The Herons of Kensington Metropark

I live under a rock.  Not sure where I picked that up.  Most of the people I grew up with are natural inquisitive explorers.  I balance that out.

There is a metropark that I have passed numerous times in the last 25 years of my life in Michigan.  Last weekend, I finally paid the $10 to spend a few hours exploring.

My photo club has started going there in the past year.  I've never been able to join them on these excursions - but I have heard the tales.  This past weekend was the perfect time to go.

I was hoping to see some bigger birds of prey, but that was not to be.  I did get to see a number of small birds chase a hawk through the trees, followed by a number of photographers.  That lasted for about 15 minutes - and for me at least yielded no useable shots.

The metropark does boast a Heron Rookery on Wildwing Lake.  I've seen photos of rookeries in the southern states, but none close by.  It is a Rock thing.

Heron Family Portrait

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 180 (Auto)

EV 0, Manual, Size FX

GBH in the Trees

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6

750 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 280 (Auto)

EV 0, Aperture Priority, Size DX

GBH Returning Home to the Kids

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6

660 mm, 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

EV 0, Aperture Priority, Size DX

The first shot was taken while I was walking around for my initial survey.  The shot was hand held.  But while I was there, I know I would return with heavier equipment.  In a rare display of forward thinking, I had the D500 combo-ed with the 200-500 lens ready in reserve.  I also now have stored permanently stored in the truck, a monopod with appropriate gimbal.  All came to good use.  In the middle shot, I decreased the shutter speed to 1/800 from my usual 1/1250 speeds.  That doesn't happen often.

Thunderbirds over Dover

You think I would have known this by the time I planned for the Dover Airshow.  With the Charleston Airshow, some of my best shots were from the Friday practice.  Did I learn for Dover?  No*.  With a asterisk.

Travel from Pittsburgh to Dover is 6 to 7 hours - traffic depending.  We took our time getting out of Pittsburgh on Friday morning.  We easily could have left an hour or two earlier.  Vacation life.

We arrived at Dover when the Thunderbirds were about half way through their Friday practice.  And I think they stayed up for a while longer for some extra practice in great flying conditions.

We made our way to the AMC museum for some great end of the runway shots.  And even better, about 30 minutes after we arrived the museum was closing so we had to move.  As it turned out, we found a great location to catch the final landing of the team.  We could get the final banking of the aircraft to line up with the runway.  Can't get that from the stands.

New Vacation policy.  Get there Friday.

Thunderbirds #6 Close High Alpha

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

292 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/8, ISO 200 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

Thunderbird 6 Ship

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

232 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/8, ISO 182 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

Thunderbird #1 Bank to Approach

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/8, ISO 220 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

Thunderbird #1 Approach

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/8, ISO 220 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

Thunderbird #5 Approach

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

292 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/8, ISO 220 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

I've always liked the #5 Lead Solo aircraft.  I noticed a few years ago that the #5 logo was upside - down.  not sure any other demo team can claim that.  I'm fairly certain that is not a typo.

You have to laugh

You have to laugh when this happens.

And if this hasn't happened to you, you aren't trying hard enough.

Ospreys of Port Mahon

Port Mahon, Delaware.  Population 0.

The getaway to Delaware for a long weekend was scheduled to be two days at the Dover Airshow.  Ah, schedules.  Didn't work out that way.  Saturday at the show was so hot that Sunday at the show was not in the cards.  On to the famous Plan B.

The core of Plan B was was coastal travel and sightseeing.

Late in the afternoon, we hit Port Mahon, population 0.  There were no habitable buildings there, so I'm guess no zip code either?

Apparently Port Mahon was a port for Little Creek and Lepsic.  OK, I guess coastal villages need a port.  Works for me.

Maybe I was expecting too much.  When you see a sign that says Port Mahon to the right - you think Ice Cream in 15 minutes, right?  Population 0.

But with any combination of land, water and some activity involving fishing - the birds are everywhere.  In the case of Port Mahon, the birds seem to be Gulls, Cormorants and Ospreys.

Sounds like fun.

I had the D850 and the 80-400 combo as the primary equipment for the day.  

I was all in on Osprey watching.

Osprey in the Nest

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 125 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size FX

Osprey and Gull

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 140 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size FX

Osprey Flying Away with Dinner

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 140 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size FX

Osprey with Lunch

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

400 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size FX

I follow some very good photographers of Ospreys - and these won't crowd their space.  But you have to start somewhere.  For me, the primary point is the eye.  The rest is window dressing.  If we had more time to watch, maybe the dive and food retrieval.  But next time I get to Dover, this is on the agenda.  Agenda 1, Population 0.

C5M - Super Galaxy

There were two reasons to go to Dover for the Air Show this year.  Both were personal reasons.  And one I can talk about on the Blog.  That one reason was to see FRED fly.

FRED was my office from 1983 to 1992.  Best time ever.  My office location always changed.

The current version is the M model, Super Galaxy.  When I was crewing, it was just a regular Galaxy.  The A and B models.

I have over 3600 hours with FRED in various categories as a Flight Engineer.  I saw a lot of the world.  Thanks tax payers!

When I departed Dover for the final time in 1992 as a civilian, I was never sure if I'd see FRED fly again.

Took care of that concern a few days ago.

Even though the show flight was about 20 minutes long, there was still a taxi, takeoff and landing.  The A and B models had a specific noise when the engines were advanced to take off power.  That noise is no longer there, due to engine upgrading from GE's TF-39s to GE's F138-GE-100s.  The distinctive high pitched whine is now gone.  Thankfully, it lives on in YouTube land.  Yet, I still enjoyed the show.

I did a number of air shows back in the day.  FRED was always a big hit.  First in, and last out.  Always a static display.  Air shows were fun assignments.  Lots of great questions from technical numbers to aircrew life.

The aircraft is so large there were times during the demo it did not fit the frame.

C5M Low Pass

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

247 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

C5M Left Bank

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

330 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

C5M (Distant) Approach

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 110 (Auto)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

C5M Approach

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

142 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

C5M Touchdown at Dover

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

127 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.0, ISO 100

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

With the last two photos, the mm of the shot is close to the minimum mm would be 120.  Neither shot is cropped.  Another interesting photo note is the difference in the color of the sky.  The in flight shots and the close shots all have a nice blue to the sky.  On the distant approach, the sky is very hazy.  Lots of water vapor.  It is as close to in focus as I can get.  And the sky doesn't look the same - at all.  Interesting.

Blue Angels at Dover

The Blue Angel show at Dover was spectacular as usual.  We purchased general admission seats for the event, which means the seats were theoretically show center, or close to it.  Didn't work out that way.  We were a bit off.  For the air shows, it wasn't a big deal, but we were not close enough to see the Crew Chief to Pilot turnover.  For either the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds.  Would I get the seats again?  Question for another time, another thread.

But to some of the more interesting Blue Angel photos.

One of the team maneuvers is a dirty outside loop.  Dirty in the configuration with gear extended and tail hook extended.  The pairs match up nicely.  Whenever I see this, I go back to Top Gun where the radar dots start as a single return then eventually turns into four dots.  Before the fifth shows up.  Anyway, this is a nice, tight formation.

Blue Angels Dirty Loop

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

202 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.3, ISO 100

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

One of the shot I like is when I can catch some vapor pattern, such as when the aircraft performs a sudden transition from steady flight to anything other than steady.   The disruption of airflow creates a 'weather' pattern of low pressure that creates the vapor.  I usually miss these as they happen at the end of a pass, and I've taken my finger off the shutter release.

Blue Angel 5 Nose Up

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.3, ISO 125 (AUTO)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

Always a fan of close formation flying.

Blue Angels - Some Up Some Down

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

330 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.3, ISO 100

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

Another nose up with some vapor.

Blue Angel 6 Nose Up

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

435 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.3, ISO 125 (AUTO)

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

All in all a good show - as expected.

Return to Dover

The 2022 Airshow tour continues with a return to Dover AFB in Delaware.  I was stationed at Dover from 1983 to 1992.  The USAF calculated it at 8 years and 9 months.  It was a great time.  I had the best job I could ever want, that was a flight engineer on a C5 aircraft.  Going to this airshow this past weekend meant a lot to me as my chances to see FRED fly again diminish each day.

The airshow had a very good schedule.  Both the Thunderbirds and Blue Angel Demo teams would be there.  Ear plugs required.  There was a B2 fly-by as well as a C17/C47 Heritage Flight.  (Redemption)

But my goal was to see FRED in the air again, even if for only 15 minutes in an airshow demo. 

I started flying on the "A" models in 1983.  Oh, the book we had to carry.  There were modification to the wings, engines and pylons going on at the time.  And we had to know the flight characteristic limitations for each aircraft.  Life became much 'easier' when the "B" models were delivered starting in 1986.  Modern, for the time, clean and only one set of books.

Aircrew life fit me well.  Every day was different.  Again, best job ever.

When I saw Dover was having a open house (airshow) this year, I elected to to travel east.  I can go to Reno for the Air Races next year.

The weather for the show was HOT.  HOT.  HOT.  After baking in 95 degree air temps for a few hours on Saturday, and probably 120 on the tarmac, we didn't make it for the Sunday show.  We were cooked.  And as it turned out, plan "B" for Sunday turned out OK.

So, going through the photos tonight.  I have 1211 shots for the weekend to go through - should keep me busy for a few days.

C5 Airshow Climbout

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6

227 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.3, ISO 100

EV 0, Shutter Priority, Size DX

It was a great weekend to get away.  Lots of good photos.  My hit rate was pretty good.  Unfortunately, a lot are duplicates and will find the trash.  And a spoiler alert, the best shot of the weekend turned out to be an Osprey!  A V22 or bird of prey?  That will come later.

Tobico Marsh Cardinals

I usually don't have much luck with small birds.  So far.  Maybe I need a change of location?

While walking the Tobico Marsh, I found my way to an observation tower.  At the top of the tower, there really wasn't much to see.  Except, after about five minutes, the small birds showed up.  Not close enough as in food expectation, but maybe 20 feet?  Maybe 15 feet?  Normal small bird stuff.

The most camera friendly were two Cardinals.  And they didn't move when I did.  I never tried to crowd them, but it has been my experience that most small birds will move when I do.  Usually moving farther away.

But this time, these two stuck around for a few minutes.

Female Cardinal

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKON 80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6 ISO 560 (Auto)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

Male Cardinal

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKON 80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6 ISO 250 (Auto)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

Female Cardinal

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKON 80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6 ISO 400 (Auto)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

Not that I'll ever get a number of the small backyard bird shots, these were fun to be a part of.

Birds from the first Tobico Marsh walk

Yesterday's walk through Tobico Marsh didn't yield any big birds.  No Eagles, young or old.  No Osprey.  But there weren't many people out either, which makes me think I'm early for the big bird season.

That's OK.  I'm getting better at sneaking up on, or having the patience for, smaller flying objects.

At Shiawassee I got to the point where I can spot and Eagle far off.  For a while, I know where they would transit.  For smaller birds, walking through the paths between the roads I could never sneak up on them.  Thus, very few small bird shots.

At Tobico, I had a bit better luck.  Or the smaller birds tolerate the tourists much better.  In each case for the following, I stayed in place for about two to three minutes before the little flying objects returned.

This first shot is far from perfect.  It is about three inches from being the best small bird shot I have.  Anyway, this is more than a miss on the tail end, hah, of the bird in flight.  Truth is, I was focused on the stationary bird and didn't see this until I got home.  I can almost see the stationary bird smile.

Swallow on the Rail

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKON 80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1000 sec, f/5.6 ISO 800 (Auto)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

This next one was in the same area where the walkway was at the end of the flooded marsh.  About 15 yards off the walkway was a small clump of grass.  And in the grass, a hiding Canadian Goose.  I tried a number of shots, but could never get the eye clear of the grass stalks.  This was as close to framing the eye that I could get.  You would think if I could move the the right just two inches....

Canadian Goose in Hiding

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKON 80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6 ISO 640 (Auto)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

This is a Red-bellied Woodpecker.  I've verified it with the Merlin application on my phone.  Merlin never lies.  Anyway, I snuck up on it while it was feeding on the ground.  it was one of those situations where I was looking in the trees and almost stepped....  Well not sure who scared who.  Anyway the bird took to flight.  Only to be caught when I got to the top of the observation deck.

Red-bellied Woodpecker at Home

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKON 80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

600 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6 ISO 800 (Auto)

EV +1, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

Tobico Marsh

I found out about the Tobico Marsh area a few weeks ago from one of my friends in the Camera Club.  The area is about an hour north, so easy drive.  My normal nature area, Shiawassee, is still somewhat closed until June 1.  I've noted, not complained, that the changes made to the area in order to hold more water have moved the a lot of wildlife away from the drive.  Not to say I'm looking for a new place to visit, but I'm looking for a new place to visit.

By description, Tobico fits the need.  Michigan is full of places where the origins are in early lumber acquisition.  The Tobico area is no exception.  The area's history starts with logging interests and selling to private individuals when the land was cleared - and in 1957 the individuals selling this area to the State of Michigan and being re-named the Tobico Marsh State Wildlife Refuge.  The area has been added to with other land purchases over time and is now about 1650 acres.

I see lots of potential for wildlife.  I think the season for a lot of activity is not here yet, as the area was not very busy.  Day was a bit on the cold side.  Sky was Michigan spring FLAT.  But I was there to scout the area and test out the D500 and 80-400 lens combo.  And if I could get a little work in with the D850 and 200-500 combo with a monopod, it would be a good day.

It was a good day.

It was a good day for squirrel and chipmunk photos.  And some small birds.

But along the way to small critters, there were two scenes that caught my attention.

Now I'm not an expert on many things, and what I assume to be Beaver domain markings.  But I think this is one sign.  There were many trees in the marsh that looked like the Beavers started the tree felling - and man finished it.  And there were a lot of trees where man was not needed.

This was the first interesting tree stump that I came across.  I like taking photos of wood where the texture can really be brought out - without heroic post processing efforts.

Beaver Fuel

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKON 80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

210 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6 ISO 500 (Auto)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

This tree never stood a chance.  You might, rightfully, ask - why are you shooting a still subject at 1/1250?  The answer is I'm working with the lens at what I want to shoot aircraft.  So criticisms of this flaw will fall on deaf ears.

In the marsh area, one of the walkways into the marsh is marked - Closed.  This might be why.

Closed Walkway

NIKON D500 Ver.1.31/NIKON 80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

120 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6 ISO 400 (Auto)

EV 0, MANUAL Mode, Size DX

There are better views of the walkways condition, but are all blocked with trees.  Too bad, this walkway is a mess.  And very interesting.  There is an observation tower right next to this where I tried to get a better view from above.  No luck on this subject, but winner shots to come from the top of the tower.