Big Picture, Little Picture

Summer has been so beautiful here.   Temperatures have been perfect, some gorgeous calm, foggy mornings and occasional storms to keep the water coming.

My days usually begin by either chasing wild flowers or dragons in the meadows, or finding that iconic summer landscape.  

A few weeks ago I found myself in a nearby gorge trying to find some sunrays in the foggy gorge.  After waiting for about an hour, I was about to call it quits, without seeing any dramatic light.  Nature rewarding my patience with a spectacular light show for the next 30 minutes.   It was fun to chase the light in the gorge and try to find some compositions for the camera. 

For the last several weeks, I've been out most mornings trying to find some beautiful dew covered dragon flies. 

Along with find the dewy dragons, I've captured some beautiful summer blooms and a dewy butterfly and praying mantis.

Fireworks in the skies and the tree

Day 5 of my blog postings and I'm, almost caught up.    The month of June and early July brought me some spectacular images of fireworks and a hummingbird nest.

Lets start out with the ephemeral night flowers:

 

Here is a small montage of various images from the Brecksville fireworks.

You can view my favorite images from this years fireworks displays at the following link:

Brecksville and Independence Ohio Fireworks 2014

Hudson Ohio Fireworks 2014

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In late May, while working at my home office, I noticed a female hummingbird near my condo.   It was fascinating to see her flying around my front yard.     One morning I saw her flying near the window and land in the locus tree in my front yard.   I went over to the window and to my amazement, she was building a nest in the tree.    It offered me a rare opportunity to see her building the nest and raise a family of hummingbirds.    What was even more exciting was the nest was not obstructed by branches or leaves.   From my bedroom window, I had a clear shot into the nest.  The photographic opportunity was irresistible.

Along with photographing the female building the nest, I wanted to capture some video of her building the nest.   Here are some videos from late May as she built the nest:

Humming Bird May 24 2014 from Jerry Jelinek on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jerry Jelinek on Vimeo.

The first egg was hatched on June 6th, and the second egg was hatched on June 8th.     Here are some photographs of the female at the nest during the feedings.

Here are some videos of some of these early feedings. (Note - I labeled the video as May 7 when in fact it was June 7th.   I was too lazy to redo the video.)

Hummingbird Feeding May 7 2014 from Jerry Jelinek on Vimeo.

Then another video feeding from June 9th:

Untitled from Jerry Jelinek on Vimeo.


The nest continued to thrive and the young hummingbirds continued to grow.   Based on readings I did of hummingbirds, I was expecting the young ones to fledge around June 21.  

On the afternoon of June 14, I saw a blue jay stalking the nest.   In the early evening, the blue jay got into the nest when the female was away to get food.  The blue jay quickly grabbed the young humming birds and just like a blink of an eye, the nest had been raided and the that was the end of the nest.    I haven't seen any hummingbirds near my condo since.  

From my readings of hummingbirds, the predation rate is very high.   The female is the lone parent who is responsible for building the nest and raising the young.   Anytime she leaves the nest, the young hummingbirds are exposed and very vulnerable.   I got to see that first hand.

On the positive side, hummingbirds will reuse nests in future years.   I'm hoping a hummingbird will reuse the nest next year.   It was such a neat experience to share the time with the hummingbird and the nest, I'm hoping in the future to make a more complete account of the young hummingbirds fledging. 

Well that gets you caught up with my photography efforts recently.  

Hopefully there were some images you enjoyed looking at.  

I'll try to be a bit more timely in getting new blogs posted of my photography adventures. 

Akron Civic Theater



Day four of my blog marathon.   Today, we step inside for a view of a stunning piece of architecture. 



 

The Akron Civic Theater is one of the architectural jewels in northern Ohio.   This historic theater has been renovated over the last 10+ years and still treats the audience to wonderful shows and even more spectacular architectural scenery.    Here is a link to the web site:   Akron Civic Theater

Back in May, my good photography friend Jeff Gibson had a photo walk for a few hours.   This enabled us to photograph the beautiful building without an audience and the results speak for themselves.

Just a beautiful theater that was a pleasure to share some time with.

One more day to go.   I'm torn between some fireworks displays I captured during the July 4th holiday week, or a stunning hummingbird nest I had the pleasure of viewing.   I'll share both.  So stay tuned tomorrow for some fireworks displays and a hummingbird nest.  

Insects in the Valley

Day three of my five day blog postings.   This one highlighting some insects I've photographed.

Maybe the most rewarding part of macro photography is capturing the subtle beautiful of small creates we really don't see too often in nature.    Enjoying these small creatures is always a treat - except mosquitoes!!!

Here are some non-mosquito insects I've enjoyed lately.

Very few insects fascinate me as much as dragon flies.   This images is a newly emerged common green darner.  

Here is a painted skimmer on a dewy morning in the Kendall Lake area of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

A small mayfly from the same Kendall Lake area.  

These are probably my favorite dragon fly - the calico pennant.   They have such beautiful markings along with being just a fun species to watch around lakes and ponds.   This image is from the Indigo Lake area of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

 

 

One of the most ferocious hunters in the insect world - the praying mantis.   This one was very young and maybe 1 1/2" long.   When they are this young, they stay well hidden amongst the grasses of the fields they live in.    With it being as dewy as this one was, it was a bit easier to photograph. 

That concludes my insect finds over the last few weeks.  

For tomorrow and day four of the blog updates, we take a departure from nature photography and showcase the beautiful Akron Civic Theatre. 

Spring Landscapes

Continuing with my blog marathon - five blogs in five days, here is day 2 - spring landscapes.

I tried to combine some large wild flower displays with the landscapes the blooms are found in.   Let's start out with the largest display of wild flowers I know of - the beautiful Virginia bluebell display.

For almost as far as the eye can see, some areas along Furnace Run present a carpet of bluebells. 

From the Poland Woods city park in Poland Ohio, this display of sessile trillium completely surrounded this old tree.  

From Poland Woods park again, the underappreciated skunk cabbage.   This display is after the flower has bloomed and the huge elephant ear leaves help the plant absorb nutrients to last them the remainder of the year.  

A mini landscape showcasing the environment where the Ohio State wild flower (white trillium) flourish - Wordens Ledges in Cleveland Metro Parks Hinckley Reservation.

A nice wider landscape style view of an impressive number of trout lily in the Hinckley Reservation of the Cleveland Metro Parks.

Another impressive display of Virginia bluebells can be found at the Hemlock Creek Picnic area of the Cleveland Metro Parks.

Now to take you to a different type of landscape - the beautiful Brecksville Marsh in the Cleveland Metro Parks.

I'll leave you with a beautiful sunrise from Indigo Lake in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

So those are some of the landscapes I've captured over the last few moths. 

For tomorrow, day three we'll look at some of the insects that have shared some time with me over the last few months. 

Five blogs in five days

Hi again,

I'm ashamed to realize it has been 3 months since I shared a blog with you.   Please forgive me. 

As a reward for your patience, how about we get caught up with five blogs in five days?    I'll get you caught up on some of my photography adventures this spring and early summer with a blog posting each day for the next five days. 

Let's revisit the spring wild flowers from April.

One of my favorite spring wild flowers are the beautiful trout lily.    This display was captured in the Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Metro Parks.

Keeping with the trout lily images, here is one from Hinckley Reservation of the Cleveland Metro Parks.

Here is the state wild flower of Ohio - the white trillium.   This one from Brecksville Reservation of the Cleveland Metro Parks.

Another white blossom from the Brecksville Reservation - this one is the delicate rue anemone.

Part of the daffodil family, the fragrant jonquils are a annual spring treat both to the eyes and the nose.

One of the more exotic looking spring blossoms is blue cohosh.   These blooms are from the Furnace Run area of the Summit Metro Park.

This early bloom is the exotic looking Dutchman Breeches down in the Brandywine Gorge of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

We'll conclude the blog with an under appreciated wild flower - the marsh marigold from the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Tomorrow we'll examine some of the landscapes I've captured over the last few months. 

Passing the Photography Time

Well it has been a quiet month for me in photography.   I was commenting to my photography friend Jeff Gibson that this may have been my longest, and least active use of photography in many years.

With that said, Jeff and I ventured out to enjoy sharing a morning with the local Blue Heron colony along Bath Rd.    

A fun morning to be out and watch the nesting birds.    But I have to admit that I'm very anxious for the wild flowers to start popping.    Signs are very good for this weekend to start the annual chase of the ephemeral beauties.