Sandhill cranes No. 2

SANDHILL CRANES, ONTONAGON, MICHIGAN, JULY 9, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/500 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

The other day I captured those cranes just after high noon, when the sun was high and the light harsh. Yesterday morning about 8 I went back and recaptured them when the sun was low and the light much gentler. I do think the second effort is slightly better than the first; the colors on the birds' bodies seems subtler and the shadows not so strong.

Sandhill cranes

SANDHILL CRANES (GRUS CANADENSIS), ONTONAGON, MICHIGAN, JULY 8, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/250 sec. f13
ISO 400

I had driven to the Ontonagon airfield to hunt interesting airplanes. There weren't any, but in the cut-down field off the threshold of Runway 34 stood a sedge of eighteen sandhill cranes, a fairly common species in the western portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. "Among the tallest birds in the world and capable of flying at great heights," says the Birds of Michigan Field Guide.

Taraxacum officinale

DANDELION (TARAXACUM OFFICINALE), GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 7, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
SMC Pentax-DA 50-200 at 50mm with Raynox 250 macro auxiliary
1/750 sec. f16
ISO 800

"What's this?" I asked the Lady Friend. "Canada hawkweed perhaps?" "Looks like a dandelion to me," she replied. Couldn't be, I thought. The stalk was a good three feet high. So I went back to the driveway and had another look. Yep, the leaves at ground level bespoke the ubiquitous dandelion of our front lawns, but it was competing -- successfully -- with tall grass for the sun. Pest though it may be, it's still a pretty flower close up.

Cedar waxwing

CEDAR WAXWING (BOMBYCILLA CEDRORUM), GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 4, 2009

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-F* 300 mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/350 sec. f8
ISO 400
The other day I turned the lawn chair on the beach toward the tall white pines above the Writer's Lair and enjoyed the frantic antics of half a dozen waxwings, a species so full of avian ADD that they make sparrows seem slow and lumbering. They look like masked little Robin Hoods about to skewer the Sheriff of Nottingham in mid-flight.

Monarch

MONARCH BUTTERFLY (DANAUS PLEXIPUS), GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 4, 2009

Pentax K10D
Sigma 17-70 at 70mm
1/1000 sec. f8
ISO 400

I was looking for birds on the beach near our cabin yesterday and finding only gulls when I spotted this handsome monarch flitting from wildflower to wildflower. I followed close behind and when it alighted on a sprig of yarrow, it settled down long enough for me to lean in close and get this macro shot. The bug book says the pheromone spots on its hind wings identify it as a male.

Orange hawkweed

ORANGE HAWKWEED (HIERACIUM AURANTIACIUM), GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 3, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
SMC Pentax-DA 50-200 at 68mm with Raynox 250 auxiliary closeup lens
1/250 sec. f16
ISO 800

At this time of year the yard of the Writer's Lair is speckled by this vivid nickel-sized wildflower, also known as Devil's Paintbrush or King-devil. "Hawkweed," the flower book says, comes from the fanciful notion that hawks ate the blossom to sharpen their vision. It's an immigrant from alpine Europe.

Front porch

FRONT PORCH OF CABIN ON LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 3, 2009

Pentax K10D
Sigma 17-70 at 23mm
1/60 sec. f8
ISO 400

I had just stepped out of the Writer's Lair to photograph the sunrise on Lake Superior, then turned, and spotted how the low sunlight warmed the varnished logs on the front porch. Now that was a welcoming sight to me, and I hope it is to you, too.

"Aluminum Overcast" No. 2

BOEING B-17G FLYING FORTRESS, WAUSAU, WISCONSIN, JUNE 27, 2009

Pentax K10D
SMC Pentax-F* 300mm f4.5 ED (IF)
1/500 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

Another shot of the B-17 from yesterday as she returned from a 45-minute mission carrying passengers (at $400 a crack; those four 1,200-horsepower radial engines gulp expensive aviation gasoline at an alarming rate). The nose art replicates that on the original Aluminum Overcast, shot down over France in 1944 on her 34th mission. Click the photo for a large detailed version.