Way back in 2016 a couple of good friends and I took a long week-end trip to Sedona, AZ and during that trip we went to the Grand Canyon and one of the things we did was taking a helicopter tour of the North Rim.
I was just telling someone recently that these images have been marinating on my hard-drive for a long, long time because I really didn’t like the images too much when I got home. My aerial photography “eye” needs a lot more practice. That got me thinking that I hadn’t even looked at these images in years so I dug into my archives to look at the images. With the passing of time I’m not as disappointed in them. Here’s one.
Grand Canyon, North Rim, Aerial View via a Helicopter
I’ll be working on more images from this trip so, you may see more in future posts.
I’ve been staying close to home these last two weeks because while visiting our Grandson’s we took them to the park and Littlest was afraid to go down the tube slide by himself so I went down with him. The second time we were going a bit fast so I tried to slow us down by putting my foot along the wall, but we didn’t slow down my body kept going something went crack and both my knee and ankle hurt. My knee is still tender and I haven’t made it as far as the mailbox and back yet. I may have to go see the doctor if this keeps up.
Did you happen to see the recent full moon? I did but, didn’t photograph it. I did go out to look at the moon close to its setting a couple of mornings later and made this image from my street.
I did go out for a little bit birding yesterday and saw some good birds. I’m still culling images, but will have a few to share in upcoming posts.
That’s all that’s new here. What’s going on with you? I do hope your week is going well!
At the end of February I met up with some friends one of them Gordon from https://undiscoverdimagesamongstus2.wordpress.com/ We met up in Oregon in the Klamath Basin region to do some birding. We were hoping to see American Bald Eagles and the other usual winter suspects.
What we didn’t expect was to see 17 American Bald Eagles around and on the first pond we went to!
You know we hit that pond several times while there mornings, and afternoons.
The first morning we were all together was Saturday we rose early and headed to the pond. It was a chilly 14 degrees Fahrenheit, but we saw Eagles. Later that afternoon we went back and saw an Eagle trying to retrieve its prey from the icy pond water.
American Bald Eagle- Incoming!
It missed, but oh, it was so cool seeing it try.
Missed!
It landed in the water then pulled up and swung around again for another pass.
Landed in icy waterPull up!
This time it tried a different approach, and missed again!
American Bald Eagle over the Target!
Then it just flew away leaving us wondering if this was just retrieving practice?
American Bald Eagle Adult in Flight
It was quite exciting and entertaining to watch and one of the highlights of the week-end.
Fun Facts:
The American Bald Eagle has been the national emblem of the United States since 1782.
These magnificent birds aren’t really bald, but their white-feathered heads gleam in contrast to their chocolate brown bodies and wings.
Rather than do their own fishing, Bald Eagles often go after other creatures’ catches. A Bald Eagle will harass a hunting Osprey until the smaller raptor drops its prey in midair, where the eagle swoops it up. A Bald Eagle may even snatch a fish directly out of an Osprey’s talons. Fishing mammals (even people sometimes) can also lose prey to Bald Eagle piracy.
Had Benjamin Franklin prevailed, the U.S. emblem might have been the Wild Turkey. In 1784, Franklin disparaged the national bird’s thieving tendencies and its vulnerability to harassment by small birds. “For my own part,” he wrote, “I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. … Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District.”
Sometimes even the national bird has to cut loose. Bald Eagles have been known to play with plastic bottles and other objects pressed into service as toys. One observer witnessed six Bald Eagles passing sticks to each other in midair.
The largest Bald Eagle nest on record, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was 2.9 meters in diameter and 6.1 meters tall. Another famous nest—in Vermilion, Ohio—was shaped like a wine glass and weighed almost two metric tons. It was used for 34 years until the tree blew down.
Immature Bald Eagles spend the first four years of their lives in nomadic exploration of vast territories and can fly hundreds of miles per day. Some young birds from Florida have wandered north as far as Michigan, and birds from California have reached Alaska.
Bald Eagles occasionally hunt cooperatively, with one individual flushing prey towards another.
Bald Eagles can live a long time. The oldest recorded bird in the wild was at least 38 years old when it was hit and killed by a car in New York in 2015. It had been banded in the same state in 1977.
Once endangered by hunting and pesticides, Bald Eagles have flourished under protection.
February I was in the mood to dig out my paints and try some online tutorials. Here are two finished watercolor paintings, a study of trees, and one pen and ink line drawing.
My favorites are the horse painting and the pen and ink drawing. I did that drawing by hand no tracing! It’s wonky but it’s not bad for me. 🤣
I bought a new book on Urban Sketching for beginners by Liron Yanconsky so far so good. It was his book that motivated me to try to draw the Clark Administrative Bldg from an image I made of it. I’m not ready to go out with my pad and pen and try drawing on site yet, but I hope to one day. In the meantime I’ll be working my way through this book this month.
My week-end away birding with friends was so fun and we saw so many Bald Eagles! I’ll be sharing images from that trip soon.
We firmed up plans Monday to have #1 Grandson here for part of his Spring break…not Littlest though. Baby Girl isn’t ready for that yet, but we’ll take what we can get! 😀I’m making plans for trips to the zoo and looking at other things to do with him while he’s here. We’re excited! That’s all that’s new here.
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