Cuyahoga Valley National Park Wetland Restoration

The Cuyahoga Valley National Park has established a wetland restoration area near the Boston Store visitor center.   This has been an ambitious process to slowly restore native grasses, flowers, plants and animals to this part of the park.

Recently I was walking around the area and found the most impressive display of native flowers called black eyed susans.  A fairly common native wild flower that likes these types of 'disturbed' areas. It is impressive to see such a large amount in a relatively small space.

This is one of the restored ponds.  The park biologists check water content and quality to insure that the goals of restoration are being meet.

During my early morning outings to the area, white tailed deer are abundant.  The combination of flower landscape, along with the deer make for a beautiful setting.

Being a lover of insects, I was most anxious to check out the black eyed susan flowers.  They are favorites of katydid, grasshoppers and various other insect types.    The above is one of the largest katydids in this area - the bush katydid.    They are so large, they occupy the entire flower.  

Then while heading back to my car the other morning, this red squirrel was eating a nut on a tree near my car.   I setup my camera to try and photograph the cute squirrel and it ended up dropping its meal.   I was able to get a bit closer because the squirrel was not going to leave.   It was waiting for me to leave so it could go down to the ground to pick up its morning meal.    It kept looking at me and finally after about 15 minutes the squirrel began to rest.  You can almost hear it saying 'Are you done yet??!!!'.   I got the message and left the cute squirrel to finish its meal.  

Topography Fund Raiser - 2012

The Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park holds an annual fund raiser around the time of the summer solstice.   This past weekend, the event was attended by over 450 people.   It is the largest fund raiser the conservancy has each year.

For the past two years, I was lucky enough to 'elbow' my way into the event under the pretense of photographing the fun time.   Don't tell anyone, but I just enjoy mingling and meeting a lot of nice people who help support the national park that I love so much.  

The annual fund raiser is designed to help maintain the 100+ miles of trails in the national park.   Trails Forever has a lofty goal of establishing a self sustaining endowment for the national park. The funds raised help insure creation and maintenance of the parks wonderful trail system.

Fun day and a fun alternative to my nature photography.   Hopefully the photos captured help the national park and the conservancy for the national park keep the funds rolling.

If you are so inclined to help our little piece of the national park system funded, you can support the conservancy by going to the web site:  Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Summer Dragons

Female Twelve Spotted Skimmer on Spiderwort

Over the last week, I've been fortunate enough to share some wonderful mornings with one of my favorite subjects - dragon flies.

Mature Male Twelve Spotted Skimmer

These two twelve spotted skimmers were really a nice find.   I had never gotten nice images of them in past years.   Finding both the male and female in a few days of each other makes the early excursions exciting.

Mature Male Calico Pennant

My favorite dragon fly is the calico pennant.  They are very tolerant of photographers and have some of the most beautiful patterns on there wings.  The males turn a beautiful deep red when they are mature and ready to hit the dragon fly 'dating scene'.

When I head out in the mornings, it is a real treat to find these flying jewels amongst the grasses.  Hope I can continue to find some of these to share over the summer months.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame May 28

Over the memorial day weekend, my good photography friend Jeff Gibson emailed me about an exhibit at the local rock and roll hall of fame.   The exhibit features large 7' high guitars that are decorated by artists.

Jeff and I visited on the holiday morning and boy were we in for a treat.   We had a gorgeous sunrise along with great light and clouds to enjoy the exhibit.

Jeff and I also explored some of the abstract features of the rock hall building.   Made for a nice contrast in style to the guitar exhibit.

You can view my images of the guitar exhibit here:  Rock Hall Guitar Mania - May 28, 2012

and my B&W abstract ideas of the rock hall here: Rock Hall - B&W Abstracts

As a contrast, here is a link to Jeffs blog about the morning:  Jeff Gibson Blog on Rock Hall