Friends, These birds are sometimes foreign to Wisconsin having migrated from the far North. We are Florida to these rough-legged Hawks. I am putting together a book of the hawks that i have photographed from Hawk Ridge this fall during the migration. One specie is being difficult to get a photo, although a few have gone over the ridge, I have not been there when a Rough-Legged Hawk has been in hand. This Roughie was photographed by me in Crex during a recent irruption year, maybe it will be my only photograph. They get their name from the beautiful feathering on their legs that protects them from ice, snow and other hazards of the very far northland. I have three days left to photo this bird, maybe I will get lucky. til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, I know I cheated a little by leaving some details in my silhouettes, but when totally dark against a light background they lose that flying delicate feathery look. These are Greater Sandhill Cranes that are gathered by the thousands on the marshes and corn fields around Crex Meadows. They are feeding and resting for a while before another push to southern climes, the snow will eventually drive them from Wisconsin. They keep me outside, hiking, photographing and waiting for the snow, BAH Humbug, til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, Lake Superior, the biggest of the Great Lakes, and also the deepest and coldest. This is an image of the harbor at Duluth Minnesota with a ore ship coming out of the docks and headed north. These ships can be 1000 feet in length. The fall foliage in Duluth is legendary and this is a view from Hawk Ridge where i have been photographing the fall migration of hawks (see previous blogs) so til Tomorrow MJ
Oct 7
This gallery contains 12 photos.
Friends, these are things that make me happy, click on any image to see the captions and full-sized images in a slide show. The right and left arrows direct you through the show and the small x in the upper left hand corner returns you to this post. Enjoy , til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, this Great Blue Heron is fishing alone . They don’t like company when they are seeking food in the lake. A solitary figure for our weekly photo theme: solitary. He stalks the shallows along the shoreline and with a quick jab catches a small fish which he swallows whole and head first. He has been in Crex all summer and i see him in the same area every day. He has some rust stains on his blue feathering from the water. til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, on a lovely day in late August, Crex Meadows is at its best. This is a landscape shot of the marshes of Crex. These wetlands are merged with the drier prairie as shown by the image below. These two photos were taken on one spot on the road, one facing west and the other facing east. They merge seamlessly in the sandy pine barrens of Northwestern Wisconsin. I usually take photos of the wildlife and especially the birds, but today was such a lovely sunny day that i backed out the telephoto to show you more of the surroundings. The waterlilies are still blooming and the Trumpeter Swans are still pulling roots from the water. Below is a less attractive image taken on the other side of the same road but shows the Big Blue Stem grasses. Behind the grasses is a row of trees, mostly oaks. Crex houses many different environments and merged together they make up the sandy pine barrens of Northwestern Wisconsin. enjoy til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, I was photographing this young red tailed hawk when he rapidly left the scene. There is a recent trend to accept some bird photos as “pleasing blurs”, but i call this one the wrong shutter speed and poor panning technique, so in essence this is not a pleasing blur. I will share one of my better shots in the near future til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, this small skipper reminds me to grow as a photographer, i normally don’t take pictures of insects, an occasional butterfly, but no bugs to speak of, so this little critter represents my growth into realms unknown. His identity is also vague for me, i think he is a Leonardis, but i am certainly no expert, the wildflower is blue vervain and blooms from the bottom of the stem to the top, this boy has a long black proboscis to suck his soda through the straw, til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, Searching for remnants of the tall grass prairie on Thursday yielded many shots of this Queen Anne’s Lace. This image tells the flower story, the beautiful sweet blooms attract many bees and then the flowers fold into the seed pod up above the flower. You can still see the structures inside the spent bloom, i like the insides of this image. Do you? til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, this osprey is moving slightly between each shot and i combined the multiple images into a single image to show movement. Yes a blurred image is commonly used, but i prefer the multiple image approach. I tend to photograph birds and animals in burst mode so combining several images into one say movement to me. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 