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What a Shock – It’s Cormorant Time

If you have seen the previous posts from Elkhorn Slough and have followed the blog for a while, it won’t take too much imagination to work out what bird I also got a bunch of shots of while we were on the boat. The cormorants were out and about keeping me entertained. Maybe they were a little put out that so much other wildlife was getting my attention although they really didn’t seem to care too much about our presence at all.

Whatever their attitude may or may not have been, they were all over the place. Flying past us, sunning themselves on marker posts, resting on sand banks or fishing in the waters around us, they did it all and I tried to photograph them doing it all. Since I have gone overboard on cormorants before, I won’t go nuts here. Just a few to maintain expectations…

Sunbathing Seals

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The mud flats of Elkhorn Slough are a popular haunt for harbor seals. Relatively easily distinguished from sea lions, these guys seemed to really enjoy just lying out on the flats and sunning themselves. I imagine there are times of day when they are busy hunting for food but they must have been successful by the time we came by because they were not too active.

Their coats are very different when wet and dry and some of them would lie just into the water, possibly as a result of the tide having changed the water level while they rested. You could see the change in the coat underneath versus on top where it had dried out. One or two had even draped weed over themselves. Our guide explained why but I’m afraid I can’t for the life of me remember what the reason was. Therefore, I am going to go with fashion!

Of course, if you want to go for the cute factor, it has to be a baby animal. A baby seal duly provided the awww moment. It seemed interested in us too, so didn’t prove to be the hardest shot to get!

Tiger Moth Flying

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With so many things going on, I realized it had been a while since I made a trip up to Sonoma Skypark for the normal Saturday activities. I arrived and spent time with my friend Eric discussing many things aeronautical. While we talked, a Tiger Moth flew back into the pattern. We stopped to watch it for a moment and Eric assumed I had flown in one before – he couldn’t believe an aviation enthusiast from the UK could possibly not have done so. However, I hadn’t.

As it was, Eric got in discussion regarding an issue with the engine with Mike, the owner of the aircraft. Eric thought a short flight would be necessary to help diagnose the issue and thought I should provide ballast. I was not going to turn down this opportunity.

The flight was a short one as was required to check out the engine. We took off, climbed to a moderate height, flew a couple of turns and then returned to Skypark. It was a remarkably smooth aircraft and seemed to just glide through the air. Eric pointed out the guy with the stick might have something to do with that (for those of you who are photographers the assumption you must have a great camera will spring to mind) and, while I was certainly appreciative of Eric’s flying, I did like how the Tiger Moth flew.

Not sure when I will next get a chance to fly in the type but it was certainly great to experience and my thanks to Mike for letting me ride in his plane and to Eric for taking me up.

Fishing Pelicans

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The pelican population of Elkhorn Slough is pretty substantial. There were a few white pelicans but the majority was brown pelicans. As we trundled around the slough, a steady stream of pelicans went about their business fishing. Watching pelicans fish is a reasonably predictable task. They glide around looking for the fish in a way that is very different from how they fly if they are trying to get somewhere.

As they spot a fish, they slow up noticeably preparing for the dive. Then they roll in like a dive bomber head down towards the unsuspecting prey. At the last minute, they pull back their wings and extend their head to enter beak first and grab whatever it is that they have spotted. All that is left on the surface for a moment is the ripple from their entry. Then they bob back to the surface, hopefully devouring whatever they were after. Then they lumber back into the air to repeat the process.

Watching this is not tricky. Having it happen close enough to you to get a good shot is a different story. Even at the high frame rate my camera can do, the transition from dive to underwater is very quick and only a few frames. You have to try and track smoothly and keep everything in focus.

I got shots of some more distant entries. These don’t make the best shots but they can work as animated GIFs. Once or twice they came a bit closer to us and then it was just a case of hoping that I didn’t miss it while watching something else and that the light was on a good side. That and crossing my fingers that I didn’t screw it up!

Chicago

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After a year away, I had a trip back to Chicago for work. I did have a little spare time to do some walking around on the day I arrived and then again one night after work. All of these things will have been in previous posts at some point but it was fun to roam around so I will share a little of what was there.

Sea Otters

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We took a great trip to do a little wildlife spotting. Nancy found out about a tour operation in Moss landing on the coast of Monterey Bay. They are called Elkhorn Slough Safari and you can find out more about them at http://www.elkhornslough.com/ if you are interested. Elkhorn Slough is an estuary area that comes out at Moss Landing. It is absolutely packed with wildlife (so expect a few more posts). The company operates a pontoon boat that takes you through the marina and up into the slough. On the day we went, the boat was reasonably full but there was a bit of space. The captain was very helpful when he saw me carrying camera gear and cleared out space for me at the back of the boat which allowed me to move from side to side as anything came up. He constantly pointed out anything that could be of interest.

I won’t tell you too much more about the tour other than to say that the two people taking care of us were great, very friendly, helpful at spotting things and they provided some great cookies which I wouldn’t have minded chomping the lot!

First in the posts will be the subject that probably attracts a lot of the visitors and that is Sea Otters. This part of the coastline has a very dense population of Sea otters. In fact, we probably got to see a substantial chunk of the California population on this trip. There are obviously lots more of them along the coast but here they are gathered close together. As we motored along the water, we saw a steady stream of them diving for food, eating their catch, playing around with each other or in one particularly impressive area, about 30 of them formed up in a large group just hanging out.

We also came across a mother with a pretty fresh looking baby. She was floating on her back with the baby resting on her stomach. Apparently the babies float right away so she can go hunting and leave them to bob on the surface although other otters may hijack the kid until the mother hands over her catch. Sweet creatures!

I won’t tell you how many otter pictures I took. Here is a VERY small sample of what I got that day.

Deutsches Museum

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A friend of mine was discussing his imminent travel plans. Part of this is taking in Munich, a city we visited a few years ago when another friend was living there. The Deutsches Museum is on the itinerary for my friend’s current trip and it brought to mind the aircraft collection there. The museum is a marvelous place covering a wide variety of industrial, technological and scientific subjects. A day is required if you visit but you will still leave much unseen. The location of Messerschmitt and succeeding companies nearby means they have access to many great aircraft and the collection is outstanding.

On a previous visit in the early 90s, they had some other aircraft, some of which were outside. Some of these have now moved to another location where a second museum facility has been established. I was unable to fit in a visit there but if I ever get back to Munich, it will be on my list.

Fall in Berkeley

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The UC Botanic Garden in Berkeley was beginning to show the signs of fall when we visited. Located in the hills above Berkeley, the climate is probably quite different to other areas nearby. In a previous trip to the area, the clouds were rolling across the hillside making it cold and damp when it was warm and sunny a short distance away. I imagine this impacts what thrives on the hills. Some of the plants were clearly suited to arid conditions. However, there were signs of the trees turning red and brown as fall set in so obviously they have quite a variety of plants as would befit such a garden.

I don’t know much about plants and so cannot name what we saw. Instead, I shall share a few of the views through the gardens which looked particularly nice given the lower angle of the sun as the time of day and year.

RAFM Hendon

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A recent project a colleague was working on involved some shots from the RAF Museum at Hendon. I had made a visit to this museum when I was a student living in London and had taken some photos at that time. I took a look through the old films to see whether I had anything that they needed. As it turned out, I didn’t have a shot of what they were after. As is so common when going through film archives, I find that I took a ridiculously small number of shots of interesting things and I am disappointed by the lack of shots and the quality of some of them too.

However, it was kind of interesting to see what was there at the time. Having never been back since, I have no idea how it is currently laid out and what is there that wasn’t before and what has gone. However, I do know that the Blackburn Beverley that was outside when I was there was scrapped not too long after that as the airframe had deteriorated in the outdoor storage. These shots are just a couple from that visit.

Squirrels

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A steady stream of tourists means the local wildlife gets pretty used to people. Squirrels are usually pretty unfazed by people anyway but in this case they had no fear at all. I enjoyed the interest he seemed to be showing in us so figured a few shots were in order.