Frosty Foggy Fall Fenner Morning

Early Autumn Colors

Last Sunday was a very overcast day, but it was still a nice enough day to get out after church and capture some photographs.  I ventured up to the Maple River State Game Area that is bisected by US-127 north of St. Johns.  I had hoped to see the bald eagles that frequent the area this time of year.  We had seen one there on our way home from the cabin the day before, so I thought I might see another.  Once I arrived and had been there a while I could see two eagles circling around the flooded area on the other side of US-127.  Given the southbound traffic typical for Sunday afternoons and the circuitous route I would have needed to take to get to that side of the marsh, I decided to keep wandering where I was.  I shot a number of photographs, but the large number of hungry mosquitoes kept harassing me, so I only stayed about an hour.

I popped back down to Lansing and when to Fenner Nature Center for a while.  Again, the overcast skies darkened the landscape and made me have to adjust my camera more than I would have preferred.  Nonetheless, Fenner did not fail me and I captured a number of good pictures there in spite of the poor lighting conditions.

Photographs 1, 5, and 10 were from the Maple River State Game Area.

Photographs 2-4, 6-9, and 11 were from Fenner Nature Center.

Not-Quite-Spring Blooms

Welcome, Spring

I realize that we still have a bit longer of a wait for the buzzing bees and blooming flowers of spring, but I felt it was appropriate to celebrate the vernal equinox with this photograph.  The longer days and milder temperatures will soon give way to buds and leaves and blossoms.

More Wintery Contrasts

Afternoon Winter Shadows

Frozen Fruit

Sunny Winter Day

All of these photos were taken at Fenner Nature Center on February 2, 2015.  This was the day after the big winter storm that dumped about a foot of snow on Lansing and caused most of the city to shut down for the day.  We could not get out of our driveway and the city was under a state of emergency, so I walked the 9+ mile round trip to Fenner.

The first three photos in this series are composite photos.  The originals are very large and can be reproduced at a large size while retaining their high resolution.  The top photo consists of 20 individual shots, the second photo consists of five individual shots, and the third photo consists of 18 individual shots.