Category Archives: Pacific Northwest

How Will the Heron Eat This?

This story is one of a bit of frustration. I took a while to get a good fix on this heron as it took off and, by the time I did so, it was heading away from me with no good angles. However, it was an interesting subject. The heron had caught itself a far larger fish than I normally see. Instead of grabbing it, it had skewered the fish with its beak. It must have had its mouth open at the time as the top and bottom mandibles had speared the fish separately.

It flew over to the shore and landed to contemplate its meal at which point one of the local eagles seems to have swooped in with the intent to steal the fish. The heron got spooked by this and took off again but dropped the fish in the process. The fish fell into the water and sank so I guess nobody got to eat it. I don’t know how the fish did but two sharp objects through its body probably didn’t help it too much.

Once More for the Sunset Avanti Shots

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A local Lynk Air Avanti coming into Paine Field might attract my interest, but I would probably skip it. However, if it is going to show up about ten minutes before sunset and the conditions are lovely, that is enough to tempt me out in the evening. (It doesn’t hurt that the journey time is really short at that time of day.) I got myself in position and waited for the arrival from the north.

I could just about make out the plane as it approached from over the sound, and it flew a quite tight base leg which meant it was clearly visible above the trees. Then the buzz became apparent as it lined up on final. I was being brave with shutter speeds since the Avanti deserves shots that make it look fast. A rapid burst of activity and it was down. It didn’t hang around on the ground too long continuing on its way about forty minutes later, but the light was done by then, so I headed home instead of waiting for it.

The Deferred German Car Day

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I missed out on the beginning of the Exotics@RTC schedule this year. They had several delays due to weather and I was away when the first event finally went ahead. However, when it came to the German Car Day, the weather played to my favor. I would have missed the originally planned date for travel reasons but, when it did happen, I was able to make the trip.

I like the German Car Day. The Italian Day is always impressive but there are far too many people with tons of cash that just buy Ferraris and Lamborghinis, so you end up with a lot of similar stuff. German Day isn’t perfect, but it does seem to pull out a lot more serious enthusiasts. Sure, there are loads of Porsches and BMWs around, but the central area had a bunch of cool looking motors. Yes, you’ll get a modern exotic Mercedes thrown in from someone with an excess of disposable income, but it doesn’t detract from a nice gathering of cool cars. Here are some of those cars!

Local Pitts Has a Good Approach to Pattern Work

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It is not a regular occurrence, but several times I have been at Boeing Field when a local Pitts Special is doing pattern work. Most times I have been a long way from it so not able to try and get any useful shots. That changed a little while back when I was near the terminal building. The pilot flies patterns with a steep climb out, a downwind leg and a steep curving descent to land followed by powering up and flying low to gain speed before repeating the process. I decided to give some low shutter speeds a good to see how things looked.

Chinese Air Ambulance Quick Visit

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You see a fair few air ambulance operators through Boeing Field. There are often flights moving people to and from the city from Alaska and other parts of the state. The ones I am used to, though, tend to be older Learjets and US or Canadian registered. We do get the occasional one from overseas, but I was quite surprised to get a G550 from China showing up as an air ambulance. It seemed worthy of a look. It was a pretty brief stop for the jet before it headed across the Pacific. The naming seemed quite amusing – Happy Air!

A Hawk and a Rabbit – One Isn’t Happy

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While waiting for the arrival of some jets, we were treated to a little bit of wildlife spotting. A hawk had been hunting over the fields in our vicinity, but it started to head our way and I grabbed a bunch of shots as it came by out of habit. One of the group checked his pictures out while we continued to wait and noticed that the hawk was carrying its next meal. It appears a rabbit had been caught out in the open and was now no more. The nature of life in the wild, I guess.

Dinner on a Floating Pub

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On our first night in Nanaimo, Nancy had identified a possible venue for dinner. The Dinghy Dock Pub is on Protection Island or, to be more accurate, is on a floating jetty attached to Protection Island. There is a small boat that takes people to the island and a good chunk of those people were heading to the pub when we went.

You disembark and are basically at the entrance to the pub so no need to go on to the island at all if you don’t want to. If we had been there at a different time, it would have been nice to stroll around the island, but we only got there in time to eat and, after we had finished, time was moving on a touch. You can sit inside or outside and, since the weather was lovely, outside it was!

The food was nice (it’s a pub, not a gourmet restaurant) and sitting outside as the sun gradually went down was so relaxing. We did have to keep a thought about the return boat since it only goes hourly. If you miss it, you have a long wait. Of course, if you are in a pub, what could you possibly do to pass the time? We timed things quite well and the boat was not long after we had finished so we took the pleasant ride back across the harbor to Nanaimo.

An Enzo Out for Some Shopping

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A short jaunt to Redmond on a Saturday morning for Exotics@RTC did not yield a huge number of vehicles. Being between two feature days, it seemed to be quite a low-key event. There were still plenty of nice cars to be seen but it was a bit of a surprise to come across a Ferrari Enzo sitting out in the lot. Maybe someone had used it to run out to the shops for a while but, since the event was not as heavily attended, it wasn’t quite as swamped with viewers as might otherwise be the case.

It is quite a cool looking vehicle although some of the styling cues are not my favorite. Even so, standing around such a valuable vehicle was rather fun. I was chatting to a couple of guys that wanted to know exactly what type of Ferrari it was and, when I mentioned what they sell for, they were quite taken aback. We agreed that, at those prices, we would keep our own Enzos at home most of the time!

HondaJet Shapes Are Fascinating

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This HondaJet had come from outside the US, so it had to clear customs at BFI after landing. That put it right in front of me while I was waiting for something else (although I can’t remember what it was). I find the jet very interesting although I am frustrated by the way in which all the ones I see have the same paint scheme with only a change in what color is used. Since this one parked up near me, I got to look at it from a variety of angles and that is a good way to appreciate the unusual shapes the airframe has.

The pylons are cambered and the way in which the nacelles sit on the wing is more easily appreciated from behind. It is great to have something different. I look forward to seeing the big brother when it makes it into service. A shame that Honda seems to have given up on their own engines but not a massive surprise.

Eagle Bugged by An Annoying Osprey

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Mum and I took a trip down to Juanita Bay to see what sort of wildlife was out and about. There was plenty of activity with both eagles and ospreys flying over the water looking for their next meal. At one stage, an eagle had caught a small fish and took it to a log in the water to enjoy. It seems that one of the ospreys decided that this could not stand and that the eagle should give up its catch. The osprey swooped down repeatedly at the eagle trying to get it spooked and to maybe leave the fish behind. The eagle was definitely annoyed by the osprey but was not inclined to move. This went on for a while but eventually the osprey realized it was futile and moved on.