Anniversary Wildflower, aconite

Our Winter Aconite started blooming around Valentines Day, February 14, 2023.

The following photograph is from the Apple IPhone 14 ProMax, raw format and perfected on the phone. The rest are from the Canon 5D Mark IV with the lens EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USB.

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As a spring ehemeral plant, its life cycle exploits the deciduous woodland canopy, flowering at the time of maximum sunlight reaching the forest floor, then completely dying back to its underground tuber after flowering.

All parts of the plant are poisonous when consumed by humans and other mammals because it contains cardiac glycosides.

The species name Eranthis hyemalis proclaims the early nature of its flowering both in the genus, “Eranthis” – “spring flower”, and species, “hyemalis” – winter flowering. The genus encompasses eight species, all early flowering winter aconite.

Reference: Wikipedia “Eranthis hyemalis” and “Eranthis.”

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Anniversary Wildflower, crocus

The crocus has been known throughout recorded history, mainly as the source of saffron.

I found crocuses blooming beneath our magnolia tree on our 14th anniversary, Monday, March 20, 2023.

The following photograph is from the Apple IPhone 14 ProMax, raw format and perfected on the phone. The rest are from the Canon 5D Mark IV with the lens EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USB.

Click Me for more photographic art from my OnLine Gallery, “Finger Lakes Memories.”

“Crocus is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stems remain underground, that bear relatively large white, yellow, orange or purple flowers and then become dormant after flowering. Many are cultivated for their flowers, appearing in autumn, winter, or spring. The flowers close at night and in overcast weather conditions.”

Here are partially closed blooms under the same magnolia tree on a very cold March 2020 afternoon.

“The crocus has been known throughout recorded history, mainly as the source of saffron. Saffron is obtained from the dried stigma of Crocus sativus, an autumn-blooming species. It is valued as a spice and dyestuff and is one of the most expensive spices in the world. Iran is the center of saffron production. Crocuses are native to woodland, scrub, and meadows from sea level to alpine tundra from the Mediterranean, through North Africa, central and southern Europe, the islands of the Aegean, the Middle East and across Central Asia to Xinjiang in western China. Crocuses may be propagated from seed or from daughter cormels formed on the corm, that eventually produce mature plants. They arrived in Europe from Turkey in the 16th century and became valued as an ornamental flowering plant.” Source: wikipedia “crocus”

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

One Early Spring Morning

High Water

Here is the third waterfall in the Fillmore Glen Gallery of Waterfalls, shaded by hemlocks, below bridge eight (8) on an early spring morning of high-water volume.

A high dynamic range rendering from several exposures from a Kodak DSC Pro SLR/c with a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4 USM all mounted on a very stable Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head.

Fillmore Glen State Park Moravia, Cayuga County, New York.

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Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

A Change of Orientation

Portrait orientation expands the view

Portrait orientation of the waterfall beneath the dam reveals the length the water takes across a cliff face. A shattered Hemlock destroyed over previous winter is in foreground.

A high dynamic range rendering from several exposures from a Kodak DSC Pro SLR/c with a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4 USM all mounted on a very stable Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head.

Fillmore Glen State Park Moravia, Cayuga County, New York.

The high waterfall flowing from the outlet from the dam of Dry Creek on a spring morning just after the solstice. A shattered Hemlock destroyed over previous winter is in foregound. Fillmore Glen State Park, Moravia, Cayuga County, New York

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Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Beneath the Dam

A very wet “Dry Creek”

The upper portion of a high waterfall flowing from the outlet from the dam of Dry Creek on a spring morning just after the solstice.

A high dynamic range rendering from several exposures from a Kodak DSC Pro SLR/c with a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4 USM all mounted on a very stable Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head.

Fillmore Glen State Park Moravia, Cayuga County, New York.

Click for my “Finger Lakes Memories” Fine Art Photography Gallery.

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Foot Path

Watch Your Step

Foot trail leading to the waterfall below the dam on a spring morning just after solstice.

Fillmore Glen State Park Moravia, Cayuga County, New York.

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Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

A Turkey Tail?

Bracket Fungus

Trametes versicolor – also known as Coriolus versicolor and Polyporus versicolor – is a common polypore mushroom found throughout the world.

Meaning ‘of several colors’, versicolor reliably describes this fungus that displays a variety of colors. For example, because its shape and multiple colors are similar to those of a wild turkey, T. versicolor is commonly called turkey tail.

Found on a rotting Hemlock stump, Fillmore Glen State Park Moravia, Cayuga County, New York.

Kodak DSC Pro SLR/c with a Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens stabilized on a Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head

Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside (see Delimitation for exceptions). They are a morphological group of basidiomycetes-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi, and not all polypores are closely related to each other.

Kodak DSC Pro SLR/c with a Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens stabilized on a Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head

Polypores are also called bracket fungi or shelf fungi, and they characteristically produce woody, shelf- or bracket-shaped or occasionally circular fruiting bodies that are called conks.

Sony alpha 700, Sony Lens DT 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 stabilized on a Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head

Most polypores inhabit tree trunks or branches consuming the wood, but some soil-inhabiting species form mycorrhiza with trees. Polypores and the related corticioid fungi are the most important agents of wood decay, playing a very significant role in nutrient cycling and aiding carbon dioxide absorption by forest ecosystems.

Sony DSC F828 stabilized on a Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head

Sony DSC F828 stabilized on a Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head

Sony DSC F828 stabilized on a Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head
Reference: “Trametes versicolor” on Wikipedia

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Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Ice Abstracts

Light Plays

Surface of ice formed over a flowing creek. One is a HDR of three exposures, the other is a single exposure. Yes, that is dirt you see under the ice. How did that happen?

Readers: Can you tell which is the HDR? Please answer with a comment. Thank You

All are macros from a Kodak DSC Pro SLR/c with a Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens stabilized on a Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head

Fillmore Glen State Park, Moravia, Cayuga County, New York.

Click for my “Finger Lakes Memories” Fine Art Photography Gallery.

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Like a Dandelion

and a shifting of crops to (human) wheat from (cow) corn

Wednesday, June 15th, we were on a turn to heat and humidity with this day of light breeze, temperature in the 70s making hiking around Tremen Park a joy.

These snapshots, taken on the fly with an IPhone 7, are the high points.

The first is a dandelion look alike with yellow flowers, petals shaped like teeth, though on a long hard stem and multiple flowers on a stalk. Known as meadow hawkweed, yellow hawkweed, field hawkweed, king devil, yellow paintbrush, devil’s paintbrush, yellow devil, yellow fox-and-cubs, and yellow king-devil with two scientific names: Pilosella caespitosa and Hieracium caespitosum.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Click for slideshow.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Wildflowers Late Winter / Early Spring 3

With the thermometer in the 40’s on March 12 these crocus were open, under the same magnolia tree as the buttercups from the 10th. The blooms close during cold snaps much as you see in the first post.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

A tripod held the composition steady and the timer was set to 2 seconds for extra stability. With the leaf body worn away by time, the remaining veining turns the form lacy.

Here is a slideshow today’s and previous wildflowers.

Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills