Backblogging: Guesting Gulls

This great photo of a group of gulls resting on rocks was taken in early July by guest photographer PM. Thanks, P!

BackBlogging: Mid June

These were all taken from my new phone, but downloaded to the computer first, which I guess accounts for their better quality (and the fact that they are not upside down)? Still learning the new phone/camera, but the pictures are not bad. They aren't dated, however, which is a bit of a problem. Another thing to learn.

BackBlogging: Early June

I have been neglecting to post but not to photograph. Here are some beauties from 6 weeks back. I love the gulls.

Still Hazy

Note seagull in upper right. From Thursday, 5/12/11.

Channeling

The Pike River usually empties pretty directly into the Lake, but due to big storms/waves that piled up a lot of sand, it had to carve a channel into the beach, leaving a sand bar for the seagulls.
They are making full use of it.
From Easter Sunday, 4/24/11.

Chicago Scenes #1

This seagull flew into my shot--I love the determination in his flight.
A more conventional view.
And if you didn't already realize that these Lake Michigan pics were taken from the Adler Planetarium, here's a photo of a seagull on Copernicus' head to seal it. From Wednesday, 3/16/11.

Gully!

I was listening to something on the radio and wanted to hear the end of it, so rather than driving home and having a "driveway moment" I drove to the park two blocks away to have a "beach moment." As I was sitting there in the car, the seagulls began flying overhead, so I tried to get them on film. Imperfect, and yet perfect at the same time. From Saturday, 1/22/11.

Ducks, Row

And a few seagulls, too. From Monday, 1/3/11.

Red Sentinels

Took the long way to work this morning and was struck by these two vibrant reds.
And greens. I like that seagull who volunteered to be in the picture.

Seagull Series

All taken on a lovely late summer day.

Heavy and Strong

It was stormy and cold yesterday. One of the interesting things about heavy wind is watching the birds. The seagull (black speck) in sky was stationary for the 60 seconds or so that I was taking pictures. When I take the time to notice, I often see them flying against the wind, sort of a seagull treadmill that keeps them in the same spot until they decide to move out of the current. When they turn around, they quickly and effortlessly float along with the wind, and travel far in a matter of moments.

Twain, meeting

Here's a flock of Canada Geese.
And here's a flock of seagulls.
Sharing the same small harbor space. From Sunday, 2/14.

Jonathan Livingston Lakegull

The gulls were very active last Friday, enjoying the early days of spring.

Icebergs

One reason I'm sorry that I missed blogging in December and January is that we got some hefty snowfall during those weeks and lots of snow + Lake Michigan = interesting ice formations. See that brown blob above? That's a huge chunk of ice, coated in sand and seagulls. It is a leftover from the December and January snow, and it's melting in the warm weather we've had the past few days. (Please also note the moon overhead. This was taken at 3pm on Saturday.)

Here's a wider view, with more "icebergs" in the foreground.

And here's another view, this time looking south instead of north, with the "icebergs" blending right in with the shoreline rocks. (This series was taken from a park near my home, not from my office building).

Ice Cubes and Gull Islands

Amazing thing yesterday afternoon: the ice out on the Lake started drifting toward shore and then breaking up in the waves. For about 15 minutes, you could hear the big chunky cubes of ice rolling into shore and piling up against the rocks. And at the same time....

The ice that remained out on the Lake was the temporary perch of hundreds of seagulls, congregating out on the ice, taking a rest and enjoying the warming weather before all the ice melted. That the two conditions existed at the same time was weird. The shoreline was loud and violent, and the ice islands, just a few yards away, were peaceful oases. Amazing.

Snowgulls

A Lakemichiblog first! This photo was NOT taken from the same location as all the others. I'm out of the office this week, and the first day away coincided, coincidentally, with the first noticable snowfall of the year. So I felt I had to take a picture. I stopped in at a local park, and tried to get a good angle. The first few pics were dull: gray water and sky, hazy and overcast. But then some chilly seagulls obliged to stand and huddle up within camera view. They're a little fuzzy here, but you can see two on the jutting rock, and then one off to the right. They look COLD! And it's only beginning, little gulls, this is no kind of cold. The worst (or from the perspective of someone looking for dramatic ice formations, the best) is yet to come!