Above: Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)
Thursday, June 26, 2025
A morning at the beach
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Crazy looking birds
Sunday, June 22, 2025
On a different topic
I am going to assume that readers might enjoy a break from the Finland and Norway posts although, if I say so myself, the best is yet to come.
I needed a break. Yesterday I hauled myself on a three hour drive south to Urbana, Ohio to try to find Gray Petaltail (Tachopteryx thoreyi) at a really nice fen. This was my second visit there - the first being mid-July last year - when I did not see the Gray Petaltail. We hypothesized that mid-July was already too late to see them. Going by Odonata of Ohio (pages 188-189), (incidentally, you can purchase the book many places for much less than $65) June seems to be their month. "Gray Petaltails are specialists of wooded seeps and often frequent quite shady haunts. It sometimes occurs around the margins of fens, ponds or forested glades ..." (page 189).
Cedar Bog features a mile long boardwalk through precisely this kind of habitat. I stayed about three hours and circled the boardwalk twice. I found a couple of other things but, when compared with my first visit last July, there were few Odonata. Cedar Bog also hosts other speciality odes. No Gray Petattails were found on this day.
Here's what I saw and was happy to see them - only my second time ever, the first time also at Cedar Bog.
Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule)
This was overlooked - it was sort of hidden as you can see from my not great photo - until a park employee came by to point it out to us. I think we were seeing the last bloom of the season.
Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata)
Cedar Bog attracts a variety of human visitors. There were families walking the boardwalk - no bins, no camera - just visiting and looking. It also attracts photographers and there were many present yesterday. I got acquainted with a couple and they helped me find things. That's who the 'us' is in the Lady Slipper anecdote.
Cedar Bog is surprisingly uncrowded - but it was hot yesterday so it may not have been a representative Saturday. For me, coming from SE Michigan, it's also a challenging drive. About half the drive is on I-75 South and the other half is on two lane highways through pleasing small towns and farmland. While the drive along the rural roads may be pretty, it's still challenging. That might be a good thing. Otherwise, I could be tempted to become a more frequent visitor.
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Two good loons and another bird
I will admit, up front, that this blog entry contains the worst photos of all. Couldn't be helped. Still May 30th. Still coastal Norway. At Syltefjord, and still looking at birds through a spotting scope. The birds were distant, but at least they were floating.