Volo Bog - 9.04.10 - Post 3

Still working on Volo Bog.  The more I look at these shots the more I realize that while a lot of them aren't *bad*, a lot more of them would be *good* if I could be bothered to schlep my tripod more often.

Honeybee on Flower Bulb

Here's a pretty decent shot of a honeybee.  This was snapped in a windier moment and you can see how the bee has dug in to the flower with not only his legs, but his antennae in order to hold in such lovely weather

Pollen Collecting Makes for a Busy Bee

Okay, so you learn something new everyday that you blog.  That bright orange spot on this honeybee?  A pollen sack.  From Honeybee Anatomy and Physiology:

The back leg is the most interesting leg. This has rows of little brushes called pollen combs which are used to pass pollen up the leg. As it makes this journey, the pollen is moistened with a bit of nectar so the bee can knead it into a pellet and then place it on a spike that we call the "pollen sack". 

So we can be certain that this guy has, in fact, been a busy little bee. :)
 

Clouds Over Volo Bog

These next two shots are some of my all time favorites, which is unusual for me since I don't do a lot of landscapes.  Thes are shots from a bird and bog overlook at on the Tamarack Trail.  I took some shots, ate my lunch and then shot some more.  These strike me so much as watercolors more than photographs.  This one was done with the telephoto lens on, pulled back as far as I could.  I love the look of the clouds as well as the fact that in the break in the duckweed, the water is so still you can see the reflection of that tree that's sticking out over the water in the center of the picture.

A Break in the Clouds

Same place, different lens.  I put on the kit lens to get a wider view.  By the time I finished my lunch there was a very small break in the clouds, giving the photo a new focal point and brightening the clouds.

Common Darter, a Long Way from Home?

Back to the telephoto and the small world again.  A new dragonfly for me.  Everything I find online shows me that this should be a Common Darter.  Thing about Common Darters is that they live in Europe and there is no listing (that I can find) of them having a population in the U.S.  (The only thing I find is other people going, "I swear this is a Common Darter, but those don't live in the U.S. so...?) If this IS a Common Darter, it's a mature female - the females start off dark yellow and turn chocolate-brown as they age.  Sure looks right to me.

Common Darter, Face First

Same critter, different angle.  You can see, slightly better, the white face and her wings.  If anyone knows for sure what kind of dragonfly I have here, I'd love to get your input.

Buckeye: Side View

Buckeyes are ridiculously friendly to photographers.  They tend to land in the open and don't seem overly bothered when a human creeps up on them. 

Buckeye: Facing Front

I was even able to pass her and come around and shoot her face from a different angle. (BTW, unless there's an obvious coloration difference between the genders or other obvious sign of gender, I randomly assign genders to the critters I shoot.  I don't like referring to them as 'it' if I can avoid it.)

Yellow Bee on Goldenrod

Yes, another bee.  What I like about this one is not only that the bee is nice and clear, but the only part of the picture in focus is the bee and the branch he's hanging on and the leaf right next to him.

Questionable Caterpillar

Please help!  I'm reasonably sure this is some kind of caterpillar.  He's caterpillar-shaped and has little caterpillar-type feet visible near the left-hand side.  But searching is getting me absolutely nowhere.  The problem with Google is that when you search for "pink caterpillar" you don't just get 'baby butterflies and moths'.  You get about 75 million cutesy little companies for baby clothes or cloth lunch bags.  So I'd love it if someone could help me identify this guy.

That's ten... I'm maybe half-way done with the shots from this hike.  All in all, it was a pretty good day behind the camera.

Volo Bog - 9.04.10 - Post 2

  So like I said yesterday, it was really windy when I was shooting.  So even though some of the animals and plants were being pretty cooperative, it was still a tough shoot when the winds picked up.  On the flip side, it did make the insects want to stay on the plants to avoid being blown half way to Oz.

Bee Examines Loosestrife

One of the clearest shots of a bee's face I've gotten.  Getting their backs is pretty easy.  I get the impression a lot of the time that if you're behind them, you aren't of interest, so they keep doing what they're doing.  But if they can see you they tend to take off.  Yes, they have stingers, but I'm probably about one million times their body weight or something.

Bending Bee

Here he is again.  I've never seen a bee 'bend at the waist' before.

Hover Fly on Arrow Root

 I think in a previous post I may have labeled this insect as a wasp, but further digging has me coming up with the fact that it's a Hover Fly.

Arrowroot, Flies Right (and Left)

As I was watching, he got a friend. :)

Goldenrod Reaches Out

This is a goldenrod branch in very bright light (so I could use a very fast shutter) in very strong wind.  It reminds me of the kid who realizes they're shooting the news near him so he starts sticking his head or hand into the frame, just because he can.

White-Faced, Faced Away

Alright, I can't see his face, but I'm pretty sure this is a White-Faced Meadowhawk, he has the white tail-tip of the species.  He's smaller than the Red Saddlebags, and has, you know, no saddlebags.  He's also smaller than the Band-Winged Meadowhawk and doesn't have the brown patches on his wings.  So, deduction leaves me with White-Faced Meadhowhawk.  He's a perfect example of what I was saying when I said some of the insects and animals found a place to cling to and held on for dear life as the wind picked up.

Not the Gator You Thought I Was

 What do you see?  I saw a very small alligator, which, this being Northern Illinois was pretty improbable, but I did a double take!  It's a bit of duckweed on a piece of reed.

Home-making, Spider-Style

 This appears to be a Common House Spider.  She was busily spinning her web as I watched.  (Now if I could just do *something* about the spider that's living in my wing mirror, who makes a new beautiful web after every time I drive my car, but keeps hiding in the mirror housing, so I can't relocate her to somewhere more stable.)

Leopard Frog Tadpole (Can we get another Animal in there?)

 There were two of the three frog species I found in my last post.  Here's a tadpole of one of those frogs.  Go figure, it's a Southern Leopard Frog Tadpole.  Even as a tad his spots are obvious.

Telling Polliwog Tails

 And here's what happens when he starts to grow up!  I actually contacted some herpetologist friends of mine because I was worried that there was some kind of mutation happening here.  I'm not used to seeing a frog with such well developed limbs and frog face-structure with so much tail.  I've been assured it's what's called a polliwog and he's perfectly normal.  (If a bit odd looking. :)

Business End of a Wasp

And then there was this.  A really cool picture of a Yellow-Jacket's backside.  The details of his stripes are clear as is the veining of his wings.









Okay, about half-way done I think. As I got going around the tamarack forest I got some really amazing landscapes.  Not my usual fare, but some really amazing pictures. :)

Volo Bog - 9.04.10 - Post 1

This was my second trip to Volo Bog, and it won't be my last.  There's a lot more information on Volo Bog on their website, but the short version is that it's the only open-water "quaking" bog in Illinois - a relic of the last ice age!  It was the first genuinely cool day Chicago had had in months and I alternately needed my sweatshirt, wanted a heavier coat and was happy in my t-shirt, depending on the amount of sun and wind at any given moment.

Volo Bog

Adult Supervision

Okay, I have to say, this sign just amuses me, because when you see it, you can't quite figure out what needs adult supervision.  Turns out that if you go around to where that second sign in my shot is, there's a path down to a dock into a small pond-bog that has bird habitats and tadpoles.  There are a lot of school groups that tour the bog, so it makes sense, but on the surface, it's just this odd sign out in the middle of the path.

Vervain on the Savanna

Besides the bog, there's a large wooded and savanna area that I didn't get the chance to hike the first time I went out there because I was with a group.  Being on my own, I was able to walk the roughly 5 miles of trails and click to my heart's content.  This would have been significantly easier if we weren't having hurricane force winds.

No, really, it was windy.  Check out the flags in the parking lot.  This kept some animals in hiding, but others, like the dragonflies tended to land on something and hold on for dear life... which made for easier shooting if I could catch the plant when it wasn't swaying in the wind.

World Turned Upside-down

Anyway, the bog is fascinating.  This is a shot of the surface reflecting the skies and nearby tamarack forest.  Those are lilypads floating on the top.  I managed to catch this shot early enough in the day that the really, really nasty winds hadn't kicked up yet and the bog was fabulously still.

Waterlily Glow

I love waterlilies, as you may have noticed.  There's something about the way that the seem to glow from the inside.  The water here is so still it's black and the leaves of the lily pads are dark green, which makes the white just stand out and glow.

Light Shines Through

Here's one that's more open and has a fantastic reflection in the still water.

Ripple Effect

This part of the bog - the section that has the floating boardwalk around it - has thousands of ridiculously active frogs in it.  They were hopping up from the water catching bugs and disappearing.  There's something very peaceful about the lily and the ripples here.

Froggy Finger Hold

Here's one who sat still for a few minutes.  I like how he's hanging onto the leaf with his little froggy finger.  This is your good old, standard Green Frog.

Leopard Frog Lies Low

And this, as far as I can tell, is a Southern Leopard Frog.  I think it's a little on the young side and his spots haven't quite come in yet.  I know there are quite a few frogs still developing - in the next post I'll have shots of tadpoles and one of a polywog (a frog that still has the vast majority of his tadpole tail.)






And these were all taken in the half-mile of floating boardwalk (which makes for interesting shooting if you aren't the only one on it.  See my post about trying to shoot from a moving ship in the water.)  I hadn't even gotten into the nature preserve.

South Pond - 8.30.10 - Post 5

Okay, wrapping up that last August walk.  Just a few more shots...

Seven of Swords

 Another Blue Vervain shot.  I'm really taken with the little clusters of flowers that aren't quite on the tip of the stem and the way the long stems are separate from each other, instead of clustered together like they would be on a Bull Thistle or something..

A Dash of Blue

Another Familiar Bluet.  This thing is perched on the edge of a fragile, dying leaf.  It's so small and so light that the leaf doesn't move at all when the damselfly takes off or lands on it.

Neon Damselfly Glows from the Inside

 Here he is close up.  He's almost neon the way he seems to glow against the gray algaed background.  You can even see his little tiny feet hanging onto the light edge of the leaf.  His wings are so transparent you can see the segments and black stripes right through them.

I'm Pretty Sure Your Nose Is Longer

Fiery Skipper drinking from a (I think) purple milkweed flower.  Check out the proboscis.

Skipper with a Drinking Habit

Here she flipped to give me a side view - you can still see the proboscis - but now you can see those prominent front legs.

Buckeye: Inverted

Buckeyes have a weird habit of hanging out upside down.  I don't know if I've posted about this before, but I know it's not the first time I've seen an inverted Buckeye.  I don't know if it puts those big fake eyes at the top - fooling any predators that might come along - or what.








Okay, next up - Volo Bog.  A very interesting place to shoot.  Too bad I did it in hurricane force winds!

South Pond - 8.30.10 - Post 4

Okay, so I finally walked away from the Claude the Caterpillar and continued my way around the boardwalk.

Purple and Orange

An Eastern Tailed Blue Butterfly on Butterfly Milkweed.  I love contrasting colors, so his purple on the orange is very striking.  And it was nice that he was showing off the insides of his wings.  So many of the butterflies that sit still long enough to be captured are folded up and the undersides of their wings aren't as interesting in most cases.

Eastern Tailed Blue Flies Off

He flew off for a second, giving me a great view of the dark lines on his wing edges.

Eastern Tailed Blue Wings: Inside and Out

But then he came back and landed facing me, which was nice.  You can actually see his wing-tails in this shot.  And he got a little buggy friend on the far left flower bud.

Twelve-Spotted Skimmer with Faded Edges

Several things decided to sit still for me on this walk.  Considering it was (apparently) one of the last really hot days in Chicago for the year, I was expecting the cold-bloodeds to be more active, but hey, not arguing. :)

Purple, Green and Yellow

This one is neat for the way the color slashes across the really drab background.  The purple flowers and then the yellow of both the bee and the flower buds, not to mention the bright green stem.

Familiar Bluet, Brilliant Blue

A case-in-point for why cameras have a manual focus.  There's no way in the world my auto focus would have been able to grab something as slender as this Familiar Bluet damselfly.

Mrs. Pondhawk

So a female Eastern Pondhawk finally sat still for a second.  I've got tons of shots of the very blue males, but the females tend to be more active and/or blend in to their surroundings to the point that they're much more difficult to shoot.

It's So Easy Being Green

She flipped over to another leaf and I loved the way she added color to a very green shot, even though she's green too.  She also moved out of the shadows making the temperature of the picture change drastically.

Pensive Gull

So in Chicago we tend to just refer to these as 'seagulls', but more properly they're Ring-Billed Gulls, for reasons that are pretty obvious in this shot. As I'm getting more specie of gulls, I need to try to be more specific. :)  I typically get annoyed when all I can get a good shot of is an animal's back.  It's easier to get their backs sometimes because they aren't looking at you and don't see you coming, but the picture isn't as good.  I came up from behind this guy and he turned his head just enough to be seen.  It makes him look pensive.  As if he's debating what's out in that pond for him.

Profile Gull

When he turned to look at me more fully he looses that 'thinky' look and becomes a little more evil looking. Which, to be fair, isn't all anthropomorphication - these birds have very little fear of humans and can be very nasty.

Japenese Beetle on Stem

Okay, I was finally able to Google a species on this guy, who I first noticed at Midewin.  He's a Japanese Beetle.  Very shiny.

Antennae Like Leaves

He's hanging on for dear life here, but it gives a great view of the white spots around his shell and the little fringes on the tips of his antennae.

Seems Well Behaved Enough

This is apparently called an Obedient Plant.  Where did I find it listed?  On a list of "Most Unwanted" plants for Kentucky.  So much for obedient if it can't stay out of areas it isn't wanted. ;)

I'm actually kind of keen on it's odd shape and the fact that it blossoms from the bottom up.  It reminds me of Thai-style decorations.







Okay, I have one more card of shots to go through from this walk and then I can finally move on to a new location. :)