I Get A Little Sappy This Time Of Year

The grey skies of the past few days lightened a bit this afternoon, so I grabbed my camera equipment and headed out to Fenner Arboretum for a couple of hours.  The sap has begun to run and a few buds have started to struggle to grow against winter's tenuous grip.  The staff at Fenner have mounted a few sap barrels on some mature maple trees back in the woods in preparation for the annual Maple Syrup Festival hosted there March 17 and 18.

Some smaller maples out in the big field have had their lower branches and the buds on them nibbled off by deer.  The tips of these branches have sap slowly dripping from them and some have enough to form small icicles.

The maples are not the only trees trying to break free from the icy grip of winter.  These little buds were growing on a large bush near the sumac grove at Fenner.  They look almost ready to pop open, so I plan to check them out in a few weeks to see if they do.

As I wandered, I happened upon this very friendly and patient red-tailed hawk.  It let me get really close to it and shoot a ton of photos.  I had perched on the trellis by the little herb garden out in the big field at Fenner.  The trellis stands about ten feet tall and I stood nearly underneath the hawk next to it.  The bird did not seem to care that I stood below it shooting photos.  After several minutes, something caught its eye and it flew off to some other part of field.

Rerun: Pine Tree At Fenner

I have posted a photo from December 2010 that I posted way back then because it is the February photo-of-the-month in Fenner Arboretum's photo contest.  Fenner has a contest each month to which you can submit two photos for a chance to win.  The photos have to be from Fenner and represent something that someone could see there during that month.  I did not really think this was that great of a photo, but I am short on winter shots at Fenner, having taken most of my photos during the summer.  I am guessing no one else entered this month, so I won by default.  Anyway, I hope to have some better photos for them this summer with my butterflies and dragonflies.

Mid-February At Fenner

The snow has disappeared once again around these parts.  It seems that whenever we have gotten a good covering of snow, it has quickly disappeared this winter.  The blue-grey skies today and the sun in its lower winter position in the sky made for some interesting photos at Fenner Arboretum today.  I like the spindly limbs of these bare sumac trees on the west side of the big field at Fenner.  I have shot a number of different photos of them before, but I really liked today's photos.  While I do not miss the heat of the summer months, I do wish the longer days of the summer could magically arrive earlier.  I hate getting out of work when we have been having these nicer days and have it nearing sunset still so early.

Lake Superior Rocky Shore

This afternoon I skimmed through photos that I have taken in the past few months for one that I could modify to fit on the cover of our church's bulletins.  The photographers of our congregation all chip in a few photos every few months so that the church does not have to purchase preprinted bulletin covers.  As I perused my photos from our trip to the Keweenaw Peninsula this summer, I happened upon the photo I posted today.  I took this and several others when Valerie and I stopped at a roadside park on the northwestern tip of the peninsula.  The Lake Superior shoreline in that area consists primarily of rocks.  This photo caught my eye in its color version, but I thought it might look good in black and white, too.

Fresh Snow At Fenner

The frosty 8 degrees with an even colder wind chill could not keep me from venturing out to Fenner Arboretum this morning to crunch around in the new snow.  We only got a few inches last night, but given the little snow we have gotten this year, any snow seems like a refreshing change.  I have said it plenty of times before, but I really like the bright, clear mornings that often follow a snow storm.  And while I like the snow, part of me is ready for spring to get here so that I can tramp around Fenner chasing butterflies and dragonflies again.