Its been a great year for Gloriosa Daisies

Somehow Gloriosa Daisies started growing up in the prairie around the farm. I had dumped some black-eyed Susans out in the prairie and they had apparently morphed into Gloriosa Dasies.

 

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Overlooked Falls Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

My photo of Overlooked Falls was published in the June Issue of Backpacker Magazine.

Dog days of summer on the Farm

We have been remodeling the house for the past couple of weeks so most of my photography has been limited to the farm. However, there are lots of interesting things to photograph. The prairie has quite a few wildflowers, Butter-and-eggs, Canadian Goldenrod, Evening Primrose, Purple Coneflowers, Wild Catnip, Black-eyed Susans, and my favorite. I like because, with judicious mowing, I can photography it from early June until frost.

White Alfalfa

 

There are also an abundance of butterflies in the prairie. I have allowed a large number of milkweed plants to grow and I am seeing more Monarch Butterflies than I’ve seen in the past. There are also sulphurs, Red Admirals, Great Spangled Fritillaries and a few others.

Red Admiral

Monarch Butterfly on Alfalfa

Of course there are still summer birds around although some of them have already left. The Eastern Bluebirds and Red-breasted Grosbeaks are now gone for the season. I have at least one family of Baltimore Orioles visiting the feeder. This is the first time they have stayed around longer than a couple of weeks. In the past month they have eaten over a gallon of grape jelly. I’ve noticed several other birds partaking of the jelly as well.  I have quite a few House Finches and American Goldfinches visiting the feeder. The Ruby Throated Hummingbirds are the most abundant birds at the feeders right now and they are going through about several gallons of sugar water every week. Goldfinches and the house finches have been feeding on some catnip that I planted.

More shots from the last few weeks on the farm can be found on my website.

American Bittern

There were reports of quite a few American Bitterns at Crex Meadows. The road we were on had been closed earlier in the morning but when we made our second trip around we found it open. We had gone about 100 yards when we discovered this America Bittern in a small pond. At first it was behind some grass and we didn’t have a clear view of it. As we watched it moved back out into the pond.

As we watched the Bittern moved along the edge of the pond the back into the pond and went into hunting mode. It made a deep dive into the water and seemed to catch something but it was gone before I got a shot off.

 

We continued to watch as the Bittern composed itself and got the water off of its feathers. It really made us laugh when we saw what it had done.

The Three Little Bears

My wife was driving me around Crex Meadows a few weeks ago when she started screaming bear,bear. She backed the car up and we could see an adult bear standing up and looking at us. It looked like there might be a cub but we weren’t sure. She walked down the lane in the tall grass and dissapeared. We decided to wait and see if anything happened. All of a sudden the three cubs scampered up a tree.

 

Walking around Bayfield

After the Blessing of the Fleet we decided to walk around Bayfield.  There were a number of larger boats in the harbor including a ferry and an Apostle Islands Tour Boat.

Lots of Sailboats and it looked like the fleet was in the harbor for the day.

We found a beautiful little park over by the fishing boat docks.

Bayfield Blessing of the Fleet

After our morning hike to Lost Creek Falls we drove over to Bayfield, Wisconsin to meet another friend for lunch. After lunch we walked down to the harbor to watch the Blessing of the Fleet. These two had a great seat for the event.

A variety of ships passed the harbor entrance for the blessing. It was a little windy so there were fewer boats than normal for the event.

 

Morning Hike with Friends to Lost Creek Falls

On a beautiful Sunday morning we drove over to Cornucopia, Wisconsin to meet some friends and hike into Lost Creek Falls. Several years ago we made this hike and were covered in mud because of the trail conditions. Someone has done a wonderful job of improving the trail.

There were a few flowers out along the trail. We saw quite a few Bunchberries and Bluebead Lilies along the trail.

The waterfall was beautiful as usual.

Intense discussion about a new camera.

A little mossy area flowing into the creek.

Jay Cooke State Park

After leaving Pattison Park we drove over to Jay Cooke State Park in Minnesota. The road to Jay Cooke had been closed since 2012 because of the heavy storm damage. It had just recently been opened and we wanted to see what they had done with the road. Big improvements but I’m not sure how long it will last. Storms are becoming much more violent with large rain amounts. The same storm damaged roads in Wisconsin and this week there was a repeat of the storms with 13 inches of rain in some places

We stopped at Jay Cooke for a short time. There was also a wedding party at Jay Cooke. Apparently state parks are a popular place for wedding photography.

We only took a few photos from the swinging bridge. It took a while because of the number of people walking across.

 

Pattison State Park

After leaving Amnicon Falls State Park we drove over to Pattison State Park. Our first stop was at Little Manitou Falls.

We then drove down to Big Manitou Falls. This is the fourth highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains.

The face of the Pattison Falls Dam always makes for an interesting photo because of the water colors.

Pattison Falls Dam

I love photographing water patterns. They make for great subjects in northern Wisconsin because the tannin in the water gives it a brown color.

The wild flowers were out in great numbers throughout the park.

Orange Hawkweed

Canada Hawkweed

Bunchberry

Blue Flag Iris