Let’s Take a Ride

People often ask me where I get all my nature photos, so I thought I’d show you. Hop in with me, and let’s take a quick spin around the Lake of the Woods area in Minnesota, where I live.

First and foremost, are the farmlands and lakes. With 10,000 lakes in Minnesota, this is a common sight. It’s a perfect ecosystem for the migrating birds that nest here.

We also have woodlands adjacent to the fields of crops, and that makes a great place for deer. They stay in the woods most of the day and gather in the fields overnight. Needless to say, there are no starving deer around here.

We also have quite a few marshes scattered here and there. Call them wetlands, lowlands, or just plain swamps, these areas are the perfect ecosystem for birds, especially songbirds. The problem is you can’t just walk out in one, and that’s where the zoom lens comes in handy.

Finally, there’s the big bad bog. This ecosystem is totally alien to all the others. I was here the other day and discovered something new: the funnel spiders build their webs directly over the carnivorous pitcher plants in a symbiotic relationship. The intoxicating aroma of the nectar in the pitcher plants wafts up through the web, attracting all kinds of insects, which the spider then makes short work of. In return, the pitchers get a steady flow of “crumbs” from the spider.

Isn’t life amazing and wonderful? Thanks for riding along.

–photos by me

Patience

I went down to the river yesterday and had to laugh at a little black cormorant who was trying to take over an old pelican’s favorite perching rock. The pelican wasn’t giving an inch, and could have brushed the smaller bird into the water with one swipe of his sword-like beak, but he was a wise old bird and just stood there, biding his time. This went on for quite a while, but the cormorants coal black feathers eventually got too hot in the scorching sun, and he had to take to the water, which proves, once again, that patience is a virtue.

most of our troubles

would fly away on their own

if given the chance

–photos by me

just breathe (archives)

i close my eyes

and just breathe…

it’s peaceful here,

floating down this

stream of thought.

it begins to wind

thru lost valleys

and forgotten forests,

even as they fade

once again into

the soothing mists

of timelessness.

i catch a glimpse

of myself ahead;

i think to wave,

but we both know

that peace of mind

is to be had here,

so we breathe,

just breathe…

–photo by me

southbound

now the geese are gathering

from fields all around;

they’re all wound up and blathering–

it’s quite an awful sound,

but soon they will be traveling,

no longer to be found,

for summer is unraveling–

it’s off to southern ground!

–photo by me