by Carl Strang
Photo opportunities arise frequently during my preserve monitoring walks at Mayslake Forest Preserve. Sometimes these lead to blog posts, sometimes they simply are for identifying organisms when I’ve forgotten the distinguishing features, and sometimes they improve or add to my collection of species portraits. This week I’ll share a few of the last.
Hummingbird at cardinal flower.
That first one won’t win any photography prizes, but it does serve to document the use of one plant species for food by the bird, and the use of the bird by the plant for pollination. Another bird photo op came when I encountered a couple cooperative house wrens.
This bird adopted a humorous pose while grooming itself.
I also added to my photos of singing insects. The only picture I had of a Carolina grasshopper was one I took in Canada, and wanted a local example.
An area recently cleared of brush at the edge of the north stream corridor prairie has hosted a concentration of Carolina grasshoppers this year.
Live Tibicen cicadas usually are too high up in trees to photograph. When I found a dog day cicada singing from a tall coreopsis stem in the middle of the prairie I got a rare opportunity.
The wind was swaying the plant, so the insect isn’t perfectly sharp, but close enough for practical purposes.
More photos tomorrow.
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