The birds are returning to Northern Illinois! I went out to Nelson Lake Marsh (Dick Young Forest Preserve) this morning and got the following shots: a male Redwing Blackbird and a flock of Sandhill Cranes. The Cranes circled the lake in their usual noisy fashion, then went off to parts unknown – I think they were looking for open water. It’s only March 8th and there’s plenty of bad weather a head, but things are looking up!
Red Wing Blackbird (male)
Sandhill Cranes from Nelson Lake Marsh
I didn’t think they had earthquakes in Illinois, and they don’t very often. After this one, I decided to do a little research and post it here.
This was a 3.8 magnitude quake, quite small (the one in Haiti a month ago, 7.0, was 1600 times stronger!).
Here is a map showing the earthquakes that have hit Northern Illinois in the 20th Century:
20th Century Earthquakes - Northern Illinois
This works out to about one every six years, with none over 4.0. Here is the exact location of the tremor, which was 10 km below the surface: (more…)
I guess that I’m getting a little tired of the cold weather, I don’t know – but I decided to break out something a little “summery” for today’s post. This was taken at the restored prairie at Johnson Mound Forest Preserve just west of Batavia, Illinois. Although the “primary” feature of this Forest Preserve is Johnson Mound, (towering 100 feet over the surrounding corn fields!!) I prefer the prairie north of the mound – unlike other restored prairies in the area, the surroundings here are at least somewhat bucolic – a farm on one side, a private High School on the other, a rather obnoxious radio tower at one end – but never the less primarily rural all about. I took this photograph on July 3rd, 2008. If I remember correctly it was quite hot that day! A photo like this wouldn’t really come off without some clouds in the sky!
Prairie Sky I
Here is one of my better bird photos, taken at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Fort Meyers, Florida in February of 2007. I was actually able to get close enough to get a pretty good shot – and he stayed put for long enough too! Corkscrew is a great place for birding, and seeing many other critters as well.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Today I’m going to put up another photograph taken on my recent snowshoe outing to Franklin Creek Nature Area. This is just to prove to some people that all of Illinois is not one big wind swept cornfield! (although, admittedly, it mostly is). I really like Franklin Creek – it’s not as large or impressive as, say, Starved Rock or Mathiessen State Parks, however it is consederably less developed and less traveled. I plan on becoming a regular visitor of this area!
Franklin Creek - January 2010
We’ve gotten some good snow over the last few days, so I decided to go snowshoeing at the Franklin Creek Nature Area sixty miles west of Batavia, despite the near zero degree temperature! I could have probably got by without the snow shoes, the snow depth was right at the boarder between needing them and being able to get by with boots. Great day, had the place to myself – and got a few good photos. Here is one with lots of shadow/striations, “zebra snow”. I took a bunch, I knew these would be great, it’s just a matter of finding the best one. That’s why I labeled this Snow Zebra I – there may be more! This is what I came up with on my first look at the photographs:
Zebra Snow I
This will be the first in an ongoing blog entry on one of my favorite local hangouts, the Nelson Lake Marsh, located just four miles from my home in Batavia. I went out for my first snowshoe outing this morning, somewhat cold, especially with the west wind coming off the prairie. As time goes on I’ll add photos of the Lake from all seasons – I’ve got plenty to choose from. As of now I’m still restricted to only using my old 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor, as my “regular lens” is in the shop. I look at this as a learning experience, as I am restricted to a 50mm lens, not my 18-55mm zoom. It forces me to take more time to frame my shots. This lens is in a certain respect more versatile, as it is a f/1.4 vs my usual 3.5. I look forward to expanding this post in the future!! (more…)
All Photographs posted to the Web by Thomas Henneman are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at rusticroadsphotography.com.
If you are interested in purchasing prints or using these photographs for publication, please contact me via the "Contact" page! Thanks, Tom
