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At Last, This Otter Is Nicely Lit

There is a privately owned DHC-3T Otter that lives in the Puget Sound area, and it comes in and out of BFI on a regular basis. I have seen it plenty of times but have always struggled to get either a nice angle on it or favorable light. I won’t claim it is my white whale, but it has begun to frustrate me somewhat. Therefore, I was delighted when I heard it call up on approach one evening when the sun had popped out from behind the clouds and the warmth of the light was nice.

I saw it far out on approach as it angled in towards the longer of BFI’s two runways – occasionally disappearing behind the trees as it maneuvered in. I was using a lot of lens to see it and even then, it was a bit distant but, since the conditions were favorable, I wasn’t struggling with haze issues. Soon enough it was on short final, and I finally was able to get the types of shots I have been hoping to achieve for a long time. Now I can move on in peace!

Bizjet Departures from Airside

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I was kindly given some airside access when some F-15s were operating from Boeing Field for flyovers in the city. While the fast jets were our primary interest, they took off and landed in amongst some of the more familiar movements at the airport. Business jets are a constant part of Boeing Field ops and being so close to the runway made it easy to get some interesting shots of the bizjets. Fortunately, the amount of the runway that they needed coincided well with where we were for the F-15s. Here are some of the shots.

The Last Days for These Salmon

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Puget Sound gets runs of different species of salmon throughout the year. I had heard of some of them but only recently became aware of chum salmon. Not particularly good to eat, by all accounts, these run in the October to November time-frame. Carkeek Park in Seattle has a river that they come to in order to spawn. We paid it a visit. The salmon stop eating once they leave the sea, so they are using up their remaining energy to go upriver before the mate and die.

The river was quite shallow, so they had to work hard to get up against the current and up some of the steps the riverbed took. The river was scattered with the bodies of dead salmon. I don’t know whether they had already mated and then died or whether they didn’t have the energy to make it upriver. Some of the fish still swimming had taken on the yellow look of the dead fish, and I wondered whether they weren’t going to make it much further.

While there were loads of fish, getting good images was a challenge I didn’t seem to do well with. Even with a polarizer, the reflections on the surface and the low light levels made things tricky. A fish underwater is not a great subject anyway. Watching what was happening, I felt that video was going to be the better bet, so I filmed the fish as much as I took stills. Below is a video of some of the highlights from our visits.

Flyby Planes for the 100th Anniversary

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The 100^th anniversary of the round the world flight by the Douglas World Cruiser was celebrated in an event at Magnussen Park in Seattle – the location from which they had departed a century before. I didn’t go to the park for the celebrations themselves but instead decided to be at Boeing Field from where the participating planes were due to launch. This included the B-29, Fifi, which had been sitting on the ground since its arrival the previous week as discussed in a post I wrote earlier.

The selection of planes taking part in the flyby was a little odd. High point for me was a Bellanca replica that lives across the state but came in for the event. It was to be one of the last planes taking part. A WACO was also included but then it came down to a selection of more modern light aircraft including some types that had no obvious connection to the event.

Initially, everything was parked up on the ramp at the Museum of Flight. You were able to wander around between the planes and have a good look at them. I arrived a little late to the event and only just in time. I wandered through the planes for a while and then they started clearing everyone out to be ready for the start up and taxi out. At that point, I needed to change locations anyway since I wanted to photograph them from a different place.

They all launched out in sequence for their times over the event before returning – except for two that went straight home afterwards. Not stellar conditions for the event but it was something different and the more unusual types were worth a look.

Off to Alaska to Go Fishing

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During the summer, the locks at Ballard are heaving with leisure craft. As the days get shorter and colder, some boaters are still out and about, but the traffic through the locks has a more commercial nature. One Sunday we were there and there were a string of fishing boats heading out. Judging by the conversations on the side of the locks, they were heading up to Alaska. Family and friends were alongside saying their goodbyes to the crews before they headed out.

The boats were ready for the voyage north. Each of them had a smaller boat either towed behind or mounted on the aft deck. These were basic aluminum hulls and motors. Nothing superfluous for these crews. The decks also had netting stored awaiting their time in the fishing grounds. The crews were not too busy as they went through the locks, but they clearly had stuff to do. Once out of the locks, they were off to the Sound and ultimately the open ocean. They will be up near Alaska for a few months. I guess the catch is transferred to the processing ships rather than held on board. Hopefully they all stay safe.

Kenmore Rush Hour During the Show

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One more in my selection of posts from Seafair and, specifically, the gap in the show when movements were allowed for a while. Boeing Field is a busy base for Kenmore Air. They operate scheduled services to various locations along with some pleasure flights. These tend to be undertaken with their Cessna Caravans and Grand Caravans although the occasional PC-12 will be included.

The Cessnas are more than capable of operating from the short runway at Boeing Field and so, when things opened up, they fired up some of the planes to get out while they could. I imagine the schedule had to be amended during the show but at least they could continue to provide service. One would be lined up on the runway ready to go with another pulling up at the hold just behind it. They got out with some precision before the field closed to non-air show operations a little while later.

Gulls Fight the Sea Lion

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Recent visits to the locks at Ballard have included sightings of some large male sea lions. The seals are a regular feature, but these big boys have not previously been so common. We were watching one of them swim a little further away from us and getting a lot of attention from a flock of gulls. The reason the sea lions are showing up is that salmon must be on the move. The concentration of the fish at the locks makes it a good hunting spot for them.

I had the camera trained on the area that the gulls were swarming around, and the sea lion came up out of the water. The flash of pink in his mouth gave away that he had a salmon which he had caught. I couldn’t see what was happening in real time but going through the images afterwards, I could make out the sequence of events. The sea lion had caught the salmon and then seemed to have bitten off the head. There were bits of fish in the water and that was attracting the gulls. Then the sea lion picked up the body of the fish and flipped it around until it went down his throat in one chunk. No head but everything else with the tail the last to disappear. Maybe the gulls got a few morsels, but the sea lion took the (sea) lion’s share.

Isle of Man Registered Global

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I seem to be having a burst of photos from back when Seafair was on in Seattle. In a previous post I mentioned that there was a gap in the show schedule when Boeing Field opened up for movements. One such movement was a Bombardier Global 5000 that taxied out and took off. It came down the Bravo taxiway so very close to us. It took off using a decent amount of the runway so rotated in a good spot for photos. It was registered in the Isle of Man so I’ve no idea where it is from since that location has done a good job of encouraging people to register their planes there.

Blossoms in the Back Yard

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By the time this hits the blog, it will be the best part of year since I took these shots. We have a variety of plants in the backyard at home and March was the time when blossoms started to make their appearance. Our plum tree had some blossoms, but the other plants also had some cute little flowers too. I dragged out the macro lens to get some images of them. Get up close with these and you can’t easily tell just how big (or small) they actually are.

Old Power Station Buildings (Still in Use)

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The falls in Spokane are a perfect spot for a hydro power station and there are two rather than one. The first provided power for the developing town and a second was needed as the demand increased. The larger building is lower down and is a most impressive brick structure. It has an imposing look to it. The upper station is a lot less dramatic. A pale concrete structure but it has some architectural features to it, so it is not totally innocuous. Both of them are still providing power to the region and I imagine will for a long time to come.