Young Gull

JUVENILE HERRING GULL, GREEN, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 19, 2010

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/500 sec. f11
ISO 400

For a little while I thought this specimen, boldly striding up the Lake Superior beach surprisingly close to my perch in front of our cabin, was some kind of shore bird I'd never encountered before. Then I consulted the Sibley bird book, whose detailed drawing of a herring gull in its speckled first year was a dead ringer for this one.

Sunset No. 4

SUNSET OVER LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 7, 2010

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/1000 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

Lately the sunsets at the Writer's Lair have been highly photogenic, mainly because of looming storm cloud formations far out over Lake Superior. Rather than the usual wide-angle shot, I chose to capture this one with a zoom telephoto racked out to its maximum 300mm. Click on the photo for a desktop-sized version.

Secrets

CHILDREN AT MIDWEST PRIMITIVE RENDEZVOUS, ONTONAGON, MICHIGAN, AUGUST 1, 2010

Pentax K10D
Sigma 17-70 DC at 70mm
1/1000 sec. f8
ISO 400

Deborah Abbott captured these two little girls at their morning chores during an encampment of "living history" re-enactors of the era of Lewis & Clark (1800-1840) on a bend of the Ontonagon River in upper Michigan earlier this month. It seems to be a perfect moment of childhood, doesn't it?