Monday, July 6

We have been some wandering souls. After our UP trip we spent a week or so in Okemos, land of the living dead. Then for the holiday weekend, Lise and I went to down to West Lafayette. Mostly hung around with Sue and relaxed. We spent some time at Prophetstown State Park where we finally got a dicsissel. That brings my yearly count to 272 and Lise’s to 234. We’ve reached the summer slowdown for birding. Until things start moving again we will not get significant number of species unless we travel somewhere new.

Prophetstown State Park is nice if you’re into prairie and prairie species. A few years ago it was cornfields, the typical Northern Indiana landscape. The Indiana DNR has done a pretty good job of making it a little more exciting, recreating prairie and savanna conditions. The flowers were in bloom but it’s still early in the season. Later the tall grasses will kick in, some growing way over five feet tall. You walk through a green tunnel listening to the birds you can’t see. Not for the claustrophobic.

Prophetstown prairie plants.

Bergamont.

Compass plant and prairie.

I got in a little odonating time at the park. Mostly wading in a small stream or struggling through a wetland in my waders, with a camera and flash on a tripod. Rough going but fun. Beats watching TV anytime.  Each step you have to be thinking about where you are. A misstep and you’re down, desperately trying to keep and expensive camera and lens out of the water. Drowning is OK, just keep the camera safe.

Eastern forktail.

Northern bluet. Immature so I believe that is what it is.

Great blue skimmer. Another immature but I believe that’s correct.

Violet dancer.

And we did the West Lafayette fireworks show. Explosions are always kind of fun. They turn things into little pieces of things that move really fast. What’s not to like. Throw in some noise and bright colors and you got a winning combination.

West Lafayette fireworks. Explosions can be fun.

We got back Sunday, in time for me to pack for another UP trip. I had to come back up here to put in some bat monitors on the Hiawatha National Forest. So I’m taking a couple days and staying at Joanna’s cabin. I’m hoping to spend enough time here to establish squatter’s rights.

When I got to the cabin it was 56 degrees and raining. About an hour from here, at Seney National Wildlife Refuge, it was 68 degrees. So I’m looking over Sand River, watching the mist rise from the river as the sun is going down. I’ll take cold and rainy at the cabin over Lansing anytime.