Posted in Central Ohio, Hiking, Park review

Blacklick Woods Metro Park

Blacklick Woods Metro Parks is located in Reynoldsburg, an eastern suburb of Columbus. This 634 acre park has hiking, jogging, and bicycle trails, an abundance of picnic tables and shelters, playgrounds, a golf course, and a nature center. Blacklick Woods was the first of the area Metro Parks, opening in 1948. It's extensive picnic / shelter areas are very popular and likely to be quite busy in good weather. A system of multi-use trails are often filled with strollers, joggers, and Read more ➜
Posted in Central Ohio, Geology, Hiking, Park review

Boyer Nature Preserve

Boyer Nature Preserve is wonderful, mini-wetland that sits in the middle of suburban Westerville, Ohio. The site's main feature is its stream-fed pond. Although it may look like an ordinary pond, it's actually very special due to the way that it was formed. During the last ice age, Westerville was beneath approximately one thousand feet of ice (305 m). As the climate warmed, a large fracture formed near the edge of the melting glacier. Once that fracture became large enough, a huge slab of ice separated Read more ➜
Posted in Uncategorized

I sold a photo!

If I were a professional photographer, I guess this would be a very ordinary event. However since I'm not a professional photographer, this is kind of exciting! A while back I was contacted by someone from a graphic design firm, Bluestone + Associates. The firm had been contracted to do a project for Klehm Arboretum and Botanic Garden, and as part of this project, they wanted to use one of my photos. Their plan was to use my photo as the background image for an interpretive sign. It Read more ➜
Posted in Animals

Amphibians at the Inniswood pond

Whenever I'm at Inniswood Metro Gardens, I stop by to see what's happening in this tiny, municipal wetland. And right now, tadpoles are what's happening. These two, very different types of tadpoles were co-existing in the pond. I wonder if they are different species of frog, or the same species born at different times? Let's take a look at some prospective parents. The happy threesome above are Eastern American Toads. You can distinguish toads from frogs because the skin Read more ➜
Posted in Native American, Park review

Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park: the Voss Site

Above you see a little green hill rising above the surrounding plain. This is a man-made structure. The first time I came across anything like this was while reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. There is a dramatic passage in the Fellowship of the Ring when the hobbit heroes are passing through the "Barrow-downs". Tolkien's barrows were mounds like the one above; they had been the final resting place of the ancient men of the first age. In the novel the barrow-downs had been a peaceful place Read more ➜
Posted in Animals, History, Park visit

Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park: Bison

I wasn't sure what to expect when I went to Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, but I had been hoping to see a herd of bison in a natural looking setting. Yeah... that's not exactly what happened. When I got to the area where the bison are, there was a sign informing me that the bison were being held in a temporary holding pen, so it was hard getting a photo of them without showing the fence which enclosed them. But perhaps the small enclosure meant that I got a closer look at them than Read more ➜