A Stunning Photo Project Shows a Year in the Life of a Local Lake

The solar had risen, however clouds and a thick stand of bushes extended the darkness at Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. Standing on a floating boardwalk, Steve Jessmore heard the swans earlier than he noticed them: a sudden commotion of high-pitched cries and beating wings, piercing the stillness of the late-November morning. Instantly, the flock crested the treetops because the solar broke by, bathing the stark white birds in fiery mild. Simply as shortly, they had been gone.

It was Jessmore’s first time seeing Tundra Swans, a species that solely briefly touches down in Michigan on the best way from its Arctic breeding grounds to wintering habitat on the mid-­Atlantic coast. However his fortune in recognizing the swans was not the results of cautious planning. Two months into a brand new wildlife pictures mission, he had already discovered that the trick to witnessing the spectacular was merely to indicate up, day after day, season after season.

Having labored as a community photojournalist for 35 years, Jessmore was used to placing within the time. He’d documented every part from breaking information to skilled sports activities, however he’d by no means targeted on the area’s wildlife. He began photographing birds on a whim whereas at dwelling throughout the pandemic, and when he posted the pictures, he was floored by the enthusiastic response. Strangers advised him that his photographs supplied consolation and pleasure at a time when the world felt far-off. Nonetheless, whereas he was having enjoyable, Jessmore didn’t contemplate himself a birder. “I might have named possibly 10 birds,” he says.  

His work at Reeds Lake was shortly altering that. In 2021 the native library commissioned Jessmore to {photograph} the 265-acre freshwater physique for an exhibition, and he was instantly taken with its lengthy boardwalk. Accomplished in 2010 as a part of the brand new Waterfront Park, it zigzags greater than 400 toes over water. Although he lived lower than quarter-hour away, he’d visited solely as soon as earlier than, and what he’d initially thought can be a fast project blossomed in his creativeness. He requested the library for one 12 months, throughout which he would go to as usually as he might to doc the avian life he encountered—an method generally referred to as “patch birding.” Although Jessmore hadn’t but heard the time period, he was struck by the chances: “This might be my place.”

Over that 12 months, Jessmore returned to the park greater than 100 instances, often arriving earlier than dawn and infrequently exploring close by trails or venturing out on his kayak. However most days he stayed on the boardwalk, which grew to become the theater the place he took within the ecosystem’s drama and abundance. As he’d performed with human topics, he preferred to attend for moments of motion to seize pictures that advised a narrative. He photographed geese sparring and Bald Eagles accumulating nesting materials. He spent days making an attempt to border a chook in flight between the branches of an japanese redbud, lastly getting it proper on the fourth morning with an Japanese Warbling Vireo, its wings unfold angelically between the blooms. 

Even amid these exceptional moments, Jessmore realized that the biodiversity he was so intently observing wasn’t notably distinctive. Tucked into Michigan’s second-largest metro space and ringed with properties, Reeds Lake will not be untrammeled wilderness. From the boardwalk Jessmore might hear vehicles rumble alongside I-96. Nonnative vegetation threaten to vary the lake’s chemistry and clog its bordering wetlands. 

But the lake, park, and surrounding trails additionally guarantee important entry to nature for the town’s individuals and wildlife alike. One morning Jessmore measured the boardwalk’s size together with his personal footfalls: 241 steps. A brief and flat stroll, designed for accessibility. Placing a quantity to it drove dwelling that the wonders he has seen at Reeds Lake can be found to anybody. “You do not need to be in camo or do something bizarre to see these things,” he says. 

The expertise, for him, provides proof that exceptional locations might be present in each neighborhood. Endurance (and maybe a willingness to rise early) is all it takes to disclose the myriad lives that intertwine in a single slice of habitat. A patch birding or pictures observe near dwelling—an inherently low-carbon activity—can, by repetition, sharpen any birder’s skills by focusing consideration on delicate wildlife behaviors and panorama shifts. 

That was true for Jessmore. He not solely discovered about dozens of latest species as he edited every day’s images and examine his sightings in a rising assortment of discipline guides—he additionally noticed how wildlife used completely different habitats and vegetation all through the altering seasons. The mission opened his eyes to the advanced realities of avian existence, too. Like individuals, birds kind shut bonds and compete or cooperate for what they want. Some even have every day commutes. He got here to acknowledge the dignity of their lives.

Greater than something, cultivating his connection to Reeds Lake has stuffed Jessmore with gratitude. “Once I’m on the market, there’s no unhealthy day,” he says. “I’ll not deliver again any nice photos, however the day will not be a waste.” Previous to the pandemic, he was staring down retirement, not sure of how he would spend his days and discover which means past his profession. By means of his now-tremendous love of birds, and by sharing what he finds with others, Jessmore has found a brand new path. “I’ve a lot to sit up for,” he says. “I don’t actually have a doubt about what I’m doing for the remainder of my life.” 

At present Jessmore continues to go to the lake a number of instances a month. He hopes his photographs encourage individuals to search out their very own patches and do what they will to guard them. That is the thought he returns to when the world’s issues really feel overwhelming. “Let’s chunk off one thing we will chew, after which let everyone try this. Let’s see how we do,” Jessmore says. “I feel we’ll do fairly good.”

This story initially ran within the Winter 2025 subject as “On the Boardwalk.” To obtain our print journal, turn into a member by making a donation today.