Stunning drone footage shows elusive blue ice in Straits of Mackinac

(WJBK) - Nature and photography enthusiasts flock to Michigan every winter, with the hope of catching the elusive blue ice phenomenon. 

Blue ice occurs when snow falls on a glacier, and is compressed and becomes part of that glacier. Air bubbles squeeze out and ice crystals emerge, preventing the passes of light and making the ice appear blue.

Photographer Dustin Dilworth shot some stunning drone footage of the blue ice along the Straits of Mackinac in Mackinaw City earlier this week. The Straits of Mackinac is a series of narrow waterways between the Lower and Upper Peninsulas.

Dilworth says the ice stacks have been forming over the past few days. Some of the stacks are as high as 30 feet in the air. 

You can check out his footage in the video player above. (And, bonus! A bald eagle appears around the :30 second mark.)

One photographer says its been seven years since she saw blue ice chunks along the Straits of Mackinac.