Here are some of the results of my trip to Michigan city on the 4th of July.

First a stop near the port of Indiana (Portage, IN) a swamp marsh near rt 12 & rt 149. These young ones are already about 14-16" tall and there are about 40-50 nests like this in this swamp. I do not know what these are Herons? Egrets? Cranes?

Then we arrived just in time for this shot, although there is about 5 people standing in front of me looking for the same shot



And one more after the sun has disapeared



[This message has been edited by Mark Wagner (edited 07-13-2002).]

Mark, great shots! I was hoping for a sunset like that while at South Haven prior to Rosemont, but a low bank of clouds stopped that idea. Thanks!
Bud

What a great way to celebrate the 4th, Mark!
Those images are awesome...glad you were at the right place at the right time so that you could capture the scene on film.

Thanks for sharing with us.
Derith

I should also tip the hat to John and Gary for the tips on shooting directly into the sunset, as you can see they did help.

Nice pictures, Mark!

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Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

AWESOME!!! Love that light!

Your second shot on the thread, Mark, with the sun almost directly behind and a little beneath the lantern room of the lighthouse is excellent. The others are very good to, but that one, for my two cents worth, is the best of the bunch. You're making me want to go to Michigan City one evening soon to shot the light from the same angle! Hmmmmmm

Glad the tips on shooting into the sun helped. You can get some fantastic backlighted images but care definitely needs to be exercised so preclude any eye damage at the same time!

Gary

Great pictures Mark! Love that light!

I still had a half roll to finish off, so here's one from that roll (now finished)

Herons? Egrets? Cranes?....

Are you sure those aren't Indiana's version of Kentucky Frying Chickens?

Bob

Not really sure about that Bob, I know the drum sticks are about a foot and a half long and don't have enough meat to cover a cracker...

Checked my bird book Mark. If they're babies I think they could be immature Great Blue Herons. We have them here but I've only seen them full grown.

Sue, They probably are Great Blue Herons, there were adults around the area but none on the nests (probably not enough room) I wasn't sure if there was another bird that resembled the Great blue herons that I might have been confusing them with.

Sue, here is a couple more bird pictures to test your bird spotting skills, The yellow bird should be easy (it only took me 30 seconds to find it in my bird book) I photographed him down in Pauls neck of the woods in Indianapolis. The second mystery birds were under a boat lift & awning at a friends cottage in Michigan.


Sure I am getting off topic... but these were on the back of the last roll from Michigan City so I figure that grandfathers them in.
[This message has been edited by Mark Wagner (edited 07-20-2002).]

Ok Mark this is what I think you saw...

The first are Meadowlarks.
The second group in the nest are baby Cliff Swallows.

What do you think Mombo?

Mary

More neat photos, Mark, especially the kids!

Welcome back Mary! I'll go along with your answers, they look good to me. Thanks for not making me look all through my book!

We don't get either of those birds here but we do get tree swallows who hang out in the same opening in the same tree every year. The tree overhangs the river and they spend most of their time flying close to the surface of the water, catching bugs I guess.

Well.. your half right the yellow bird (same bird in all four pictures) is a Meadowlark but the others are Purple Martins, also avid bug catchers, I also have pictures of the adult Purple Martins but they would only land where the sun was behind them so you can't really see the color too well. And Mary the Purple Martins are almost up in your neck of the woods at Duck lake a little southeast of you guys.
Here's a bit of a profile view

[This message has been edited by Mark Wagner (edited 07-20-2002).]

Mark I have lived in La Porte, just 12 miles from Michigan City and I don't ever remember seeing a sunset like you got in your pictures. Great job. Makes me want to camp out at M C and see if I can get something like that.

Mark A revision to my remark. It should read that I have lived in La Porte for 61 years. Not that I just lived in LP

The day I took the sunset pictures was chosen because of the weather, it had been extremely hot and it was the 4th ozone action day in a row and on days of high ozone the sun was a soft orange color near sunset as its burning thru much more haze in the atmosphere. The last 2 pictures are after sunset, 1st one just after sunset and the last one about 20-30 minutes after sunset using a long exposure time.

Tommorow (Sunday) may be a prime day for these type of pictures or just a see a pretty sunset as the temps are suppose to be in the high 90's (providing the sky is not to cloudy)
[This message has been edited by Mark Wagner (edited 07-21-2002).]

Mark,

I think Mombo needs to look at her bird book and see what she thinks. Jeff and I think they are cliff swallows. Our book that we use is the Field Guide to Birds of North America and the purple martins in there don't have any rusty color on them. The nest they are in looks like it is built of mud which is something cliff swallows do.

What do you think Mombo?

Mary

Well Mary and Jeff, I have the Peterson book of Eastern and Central N.A. While it doesn't show babies of either bird that white stripe sure makes it look more like the cliff swallow. There is a picture of their nests, "juglike nests under eaves or on cliffs". The purple martins like martin houses but if there aren't any around I suppose they have to make a nest somewhere else.

I have a very large and heavy 2 volume set of bird books that used to belong to an uncle that should have more detailed information. I can check them in a day or two.

(I hope he doesn't want us to ID that bug too! )