A warm sultry day that will likely end in thunderstorms. We are in summer now. I’ll take this heat over the cold just about any time. This may be uncomfortable at times but it doesn’t physically hurt like -20 degree temperatures hurt.
I’ve been buried with work commitments the past couple weeks. There just seemed to be a perfect storm convergence of deadlines with people needing equipment set up, bat monitors needing to be deployed, and a big proposal deadline. Unlike World Cup soccer matches that seem to have pretty arbitrary ending times, proposal deadlines are hard and fast. If you’re a minute late, the proposal is not accepted.
All told, this has made for some long days and working weekends with little time to play. I didn’t even work out for about a week. But, everything got done and the proposal went in hours before the deadline. I am however, getting really really tired of chasing funding. Being entrely soft money isn’t fun. Especially when other people’s jobs depend on your proposal writing.
So this is a kick back weekend. I listened to music on YouTube until late last night. Today Lise and I checked out a new park in Lansing. It’s connected to the River Trail system and I ride right by one entry point riding home from work. It has some real odonate potential. Saw my first of the year banded pennant and eastern pondhawk there. Several other species too.
Banded pennant.
Familiar bluet.
A couple of frisky frogs.
I have gotten out a little the past couple weeks. I got to play at the Bunker property last weekend. Spent a couple hours sitting in the wetland trying to get odonate pictures. Unfortunately it was just too windy to get many pictures. Kind of a Zen thing though. At least I got to while away a few hours sitting in a wetland.
Interesting caterpillar at Bunker Road preserve.
An interesting caterpillar in black and white.
Unknown dragonfly. I think a newly emerged meadowhawk but I haven’t had time to check the field guides.
Lise and I got out to Shiawassee NWR too. Instead of driving the loop we took our bikes and hauled the scope and camera gear in the bike trailer. We did about three miles of the driving loop then cut back through the trail system. I got my dicksissel for the year and we both got marsh wren, yellowlegs, semipalmated sandpiper and cliff swallow.
I wouldn’t say this has been a good odonate or bird year for me. There are some pretty big holes in our bird species list. I haven’t gotten in the bird photography I thought I would either. The cruise was great and we had a few good days locally, but overall things have conspired against us. The winter was just plain brutal. We’re missing waterfowl we should have been able to get fairly easy. Our schedules, especially this spring, have been messy to say the least. We didn’t get to some of the key places at the critical times. Like the UP for winter finches, Mio for Kirtland’s warblers, or Pointe Mouillee for shorebirds. Our trip to Shiawassee NWR was way after spring migration.
Timing is everything. Things are pretty ephemeral in the natural world. There are cycles going on that we have no control of. I kind of like that. If you want to witness them, you have to be there when it’s happening. No instant replays. They don’t wait for you. This ephemeral nature of things is part of the reason I’ve been so busy lately. We had to get bat monitors out at the same time the big proposal was due. Waiting a few days for either doesn’t work. The bat monitor setup I designed had my boss carrying boxes of car batteries through the woods in the Upper Peninsula. That didn’t work too well either. I sure hope that proposal gets funded.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 