Saul Lake Bog

Fine tracings

of arching grasses

are frosted at dawn.

Thick shrubs of Cranberry

display red and green leaves 

packed tightly along their twigs.

Browned cattail leaves

curve down from their heights,

more brittle than their summer selves.

A White-tailed buck

stands tall in the Tamaracks;

alert and muscular,

displaying a large rack of antlers.

A few hundred Canada Geese

announce their departure;

rise clamorously

off the shallow water,

assemble airborne into formation,

and depart over autumn leaves.

Winterberry and

large rose hips

add red highlights

into the dense shade.

Black-capped Chickadees

balance like acrobats

while picking at seed heads

of dried wildflowers

and cattails.

Morning has broken 

at Saul Lake Bog.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

 

Cheers!

The Cardinal may be common,
but he announces dawn,
 declares dusk for us,
and remains loyal
and present
through the seasons;

raising a brood,
finding food;
even in winter,
he appears,
and reappears, calling:
"what cheer, cheer, cheer,"
or, "pretty, pretty, pretty."

while wearing
that bold red uniform
proper and suitable
for his cardinal duties.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Townsend Park - Kent County, Michigan

Play the Cardinal call  from Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Before and After III

This is the third edition of "Before and After". 

Please enjoy this Botanical sequence of events, brought to you by "Father Nature". I also encourage you to get outside, in all of our beautiful seasons, to make your own discoveries. Perhaps you will be surprised here, as you view this series from flower to fruit. 

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Sensitive Fern

fertile fern fronds - spore stalks

Swamp Rose

Swamp Rose - Hips

You may also like: 

Before and After II - June 5, 2014

Before and After - January 30, 2014

1. Jack-in-the-pulpit - (Arisaema atrorubens) - Home Woods

2. Sensitive Fern - (Onoclea sensibilis) - Home Woods

3. Swamp Rose - (Rosa palustris) - Gavin Lake,  Kent County,  Michigan