Two New Species

We're having an unusually warm late September. I've had bad luck at the wildlife refuge lately, but decided to go and at least get some exercise.

As I feared, not much was going on. It was looking like I'd come home with nothing, when I spotted two eagles on an osprey platform. They were too far away, but I hung around for a few minutes, hoping for some flight shots. Then I spotted a mockingbird, a species I haven't ever photographed.

Northern Mockingbird

 And then I spotted this butterfly, so I figured I'd experiment with the new lens on something unusual.

Butterfly

 Then I looked up and both eagles were flying more or less toward me.

Bald Eagle

 After they flew away, I wandered along for a while, finding nothing to photograph. It was getting dark, so I headed to the car. My routine is to exit via the Wildlife Loop; occasionally I see something worth shooting. I stopped at a culvert to observe a Great Blue Heron, but he was uncooperative. Just as I was ready to drive away, I noticed movement on the opposite side of the road, and realized that while I was looking at the heron, I was completely oblivious to this owl. I was able to get a few shots, and as I was fooling with the ISO to try to get something better-exposed, it flew away. So here's my best shot, and it's a whopping FOUR stops underexposed. But raw files are wonderful, and I was able to rescue this exposure with a lot of exposure adjustment and noise reduction. This is a new species for me. I've only once before seen one, while I was out for a walk, sans camera, in my neighborhood.

Barred Owl

Joint Base Andrews Air Show

Today the aerial performers at the Andrews Air Show had their practice session. I made the opportunity to go, primarily to see the Thunderbirds performance. As I arrived, the KC-135 made a low pass.

KC-135 Aerial Tanker

I'll just show some of my favorites without commentary...

Head On

Passing Right Overhead

Passing Under Their Own Smoke Trail

Wingtip Vortices and Smoke Trails

Opposing Solos

Two Slow  Planes With Gear Down, One Fast One with Gear Up Passing Between

They Went High, Coming Back Down FAST

Vapor Trails

In Tight Formation and Banking Hard

Up We Go

Right Angle Intersecting Pass

Inverted At the Top of a Loop, Passing the Moon

I went back for the actual show. There was a wall of clouds to the west, partly cloudy to the east, which made for difficult shooting as the background changed.

Low Pass with a Cloudy Background

Vapor Trails During a Tight Turn at Low Altitude

Coming Back Down In a Loop

Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Well I'm back home after my long trip and I managed to get out to the usual spot for some exercise and photos. These turkeys were busy running away from me. I think this flock is from a clutch or two, as they all seem to be about the same size, stay together, and are accompanied by a pair of adult females (whom I didn't get in this photo). They never seem to fly.

Turkeys

Great Egrets are sometimes around, but they are very timid. I sneaked up to this one by keeping bushes between me and the bird, and as I tried to get closer, it flew away. What big feet.

Great Egret

This deer stood and stared at me for quite a while as I tried to approach, keeping bushes between us. I only saw the fawn after they ran into the woods, not knowing that I'd actually gotten a few shots that show the fawn back in the shadows.

Deer with Fawn in the Shadows

The ospreys are still here, but I expect them to leave soon. It's not obvious from the photo, but I shot this one from almost directly underneath, looking straight up, with the bird looking straight down at me. The big yellow eyes and sneering beak are a frequent sight here.

Osprey Close-Up

Showing It's Wings

Badlands National Park

All my life I've heard about the Badlands of South Dakota. What the hell is a badland?

After seeing the eclipse, the badlands were the last stop before making the long slog home. What's a badland? If you ask me, it's a lot of eroded dirt.

Badlands

 This was easily the worst light of the entire two-week trip, so most of the landscape had that washed-out look. On the relatively flat, dry grassland above the badlands, I drove through an endless prairie dog town. It seemed to go on for miles. As far as the eye could see, in all directions, there were dirt mounds, dry grass picked to the stub, and scurrying furry rodents. There were occasional bison, usually too far away to photograph or not doing anything interesting. But there was one animal that was new to me. There was a fleeting encounter with bighorn sheep.

Bighorn Sheep

And that's the end of the blog entries about this road trip that I made with my son. It was a lot of driving, with a lot of corn along the way. I visited five new states, saw an eclipse, visited four national parks, two national monuments, and one national wildlife refuge. This leaves only three states that I've never visited (Oklahoma, New Mexico, Oregon), , and now I'm on the lookout for opportunities to complete the list...

Custer State Park

While visiting Mount Rushmore, I drove through nearby Custer State Park. The scenery was pretty cool, but not my thing, so I didn't do much landscape photography.

Pinnacles in Custer State Park

The bison were disappointingly absent. Only one was visible, lying down, off in the distance. The highlight of the drive was the area with the burros (donkeys). A large number of tourists in a large number of cars stopped to feed them. They were gentle, but pushy. And by that I mean both the tourists and the burros were gentle and pushy.

Begging Burro Sticks his Head In the Car Window

The burros were hanging out at the edge of a large prairie dog town. And among the prairie dogs, there were a few pronghorn. They were clearly very accustomed to the presence of people because they allowed me to approach quite closely. Sadly they didn't do much besides just eat or lie down.

Pronghorn Looking at Me

Resting in the Morning Sun

Mount Rushmore

My whole life I've seen photos of Mount Rushmore. It always seemed like a cool place to visit, but it's in a part of the country that I had never visited. But finally I had my chance. I recently spent a day in the Rapid City area, and visited the mountain. Bottom line up front: It's worth visiting. ONCE.

Most of the photos I've seen show the smooth rock faces. I went for something different. I processed these photos to show the cracks and subtle shades of color in the rocks.

Mount Rushmore

What ARE those things protruding from Washington's head?

George Washington in Profile

Devils Tower

I recently visited Devils Tower National Monument. This enormous rock formation was made famous by the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The site was on the route I used during my road trip to see the eclipse, and I planned a brief detour. It was well worth it.

There's a paved path that circles the formation. We saw several mule deer while walking along the path.

Mule Deer

 The basalt columns are much larger than the similar rocks I've seen in Sedona and at Yellowstone National Park. The hexagons at Devils Tower are more like 10 feet thick. There's a huge rubble pile that circles the base of the tower. The rubble consists of boulders that fell from the tower.

Devils Tower

Popular Climbing Route in Shadow

 There were at least three groups of rock climbers on the tower.

Rappelling Down Devils Tower

Tiny Climbers (Lower middle) Ascending Devils Tower

Like so much of this part of the US, prairie dogs are common. There was a town along the road in the park.

Prairie Dog

This place turned out to be much more interesting than I expected. The trail around the base was a nice walk after a long day of hard driving.