cover art 2005
The home page of bigeastern.com features an image at the upper left, similar to a magazine cover. Past images from 2001 to the present are collected in this section. For other years, use the buttons at the right.
December 21, 2005
Hook Creek at Lena Park frozen solid under the winter solstice's brief sunshine -- the days may not get warmer, but at least they'll be getting longer soon. Thanks for visiting, and best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.
November 18, 2005
A hulking iron bridge over the Tippecanoe river is a landmark on the former Erie J-K line in Pulaski Co. between Monterey and Ora - the abandoned line between Monterey and North Judson is being developed into a rail-trail for hikers, bicyclists and equestrians for 16 miles between Monterey and North Judson, and may become a segment of the transcontinental American Discovery Trail. (c) 2005 M. Lucas, all rights res'd.
November 3, 2005
Oak leaves and reflections on Hook Creek at Lena Park, Indiana. (c) 2005 M. Lucas, all rights res'd.
October 18, 2005
A tawny spider lurking on the orange leaves of a nyssa sylvatica (black gum) tree at Lena Park, Indiana. (c) 2005 M. Lucas, all rights res'd.
October 9, 2005
A water strider (an insect in the class Hemiptera) lurking on the surface of the clear waters of Hook Creek at Lena Park, photo (c) 2005 M. Lucas, all rights res'd.
September 23, 2005
Sky-blue asters bloom among the black oaks at Lena Park, Indiana. photo (c) 2004 M. Lucas, all rights res'd.
September 9, 2005
the entrance to the US Steel Works in Gary, Indiana epitomizes the industrial heritage of Northern Indiana. -- photo (c) M. Lucas, all rights reserved. -- photo (c) August 2003,2005 M. Lucas, all rights reserved.
August 24, 2005
A monarch butterfly larvae chows down on a butterfly milkweed (asclepias tuberosa) in the prairie garden at Lena Park, proving that when you garden with native plants, you grow more than flowers. In our region, common milkweed also hosts monarch larvae, the favored host milkweed species seems to be the wetland obligate, asclepias incarnata. -- photo (c) August 2005, M. Lucas, all rights reserved.
August 15, 2005
Lightning paints a rain cloud water color shades of blue and violet at Lena Park, August 2005 - and we celebrate nine years online! -- photo copyright 2005 M. Lucas, all rights reserved
July 29, 2005
Sunflowers at Lena Park, in Starke County Indiana -- photo copyright 2003 M. Lucas, all rights reserved
July 20, 2005
Racers in the second annual 'Coast to Coast of Indiana' duel up a hill south of Michigan City. The four rider relay race, a benefit for Cystic Fibrosis research, is a two-day challenge starting on the sandy beaches of Lake Michigan and finishing on the muddy banks of the Ohio in Evansville, with a stop-over in Crawfordsville.
This year's official C2C race results:
1st place: Crawfordsville based team of Martin Ruhl, Jeff Bushong, Jason Pruitt, Kevin Stout - combined age 147; time: 15:07:51 [C2C record]
2nd place: Indianapolis based team of Ron Martin, Scott Martin, Eli Everhart, Dan Pratt - combined age 153; time: 16:45:58
3rd place: Warsaw based team of Matt Endress, Jon Chan, Brian Becknell, Luke Becknell - combined age 119; time: 16:46:50
July 12, 2005
Oolitic limestone sculpture on the Jasper County Courthouse, Rensselaer, Indiana, designated on the National Register of Historic Places.
June 27, 2005
Lake Michigan from Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore west of Michigan City. Photo (c) 2001 M. Lucas, all rights reserved.
June 6, 2005
One of Northern Indiana's more common native orchids, the large twayblade (Liparis liliifolia) blooms in June. I photographed this one in a sandy white pine plantation at Lena Park in mid June 2004 - (c) M. Lucas, all rights reserved.
May 16, 2005
A wooded swamp near the Tippecanoe River, early May 2005.
April 30, 2005
Ah, the merry month of May, when the violet is in bloom -- in this case, it appears to be the Sand Violet, Viola affinis (more or less the same as the Missouri violet). This one was photographed by M. Lucas in May 2004, blooming in the merry sands of Lena Park, Indiana. The curled over triangular leaf and the pale blue color are characteristic of this species.
April 22, 2005
The turning of April to May brings the peak of spring to Northern Indiana.
March 23, 2005
Above, the Yellow River (Wizawgan in Central Algonquin) in springtime. One of Northern Indiana's hidden gems, the Yellow runs through Plymouth, the Menominee wetlands, Knox and the Kankakee Fish and Wildlife Area before reaching its confluence with the Kankakee at English Lake. This photo shows the scenic and relatively high gradient section around the Starke/Marshall County line. It's difficult to show a landscape image in a small box on a web page -- if you'd like a closer look here's a bigger image 'suitable for computer wallpaper'. Think spring, and remember, clearing one bank means no place that looks like this.
March 9, 2005
Wildlife photographer Gary Soper photographed this flock of golden-eye ducks in migration at Illinois' Kankakee River State Park - to see more of Gary Soper's work, including many photographs of wildlife in the Kankakee River region, visit his excellent website Wildlife in Nature.
Image © 2005 Gary Soper, used by permission - all rights reserved.
February 25, 2005
A mossy log in later winter hints at the coming green of springtime - Photo © 2005, M. Lucas.
February 10, 2005
A winter sunrise at the Amtrak platform in Rensselaer, Indiana - Photo © 2005, M. Lucas.
January 26, 2005
Geese saunter about on the ice covering a flooded field near the Yellow River in Starke County - Photo © 2005, M. Lucas
January 14, 2005
Fog hugs the snow covered ground at a LaPorte County farmstead - Photo © 2005, M. Lucas
January 3, 2005
The clearness of a winter morning, North Judson Indiana - Photo © 2004-2005, M. Lucas
View Cover Art for 2004 [33 images]
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