Wild Lupine

Wild Lupine blooming at Hoffman Hills Recreation Area.

 

Seen this week at Hoffman Hills

There are a variety of flowers blooming this wee. The most prominent are the Wild Lupine and the Prairie Smoke. Orange Hawkweed, Goat’s Beard and Blue Flag Iris are also blooming. I used to see a lot of Blue Flag Iris around but most of it seems to have dissapeared.

I managed to photograph a few birds. I haven’t seen any Eastern Bluebirds nesting this year. Most of the nests seem to be occupied by Tree Swallows.

There were a pair of Canada Geese nesting this year. We were on a trip when they started sitting on the eggs. They were still on the nest until the end of this week. Most of the Canada Geese hatched their young two or three weeks ago and we were concerned that something was wrong. The first shot of the male was taken a couple of weeks ago. The second shot was taken of him earlier in the week when he was near the nest and looking depressed. When we went out yesterday both adult geese were gone and we couldn’t find any young. We concluded there was a problem and the young did not hatch.

Some additional wildlife around. This White-tailed Deer took of running. There were also a few butterflies around.

The grasses are also blooming in the prairie area.

Wild Lupine Blooming in Bayfield County

We were in the Bayfield area last week and the wild Lupine was blooming. Always a great sight.

Wildflowers Blooming at Hoffman Hills

Currently the Wild Lupine and Prairie Smoke are blooming at Hoffman Hills Recreation Area.

This Week at Hoffman Hills Recreation Area

It has been a while since I’ve been out to Hoffman Hills. There is not a lot going on right now. The Prairie Smoke and the Wild Lupine are blooming but that is about it. The Geese are gone. There are a few Painted Turtles around. The second pond is covered with a heavy green slime. They can no longer afford to run the aeration unit in the pond so it scums up early in the season.

Dew Covered Prairie Smoke

Prairie Smoke

 

Wild Lupine

Wild Lupine

Wild Lupine of Washburn Wisconsin

In late June we like to drive up to Bayfield county to view the Wild Lupine. This is not like the Lupine we have around home. Ours is at the most 18″ tall. The Lupine found in Bayfield County is around 4 feet tall. It is found on most the roads in the area but there is a large field of it on the outskirts of Washburn on the road to Bayfield. This year it was particularly prolific, probably because of the wet spring and summer.

Wild Lupine of Washburn

In my last Blog we were at Lost Creek Falls. After returning to the car we headed to Washburn, Wisconsin for lunch. We noticed on the way over that the Wild Lupine was in full bloom so we were expecting to capture some nice Lupine photos.

After lunch we headed toward Bayfield on highway 13. Just outside Washburn there is a field with lots of Wild Lupine. It was in full bloom. This is not the little Wild Lupine we find around home. Ours grows to about 18 inches but this Lupine was 3-4 feet tall and comes in a variety of colors.

While we were photographing the Lupine several other folks also stopped to take some photos.

Flowers Blooming at Hoffman Hills

In several visits to Hoffman Hills Recreation Area I found a number of late spring flowers blooming.

Wild Lupine

Dew Covered Prairie Smoke

Blue Flag Iris

Orange Hawkweed

 

Late Spring Flowers at Hoffman Hills

I just ran across some photos I had taken late in the spring at Hoffman Hills Recreation Area. I’m a little behind on some of my photo processing.

Prairie Smoke

Backlit leaves are one of my favorite subjects in the spring and Hoffman Hills is one of my favorite places to photograph them. Unfortunately the bad weather prevented me from getting out much. When I did make it to Hoffman Hills I found that the DNR had done a controlled burn in the prairie area and most of the Popular trees were in bad shape. I did find a few in the wetlands to photograph.

Popular Leaves

With the controlled burn many of the early flowers were abundant although it was a little messy to photograph them because every time I kneeled down I was covered with black from the fire. It was a little difficult photographing because of strong winds in the prairie.

Wild Lupine

Wild Lupine and Prairie Smoke

More photos from Hoffman Hills Recreation Area can be found on my website.

What’s Blooming at Hoffman Hills

My wife and I made a visit to Hoffman Hills Recreation Area today to see what is blooming and to check out the wildlife. There are a lot of flowers blooming in the Prairie area.

Wild Lupine is just finishing up blooming.

Wild Lupine

Prairie Smoke is in full bloom.

Dew Covered Prairie Smoke

Orange Hawkweed is blooming around the ponds.

Orange Hawkweed

Blue flag Iris is blooming in the wet areas.

Blue Flag Iris

Spiderwort are just starting to bloom.

Spiderwort

Wildlife watching has been very disappointing this year. Normally we would be watching Canada Geese with their young but this year, for the first time, in many years they did not nest. Two adults build a nest but after a week they were gone. There have been no Muskrats or Beaver sightings this year. There were only a few birds around.