Monday, February 7, 2011

Congrats Wisconsin

Last nights Super Bowl was a great game. I was very happy that our neighbors to the east came up victorious. To honor their victory I decided to feature one of my favorite Wisconsin refuges in today's post.
Necedah NWR is located in central Wisconsin. It is about an hour west of Madison, Wisconsin and about 3 hours south east of the Twin Cities, where I live. Our first trip to Necedah was back in 2007. I had been doing some reading about butterflies and found that Necedah was a good place to see the endangered Karner blue. Unfortunately by the time we made arrangements to go there, Michelle accompanied me on this trip, it was October which is a bit late for the Karner blues. We did fall in love with, and photograph the numerous red-headed woodpeckers living in the refuge. The head on this immature bird was just beginning to turn red.
In 2008 we decided to go back to Necedah but this time in June. We were able to photograph our first Karner blues on that trip but we did not see as many red-headed woodpeckers as we did in the fall of 2007. So I decided to head back, this time on my own, at the beginning of October. On the second trip not only did I get my red-head fix but I also was astounded when a pair of endangered whooping cranes flew directly over head.
In 2009 I made two trips back out to Necedah, one with Michelle and one on my own. This eastern tiger swallowtail was very cooperative that June, posing for many pictures on brightly colored flowers. On the June trip we also spotted a porcupine as it crossed the road, which was very exciting.
In 2010 I repeated my now traditional two trips, this year both of them on my own. I added several new species to my Necedah list including several new dragonflies and a bobolink. I also photographed my favorites including the red-headed woodpeckers and the Karner blue butterfly, as seen above.

8 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Breathtaking captures as always! I just love being able to see the birds and butterflies up close and personal, so to speak, see their eyes and the colors!! Terrific way to celebrate the Super Bowl win! Have a great week!

Sylvia

My name is Riet said...

Really beautiful photo's. Very special

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Such beautiful photos! I especially liked the one of the whooping crane in flight!

KaHolly said...

You go to some of the most incredible places. I'm so glad you blog and share them! ~karen

Anonymous said...

What wonderful trips. Love those butterflies!

indicaspecies said...

Splendid captures. Particularly like the shots of the whooping crane and the Karner blue.

Kristin said...

What a lovely photo of the butterfly. It is so beautiful.

Stewart M said...

Great set of photos - spend a long time a few weeks ago trying to photograph swallow tails here in Australia - but got nowhere near as good a shot as you!

well done - Stewart M