Used to be Peregrines nesting on the Severn River (in addition to the Chesapeake Bay) Bridge. I'd seen the adults one time double-team - but fail to score on - a Mourning Dove real close in just off of Spa Creek in Annapolis. But it had been a long time since I'd heard of them so I did a search a couple days ago and failed to come up with anything from the past dozen years. But:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDzgu0ihW8g
When the reintroduction efforts started ramping up and paying off the pair that first established that skyscraper as theirs were MAJOR news. It was the USF&G Building at the time and they used to let people go up during the lunch hour and look at them from a range of a couple feet through the glass. I went up once - really cool experience.
I'm gonna keep an eye on these guys. I think the kids are a whole lot more likely to make it after fledging than my Decorah Eaglets were.
39°17'14.87" N 076°36'52.05" W
birds
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Tad Eareckson
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC
Re: birds
My Peregrine kids fledged about a week ago but the adult male (they're calling him Boh2) continues to make himself visible a good chunk of the time. Astonishing how quickly they develop from helpless little balls of fluff to...
The male kid (they're calling him Zephyr) developed more quickly (the tiercels are only about two thirds the weights of the falcons (females) and I'm guessing that's standard) and took a premature hop that ended at surface level on 2019/06/05. Had to get rescued...
http://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-falcon-rescue-transamerica-20190605-story.html
Chesapeake Conservancy rescues fallen falcon in Baltimore - Baltimore Sun
http://www.trbimg.com/img-5cf83f0e/turbine/bs-1559772941-f66mhegask-snap-image/1600/1600x900
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48091540413_ee4b068763_o.jpg
...and returned to his 33rd floor ledge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_sE7uzyLZ4
Newspaper report's full o' shit about him having "fallen". I'd been watching him fly from point to point around his ledge long before that episode. Just not much good at gaining altitude at that point.
If anyone's interested... The street lamp near the left edge of the photo is at:
39°17'16.18" N 076°36'50.54" W
I'd been expecting him to "fall" again within a day or two but fortunately he didn't press the issue.
On 2019/06/11 an alert that the county had a pair of Red-Headed Woodpeckers nesting went out on the wire - 38°59'30.91" N 076°37'51.28" W - just 3.88 crowflight miles SSE of the yard. I remember tons of them from Charleston before we moved to Connecticut when I was six but I hadn't seen one for decades - can't remember when or where my last ones were. Figured this would be a real good field exercise for my digiscoping rig.
Been out twice so far - 2019/06/12 and 14. The shots below are all zoomed out all the way to 25x. First two are full frame (reduced resolution - do the URLs for full), the three beyond are crops.
2019/06/14 17:43:02 UTC
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48090770236_5e363db492_o.png
2019/06/12 17:12:58 UTC
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48090818018_fd1c398640_o.png
Crop of above:
2019/06/12 17:28:25
2019/06/14 18:11:30 UTC
A bit disappointing but they're not huge birds and they didn't often get very close. And on the rare occasions when they did they didn't stay put long enough for me to retarget, refocus, readjust exposure.
Major lesson learned... The LCD monitor becomes totally useless in bright daylight and that loss was pretty crippling. Got me to thinking about the black curtains under which the Matthew Brady era photographers would position their heads when behind the cameras. Got me to thinking that I wasn't the only one having this issue.
Hoodman Live View Kit for all DSLR Cameras - HLVKIT
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48089426913_005a6540e7_o.png
Hope to have one of those dropped off on the front steps within a couple hours. Then I'll be able to see what I've just shot and find out what I've done wrong often in time to get things right. Of course it blocks the regular viewfinder (that thought occurred to me about a minute after I confirmed the order) but you can turn the gold screw and quickly pop off all the back end stuff.
The folk who initially scored the Woodpeckers also reported a pair of Ravens in the same area. We've always had them on the ridges to the west (and I used to share the air with them a lot back when) but here practically on the edge of the Bay... Pretty astounding. Kept my eyes and ears peeled but...
Saw other cool birds during these exercises... Flicker, Orchard Oriole, Waxwing... Cool little chunk of habitat protected from the ravages of development by the powerline right-of-way. And a lot closer than Costa Rica.
P.S. - 2019/06/19 18:40:00 UTC
Eighteen minutes after I posted the FedEx guy tiptoed up to the front door and ever so quietly deposited my box on the steps. Checked the tracking though a short bit later and snatched up my new toy.
It's really Rube Goldberg, way too many parts - and they all DO SOMETHING. It's WONDERFUL. Totally indispensable. Maybe I'll make another run out to the spot and see what I can do without having a hand and a half tied behind my back.
P.P.S. - 2019/06/21 03:15:00 UTC
Just for the record...
I wrote in too much haste. Couple issues that can fairly easily be worked around but are so STUPID and unforgivable...
http://vimeo.com/238778188
Hoodman Live View Kit for all DSLR Cameras - HLVKIT
The camera is a Canon EOS 5D and the relevant geometry is identical to my 6D or close enough.
The heads of the socket head screws which lock the anti-twist bars project below the plane of the upper surface of the head of the D-ring 1/4-20 screw which secures the base plate to the base of the camera via the latter's tripod socket. Translation - You can't adjust, set, lock the starboard anti-twist bar as is illustrated, or at least very strongly implied, in the video. You've gotta loosen the D-ring screw. Set and lock the anti-twist bar, then lock the D-ring screw. And the latter doesn't seat on the washer / base plate. Its starboard edge seats on the port side of the head of the starboard socket screw. Totally sucks.
I'm sure I can fix this issue with a quarter inch nylon washer or two but that situation totally sucks. And I'm pretty sure that'll leave me with the lower surface of the D-ring screw projecting beyond the base plate. A bit south of ideal but something I can live with.
The eyecup is loose as hell and rotates a bit freely around its mount. A thin rubber band double looped over the mount to occupy the slop range makes that situation bearable. Maybe I'll be able to find a rubber O-ring to do the job better.
Comes with a nice little stuff bag. Pity that no way in hell the Hoodman Live View Kit comes anywhere close to actually fitting in the stuff bag. Solution - I've got other stuff bags in which it DOES FIT comfortably.
But Jesus H. Christ.
(I'll be duplicating this in my scope topic / article.)
The male kid (they're calling him Zephyr) developed more quickly (the tiercels are only about two thirds the weights of the falcons (females) and I'm guessing that's standard) and took a premature hop that ended at surface level on 2019/06/05. Had to get rescued...
http://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-falcon-rescue-transamerica-20190605-story.html
Chesapeake Conservancy rescues fallen falcon in Baltimore - Baltimore Sun
http://www.trbimg.com/img-5cf83f0e/turbine/bs-1559772941-f66mhegask-snap-image/1600/1600x900
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48091540413_ee4b068763_o.jpg
...and returned to his 33rd floor ledge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_sE7uzyLZ4
Newspaper report's full o' shit about him having "fallen". I'd been watching him fly from point to point around his ledge long before that episode. Just not much good at gaining altitude at that point.
If anyone's interested... The street lamp near the left edge of the photo is at:
39°17'16.18" N 076°36'50.54" W
I'd been expecting him to "fall" again within a day or two but fortunately he didn't press the issue.
On 2019/06/11 an alert that the county had a pair of Red-Headed Woodpeckers nesting went out on the wire - 38°59'30.91" N 076°37'51.28" W - just 3.88 crowflight miles SSE of the yard. I remember tons of them from Charleston before we moved to Connecticut when I was six but I hadn't seen one for decades - can't remember when or where my last ones were. Figured this would be a real good field exercise for my digiscoping rig.
Been out twice so far - 2019/06/12 and 14. The shots below are all zoomed out all the way to 25x. First two are full frame (reduced resolution - do the URLs for full), the three beyond are crops.
2019/06/14 17:43:02 UTC
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48090770236_5e363db492_o.png
2019/06/12 17:12:58 UTC
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48090818018_fd1c398640_o.png
Crop of above:
2019/06/12 17:28:25
2019/06/14 18:11:30 UTC
A bit disappointing but they're not huge birds and they didn't often get very close. And on the rare occasions when they did they didn't stay put long enough for me to retarget, refocus, readjust exposure.
Major lesson learned... The LCD monitor becomes totally useless in bright daylight and that loss was pretty crippling. Got me to thinking about the black curtains under which the Matthew Brady era photographers would position their heads when behind the cameras. Got me to thinking that I wasn't the only one having this issue.
Hoodman Live View Kit for all DSLR Cameras - HLVKIT
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48089426913_005a6540e7_o.png
Hope to have one of those dropped off on the front steps within a couple hours. Then I'll be able to see what I've just shot and find out what I've done wrong often in time to get things right. Of course it blocks the regular viewfinder (that thought occurred to me about a minute after I confirmed the order) but you can turn the gold screw and quickly pop off all the back end stuff.
The folk who initially scored the Woodpeckers also reported a pair of Ravens in the same area. We've always had them on the ridges to the west (and I used to share the air with them a lot back when) but here practically on the edge of the Bay... Pretty astounding. Kept my eyes and ears peeled but...
Saw other cool birds during these exercises... Flicker, Orchard Oriole, Waxwing... Cool little chunk of habitat protected from the ravages of development by the powerline right-of-way. And a lot closer than Costa Rica.
P.S. - 2019/06/19 18:40:00 UTC
Eighteen minutes after I posted the FedEx guy tiptoed up to the front door and ever so quietly deposited my box on the steps. Checked the tracking though a short bit later and snatched up my new toy.
It's really Rube Goldberg, way too many parts - and they all DO SOMETHING. It's WONDERFUL. Totally indispensable. Maybe I'll make another run out to the spot and see what I can do without having a hand and a half tied behind my back.
P.P.S. - 2019/06/21 03:15:00 UTC
Just for the record...
I wrote in too much haste. Couple issues that can fairly easily be worked around but are so STUPID and unforgivable...
http://vimeo.com/238778188
Hoodman Live View Kit for all DSLR Cameras - HLVKIT
The camera is a Canon EOS 5D and the relevant geometry is identical to my 6D or close enough.
The heads of the socket head screws which lock the anti-twist bars project below the plane of the upper surface of the head of the D-ring 1/4-20 screw which secures the base plate to the base of the camera via the latter's tripod socket. Translation - You can't adjust, set, lock the starboard anti-twist bar as is illustrated, or at least very strongly implied, in the video. You've gotta loosen the D-ring screw. Set and lock the anti-twist bar, then lock the D-ring screw. And the latter doesn't seat on the washer / base plate. Its starboard edge seats on the port side of the head of the starboard socket screw. Totally sucks.
I'm sure I can fix this issue with a quarter inch nylon washer or two but that situation totally sucks. And I'm pretty sure that'll leave me with the lower surface of the D-ring screw projecting beyond the base plate. A bit south of ideal but something I can live with.
The eyecup is loose as hell and rotates a bit freely around its mount. A thin rubber band double looped over the mount to occupy the slop range makes that situation bearable. Maybe I'll be able to find a rubber O-ring to do the job better.
Comes with a nice little stuff bag. Pity that no way in hell the Hoodman Live View Kit comes anywhere close to actually fitting in the stuff bag. Solution - I've got other stuff bags in which it DOES FIT comfortably.
But Jesus H. Christ.
(I'll be duplicating this in my scope topic / article.)
-
Tad Eareckson
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC
Re: birds
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=36488
weather changes
http://www.kitestrings.org/post11392.html#p11392
Nice to see you on the right side of something, Wonder Boy - for a big fuckin' change.
And it's been 26 hours now and there's been a response neither from some idiot denier asshole nor anybody from within the worlds largest hang gliding community telling you how awesome the conditions have been in the past few seasons in his neck of the woods.
Welcome to the wonderful world of extinction, ol' hang glider buddies. Nah, just kidding. Just wait a couple million years and it'll spring back - just like a flexing downtube.
weather changes
Well, how about a weak link?Mike Bomstad - 2019/06/26 14:47:51 UTC
This is the worst season since Ive been flying.
Very odd weather, unreliable forecasts. Unusual wind velocities and directions .
We broke the planet
http://www.kitestrings.org/post11392.html#p11392
Nice to see you on the right side of something, Wonder Boy - for a big fuckin' change.
And it's been 26 hours now and there's been a response neither from some idiot denier asshole nor anybody from within the worlds largest hang gliding community telling you how awesome the conditions have been in the past few seasons in his neck of the woods.
Welcome to the wonderful world of extinction, ol' hang glider buddies. Nah, just kidding. Just wait a couple million years and it'll spring back - just like a flexing downtube.
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Tad Eareckson
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC
Re: birds
Changing weather, better fkying some where right?
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=36504
Hope you enjoyed the planet the way it was when you had the chance.
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=36504
No. Skyrocketing atmospheric CO2 levels, more heat trapped in the atmosphere, warmer oceans, melting glaciers and icecaps, less snow cover, more water trapped and energy retained in the atmosphere, crappy overnight cooling, lower lapse rates, lower cloudbases, more rain and flooding...Chris McKeon - 2019/06/26 05:16:22 UTC
Has anyone experienced flying having improved due to changing atmospheric conditions. over the years. One would think that if there truly are changing times. That somewhere the Flying must bw getting better.
Hope you enjoyed the planet the way it was when you had the chance.
Yeah. Still. More so.Warren Narron - 2012/07/08 21:30:59 UTC
Where is your proof?
That its hot out? In July?
Do you feel like crying when you see new construction because bunnies are going to die?
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Tad Eareckson
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC
Re: birds
Steve and everybody else really need to see PBS Nature - "Octopus: Making Contact" which first aired last night.
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Steve Davy
- Posts: 1338
- Joined: 2011/07/18 10:37:38 UTC
Re: birds
That documentary was fantastic. Thanks for the tip, otherwise I'd have missed it for sure.
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Tad Eareckson
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC
Re: birds
It was absolutely amazing - glad you saw it.
Highly intelligent and virtually totally alien life form from another planet - Earth was nowhere near the same planet it was half a billion years ago when the evolutionary split occurred - that's so similar to us monkeys in terms of thinking, logic, emotions, social interactions with other aliens.
I was a little bothered by the totally lack of empathy expressed for the poor little feed crabs being dropped into the tank to their certain and near immediate deaths. It was a necessary evil for accomplishing what they were accomplishing and we're pretty much all responsible for much worse horrors down the food chain being done on our behalf. But I would've appreciated three of four seconds worth of something.
I've already seen this one through about twice but think I'll be able to watch it a few more times without getting bored.
Highly intelligent and virtually totally alien life form from another planet - Earth was nowhere near the same planet it was half a billion years ago when the evolutionary split occurred - that's so similar to us monkeys in terms of thinking, logic, emotions, social interactions with other aliens.
I was a little bothered by the totally lack of empathy expressed for the poor little feed crabs being dropped into the tank to their certain and near immediate deaths. It was a necessary evil for accomplishing what they were accomplishing and we're pretty much all responsible for much worse horrors down the food chain being done on our behalf. But I would've appreciated three of four seconds worth of something.
I've already seen this one through about twice but think I'll be able to watch it a few more times without getting bored.
-
Tad Eareckson
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC
Re: birds
Did the Lower Kent County Christmas Bird Count again Sunday. Last year the weather was horrible for most of the day - nearly got drowned. This time the sky was clear and the temperature was comfortable enough. Wind for the first two thirds of the day was a bit much but then died down rather nicely.
Got a beautiful little male Kestrel close and in great light early in the game. Didn't need much more to make my day. Had to pry myself away to get on with the day's mission.
Eagles were a dime a dozen - as is usually the case there. Seven adults, six immatures. Four adult Redtails, one first year Red-Shoulder, one distant raptor gliding down and away fast I wasn't able to ID.
Probably my most valuable vantage point for my Quaker Neck peninsula territory is a wooden platform at the end of a stone jetty on a big wildlife friendly private estate:
39°06'45.33" N 076°08'09.23" W
It gives one a clear, close, virtually full shot at a big cove known as Comegys Bight which is well protected from the prevailing winds and usually loaded with bay ducks.
Downside... The jetty scares the crap outta me. The footing is difficult to begin with and damn near all the surface rocks in the final third are unstable - the rocks rock. You gotta pick one for your next step and be prepared for anything. A fall for me could very easily be life altering.
I'm carrying my scope/tripod assembly which tends not to help with stability but collapse the extended legs together and you have something of a walking stick to help stabilize yourself. Make it out alive again.
Wind's negligible, water's flat, near winter solstice afternoon sun's straight behind me... You couldn't buy better viewing conditions.
Greater and Lesser Scaup are major bitches to differentiate. When you have them together you can maybe do something with size. Drakes in good light - green versus purple head iridescence, round versus slightly crowned head shape. In flight there's extended versus limited white wing patterns but nothing's flying. The tally lists include "Scaup sp(ecies)." 'cause with unfavorable distance, lighting, viewing conditions that's the best one can do.
The scope pays for itself on this one. (Not really but...) I guestimate 2200 birds in a long thin raft perpendicular to me over a mile long with everybody broadside and everything I check is Greater. Every male head is round and glowing green - never had it so easy. Healthy number of Ruddies scattered around the peripheries, a few Bufflehead here and there. Then I gotta risk life and limb again getting back off the jetty.
A bit later upstream a ways at Quaker Neck Landing I get for comparison a group of about eight Lessers close and in the same beautiful lighting and viewing conditions.
Had a pretty significant pain problem with my left wrist in the operations of extending, retracting, locking, unlocking the tripod legs. Back home I noted the same problem retrieving the laptop from the floor to the left of the chair which is where it always goes when it's not on my lap. I always pick it up and put it down with one hand and think I've got a Repetitive Strain Injury thing going on. And I think I figured that out before and forgot about it. Need to start being really careful, using two hands, keeping things balanced.
Also of course practicing with and using the tripod. Blow for Texas in thirteen days, hook up with the tour in seventeen. That piece of equipment is brutal and I need to be and stay functional for the duration.
Got a beautiful little male Kestrel close and in great light early in the game. Didn't need much more to make my day. Had to pry myself away to get on with the day's mission.
Eagles were a dime a dozen - as is usually the case there. Seven adults, six immatures. Four adult Redtails, one first year Red-Shoulder, one distant raptor gliding down and away fast I wasn't able to ID.
Probably my most valuable vantage point for my Quaker Neck peninsula territory is a wooden platform at the end of a stone jetty on a big wildlife friendly private estate:
39°06'45.33" N 076°08'09.23" W
It gives one a clear, close, virtually full shot at a big cove known as Comegys Bight which is well protected from the prevailing winds and usually loaded with bay ducks.
Downside... The jetty scares the crap outta me. The footing is difficult to begin with and damn near all the surface rocks in the final third are unstable - the rocks rock. You gotta pick one for your next step and be prepared for anything. A fall for me could very easily be life altering.
I'm carrying my scope/tripod assembly which tends not to help with stability but collapse the extended legs together and you have something of a walking stick to help stabilize yourself. Make it out alive again.
Wind's negligible, water's flat, near winter solstice afternoon sun's straight behind me... You couldn't buy better viewing conditions.
Greater and Lesser Scaup are major bitches to differentiate. When you have them together you can maybe do something with size. Drakes in good light - green versus purple head iridescence, round versus slightly crowned head shape. In flight there's extended versus limited white wing patterns but nothing's flying. The tally lists include "Scaup sp(ecies)." 'cause with unfavorable distance, lighting, viewing conditions that's the best one can do.
The scope pays for itself on this one. (Not really but...) I guestimate 2200 birds in a long thin raft perpendicular to me over a mile long with everybody broadside and everything I check is Greater. Every male head is round and glowing green - never had it so easy. Healthy number of Ruddies scattered around the peripheries, a few Bufflehead here and there. Then I gotta risk life and limb again getting back off the jetty.
A bit later upstream a ways at Quaker Neck Landing I get for comparison a group of about eight Lessers close and in the same beautiful lighting and viewing conditions.
Had a pretty significant pain problem with my left wrist in the operations of extending, retracting, locking, unlocking the tripod legs. Back home I noted the same problem retrieving the laptop from the floor to the left of the chair which is where it always goes when it's not on my lap. I always pick it up and put it down with one hand and think I've got a Repetitive Strain Injury thing going on. And I think I figured that out before and forgot about it. Need to start being really careful, using two hands, keeping things balanced.
Also of course practicing with and using the tripod. Blow for Texas in thirteen days, hook up with the tour in seventeen. That piece of equipment is brutal and I need to be and stay functional for the duration.
-
Tad Eareckson
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC
Re: birds
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=36681
Attacked in the air, then harassed in the paddock - one of those days...
Attacked in the air, then harassed in the paddock - one of those days...
Charlie Romeo - 2019/12/27 23:20:43 UTC
We finally had about 85mm of rain this month, still 600mm less for the year. It's sweetened the air, smoke gone, cu's are back and it's greening up. Wonderful fly on 26th, touch the clouds a few times, lovely air, Paddo got his highest and one of the resident Wedge-Tailed Eagles got very close and personal with him but no drama. I'll try to do a YouTube video later. Yesterday 27th, Monti again, just us hangies - still too stong for the PG's, I copped a ripper literally. That bloody eagle got me good, at least it was the old Sting and not his new Fun. To add insult to injury we were swamped by ticks while packing up in a new paddock!
Wedgie 1
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49300697601_68596ced1a_o.png
Wedgie 2
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49300697476_e8a24fe0bc_o.png
Wedgie 3
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49300210388_62d0fee121_o.png
Wedgie 4
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49300210248_96c4f9e580_o.png
Wedgie 5
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49300210583_bf6806762a_o.png
Wedgie 6
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49300905242_257b0104d9_o.png
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Tad Eareckson
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC
Re: birds
Re: Swarovski ATX/STX spotting scope system
Accidental submission again. Stay tuned.
Accidental submission again. Stay tuned.