Not just yet

Al Denelsbeck

Been a little busy this week, without much time to even consider the blog, but that will change shortly – I have some video clips of cool stuff to edit together, and when I say they’re cool stuff, well, you’ve been warned…

Meanwhile, storms rolled in last night and the lightning tracker began going off, so I set up to see what would happen, which unfortunately wasn’t much:

time exposure after dusk looking for lightning
That’s the whole frame, which was just barely successful, and this was the best I got. You’ll have to look very close or, you know, keep scrolling down just a tad more:

faint trace of cloud-to-cloud lightning from same frame
That’s a crop from the center of the frame, showing that something was faintly visible. It was actually a little more visible than this, in person, because I was using a wider angle of 18mm, but still not impressive – most of the activity passed well north of us. However, while out there I was hearing the toads in their mating season, and watching several bats zipping past very close by, and had at least one beaver cruising the pond not ten meters away, all while pleasantly warm. This was the harbinger of the front moving in, and all those are gone now because it brought late-winter temperatures with it and far, far too much rain. So it’ll be a few days before we have conditions for more decent nature photos, which should give me plenty of time to edit the video. As long as I don’t get involved in other projects.

Sorting finds n+4

Al Denelsbeck

Once again, something that I noticed while doing the sorting of images from the initial unloading folders into the proper categories of stock (or, as it may be, simply deleting them as not being worthwhile – shocking as it may seem, it happens every once in a great while.) While checking the images from this past Skyfest NC, I noticed something a little odd about one of the aircraft passing overhead. First, the only-slightly-cropped shot:

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter of All Veteran Group passing overhead at Skyfest NC, Johnston Regional Airport
This is a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter carrying the All Veteran Group skydiving team aloft – I eventually determined this by finding the Skyfest Faceblerk page, because like so many businesses and suchlike these days, they felt Faceblerk was adequate to inform the general public about their event and thus put no effort whatsoever into their web page. I mean, it’s not like everyone who’s passed through sixth grade in the past twenty years can handle simple HTML…

something sticking out open hatch of de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter overheadAnyway, what caught my eye is the non-standard protuberances out the port side of the aircraft aft of the wings, which we get a closer look at here. The Twin Otter is frequently used for skydiving because of its short-takeoff-and-landing capabilities, appreciable rate of climb, notable interior cabin space, and the very large, removable rear hatch; holding open a standard hinged door in the slipstream of a moving aircraft is rather taxing. With that in mind, and of course how our society is anymore, what we’re seeing becomes clear, and even more clear when we see one of the skydivers as they approach the ground:

All Veteran Group skydiver approaching ground with pair of action cameras atop helmet
Ah, yes, he’s got a pair of those cutesy little action cams affixed to his helmet. Though this is actually one of the few uses that I approve of for them, because the perspective is rare and entertaining, unlike the thousands of mooks who use them on their skateboards and motorcycles and so on to try and garner the appreciation of identically-uneducated mooks who actually watch such shit. In fact, I may have seen one of the skydivers as they cruised through the crowds in a golf cart, holding their helmet aloft to film while on their way to the dropship.

So out of curiosity, I checked to see if any of this footage could be found, but had no luck, which means that you are once again spared any slight chance of seeing what I actually look like, even if it was from 800 meters or so – don’t say that I’m completely heartless. I even kept this down below 500 words…

Tripod holes 14

Al Denelsbeck

Mediterranean house gecko Hemidactylus turcicus on staged setting indoors
N 30° 2’38.48″ W 95°22’57.28″ Google Earth Location

For a couple of months in 2001 I lived in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, though while there, I did almost no photography. This is one of the few exceptions, the first wild gecko I’d seen, much less photographed, but I was cheating: I’d captured it almost as soon as I spotted it, knowing that attempting to photograph it in situ would likely result in it vanishing before I could even focus. So this is indoors in a simulated setting on a sprig of cypress (I think) with a houseplant in the background – credit to the gecko for not leaping off and secreting itself someplace in the apartment. It’s a Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus,) which as the name clearly indicates, is not native to the US, though they’ve spread enormously since their introduction; I was later to find the same species (but probably not the same specimen) in Florida and do a few more detailed shots there, including close-ups of their feet on a glass pane. The overall length of this specimen was comparable to my finger, making that head only the size of my fingernail. They are, of course, excellent climbers and can easily scamper upside-down across a ceiling, primarily nocturnal, which makes my finding this one somewhere around midday fairly lucky. I now regret not hanging onto it until after nightfall to capture those pupils more dilated; geckos have the best pupils, vertically slitted but with four ‘beads’ of greater openings, not really visible here, whose purpose escapes me. I’ll look it up if I’m asked nicely, “nicely,” meaning, “with money.”

There’s absolutely nothing that I miss about Texas, but this little guy at least gave me one pleasant memory of my brief time there, though I’ll hazard that this was probably not reciprocated despite being released soon after this frame was taken.

You think you have it hard?

Al Denelsbeck

Today, March 31st 2023, is the 100th anniversary of the untimely death of one of the first serious wildlife photographers, Jamfer von Schnocklefausen, a true pioneer in the field. Schnocklefausen was trained to be a goat polisher, but as photography was becoming more popular in the late 1800s, he soon gravitated to the field because, as he succinctly put it, “Ziegen sind Arschlöcher.” Schnocklefausen didn’t actually speak German, having been raised in Venezuela by seriously illiterate parents, but failing to wear adequate protection while polishing a goat will do that to you, as well as ensuring that offspring are out of the question.

After cutting his teeth on the typical portraits of wealthy patrons and pictures of his food that he would pin to his front door, Schnocklefausen soon became enamored of wildlife, and wished to specialize in behavioral and action images. Given that he was using glass plates that had a typical exposure time of 30 seconds and took two-and-a-half minutes to change, this was an ambitious undertaking but Schnocklefausen was, if nothing else, creative in his approaches. His first attempts to stop the motion of a jaguarundi long enough for a decent image was by jingling his keys, causing the cat to pause; this might ostensibly have worked, but the developing chemicals became fouled with his own blood and the plates were inconclusive. Later on he began experimenting with wood panels coated with a strong adhesive, placed cleverly along the hunting trails, to hold wandering wildlife in place directly in front of his camera. This worked for a short while, albeit producing poses that did not exactly spell out, “majestic,” until he inadvertently snagged a local hunter; the benefit of being held in place while Schnocklefausen beat a hasty retreat was negated by the shotgun that the hunter carried.

After his release from the hospital, Schnocklefausen tried a different tack, deciding that slowing down the animals might be enough. To this end, he began putting out bait food laden with various pharmaceuticals. While this did indeed slow the motions of the animals that found his bait, the resulting images were largely of species either examining their paws for hours on end, or giggling incessantly. He did, however, achieve the first images of a wild boar with an erection that lasted over four hours. He also became more accepted amongst the local hunters who had chanced upon his former photo subjects and subsequently declared the meat, “Groovy.”

Schnocklefausen was soon to realize that, while stopping the animals was decidedly difficult, perhaps he could move in unison with them; this would not stop the blur of their legs, but perhaps keep the bulk of their bodies centered in the frame long enough for a proper exposure. To that end, he outfitted a horse with an elaborate sidecar rig to hold the tripod, and attempted to train the horse to run a parallel path with a cougar. This did not go as envisioned, for two reasons. First, the cougars generally considered horse a better meal than stringy rhea, and second, the horse (named ‘Hans,’) realized that it could avoid the cougar and any further onus with a few will-timed bucks. It was only by doggedly hanging onto the heavy, solid camera that Schnocklefausen managed to survive his own methodology and eventually discourage the cougar.

Once again released from the hospital, Schnocklefausen found that he now had an ardent following of new photographers, though they paid little attention to his teachings or discussions of theory. Instead they chose to photograph Schnocklefausen himself during his various experiments, publishing them in the local newspapers with clever captions; in this manner, Schnocklefausen became the unintended creator of memes. It is because of this that we even know what he looked like, garnering no fame as a wildlife photographer himself (and thus setting a standard that continues to this day.) Ardent historians of these various images can pinpoint the dates taken by cataloging the dwindling number of Schnocklefausen’s eyes, ears, fingers, and feet.

It was just as he was stumbling upon his best discovery that Schnocklefausen met his demise. Realizing that lightning was an excellent source of very bright light that would eliminate the necessity of long exposures, he endeavored to capture his images during electrical storms; being fanatical about light direction and shadows, he began placing lightning rods in strategic locations around his photography blinds. It was as he was driving one of these rods into the ground that he unexpectedly pierced a septic line and asphyxiated on the fumes released. And you thought you saw it all coming, Mr. Clever-Me-Lad.

Few aspiring wildlife photographers today recognize Schnocklefausen’s contributions to the pursuit and so continue to do stupid-ass things far too close to wildlife. Medical professionals, however, praise Schnocklefausen’s name for his variety of educational injuries, a contribution that would only be surpassed by the combined advent of skateboards and cellphone cameras. So in recognition of his endeavors today, call your utilities company before you dig, and be sure that your blood type is listed in your wallet. Ciao!

Shipping out

Al Denelsbeck

Yes, another month is kaput, and that means a photo dedicated solely to this, because it’s a tradition on the blog now and we all know how important such things are. That’s right, not at all even slightly a little bit. But we’re still gonna do it, as if extra-terrestrials aren’t watching us and shaking their cephalothoraxes.

blurred heron over twilight reflections on lake
Yeah, we’ve had similar before, but we’re gonna keep doing it until we get it right. This does at least come from this month, out on the lake because that’s largely the only place I’ve been to take photos, save the airshow. After the sun set, a lone great blue heron (Ardea herodias) cruised low over the water in the dimming light, and I panned with it to fire off a few frames. This is “creatively” cropped to camouflage the fact that the original was quite centered, which I completely ruined if you were actually reading this. It’s easy to keep secrets on a blog no one ever visits…

Skyfest NC

Al Denelsbeck

Four members of Full Throttle Formation Team passing overhead
Finally getting around to posting the pics from Skyfest NC this past Saturday, part of the delay being, there really wasn’t a lot to see for this one, which I made worse by leaving early (there was, at least, a helicopter rappelling demo that was scheduled.) Pictured above and below are four members of the Full Throttle Formation Team as they flew overhead. Many of the pilots for the team are veterans, and Skyfest NC was aimed at benefiting veterans, so it was fitting to have this team flying.

four members of Full Throttle Formation Team in diamond formation
I’m a little unsure of the aircraft used, partially because the website never specifies, but I pulled up a flight radar app during the show and determined that two types of aircraft were in use at the time: Vans RV-4 and Vans RV-8. They’re very similar, but the RV-4 is leaner and better at aerobatics, so I suspect that these are RV-8s for a reason that will soon be apparent. Both are lightweight, inexpensive but high-performance planes, often available as kits, but kitbuilding aircraft is a daunting task and not something that I’d want to tackle.

Vans RV-4, possibly, on taxiway of Johnston Regional Airport, NC
This was the other aircraft that was in the sky when I checked the app, and I’m going to consider this the RV-4, both from the fact that it performed more aerobatics and from that minimal rear seat space (yes, there’s one back there.) Johnston Regional really is built on a wicked slope, which makes takeoffs and landings a special skillset.

[No, I lie like a proper bastard: it’s just me failing to hold the damn camera level, and the frame was too tight to correct in post.]

Inverted Vans RV-4, possibly, during aerobatics demonstration at Skyfest NC
While this frame might still not be perfectly level, I’m not that bad – the plane really is inverted. This individual aircraft performed more aerobatics than the formation team, but Vans aren’t as powerful or dedicated to the pursuit as some Extra or Pitts models, so there were no elaborate spinning, twisting, or high-speed maneuvers for this show. Which also made it considerably quieter – those dedicated aerobatics planes can howl.

There was also a precision skydiving demonstration, the lead-off aerial display, but I neglected to get the name of the performers.

two skydivers exiting Twin Otter jump plane over Skyfest NC
The framing of this isn’t ideal because I (stupidly) wasn’t expecting the second diver. There was a stiff wind from the south, at least 20 knots, so the divers had to exit well south of the airport to be carried back to the landing zone, which they handled well. An attendee tipped me off that the aerial performance box was on the southern expanse of the airport, so I was positioned down there for the best view, while the target area for the skydivers was directly east of the show grounds and I didn’t have the best view of their touchdowns. Plus the sun.

precision skydiver lost in the sun
This was really not a well-planned event, and had they published the diagrams or maps, I would have stayed in the parking area, on the far side of the runway, and had much better lighting for the entire show. They also, for reasons unknown, lined up nearly all of the vendors and food carts between the crowd area and the runway and target zones, blocking most of the view and putting the ‘storefronts’ in shadow. I’ll credit them for having parking organized extremely well, though.

Their static aircraft displays were also ridiculously lacking.

Aero L-39 Albatros on semi-display
This is an Aero L-39 Albatros, which I can only tell you from experience, since no one provided anything at all to explain this jet sitting in the middle of the crowd – no placards, no attendants, no nothing. They even left the canopy cover in place. It is a Czechoslovakian trainer and light fighter that, with the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, came onto the international aircraft market by the dozens, at remarkably low prices, and were bought up by air racers and speculators – it’s easy to find them with air adventure businesses and even fly one, with an instructor of course. Nice sleek little jet – I’ll pick one up with only a few more photo sales…

Duke Life Flight Airbus H-145 medevac on display
This particular helicopter passes over Walkabout Estates at least three times a week, because we’re not that far from both Duke University Hospitals and UNC Hospitals (it will evac patients to either as the situation warrants.) Short story: this is an Airbus H-145. Much longer story: the registration plate will list it as an MBB BK-117 C2, indicating that it was originally developed by Messerschmidt Bolkow-Blohm from Germany, paired with Kawasaki from Japan, before they were absorbed into Eurocopter, later to be purchased by Airbus. Seriously, keeping up with current model numbers requires effort. Real quick, I’ll point out the two “blades” on the front of the fuselage, top and bottom, and the extended “pointy toes” on the landing skids. These aircraft often operate from accident scenes and thus fly into unprepared landing zones; the blades are cable cutters, just in case someone misses the cables overhead (which are considerably harder to see from above, but also nigh-invisible at night even with powerful lighting,) while the toes help push any cables beneath the skids. Whenever possible, there’s an experienced spotter on the ground to establish a safe zone, but again, at night this is exceptionally tricky.

There was also an Air National Guard UH-72 ‘Lakota’ on display, which is the military designation of the H-145 D2, with an enclosed ‘Fenestron’ tail rotor. Annnnddd that was it, really – the Vought F4U Corsair shown on the website, as well as any other warbirds (with one exception) were completely lacking. No military aircraft at all, save for the Lakota, though the shorter runway at Johnston Regional prevented a lot of such aircraft from arriving. The only other static display of note was this:

Argo Sherp Pro XT all-terrain vehicle
Again, not a damn thing to explain its presence, so we rely on my zooming in on the front panel and typing that into Ecosia. This is an Argo Sherp Pro XT all-terrain vehicle which, you know, I wouldn’t turn down if someone wanted to unload one on me. Granted, the number of places where I could legally and with permission use it are few and far between, but I’d find a few.

And finally, we close with the North American SNJ-4, which is the US Navy designation of a training aircraft, known to the US Army Air Corps as the AT-6 Texan – this was the only warbird to be seen at Skyfest NC. They were produced in vast numbers and have been used countless times since, often repurposed as various WWII combat aircraft for airshows and films. This one did much the same aerial display as the RV-4 above, differing mainly from the sound of the much-more-powerful rotary engine. But unless the organizers do a hell of a lot more for planning and displays, I’ll be skipping this one in future years.

North American SNJ-4 inverted over Skyfest NC

I don’t get it

Al Denelsbeck

I’ve mentioned before, perhaps too many times, about getting involved in 3D printing, but it’s served to keep me busy during the lean winter months, and I’m slowly picking up some design skills. I’ve joined a few online repositories for such things and have uploaded a handful of designs, such as the long lens grip that I use regularly – it helps a lot, believe me. And a couple of designs were just for printers themselves, small upgrades or enhancements. On the analytics page of an account, you can see how many views, likes, and downloads each design receives – on one of the websites, this actually earns you points that can be used towards purchases in their store, so hey, fine.

On a whim one day, I altered someone else’s design (this is common and even encouraged) for an aircraft altimeter – their intent was for flight simulators, but mine was much more frivolous, mounting on the back of one of the printer motors and ‘gaining altitude’ as the printer fed filament into the extruder; all it took was attaching the needle post to the back of the hub extending from the motor, while the dial was simply run off the laser printer. It required perhaps an hour to redesign, about the same to print, and I liked the effect.

For giggles, I uploaded it to the online repositories for anyone that had the passing interest. It was silly, but the communities are fond of tchotchkes.

What I didn’t expect was for the damn thing to explode in popularity, exponentially above anything and everything that I’d uploaded before.

statistics from author's Thingiverse designs
That’s it on top, blowing away the long lens grip, the deep lenshood, and even the printer display mount (which I also consider a great addition to my own printer.) It’s been up for 20 days, while all of the others have been up for months.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t be so surprised; there are only so many photographers on such sites, but everyone is interested in enhancing their printers, though it’s a stretch to call this an ‘enhancement.’ And for a lot of printer designs, the back side of the motor (any of the common stepper motors used) doesn’t face in a useful direction. But hey, if it’s popular, I’m not arguing. I’m not gonna bring it up at my high school reunion (or even attend,) but it’s perfect for, you know, a blog post…

*     *     *

For those who have the interest:

Thingiverse.com
Printables.com
Cults3D.com

A low bar

Al Denelsbeck

As mentioned earlier, Friday’s outing also produced some sunset colors – more so than normal, but that’s not hard to do in this region of NC, at least. Somebody set the ‘Clearing’ setting for the sky to ‘Sunset’ and so the skies are typically wiped free of clouds at about that time. This time around, the cache was a bit slow in emptying and there remained just a little to work with.

But not much in the way of foreground interest, so I struggled to find something, which is also evident.

unidentified beetles against twilight colors
The sun itself went down still bright and yellow, and it took a while for the high-altitude clouds to change color, so I played with what could be found on the still-bare branches of the trees along the lakeshore. I have no idea what these beetles were, but they were tiny, at least enhancing the presence of the new buds.

unidentified spider silhouetted against sunset color
And a spider, placed against the background striations meticulously. Which just goes to show, there’s only so much you can do with some subjects, but I was just waiting out the meteorology.

waxing crescent moon alongside woodpeckers' nest tree
I felt a little obligated to do this one, since that’s the woodpeckers’ nest from last year (the one on the right; the one on the left is the moon.) Between those two branches alongside the moon sits the opening, though facing away from us since I was on shore to get this framing, and the opening isn’t visible from shore. Venus was likely becoming visible at this point, but it would be hidden behind the trunk. What you might have found, beneath that upper branch, is a jetliner catching the sun over the horizon.

waxing crescent moon and Venus against faint pink clouds
That’s Venus down towards the bottom of the frame. It shows phases too, but it largely takes a telescope to see them, so I checked with Stellarium – this time it was a gibbous. I’ll nail a crescent one of these days.

And finally, the wide shot to show off how well the sky developed:

sunset colors over Jordan Lake showing crescent moon and Venus
That’s… okay, enough to make the wait worthwhile, but it could easily be better. Gets that tropical vibe without anything even remotely tropical in the picture. Well, that’s not true, because the climate of Venus (which is visible in there, but you have to look hard) could be considered, “tropical,” if you weren’t familiar with the term, “blast furnace,” though even I’ll admit this is stretching a bit. Overall, a nice spectrum of color, so it works just well enough.

Tripod holes 13

Al Denelsbeck

Full Throttle Formation Team flying over Skyfest NC, Johnston Regional Airport, Smithfield NC
N 35°32’44.44″ W 78°23’22.69″ Google Earth Location

Today’s tripod hole comes from… yesterday, while I was attending Skyfest NC, a small airshow not too far away. Note that the location is where I was standing, and not exactly where the subject of the photo was, which would be quite hard to pin down without someone to triangulate at least. This is the Full Throttle Formation Team, or four of them at least, flying Van’s RV-8 aircraft if I have the details right – the website for the airshow itself is perhaps the most pathetic that I’ve seen in quite a while, so this information is provided by my astounding webbernets savvy, and the fact that I briefly pulled up the flight radar app on my smutphone while there.

More photos will be along shortly, but not a lot; as airshows go, this was pretty thin, plus the performance area was southeast of the attendee area, thus putting most of the performances against the rising sun, which was soon tempered by overcast skies – not an improvement. I left early as rain was threatening, not so much to avoid getting wet, but I’d prefer not to expose the camera equipment to serious moisture while trying to photograph aircraft, and I knew the parking area was bound to become a quagmire if it rained in earnest. The static display aircraft were minimal, and no major aerial demonstrations were scheduled. I tried my hand at video again, but using the 7D and the Tamron 150-600 just ain’t gonna work for that.

However, Wings Over Wayne is coming in May, and I may be refining my techniques before then. We’ll see what happens.

On our way

Al Denelsbeck

While we had several warm spells far earlier than normal, interspersed with some overnight lows dropping below freezing, I think spring is getting a toehold now, and the critters and plants are on schedule. The Insoluble Mr Bugg and I went down to Jordan Lake Friday for a late afternoon and sunset shoot, and there were a few subjects to be found, though it’s not quite the active season yet. I’ll be displaying a couple of full-frame and cropped shots for comparison herein.

Only a few bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) peeked out, and I’ll feature a sequence later on, but for now, the juvenile that appeared.

juvenile bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus cruising overhead
This is full-frame at 600mm, with the eagle roughly 60 meters overhead, give or take far too great a margin – I’m just guessing, really, and have no way of measuring with any kind of accuracy. Suffice to say that it was just close enough to know that it was an eagle, and not a vulture or osprey. But now the closer look.

juvenile bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus displaying curious plumage pattern, possibly transitioning into fourth year
That coloration doesn’t fit any of the depicted phases of development that I have, but I believe we’re seeing an eagle entering its fourth year, as they gain their well-known adult plumage of deep brown body and white head and tail. There’s a faint hint of the eye-stripe that denotes their third year, but none of the belly mottling and only a smidgen on the wings, so I think it’s time for the mitzvah. You can also see a new feather coming in on the right wingtip.

Did a little better with the osprey (Pandion haliaetus,) who have just started appearing in earnest.

osprey Pandion haliaetus passing overhead
Full-frame again, and given that osprey are perhaps 2/3 the size of eagles, this one is clearly half the distance away, or less. But this isn’t close enough for a crucial detail, so we shamelessly crop (or at least I do) to show off something that I didn’t recognize at the time.

osprey Pandion haliaetus overhead with small fish capture
We saw nothing at all of the action, but this one clearly had a little snack that it was carrying to a good perch, probably a perch. Okay, I have no idea what it is, because my knowledge of fish species is abysmal, probably only slightly better than the osprey’s knowledge but with considerably less skill in catching any.

Another, because of course I had to.

overhead osprey Pandion haliaetus giving stinkeye
Cropped a bit, but the sun nicely showed off the osprey realizing it had been made. By the way, all of these, I think, were shot with a full stop overexposure to compensate for the brightness of the sky, which retained the blue while still preventing the undersides of the birds from dropping too deeply into shadow. The sky was scattered haze and high-altitude clouds, so the colors varied a lot depending on the direction that we were facing.

The red-headed woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) were only occasionally visible, and I don’t think we’ve yet entered nesting season for them, but it’s close.

red-headed woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus perched on perforated pine
Full-frame once again, and this time I could have determined the distance much better, had I tramped through the bracken to the base of this tree, though that wasn’t really the purpose and it would have spooked all of the woodpeckers from the area. It’s funny – I would have easily said this one was much closer than the osprey or eagle because I could walk there, but the evidence is that it was only a little less distant as the eagle, and notably further than either osprey. We’re used to measuring things horizontally, but vertically (and with no frames of reference) is much harder – from having worked on ladders more than enough, I can attest that determining how high up I am is wildly inaccurate. But let’s go in closer:

red-headed woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus with possible nest cavities
Clearly an adult now, but recently an adult (as in, last year’s brood) or not is impossible for me to say. This was within a few dozen meters of the nest that I observed at length last year, which itself is showing no signs of activity, but then again this particular tree may be in use before too long. I would approve of that – it’s much easier to view than the one last year, requiring no wading into the lake, and sits in enough of an opening in the canopy to have good light for a decent portion of the day. I’m keeping an eye on it (well, not right now, because I’m typing, but whenever I’m down there at least.)

One of the osprey nests that we observed last year appears to be occupied again.

pair of osprey Pandion haliaetus perched alongside nest in tree
This is from well around the shoreline of a small bay on the lake, while it is possible to get a much closer look through the tree about 90° off of this angle – but then, they can also see me, and this might make them antsy. Either way, the angle isn’t sufficient to see anything except the last week or two before the young fledge out of the nest, and I missed that last year, but I’ll try to make more trips this time around. There’s evidence that the other nest that I viewed two years ago is occupied as well, though it’s considerably farther away.

And now, for some shitty pictures but a sequence of behavior that I was at least pleased to witness. I saw a raptor heading away into the distance but, looking essentially up its tail feathers, I couldn’t determine what it was, so I just locked onto it and tracked it through the long lens. In moments, it converged on another bird, and they did a quick spiral or two as they met, at least letting me see some wing color as it happened.

bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus harassing osprey Pandion haliaetus into dropping fish
This is full-frame again, obviously quite distant – like several hundred meters. Going in closer lets us see one crucial detail better, though:

bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus harassing osprey Pandion haliaetus into dropping fish
That’s enough to see that it’s a bald eagle on the right, an osprey in the center, and an abruptly dropped fish on the left. Thirty years ago in raptor rehabilitation training, I’d been told that eagles often nested near osprey to harass them into dropping fish to save themselves the trouble of catching their own, but had never once witnessed the behavior. Until now.

bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus veering off from osprey Pandion haliaetus to pursue dropped fish
The intent was very clear, as the eagle immediately turned to pursue the falling fish.

bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus diving after airborne fish
This is full-frame to give an idea of my view through the camera, and it wasn’t until now, when the flashing fish passed in front of the darker trees, that I fully realized what had happened. I wished that I had it on video but immediately realized that, without a lot of specific prep, the video clip would be garbage, worse than these photos even.

The eagle turned back in our direction and passed reasonably close by, yet autofocus proved to be balky again, so this is softer than it should be.

bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus clutching tiny stolen meal
The fish isn’t really visible here, but the clutching talons no longer tucked neatly up under the tail feathers say enough, as if that smug little smile didn’t. This is our national bird, people – dwell on that.

The sunset photos followed immediately after this, but the post is long enough and they’ll be along tomorrow. Gotta milk it, you know…

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