Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Nebraska Circles...


Once when flying out West...the man in the seat next to me saw that I was transfixed on what I saw outside the window..."Nebraska Circles", he said.


As I passed by the long iron caterpillar...I knew again that I had to turn around. I had seen the apparatus several times before but never had my camera with me. This time I could take it home. The combination of HDR photography and shooting directly into the newly risen sun caused a strange aura like sky but I took it anyway...sort of adds to the effect.

On my first trip out West several years ago I saw landscape below me that I will never forget. I have now seen them several times but I still remember that first time I saw the Nebraska Circles. The link will show some good pictures of them.

They are formed by this long fragile looking watering machine. Pivoting from the center they move in circular patterns irrigating the land during the dry season. With the continuous water...they produce huge circles of lush green crops and seen from the air...they are perfect green circles. The irrigation machines are often longer than a football field so the circles they make are huge.

People call them by many different names...Cynthia from Oklahoma will probably call them "Oklahoma Circles"! They are quite common in Oklahoma.

Next a visit to May...I mean NewBerry.

Dan

15 comments:

Sunny said...
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Sunny said...
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dianne said...

Glorious photo dear Dan, the colours are so lovely, the sky with some lingering stars as the sun rises looks amazing. xoxoxo ♡

shabby girl said...

I like what happened with the sun. I've seen those circles many times, and wondered how they came to be so perfect. I just never thought about it being irrigation!

Sunny said...

What a glorious sky, the purple and golds are amazing.
Flying cross country I saw a lot of circles from the air and when I lived in Idaho I liked to watch these irrigation systems move across the fields.
Sorry for the prior deletions, next time I'll make sure I'm awake before I comment!
Sunny :)

Dan Felstead said...

Thank you Diane...how are the fall colors coming along down there?

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Shabbygirl...I am glad you have seen them...they are perfect circles...often looks like you are seeing another planet!

Dan

Dan Felstead said...
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Dan Felstead said...

Sunny, I didn't know you lived in Idaho? (Actually I just corrected my typing...I left the v out of lived and it said lied...)To me you will always be a New Englander.

So you are the one with the deletions! I thought someone was having a stuttering fit!

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Sunny...I just deleted one also...so you don't feel bad!

Dan

Cynthia L. H. said...

Wow, Dan!!! (I can't help it...wow is the word...Aubrey gets on to me all the time for being an English major and saying, "Wow.") (I think it's an age-thing...growing up on the West Coast in the hippie era...) Oh well....Anyway...WOW!!!
;^) LOVE this pic. The sun is really just amazing...and I never knew that those circles had a name. Now I do. It's been a couple of years since I've flown, but when Lyndsey lived in Santa Fe for the summer of 2008, I flew from OKC to Albuquerque...there are countless circles between here and there. ;^)
Cool! Nebraska Circles. Oklahoma Circles. Texas Circles. New Mexico Circles.
;^)

Sunny said...

I lived in Idaho for almost a year and Massachusetts for 51 so I guess you can call me a New Englander! ha-ha!
Sunny :)

Anonymous said...

Dan - the sky in this picture turned out amazing. Absolutely beautiful. Those iron caterpillars, as you called them, are a common site down here in rural Alabama, too. I've never seen a picture that made one look so majestic though :)

Dan Felstead said...

Cynthia...I always think of "Twister" and Oklahoma when I see these. They were flying everywhere in that movie!

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Thanks Heather...it is so neat to seem them from the air andhow they form perfect circles.

Dan