Showy Lady's Slippers

 

The other day I had the pleasure of seeing and photographing some beautiful Showy Lady's Slipper orchids. I was kind of surprised that they were still in such good shape, as typically they would already be done blooming by now. I'm guessing they're a little late this year because of the long, cold spring and early summer that we experienced. In stark contrast to that, the day I photographed these flowers it was unusually hot, in the low 90's, which is rare for as close to the Lake Superior shoreline as these flowers were. I felt very fortunate to have some really nice light on the flowers at the time that I was there. 

Painted Turtle

 

Last week it was a snapping turtle. This week it was painted turtles. I've seen several of them but this one stood out from the rest. When I came across it, I was driving down a forest road and it was on the edge of the road. As I slowly drove by, it turned and hightailed it into the ditch. I stopped to watch as it crawled down the bank, thinking I would see it crawl up the opposite side. Instead, it had turned around and a few seconds later it crawled back up and was peering at me from the edge of the ditch, presumably waiting for me to move along so it could go back to its business. 

Snapping Turtle

 

Last weekend my brother was up for a visit and we spent one afternoon exploring the forest roads. The coolest thing we saw was this huge snapping turtle laying eggs in the gravel. While they are definitely around, you don't come across them all too often. Painted turtles are much more common to see. My favorite thing about them is how prehistoric looking they are. 

Canada Geese on Lake Superior

I watched and photographed several families of Canada Geese on Lake Superior this past weekend. These are my favorite photos from the outing. 

A great day for a hike

 

It sure was a beautiful weekend! On Saturday a friend and I went for a hike in Pigeon River Provincial Park, Ontario. We did the Lookout Trail and High Falls Trail. I've been to the Lookout before, but it never fails to "wow" with its incredible views of the forest, Pigeon River, and Lake Superior. We only hiked about 3.5 miles but were on the trail for 4 hours, as we like to take our time and really take in everything around us. We also met a couple of super nice guys, one from Columbia that came to Thunder Bay to study at Confederation College, and his friend from Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were the only other two people that we saw on the trail. While our main goal was to hike to the Lookout and back, of course we had to do the High Falls loop on our return. While I see High Falls all the time from U.S. side of the river, the view from the Canadian side is just as impressive. 

Sandhill Cranes and Canada Geese Out for a Stroll

 

Definitely a highlight of this weekend was being out on a drive through the forest and coming across this pair of Sandhill Cranes and pair of Canada Geese, just hanging out together slowly walking down a remote logging road. Not something you see every day, that's for sure!

April New Moon over Lake Superior

 

Since I haven't been able to get out during this month's new moon phase, here is a photo that I made a month ago during April's new moon. It shows the Milky Way over Lake Superior at 3:57 AM. Even though I haven't been sharing much online these days, that doesn't mean I haven't been getting out to enjoy the sky and make some images. My priorities are different nowadays and I'm focusing more on the process of making images than the practice of sharing them online. And its been a very rewarding and fulfilling shift.