A Cooper’s Hawk Visits

We had a pair of immature Cooper’s Hawks stop by in our back yard yesterday. One of the pair flew off before I could get outside with the camera, but the other hung around and posed for a few photos – with a watchful eye.



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Migrating Monarchs, a Fiery Skipper, and Vervain

The Monarch butterflies are on the move south, and their numbers are increasing on the areas near the shores of Lake Erie. Monarchs were all over the place when we visited the Mentor Headlands Dunes and the Mentor Marsh Wake Robin Trail this past week.

While at the Wake Robin Trail, we saw two people who were taking notes about what they were observing. We asked what they were tracking, and one woman responded that they were tracking the Fiery Skipper, a small yellow butterfly. Since there is work being done to restore the area by the Wake Robin Trail back to its fresh water habitat, they were watching how it will affect the Fiery Skipper population. Earlier on the trail, one had landed in front of me and I had taken its photo. The woman also identified a pretty purple flowering plant as Vervain.

Here are a few photos of the Monarchs, the Fiery Skipper, and Vervain, plus other wildlife and plants.















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Fairport Harbor Lighthouse

The Fairport Marine Museum (Fairport Harbor, OH) sits at the base of the Fairport Harbor Lighthouse and can be easily seen from the eastern side of Mentor Headlands Beach. Walking the Headlands Dunes to get to the Mentor Headlands Lighthouse (which is on Lake Erie at the eastern end of Headlands beach and the western end of the mouth of the Grand River), the Fairport Lighthouse can be spotted just a short way inland on the eastern side of the Grand River.

Last Sunday my husband and I headed to the Fairport lighthouse, both of us planning to make the trip to the top. Unfortunately, I only got a third of the way up before the open steps of the spiral staircase gave me a slight case of queasiness. I think I was more worried that I would be able to make the trip down without being frozen in fear. My husband braved it all the way up to snap a photo of the view from the top. I took all my pictures safely on the ground.

Panorama photo © John J. Zimmer

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Squirrel + Car = Vulture Food

My neighbor called to alert me that a turkey vulture had found a squirrel (which apparently lost a game of chicken with a car) and had dragged the squirrel across the street to begin to dine. Not wanting to miss a nice close up photo of such a big – and ugly - bird, I grabbed the camera and raced to get a few photos before the “buzzard” took off. Surprisingly, it let me get fairly close, although it did give me a look that said, "Leave me alone, I'm trying to eat!" Here are the photos.







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Early Morning Lightning Photo

A good thunderstorm and a very dark sky makes for a great opportunity for lightning photos. It also helps to have a protected area in which to stand to avoid getting hit by lightning while trying to grab a picture of it. Timing is also a big issue – if the camera shutter isn’t open the split second the lightning flashes, the shot is missed.

All those things came together very early this morning when a small thunderstorm moved through. The lightning and thunder diminished as the storm approached, though. Despite keeping the camera shutter open for several seconds per photo, only one forky flash of lightning popped into view within a period of about 30 minutes. Lucky for me, I had just opened the shutter and caught it. So, after taking over 350 pictures of this storm, I managed to get one decent shot. The photo is below. (The color of the sky has not been altered; the sky was just showing a little morning light, and the sky had a blue/purple cast.)

Click on photo for larger view

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Mentor Marsh: Wake Robin, Kerven, & Zimmerman Trails

A long spell of sunny, dry weather over the last two weeks made it ideal to explore the nature trails in my home town. There are several trails that skirt, and go into, the Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve, which is adjacent to the Mentor Headlands Beach State Park on Lake Erie in Mentor, Ohio. The marsh is a remnant of an ancient riverbed of the nearby Grand River. There are several trails in the area, some better than others for viewing the marsh and/or for birding.

The Zimmerman Trail is two miles long, and we began at the Headlands Drive entrance. We only ventured about ¾ of a mile onto the trail. From the Headlands entrance, the trail is a simple dirt/mud trail, very wooded, hilly, and sometimes not very visible due to a few downed trees. We could hear several birds in the area but could not see many because of the heavy foliage. Since the weather had been dry the trail was very dry, but it is evident that the trail would get messy with wet weather. We did not check out the Rosemary Lane entrance to this trail. There is a very nice view of a marsh pond area on Headlands Drive below the entrance of the trail.

The Kerven Trail, located on Corduroy Road, is also heavily wooded, but has a nice overlook of the Mentor Marsh. The trail to the overlook is not well marked and we found the overlook by accident. We realized on the way back to the beginning of the trail that we had to go on the butterfly meadow path in order to easily get to the overlook.

The nicest trail is the Wake Robin Trail, which is a boardwalk that runs through the marsh itself. There is a short but steep hill with a dirt trail which leads to the boardwalk, so be prepared for this short trek down. (There are plans to connect the boardwalk with another overlook nearby which will allow easy access for all.) We spent quite a bit of time on this short (.35 mile) boardwalk because it was very peaceful and there was a great view of all the different marsh plants, insects, and birds in the area. The height of the phragmites - the tall reeds that have invaded the marsh – is very evident once you are in the marsh at ground level; some easily reached 15-20 feet. Phragmites are not native to this area and over the years they have choked off the natural vegetation in the marsh. There is an effort to restore Mentor’s Marsh’s native habitat around the area of the boardwalk, much to the delight of birds (and humans too).

We also spent some time at the Mentor Lagoons Trails and the Mentor Headlands Dunes Nature Preserve Trail and I will post those photos in the near future. In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy these photos – some in black and white – from the Zimmerman, Kerven, and Wake Robin trails.

Zimmerman Trail

Kerven Trail

Wake Robin Trail

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The Birth of a Cumulonimbus and an Orange Sky

Strong storms moved through the area yesterday, and one that formed in Ashtabula county, which is just east of us, was clearly visible from our home in Lake County. That storm produced a cumulonimbus cloud which was beginning to form an anvil as it moved out of our range of view. The cloud top grew so large that even though the storm was moving into Pennsylvania while the sun was setting here, the sunlight reflected off the cloud top, creating a completely orange sky that was reported visible throughout most of Lake County and parts of the metro Cleveland area. Here are some photos, from beginning to end.

















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