Monday, July 27, 2009

New Harmony.....

Saturday afternoon we decided to drive to New Harmony. I was looking for butterflies and Raintree flowers. Didn't find any butterflies willing to pose. Found out I was too late for the Raintree flowers. However I took some good photos last year that are posted at this spot :
A drive to New Harmony and this and that... The Raintree flowers are now pods, which are pretty, too.
We walked down to the river to see the bridge to Illinois over the Wabash River.

I liked these vines on this tree.
It is difficult to not want to take photos of the Atheneum, even if you already have one. It always looks so interesting against the sky. It always seems a bit out of place in a town known for the Rappites/Harmonists and then Owens followers and their society....two early Utopian societies.
The stairs

After spending about a half hour trying to photograph the dozens of swallows that were swooping all over the field around the Atheneum, Mike decided to see if there was enough wind for one of his kites which happen to be in the trunk of the car.
Waiting for launch...10..9..8...

Up....
.....up.....

.....and away! The wind was very inconsistent and I had to spend so much time relaunching his kite that it was hard to take photos.
One of the swallows pretending to be a kite coming at me! Only half way descent shot I got and it is not good.
I finally realized that the swallows were all hanging around the wires and the bridge that you see behind Mike in the photo of the launch, so we went to explore.
Here are two on the wire.....I decided looking at their nests, shown below, and looking in my guide book that they might be Cliff Swallows?
Double decker swallows under the bridge. You can see several nests hanging there.
I was fascinated by the nests! So cool looking! Would love to watch them build one.

A couple of the swallows hanging on the nests. I was not getting very good shots....sort of dark under there.
This nest on the left looks more like a bowl
Line up on the bridge. They would spook when a car would drive overhead.
I didn't find the things I went looking for, but New Harmony is always full of something wonderful to see.

10 comments:

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

What fun!! I have not flown a kite for years and years!! Wonder why as I used to love building my own to fly.

Mary said...

Joan: It's been awhile since Mike has flown one. We have a bunch of the 2-string ones, but finding places to fly them is hard.

Rose said...

I am always fascinated by these nests, also.

Mike said...

Swallow nest really are amazing.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Mary, When we were in Cades Cove last week, we ate lunch at the camp store--and sat in the pavilion next to the store. Anyhow--Swallows had nests and were flying all over that open pavilion.. I should have taken pictures but didn't they had nests on top of the loud speakers in the ceiling and in the eaves. It was hard finding a spot to sit on one of the benches in that pavilion --due to the poop!!!! But--they were cute to watch.

Thanks for a great post. Loved the kite.

Hugs,
Betsy

Mary said...

Rose: You wonder how they stick all that mud together and make it stay and make a cavity inside.

Mike: I saw a different kind of swallows today. Seems to be the time for them.

Betsy: That would sort of put you on your guard with them flying around while you ate. I've had little luck getting them while they fly around, but they are fascinating birds.

Dorothy said...

Nice post. Those Swallows make interesting nests. Every year they try to build in our garage but we shoo them out. They make such a mess with their mud! Glad to see that Mike is young at heart! I like kite flying.

Leedra said...

We just never know what we will see with our camera. May never get this chance again. So many Swallows.

Leedra’s Photos For Fun

George said...

You got great pictures of the swallows -- I know how hard it is to get a good shot of them. It sounds as if you had a great time in New Harmony.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

I have enjoyed this variety of great photos.The white building is amazing.I can see the desire to take just 'one' more picture of it.Those swallow nests are quite a feat of construction.
Blessings,Ruth