Posted on June 29, 2015
It was the first day of a week long stay, camping at Pog Lake in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park. During our canoeing and hiking adventure, we were hoping to see moose, beavers, maybe a bear, various species of birds, and other wildlife. Because it had been a few years since our last visit, a first day trip to the visitor center for basic orientation was in order.
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You know that saying about life occurring when you’re on your way to do something else? Well that was the case as we left the visitor center after taking care of all required business. Just outside the front door on what serves as a wooden boardwalk a small child was pointing at something resting on the railing as mom looked on. We moved closer to investigate and were caught up in a festival of moths. Looking further we discovered others as more people gathered to see what all the excitement was about. For the next hour we were enchanted and it all happened within a few feet of the front door.
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What would we do for an encore? Fortunately during our travels thoughout the remainder of the week we continued to see interesting insects.
Frosted Whiteface
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The moths seen on our first day were one of the highlights of the trip but there were plenty of other things to explore.
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Thanks for stopping by.
Category: Algonquin Provincial Park, butterflies, Central Ohio Nature, Moths, photography Tagged: Cecropia Moth, Chaulk-fronted Corporal Dragonfly, Common Wood Nymph, Dragon Hunter, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Eyed Brown Butterfly, Lettered Sphinx, Modest Sphinx Moth, Panasonic FZ200, Rosy Maple Moth, Sigmoid Prominent Moth, The Joker Moth, White Admiral, White Admiral Butterfly, White-dotted Prminent
Posted on June 15, 2015
Those were the words of our son when he saw our pictures of butterflies congregating on a small tree. The butterflies were noticed yesterday at water’s edge while walking along Griggs Reservoir. They were very numerous but dispersed in groups around the tree making a total count difficult. It wasn’t exactly something we had seen before. Usually it’s a butterfly here and another one there. In the past, when seen groups, there’s usually some identifiable substance attracting them and it’s not always something pleasant.
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In this case, whatever the attraction was (perhaps tree sap?), several different species could relate to it, with the Hackberry Emperors being the most numerous and aggressive in their efforts to keep the others away.
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After we left the tree a very small but beautiful butterfly was noticed on a clover flower.
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There were also other insects about.
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There was no shortage of flowers to keep the insects busy.
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Our friends the turtles were happy to make an appearance. One river rock appeared to be particularly attractive.
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Recent rains had brought out some interesting fungus.
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Unlike my wife, I spent most of my time looking for birds and other creatures (perhaps a Mink?) to photograph. With the leaves providing ample cover for the larger creatures, small things carried the day.
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Thanks for stopping by.
Category: Central Ohio Nature, Central Ohio Parks, Columbus, Griggs Reservoir, Ohio Nature, photography, Scioto River, Wild flowers Tagged: Apple Bark Borer Moth, Boletes Family, Common Split Gill, Coneflower, Eastern-tailed Blue, Hackberry Emperor, Heart Leafed Umbrella, Horse Nettle, Map Turtle, Morning Glory, Panasonic FZ200, Question Mark, Red Admiral, Rhodotus Palmatus, Stream Bluet, Water Willow
Posted on June 9, 2015
A 8:30 AM start to our paddle on Griggs Reservoir a few days ago meant we weren’t expecting to see much wildlife, but a sunny day with little wind meant a good day for a paddle.
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The first order of business was to check out the cove, not far from our launch site, usually good for birds, to see what might be lurking. After a few minutes of quiet waiting, we were excited to see our first Black-crowned Night Heron of the year. It had apparently decided to hang around a little later into the day just for us.
Black-crowned Night Heron’s can be found in a few isolated locations around Columbus. Griggs Reservoir is one of them. A real treat!
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Leaving the heron we hugged the west shore as we headed north.
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We hadn’t paddled long when we saw a Red-tailed Hawk posed majestically in the top of a tall pine right along the shore.
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I took a few pictures but it was hard not to notice the orange streaks in the viewfinder, so I kept shooting.
After more attacks than the number of pictures indicates, the hawk decides to take flight. Leaving the area to the orioles.
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A little further on we see the reason of the orioles aggressive behavior. They were nesting.
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We reached the Hayden Run Bridge and decided a break was in order. Once out of the canoe it wasn’t long before Donna was finding interesting things to look at and photograph.
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Along with the beauty of Ohio’s waterways and natural areas there’s always the other stuff, predominately beverage containers, but also other associated trash. Based on observations paddling in states that have beverage container deposit laws, most of the trash seen in Ohio reservoirs is due to the lack of such a law. The trash either gets in them directly or via the storm sewers. Below is an example of some of the trash we were able to retrieve during our 3 hour 5 mile paddle.
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The return trip was pleasant but relatively uneventful with few photo opportunities, but it had been a good day for a paddle. To end on a high note, I thought I’d dress up the end of this post with a few more nice butterfly photos taken by my wife.
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Thanks for stopping by.
Category: Birding in Ohio, butterflies, Central Ohio Nature, Central Ohio Parks, Columbus, Griggs Reservoir, Ohio Nature, photography Tagged: Baltimore Oriole, Black-crowned Night Heron, Cabbage White, Eastern Comma, Fragile Forktail, Hackberry Emperor, Hairy Beardtongue, Northern Catalpa, Panasonic FZ200, Red-tailed Hawk
Posted on June 6, 2015
A recent walk along Griggs Reservoir was a study in small things. At times sunlight worked it’s way though the clouds, but mostly it was an early morning hazy sky. A lush new growth of green embraced the landscape threatening to squeeze out it’s air, creating close shadowy places among the leaves, and at times, under thickening clouds, a sense of foreboding.
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Heard but not seen, the same growth now hides many of the birds. Others, those that don’t make their living in the leafed canopy, but on the ground or in open places, are still easy to spot.
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Flowers also find their place, in the shade if they can, but often in the few patches that are open to sunlight for at least a few hour each day.
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Time spent in nature often contains a counterpoint. On this particular day it was a Mute Swan an infrequent visitor. They are large birds even when compared to Canada Geese.
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Then, looking away from the swan for a moment,
sunlight is seen playing in the grass.
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Thanks for stopping by.
Category: Central Ohio Nature, Central Ohio Parks, Columbus, flowers in central ohio, Griggs Reservoir, Ohio Nature, photography, Scioto River, waterfowl, Wild flowers Tagged: Chipping Sparrow, Crown Vetch, Eastern Forktail, Eastern Wood Pewee, Foxglove Beardtongue, Hackberry Emperor, Moth Mullien, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Olympus E620 70-300 mm, Panasonic FZ200, Ravenel's Stinkhorn, Smooth Ruella, Song Sparrow, Summer Azure, Water Willow, Yellow Stone Crop
Posted on June 3, 2015
I’ve been drawn away from my pursuit of pictures in nature by an interest in wetting a line to see what fish might decide to cooperate. Actually, as those who’ve read this blog for awhile have already guessed, for me fishing is more about just being outdoors and messing around in a small boat.
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My wife has graciously offered to take up the slack. Below are some of her photos taken along Griggs Reservoir over the last few days.
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Sometimes nature decides to come to you, as did this Northern Flicker yesterday morning just as we were getting to head out on a bike ride. It left us scrabbling for our cameras as it’s a rare visitor to our city yard.
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Thanks for stopping by.
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