Favorite Photos – 2011 to 2016

This is a collection of the “Favorite Photos” I’ve used on the front page of the blog, from 2011 to the present.

11/15/2015  Hidden Oaks Point – a prairie/savanna point that’s been this fall’s clearing project.  Click here to see a ‘before’ photo from a few weeks ago.   The project isn’t finished yet – there are still dead birches and elms that will fall, and many small trees to cut – but winter is arriving, so the rest may have to wait until next year.

11-15-15 1-2

 

9/14/2015  Monarch on New England Aster

monarch 9-14-15 1

 

5/23/2015  Blue-eyed Grass in one of the savanna areas we’re restoring

blue-eyed grass

 

10/21/2014  Hidden Oaks Point – remnant savanna

Hidden Oaks Point 3

 

6/28/2014  Butterflies on Butterflyweed

butterflies on butterflyweed 6-28-14

 

5/22/2014  Rue Anemone on Maple Hill

rue anemone 5-22-14 1

 

12/1/2013  Bald Eagle on Indian Grass Point.   We noticed this bird just after we had finished our clearing project on top of the point.  It sat there while I took photos, and while we drove down the hill.  It was still there when we got to the bottom, gazing calmly out over Center Valley.

eagle 12-1-13

 

September 14, 2013  A Tri-colored Bumble Bee on Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale)  [bee identified by Paul Larson]

bumblebee on Sneezeweed 9-14-13

 

June 30, 2013  The butterflies have finally appeared – it’s been a slow season.  There are hundreds of them on the driveway right now.  This group has Baltimore Checkerspots, Silvery Checkerspots, Northern Crescents, and a Great Spangled Fritillary.

butterfly group on driveway 2 6-30

 

May 11, 2013
Rue Anemone blooming in the woods

rue anemone 2

 

Melting ice – March 21, 2013    In this slow spring, it’s been nice to see the ice melting on the few warm sunny days.

ice melting

 

October 17, 2012
This is Aromatic Aster, blooming in Western Prairie.  These flowers bloom until late in the fall – sometimes their petals are covered with frost.

 

September 7, 2012
Dainty Sulphurs are tiny butterflies – each wing is about the size of my smallest fingernail.  They don’t overwinter this far north – they come up from the south some years, usually at the end of the summer.  This year was good one for them – I’ve been seeing 4 or 5 fluttering along the driveway for about the last 2 weeks.

 

June 25, 2012  Butterfly Weed in the Knife Edge Prairie

 

May 4, 2012 – I recently got a new camera – the newest version of my Lumix Panasonic – the FZ150.  It’s much better at image stabilization than the old one,  so now I can take better bird pictures.  An Eastern Bluebird

 

October 31, 2011 – View of Center Valley from Indian Grass Point

 

September 5, 2011
A Monarch butterfly on Tall Sunflower.  We haven’t seen as many Monarchs this fall – the migration through Wisconsin doesn’t seem to be as big as the one last year.  Last year, on an afternoon walk through one of our prairies, we would often see 100 Monarchs.  This year we see 8 or 10.

 

May 23, 2011
Indian Paintbrush in Western Prairie

 

March 19, 2011
These crocuses are not native flowers, and they’re not ones that I’ve planted they’re growing in the front yard of the old farmhouse.  The farmhouse burned down about 20 years ago – long before we bought the farm.  Most of the yard has grown up into a giant patch of Common Milkweed, but there are still some garden flowers that persist.