Filed Under Fall 2008, Scenics, Shorebirds
Last April I witnessed a ballet in the marsh starring Yellow Legs. They were either chasing each other away from the fish they were finding, or were carrying out their mating dance. I took a lot of photos that evening but only posted a couple. Here are some more from that memorable night.
Filed Under Fall 2008, Scenics
In Chicago’s Millennium Park a sculpture titled “Cloud Gate” greets visitors. The creator of this piece, Anish Kapoor, says of his work, “What I wanted to do in Millennium Park is make something that would engage the Chicago skyline so that one will see the clouds kind of floating in, with those very tall buildings reflected in the work. And then, since it is in the form of a gate, the participant, the viewer, will be able to enter into this very deep chamber that does, in a way, the same thing to one’s reflection as the exterior of the piece is doing to the reflection of the city around.” The top photo captures the city and sky, the middle photo captures the interior chamber, and the bottom is a Cloud Gate self portrait.
Filed Under Fall 2008, Scenics
The difference between night and day varies, of course, depending upon where one is. Post sunset possibilities in woods and marshes where I more often take photographs are extremely rare, but in an urban environment the transiton of day to night does not mean the loss of light. Here is the Chicago River front day and night.
Filed Under Fall 2008
I started this photoblog with the plan to shoot and post photographs of the natural world exclusively. However, I was in Chicago this past week and have not had a chance to get out into the field to find new subjects. This is the view from my hotel room in Chicago. The view is looking down the South Branch of the Chicago River. The Chicago River was a natural resource that led to the developmnet of the Lake Michigan port city of Chicago. Surrounded by the heart of the city, the river continues to flow through downtown bringing an everyday reminder to Chicagoans of the vital link to natural resources.
I hung out with a lone Snowy Egret at sunset tonight. I usually see egrets working in groups but I see this one alone at the same spot nearly every night. It was casually fishing and doing a little mugging for the camera , even getting close enough to me that I could fill the frame with its head. The bottom photograph shows flaking on the upper part of the bill. Is there such a thing as chapped bills?
A few months ago I took these photographs of a young orphaned otter. With a busy schedule and cloudy sunsets two nights in a row, I dipped into the files for images to post.
Last night I posted photographs of Forster’s Terns and told about the hawk chasing them. After I witnessed life and death in the marsh yesterday, I found a variety of egrets working a trickle that was full of fish. The sun was low and the light warm and flattering. The Great Egrets stole the show, posing, stretching and shaking their feathers out. I included the second photo, the one with the stretched out neck because of the odd horizontal stretch that is seen just below its mouth. I saw this dispaly several times but have no idea why they did this. Any thoughts on this?
I found some Forster’s Terns feeding just before sunset tonight. I shot them for about ten minutes. They were so obsessed with their easy pickings that they let me get reasonably close. The 600 mm lense let me fill the frame from where I stood. Suddenly they darted from dinner and a few seconds later a hawk came zooming after them. They had seen it coming and fled seconds before the raptor arrived. The hawk pursued the flock and managed to isolate one tern from the group and the chase was on. I watched the diving, soaring evasion and pursuit for several minutes as it covered a wide area of open sky over the marsh. It culminated in the distance with the hawk gettting dinner at the expense of the tern. Predator turns into prey, the tern went from dining on fish to being the main course for the hawk. It was very cool to watch.
Filed Under Egrets, Fall 2008, Herons
At long last, we had a sunny sunrise today. I returned to my favorite marsh pond to check on who was there and a nice collection of egrets and herons were loafing in the morning sun. Great Egrets were casually fishing while Great Blue Herons looked on passively. Just another day at their office.
