Tag Archives: raptor

Evening Raptor Demo at Last

The “at last” in this title is not that I haven’t seen an F-22 demo in the evening. I saw one once at Chino and it was very cool. This is more about the fact that the Raptor demos in recent years have not strayed far west very often. They did a demo in Australia but only had one demo west of the Mississippi for one season. However, Canada did attract the team, and Abbotsford provided a chance to see them for me.

The pilot for the demo for the last two years is a guy that was a regular attendee of air shows in the Midwest when I lived there. I know some of his friends, but he was quite young then and I can’t claim to know him. Even so, it is rather cool to see him have made it to his chosen airframe of the F-22 and then to become the demo pilot. Only near the end of his second year did I finally see his routine and it was a good show. I know he has used flares at a number of events, but warm dry weather probably has meant that the fire risk precluded that. Even so, the evening light made for a great show.

Nicely done, Sam. Excellent performance. Hope you have enjoyed it for the last two years.

Can the Osprey Keep It’s Catch?

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In a previous post, I had a heron that was being challenged for its meal by an eagle. That was not the only battle underway for food I saw recently. An osprey came flying towards us while carrying a fish. I was disappointed that I hadn’t seen it make the catch, but the bay is large, and it had been off in the distance when it made the take. It was flying at us with the fish hanging down in its talons. We were not the only ones to spot it, though.

A bald eagle also had noticed what it was carrying and started to make a play for the meal. There ensued a bit of aerial jousting as the eagle swooped at the osprey and the smaller bird turned hard to evade its pursuer. It was able to keep away, but it wasn’t ever getting any separation and, I presume, it decided this was going to keep going until it was worn out unless it dropped the fish. The fish fell to the water, and I didn’t see the eagle find it so maybe it sank (unless the fish was still alive, in which case maybe it swam off).

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.

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.

Hawk and the Moon

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My El Centro wildlife encounters continued after the owls had been photographed. A hawk showed up on a utility pole close to us at one point and, since no jets were landing, I was happy to take its photo. Then I realized that the moon was rising not far away, and a short movement allowed me to bring the two into closer alignment. With the long lens, the focus depth was narrow, so I took shots of the bird and shots of the moon. When I got home, a little focus stacking allowed me to make both sharp to show how it looked to me at the time I was there.

Owls in the California Desert

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I have been getting photos of owls a bit recently with the shorties making their winter stay up in Skagit County. However, when Mark and I headed to El Centro, it was planes rather than owls that we were after. I knew that they were around there because other friends have posted shots of them in the past, but they weren’t something I was thinking about. However, as Mark was driving us along a dirt road near the base, I saw one sitting ride by the road.

Trying not to spook it, Mark was able to grab my camera from the back seat and pass it to me so I could shoot out of the window. The owl seemed unimpressed and stayed exactly where it was. After a few shots we moved on but there was another a short distance away. Same result as it wasn’t too bothered by the car. A bit further still and another one. This one was either standing on one leg with the other tucked up or just only had the one leg. I can’t tell. Again, it obliged as I took some shots. Three owls in a short distance seemed like a pretty lucky run of things.

Kestrel on a Post

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Kestrels are so small, getting a good shot of them is going to be tricky at the best of times and, unless they come nice and close, you are always working to see what you can get. This little fella landed on a post near the road and was clearly having a snack. Looking very closely at the images, I still can’t work out what it is eating. I then waited for it to fly away and, of course, once I put the camera down for a bit, off it went. I did get another shot of it as it flew to a post but nothing special.

Closest Encounter Yet with a Shortie

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I was not intending to get photos of owls when we passed through Skagit, but I ended up getting some of the closest shots yet. There were some owls on the ground pretty close to the road. I am not sure whether they were guarding food or just contemplating their next moves. However, one of them took off and flew around very close to where I was and, for a brief moment, it flew straight towards me. I grabbed a few shots and then it was gone and shortly afterwards, so were we. A lucky break for sure.

Look Both Ways When Crossing the Road

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While parked up at East 90 and watching the birds hunt, I glanced behind me – always a wise plan – and saw a northern harrier coming in my general direction. It flew low across the field and over the road before finding a perch. As I looked through the images afterwards, I found it funny to see the bird crossing what seemed to be not far behind a vehicle. I hope it had been taught how to cross the road.

A little while later, the same process was followed by a bald eagle. The shot makes it look like it was actually coming along the road but I think that is just compression of perspective. It was probably this side of the road. It also safely made its way across without having any conflict with passing vehicles. Maybe the local birds have copies of the Green Cross Code (for those of you of a certain age that grew up in the UK).

Struggling to Get the Owls

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My Skagit trip was primarily looking for geese, but I was also going to see whether the short-eared owls were back out and about. I ended up in East 90 again which has a solid reputation for the owls. As I pulled up, various other raptors were flying very close by, so I knew the chances of seeing stuff were going to be good. Unfortunately, the owls were not playing ball. There were loads of them flying but they seemed to have staked out their interests further across the fields and away from the road. The northern harriers were the ones close by. The owls seemed to be wheeling about each other off in the distance so I had to make do with longer range images of them and get some of the other residents instead.