Canoeing the Cedar and Naked Ladies Causing Confusion

Since my post two days ago we spent more time outdoors exploring and documenting our natural world. Several fun hours were enjoyed canoeing the Cedar River from the Cedar-Wapsie Access to Black Hawk Park in Cedar Falls. Since the distance was relatively short, we did not push too hard, often putting our paddles in the water only to adjust our direction of travel.

We saw plenty of wildlife… mostly birds, but some turtles too.

Following are some photos made on that paddling trip.

Again last night we had a barred owl visitor. Fortunately the owl came by early enough that I was able to photograph it using high ISO and no flash.

Today as I was driving in a rural area I was surprised to see a group of naked lady lilies growing in a ditch. Since naked lady lilies are not native to Iowa, I generally do not go out of my way to photograph them. No doubt, naked ladies are pretty, but since they are non-native, my attention toward photographing them is minimal.

After returning home to edit my images I began to wonder details about this plant. During my research I learned that naked lady lilies really is a common name for six (maybe more) species of lily. Each has a bare stalk (naked) supporting the showy blossom. Having explained that, I cannot say with certainty which version of naked lady lily these are. I do know they are pretty and that was enough for a photo.

For my photographer friends - Had I shot this picture from the easy vantage point the background would have clearly shown nearby ditch vegetation. By adjusting my position I was able to throw the background into a complete blur that then caused the blossoms to pop even more.