on its way to our neighbor's open field.  We have heard their cries and calls from time to time, sometimes distant, sometimes no more than a few hundred feet from the house.  This was validation.  Now if we can only get one facing the camera!

And just last week, this buck paused for his portrait.  More than just a button buck, I'll be curious to see how his rack develops this summer.

 My show season kicks off in earnest this weekend at the East Lansing Art Festival.  Check it out at www.elartfest.com!