This trail, called the Bugline Trail , built on an abandoned railroad right-of-way is my most frequent route for photographing natural specimens and collecting fresh- water microlife specimens. The trail itself is accessable near my home and is 12 miles long. Several more miles should be added once funding is available. The trail has several offshoots such as the one in this photo which ends at a wayside along the Bark River.
This wayside features several nice bunches of showy fungi, seen in aggregate in the photo below. Many water-loving flowering plants such as spotted jewelweed also abound here.
Other large stands of fallen and live trees along the trail yield Jack-In-The-Pulpit and various fungi just a short hike from the bike trail.
The trail parallels the river for some distance and has many access points including several parks. A dam preserves an abandoned mill pond which is summer refuge for large birds such as Common Egrets, Sandhill Cranes and Great Blue Herons. A year-round group of Canada Geese also make this a rest and breeding place.
The photo below is a view of the river at one of the parks. The river jogs North away from the trail at this point. Egrets are also seen here at times.
Jim
Bugline bike trail
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Such a lovely place there Jim, a microscopists and macro shooters paradise I would say, especially along that river. I was oggling the algae mats, lots of neat things live in that stuff.
Yeah winter is beginning to move in, not many subjects left around for macro, time to return to the eyepieces of the microscope I suppose.
Yeah winter is beginning to move in, not many subjects left around for macro, time to return to the eyepieces of the microscope I suppose.
Thanks for the comments, Ken and Aynia. I bike here quite often, as these two sites are only about 2-mile bike ride away. The Bark river is a clear spring-fed stream that feeds several lakes and ponds in turn over many miles of southeast wisconsin. In heavy rains it turns muddy and raging in volume in places.
The algae patch was photographed at the Lisbon Comunity Park. It is a former dairy farm which now has quite a few acres of restored prarie.
Restoring prarie habitat is getting quite popular here. New subdivisions as well as public preserves and state forests are also getting in on the activity.
Frequent crosswinds do make flower and insect photography at the prarie sites rather an "iffy" task at times.
Jim
The algae patch was photographed at the Lisbon Comunity Park. It is a former dairy farm which now has quite a few acres of restored prarie.
Restoring prarie habitat is getting quite popular here. New subdivisions as well as public preserves and state forests are also getting in on the activity.
Frequent crosswinds do make flower and insect photography at the prarie sites rather an "iffy" task at times.
Jim
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Thanks for the input, Chris:ChrisR wrote:] Gotcha!
The detail is really good around here - the dam on the mill pond, the railroad and the Bark river can all be seen
Looks like you'll have just a few weeks before you hunker down for the winter!
That's true, Chris. However, the satellite views mean little. Much of the views of this area are more than a year old and have zero relevance to real time.
My own photos, of course, accurately reflect the conditions near the time of posting. The green and the fall colors are but a fond memory for the while......sob!
Regards,
Jim
You're right, Homestar:homestar455 wrote:This looks like my kinda place to wander around and shoot tons of photos.
I bet this place has some great colorful areas during fall?
There are lots of maples and other hardwoods, Evergreens and poplars as well as farm fields of corn, oats and soybeans. Should I also mention that this area is also known as "lake country"?
Jim