March 2019 – Brennah's Backyard

Miscellaneous Macro Photos

I recently figured out how to use the ‘manual focus’ mode on my camera, which has been handy for making good use of my macro lens. Here are some of the little things I found to photograph.

Sedum – this variety was planted last fall and has emerged much quicker than the variety we had before. We got this one from a plant swap so I don’t know what it is exactly.

Bittercress is one of the first flowering plants in the spring, though it usually is unnoticed due to its minuscule size.

Dead aster flowers – even though they are from last fall and have lost their petals, they still look like flowers. The part that looks like petals is the remains of the bud.

Mushrooms growing out of a dead giant ragweed stalk

Arrival of the Red Winged Blackbirds

Yesterday morning, a red winged blackbird was spotted out the kitchen window. He was perched in a cottonwood tree, apparently alone. But red winged blackbirds don’t arrive alone in the spring, and it wasn’t long before we heard the calls of the rest of his flock.

When I lived in Florida, the red winged blackbirds spent the winter hanging around our pond (and other such areas), and now, in Michigan, they nest around the marshy areas in our field. It would be hard not to notice when they arrive; they travel in large flocks, and sit in the treetops chattering loudly. This year, their arrival has coincided quite exactly with the arrival of warmer weather, which has been a bit sudden this year. They seem to have timed things nicely for themselves.

A flock of red winged blackbirds passing overhead on March 10th 2017

Morning Frost

One morning recently we had a pretty frost over everything. I took the opportunity to get out my macro lens. The dead stalks of last fall’s white asters turned out to give me the best pictures. All the pictures I selected for this post are of the frost on the asters.