Kara and I visited my Grandma this weekend to enjoy some time with her and to pick Huckleberries!  We’ve been trying to make it up to Oscoda for years at the magic time for picking and we finally made it happen this year.  I remember picking Huckleberries as a little kid up there so this was a real treat.  We were successful in our scouting and found a nice spot with a hillside full of Huckleberry Plants.  Jackpot!

While in the area, we went through Tuttle Marsh like we always do and found some nice stuff.   The first thing was blooming Milkweed with Monarchs all over the place.  You couldn’t walk/drive 50 yards without seeing more.  Kara mentioned it’s probably the right time for the Michigan hatch Monarchs to be out.  I was able to position myself in such a way to get the best angle possible given all the junk in the way.  With a little work in post-processing, I came up with a simple shot of the species on it’s host plant.

As always, many Osprey were flying around but it wasn’t until half way through the marsh we found the nest that was very close for viewing, and at eye level!  In a way, this was exciting but we think it may have been built during a time when not many people were going through the marsh.  Seemed a bit too close to us and the birds did seem stressed.  Who knows the real story but the bottom line is there were 2 large babies in the nest and the adults were bringing back more fish than they knew what to do with.

While tons of Monarchs were present, there were also many Dragonflies flying around.  I found a Halloween Pennant that was quite content perched on some grasses.  This was one of those experiences where I tried to be fast and get a couple quick shots hand-holding my 500mm (hard to do on such small species, so close).  I managed a few shots but nothing I was that excited about.  While the Pennant stayed perched, I got out my tripod and spent some time really setting up with a better background.  Much nicer!  I managed a simple shot with a color in the background that goes well with the Pennant.

We ended the journey with a short hike where I found a Bittern (quite sure it was a Least) but the bird was so buried in the reeds, I could only see the eye, a quarter of the face and under the base of the mouth.  The bird was quite small and had very light coloration under the neck which leads me to the Least.