Common milkweed are at or near peak and definitely at peak for butterfly photography. Not only is the photography excellent, the aroma of the flower is incredible. Just by watching a plant with camera in hand dozens of photo ops present themselves. These plants are a food source for almost everything that flies and even the crab spiders that lie in wait for dinner.
Another 2+ inches of rain today, on top of 4" last week. The wetlands are indeed wet with the crew checking the dikes for any problems. Between showers today I went looking for mushrooms. Hot, wet, and dark equal perfect mushroom weather and habitat. I'll let people smarter than me identify them, I just like to photograph them. The common white ones were developed using HDR techniques to preserve the detail in the caps.
The scent post trail cam was checked after a month with several interesting captures of wolves, cranes, and deer. Two wolves came through during daylight and their summer coat is a marked contrast to the winter one. A pair of them marked the scent post one night. This pair wolves firmly established their territory by marking this small oak bush. The sequence is interesting with what appears to be the female waiting for the male to mark first; age before beauty? I don't know enough about wolf behavior to interpret this behavior. My style is to shoot first and ask questions later. For the last several months only 3 wolves were beeing seen in the pack and it appears the pack is back to four animals: a brown, a black, and two grays. If there are pups maybe they will be brought to the scent post for a portrait shoot. Dale
Several species of butterflies were jockeying for position on this fox scat a few weeks ago. It was a quiet morning and after laying down near the scat for a few minutes the butterflies became very active and tolerant of the camera. This footage was taken on the same day as the previous still images. Dale
Five inches of rain within the last two weeks have put the water levels higher than they have been for years. It will be hard for the migrating shorebirds to find mud but the ducks may be stop by in numbers we haven't seen for awhile. Butterflies and prairie flowers are now taking front stage. Mosquitoes and flies are doing well. This is one of the most colorful times of the year. Summer is a great time to get out of the car and stroll the prairie. Sometimes watching a single flower is amazing as butterflies and insects visit it. It's time to enjoy the small wonders of the world.
I'm experimenting with time lapse video and last Thursday's storm gave me the perfect opportunity to try it. An intervalometer that allows me to set the interval between shots on the DSLR arrived last week and I was anxious to use it. Video is played at 30 frames per second so at least 300 frames are needed for 10 seconds of viewing. Doing the math, 30 second intervals is a time lapse of 2 1/2 hours. This video was captured over about 45 minutes. Experience will eventually determine the best interval for each subject. The Animal Planet series "Life" is the inspiration for this, especially the plant segment in which they compressed a whole growing season into 10 seconds. That 10 seconds took two years to build, more energy than I plan to expend.
The storm looked too threatening in the house and I went into the prairie for better visibility and to get away from it although Sandi says it was just an excuse to play with a new toy. Dale
