Kip’s Comments - November 5, 2024

Meaningful For Me, Maybe Not Too Many Others

For many people red cedar trees are not a highly sought tree species. In fact, red cedars often grow as volunteer trees in ditches, waterways, prairies… just about anywhere a berry might be dropped. Often the cedars create work as people strive to remove them.

For me cedar trees are meaningful for at least a few reasons.

Reason 1 - We wanted to establish a windbreak on the edge of our yard. Knowing red cedars are easy to establish and hardy in our environment, I planted and maintained a couple rows of them. That I was able to find and photograph berries in two of the trees tells me the trees are doing well and our efforts to water them during the drought paid off.

Red Cedar Berries - Image 926448

Reason 2 - When I look for owls in the winter I often carefully study cedar trees - many times with success. I am hopeful that sometime in my lifetime we will have an owl or two in one of our cedar trees.

Reason 3 - Cedar bark on mature trees is thought-provoking. In time I hope to be able to study cedar bark in our yard like I now study the bark elsewhere.

Since we seem to be receiving a month’s worth of rain in a series of days, I had the option of staying inside or venturing out in the weather. During drizzle I did go out with my camera and found some photogenic views I will share here.

Raindrops on Cedar Tree - Image 926431

Raindrops on Cedar Tree - Image 926432

Raindrops on Cedar Tree - Image 926438

Red Cedar Berries - Image 926464

Red Cedar Berries - Image 926544

Dead Peony Leaves Pattern - Image 926148

Trumpeter Swans in Drizzle - Image 926383

Canoeing in Drizzle - Image 926331

This afternoon, for a brief time, the rain/drizzle paused and the sun tried to break though the thick bank of clouds. I took advantage of the dry time to look for sandhill cranes. Did I ever find cranes… wow, maybe a hundred or more. I could not capture all of them in a single frame. And, there were large congregations of them in multiple locations - all within calling distance of each other. I was hoping that in the many cranes I might see a whooping crane or a sandhill crane sporting a radio telemetry transmitter, but I saw neither. That is OK… it was still a joy to see so many sandhill cranes in one spot.

Sandhill Cranes - Image 926700

Sandhill Cranes - Image 926767

Sandhill Cranes - Image 926798

After studying the sandhill cranes I looked over Marten’s Lake at Sweet Marsh. As I was in the air the sun again peaked through the clouds momentarily. That quick glimpse of illumination occurred as I was viewing a photographically interesting landmark. This observation included leading lines, an unexpected recognizable symbol, and with the light breaking through the clouds at the exact correct moment in time - I had the almost ideal compositional elements for an unexpected, likely not to be seen again, unusual photo of a typically mundane scene. I happened to be there at the right time, looking in the right direction with my flying camera, with the exposure settings correct. I no more than pressed the shutter release and the clouds closed up to hide the sun again. I am thankful for the good luck to capture this picture.

Sweet Marsh Aerial - Image 926619