Red Sky Landing

 

I can't remember for sure, but I think this was coming in for a landing on a trip to Houston. The sky was on fire so got a cell phone shot out the winder. 

Two eclipses, 7 years apart

 

Two eclipses, two different cameras and two different styles, 7 years apart. Neither shot is better than the other in my opinion although I like the diffraction spikes in the earlier shot. The 2009 shot was stopped down to f14 on my Nikon D750 at 1/180 of a second with my ISO at 2000. I took that shot at 70mm on my 70-200. I took some close up shots as well. In any case, you get a lot of spikes with the shutter blades on the older cameras creating edges where light leaks to create the starburst. On the modern Z9, it is an electronic shutter so you don't get those spikes as much anymore as there are no elements between the lens and the chip. This is the case even though I am at a similar f -stop at f11 at 1/1000 of a second at ISO 8000. Even with the much faster ISO, the modern Z9 is a much cleaner file. This time out I shot some at 70mm but this one was with my 100-400mm with a 2x converter so at 800mm in this case. I ran both through a denoise filter to clean the file of some unwanted noise. 

So, there you have it. Two eclipses at the same location. Both successful and lots of fun with friends and family. 

Success!!!

 

Got it done. A plan that really started 8 years ago when I realized that my cousin's property near Goreville, Illinois was in the crossroads of the 2017 and 2024 eclipses. We were able to see both eclipses in full without getting clouded out. Luck broke our way, along with many, many locations in the United States. I can't believe that so many places got a clear eclipse. The shot down below is my last shot of the eclipse at around 99% eclipsed as the moon starts to move back out of the way. The last shot is our eclipse group enjoying the hospitality of Bob and Karen Sawyer. We got a last minute visit of James Viola and wife, who Stephanie and I met in our 2009 and two of their friends. Mike Haberer also joined at the last minute. What fun to see this event with friends and family. 

Black-bellied Whistling Duck....in a tree?

 

I am sure that hunters know this but until I started birding 4 years ago, I had no clue that ducks roosted, visited and flew up into trees. Just never occurred to me that they did that. So, I still think it is an incongruous sight to see a large duck, like this Black-bellied Whistling Duck to be up in a tree singing. Yet, here he is singing away. Whistling more like it as they have a strange song. 

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in Texas

 

Took the side roads heading to the Houston airport yesterday and was lucky to catch a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher sitting on the side of the road with its mate. Beautiful bird with an insanely long tail. From the range maps, this is a bird that doesn't get much north of Kansas or Oklahoma, although I bet there are some sightings as far north as southern Illinois on occasion. Anyway, it is a lifer for me, number 313 on the lifer scale. Beautiful bird. I guess the long tail helps catching insects in mid-air as the bird is able to make sharp twists and turns as it flys. 

Madison Square Park

 

I often find myself cutting through Madison Square Park when in New York City as it is on a convenient path to the Strand Bookstore, just a few blocks down from the park. Madison Square is a fun little New York Park that gets a lot of usage and many visitors. There are two dogs parks (one for small dogs and one for large) and food stands when the weather is nice. The buildings around it, including the Flatiron, (not shown in this shot), are given a bit of room to breathe and when the sun is low, as it was a few weeks ago on my last visit, the lighting is wonderful!!! 

What Pretty Red Eye-ring You Have

 

Mostly, all you see of Killdeer is them running away from you. Got this one from the car window with a long lens so the Killdeer didn't run away just yet. Interesting red ring around its eye. Killdeer, if they are protecting a ground nest, will put on a wounded bird show and lure you away from the nest as you try to catch it, before it flies away. Smart little bird.