Inside Aman Park

2012 04 23 We dug into Aman Park for about 5 hours on this day.  Many spring wildflowers were still in bloom, they will soon be gone until next spring.
We started at the south end of the park, then cut through some interior sections where no trails go.  We had fun and it was a beautiful day, here are some pictures from that day.

 Starry False Solomon's Seal (Smilacina stellata Lily family)

Starry False Solomon's Seal

 Running Strawberry Bush
 (Euonymus obovatus Bittersweet family)

Running Strawberry Bush

                 Sand Creek

   Beautiful new oak leaves

 It was rough going in some places.

Marie spied a huge snake sunning itself, I only caught the tail end of it as it fled down a huge hole.

Wild Geranium  (geranium maculatum, Geranium family) is a lovely wildflower.  Here are three different ones, notice the centers - with anthers and pistil - at various stages of development. 

Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica Borage family) were at their peak. 

Then Marie spied what looked like a hummingbird, but we realized it was a moth or butterfly?  I got a few shots but the thing was moving around fast.

So it is a Hummingbird or Hawk moth?  It was pretty neat to see.

We found a single Squawroot
(Conopholis americana, Broomrape Family).

 An interesting insect on a shiny buttercup flower...

Finally after 5 hours we came near the north bridge, then time to head home.
Great day.

Michigan Fall Color at Long Lake

  Long Lake        
 2011 October 11  We were looking for fall color and while the sun was shining we found color. What a difference the sun can make. These two photos are with the early morning sun still low in the sky just lighting up the leaves, and the sky was quite blue, later it was a bit more hazy.

Long Lake (13747 Krauskopf NE Sparta, MI 49345)
is in Kent County Michigan, remember http://www.accesskent.com/CultureLeisureAndTransit/Parks/park_directory.htm


Kent County has many wonderful parks and a very good website.  When using a GPS it helps to have an address, addresses are included on this site, as are maps and a list of what you will find at each park.


Near the playground where there are maple trees with golden leaves, even if the sun isn't shining, it looks like sunshine.

Maybe we should call them Sunshine Maples.

Marie found one Nodding Ladies' Tresses still blooming!

We identified these asters as Heath Aster (Aster ericoides), there were lots of busy bumble bees.

 This little Wood Frog was curious.

The bugs were as busy as the bees.

The park wraps around the most of the north end of Long Lake, the very south end of the lake is private.  There are three entrances to the park, with the playground on the east side, a non-motorized boats only launch on the west side of the lake.

We left Long Lake Park with an hour of fun time left so on our way home we stopped in at Patterson Park in Muskegon County.  Patterson Park is located on the Little Rio Grande Creek two miles southwest of Ravenna on Blackmer Road, here is a site for Muskegon County parks, http://co.muskegon.mi.us/parks/index.html.

At Patterson Park there are many Sycamore trees, this is what the bark of the Sycamore looks like.

This composite was blooming, we didn't ID it, sort of looked like Woodland Sunflower, but it was nice to see.  Time to head home.

Bass River with Gentian and a Tree Frog

2011 09 01 September!
This is the time of year to see Closed (Bottle) Gentian at Bass River in Ottawa County Michigan.  Here is what we saw on the first day of September.

 This is where the gentian live.

I'm pretty sure this is a Gray Treefrog.  Check out the book Michigan Frogs, Toads,and Salamanders by James Harding.

                 Nodding Ladies' Tresses

Purple Gerardia (Gerardia purpurea) we saw lots of these, very nice.

Black and Yellow Garden Spider
 (Argiope aurantia)

  Northern Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens) or is it a
                     Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris)?

Aphids, yellow ones.

I kept noticing a ghostly flying insect, I followed it until it landed on a cattail, it was a Praying Mantis.

Red bugs on a swamp Milkweed pod, Eww enough with the bugs!

Cardinal Flower was still blooming, in the photo below the red is all Cardinal Flower.

Swamp Smartweed

This is, I think, Centaury (Centaruium umbellatum) another flower in the Gentain family.

Another fun day a Bass River Rec. Area!