Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: big marsh lake

Overhead. Directly overhead.

Please pardon the amateurish (18 second) video. Thanks. Some clues, here, about why we find our way to Michigan Audubon's CraneFest most autumns. All those large birds. All that noise.

Better large! Another photo from yesterday. Not all the birds in the preserve are cranes.

Kiwanis Youth Area, near Bellevue, Michigan--the sun set behind us while we were watching the Sandhill Cranes on Saturday.

Last in this set. Even more fun than the overhead groups, I think, are the remarkable crowds of wading birds who settle in at Big Marsh Lake during October evenings. Compare my similar photo from five years ago for some hint about how the population arriving at the Baker Sanctuary has increased over the years. This photo used the same lens, though it's now attached to a more able camera. The evening bird population seems to have at least doubled over the half-decade. Really quite delightful. The birds will return to the Sanctuary next fall. So will I.

Sandhill Cranes arriving at Big Marsh Lake, near Bellevue, Michigan. Yes, we went back tonight. And yes, it really was like this for a time. Absolutely wonderful. Better, but less populated, pix coming over the next few days.

Hadn't planned to take photographs at Big Marsh Lake last weekend, but then I saw the light.... I carry a pretty good camera--a Nikon D300 with a decent 300 mm lens--when I'm expecting to photograph birds. At Kiwanis Youth Area that's still a stretch for my equipment, as the cranes prefer to congregate away from all the spectators. Nonetheless, with a tripod and severe crops, I occasionally get lucky.

Sandhills look so awkward when they're landing....

Since our last visit to the place, Ducks Unlimited has assisted the owners in replacing the dam which controls the water level at Big Marsh Lake. One benefit was the new growth of wild rice (the pale green growth in this photo) in the lake. This is a very shallow lake, by the way; mostly it's two or three feet deep. None of which is particularly related to why I took this photo: It was a beautiful day, and the trees were close to peak colors.

Crane Fest at Kiwanis Youth Area, on Big Marsh Lake, near Bellevue, Michigan. These are the early-arrivals; I took this before 5:00 pm on Saturday, about 90 minutes before the cranes began arriving in force. That doesn't mean there was nothing to see; ducks and geese and cormorants and other birds keep moving around out there, and some of these folks are serious birders. If I'd faced the other way, this photo would show the festival portion of the event, a combination art show and educational effort. And an excellent nature book store. Finally: While there are certainly cranes within this photo's frame, they're too distant to see, even at the original size.

Another photograph of Big Marsh Lake from the Kiwanis Youth Area, south of Bellevue, Michigan. No Sandhills in this one, but it came out really well. A similar view from another year, taken with my Olympus.

Two very different crops from the same photograph of cranes landing in a large group. Couldn't decide which I liked better, so here they both are. Michigan Audubon's Baker Sanctuary, Big Marsh Lake, shot from the Kiwanis Youth Area in mid-October.

Two very different crops from the same photograph of cranes landing in a large group. Couldn't decide which I liked better, so here they both are. Michigan Audubon's Baker Sanctuary, Big Marsh Lake, shot from the Kiwanis Youth Area in mid-October.

Even without the Sandhill Cranes and other birds, Big Marsh Lake is an attractive place.

A few of the thousands of Sandhill Cranes which descended on Big Marsh Lake this evening while we were watching. Taken at Michigan Audubon Society's Baker Sanctuary , just south of Bellevue; technically I was in the Kiwanis Youth Area.... I can hint at the visual effect with a photo or two. This medium, unfortunately, doesn't capture the sound of these large, loud birds. Picture's better in the large size, of course.

This is the best of the many photographs I took at Big Marsh Lake the other night; it shows a number of Sandhill Cranes landing. Notice all the smaller birds in flight, and the already-landed cranes wading in the water. The larger size is better. This photo pushes the limits of my camera/lens set; I was using a tripod, was setting the focus manually, and had preset most of the settings. While I'm quite satisfied with this photograph, the "grain" shows more than I'd like. I've pulled a few more photos out of the set, and will share them presently.

Photo taken at the Kiwanis Youth Area, near Michigan Audubon's Baker Sanctuary. Just south of Bellevue, Michigan. My brother published a similar photo the other day.