Here is another example of infrared photography showing the interesting detail and contrast clouds add to the photo.

Kinawa Woods IR 2

I thought I would go ahead and post three pics of the IR photo from yesterday. Here are the original, soft and hard versions.

IR Kinawa Woods 1

IR Kinawa Woods 2

IR Kinawa Woods 3

Here is an Infrared photograph that has been converted to black and white. It is a small bridge on one of the trails in Kinawa Woods. If you are interested in finding out more about infrared photography check out this Wikipedia site. 

IR Kinawa Woods 2

Summer is the time for butterflies, all sizes and colors, common and rare. Grab a butterfly book and go for a walk to see how many you can find in one day. Here is a Mitchell's Satyr that I photographed in Legg Park this week.

Mitchell's Satyr

Sometimes even weeds can be beautiful when viewed up close.

Teasle Teasle

While on vacation up north my wife and I were at Cheboygan State Park hiking the trial along Lake Huron when one of the tall ships, the Schooner Denis Sullivan, sailed by Bois Blanc Island headed south. It was out in the lake at quite a distance but none the less very exciting to see. Here is one of the pics I was able to capture just to the south of Bois Blanc.

Schooner Denis Sulivan

I was up north in Presque Isle County for a couple of days visiting with family and was lucky to find this Mourning Warbler along the Bicentennial Pathway at Ocqueoc Falls. Mourning Warblers don't seem to be as plentiful as some of the other warblers so I consider it to be one of my favorite birds.

Mourning Warbler

The Henslow's and Grasshopper Sparrows make their home in large grassland fields. Their voices sound like chirping or buzzing insects and they tend to "run" along the ground hiding among the grasses. Every once in a while they fly up to a perch and throw their heads back to sing their songs and tell the world what a wonderful day it is. You have to be patient to see one of these secretive birds but it is time well spent.

Henslow's Sparrow

Henslow's Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

I grew up on a farm in southern Michigan. On the south east corner of our property there was a small crab apple tree. Year after year I would listen to a Dickcissel sing its song from the top of that tree. Every year it would return and brighten my day with it's song. I have always wondered how many years that Dickcissel returned after I moved away. 

Last Friday as I was driving down a country road in southern Ingham County I heard a familiar bird song outside my window. I stopped the car and listened for a while. There in the top of a small pine tree was a tiny bird with it's head thrown back singing as loudly as it possibly could, dick, dick, cis, cis, cis.. I knew that this was not the same bird that I used to listen to years ago but it thrilled my heart to hear it sing. It brightened my day with it's song.

Dickcissel

Dickcissel

Years ago I would thumb through the pages of my "A Field Guide to the Birds" and dream about all the birds I would see someday. I would linger forever on the page of the Yellow-headed Blackbird and imagine wading through the swamps along the Saginaw Bay to glimpse a black, white and yellow flash and capture that moment with my little Kodak Instamatic 100. 

It took many years to realize this childhood dream but now every year in May I take a trip to Nayanquing Point SWA and snap a picture of this "legendary" bird. It pays to be patient!

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

​Once upon a time there were three billy goats, who were to go up to the hillside to make themselves fat ...

B&W Culvert

Mama said "stay still and don't move, I'll be back shortly".
This photo was taken yesterday in Tacoma Hills Park.

Fawn

This is the bird that got me hooked. When I was 12 years old my aunt and uncle invited me to go birding with them at Point Pelee. I had the time of my life and saw somewhere around 100 birds for the weekend. But the highlight was seeing a Prothonotary Warbler with a perfect reflection in the water it was perched above. I will never forget that image. 

So every year around the 5th of May I go to Baldwin Park in southern Ingham County to see the Prothonotary Warblers that nest along the Grand River. As usual I was rewarded with some great looks at one of Mid Michigan's most beautiful birds. 

Prothonotary Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler