Buzzed By A Bearcat

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We were standing out to the east of the runway at Klamath Falls when the Erickson team was practicing their display ahead of the show at Sentry Eagle.  I was looking in the wrong direction when someone called out that the Bearcat was diving in on us.  I swung around and pulled the camera up at the last minute.  Needless to say, I did not get the greatest shots of the plane but it was coming right at me so I will go with the best I could get.  It was pretty cool having a Bearcat buzz right over my head!

Eagle Stealing A Snack

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The eagles that live around Juanita Bay are busy hunters.  However, hunting requires a load of effort and it is surely easier to steal someone else’s meal.  An otter had caught a fish and climbed on to one of the buoys that mark the protected area of the bay to eat it.  As it got close to finishing, one of the eagles swooped in and grabbed the remainder of what it had.  The otter didn’t seem too bothered so maybe it had eaten the best of the meal and was okay to let the eagle take it without a fight.  The eagle went to the osprey perch and then ate whatever was left.

Taiwanese F-5 In The Corner

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I have posted about a MiG 21 and an F-104 Starfighter that we found in Corvallis and, if you read both posts, you might recall that we were there because we had heard about a Taiwanese F-5E Tiger II that was supposed to be there.  While I have focused on the other two, it was indeed true that the F-5 was there.  It was also tucked up at the back of the hangar.

It was squeezed in amongst the other aircraft which made getting a clear shot of it a touch tricky.  I was using my phone – why I didn’t go back to the car to get the main camera I don’t know – but I ended up taking shots to stitch together when I got home.  The jet looked in good shape.  It even had a data plate on the wing tip which is unlike most other jets I have seen.  I grabbed a bunch of shots but we had a long drive ahead of us and we couldn’t stay forever.

Leaping Fish

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If you stand by Juanita Bay for a few minutes, you will see fish leaping out of the water periodically.  The carp are spawning and they leap out all the time.  Getting a shot of a leaping fish seems like it would be almost impossible since you couldn’t know where they would be leaping next and getting lined up would not be possible in the tiny instant that they are out of the water even if you did see them immediately.  However, there is some hope.

For some reason, the fish will often leap twice in roughly the same place.  However, they only seem to do it when you are not training your camera on the spot where they last came out.  I will watch with the camera down and see them jump again and again.  Bring the camera up and they don’t play ball – normally.  However, I did get lucky on one occasion.  I got a second leap as I pointed the camera at the location of the previous ripples.

I had an even better chance on a later date.  I was staring down into the water and could see the shape of a carp as it swam just below the surface.  I didn’t know whether it would be possible to get a clear shot of it in the water but started tracking it anyway.  Then it turned and came out of the water right below me.  I couldn’t have been better placed to get the shot.  I’ll take a good dose of luck any time.

Eagles Blasting Into The Sky

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On the morning after our arrival in Klamath Falls, we headed out to a location that was hopefully good for getting shots of jets departing to the north in the morning.  What we hadn’t counted on was that the based aircraft would be practicing their display for the air show the following day just after we got there.  This was a four ship display that involved some sporty departures and then beating up the airfield from various directions and in various combinations.

They launched four F-15s in stream.  The first jet up was the specially painted aircraft that the unit has had for a while but which I had not seen previously.  It was joined by two more single seaters in unit markings and the last of the four was an F-15D that wasn’t carrying any unit markings.  They would keep it really low after getting airborne and then cross the fence at speed and with burner locked in.

Then they would each pull hard to the vertical and blast upwards.  The first one caught me off guard a bit – not ideal since this was the special paint jet.  It turned out I got some shots of it, even though I found myself, twisting awkwardly to try and keep it in view.  The others I had a slightly better idea about and was ready to track them as they went.

This was just the beginning of our day at Klamath Falls and it was indicative of what was to be a top time.

Sun Angle Submerged Shooting

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Normally, while you might be able to see things swimming around under the surface in the bay, you wouldn’t really bother getting any photos.  The surface reflections are too strong and the detail is not great anyway.  However, as the afternoon was wearing on and the sun angle was getting quite low, I was surprised how well it was illuminating things below the surface and, because I was looking slightly down sun, the surface became almost invisible.

A turtle was swimming around, very occasionally putting its head above the water but mainly staying submerged.  With the lighting as it was, I was able to get a very clear view of it so decided to take some shots.  The water is still taking a little of the detail out but it was far better than I was expecting and the warmer light still picked out some of the color in the turtle.

JetStars In Their Last Resting Place

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If you don’t know I like JetStars, you have not been a regular reader of this blog.  If that is the case, I have a real soft spot for this jet.  The original business jet and a plane that looks so cool even decades after it first flew.  If you did know, my apologies for being so repetitive.  On the evening that Mark and I arrived in Klamath Falls, I saw a post on the JetStar Facebook group about some JetStars in the city.  A Brit, Kev Perry, had posted some shots of them.  I decided to contact him, and he gave me some good information about where they were and the team that looked after them.

The next morning found me and Mark at their front door asking if we might come in.  The team couldn’t have been more accommodating.  Two of the jets were parked up on the ramp in the morning sun looking fantastic.  They let us take any shots we wanted.  They also told us about a third jet that they had in their hangar so it would have been rude to not wander across and take a look.  Photographing a jet in the hangar is not as cool as in the morning sun but three JetStars in a morning is not something to miss.

Arrowhead Of Snow

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The water in Crater Lake was very smooth when we were there which made for great reflections of the rim of the caldera.  One the other side of the crater, there was a snow bank on the side of the bowl which looked like a parallelogram.  With the reflection in the water, I thought it looked a bit like an arrowhead.  I am not much of a visionary when it comes to abstract images but even I saw this and thought it looked promising.

DC-7s Retired To The Sun

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Erickson currently flies a bunch of MD-87s are firefighting jets.  However, these are a relatively recent addition to the service and they have replaced Douglas DC-7s.  The DC-7s were still in service when I first made a visit to Madras in 2015 but they have now been retired.  However, three of the airframes are stored on the ramp at Madras and we took a look around to see how they were fairing.

They looked in great condition.  The dry atmosphere at Madras is good for storing aircraft.  Some engines have been removed but the three jets are in the most recent paint finish and parked in a line.  They make for an interesting subject.  I have no idea how far from airworthy they are should anyone want to get any of them flying again (aside from the engines that have been removed) but they look like they have been taken care of.  I would have loved to have seen one airborne but sadly, that time has passed.

Robin Versus Worm

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Robins are such a common bird, I guess they don’t get a lot of attention.  This one seemed to have found itself a meal with a substantial looking worm.  However, it seemed unsure what to do with it.  It kept picking the worm up and then dropping it again.  Do robins have to eat worms in small pieces or was it just playing with its food?  Anyone know the details of their feeding habits?