David Bird meets Goliath Bird

I went back to visit my Swainson's Hawk to see if the nestling was big enough to fly.  He wasn't yet. While I was watching the nest, this Western Kingbird was watching me.  I think he might have been questioning my choice of lenses.

Then another one came by.  I am not sure whether they were a couple, friends or competitors.

When they were out hunting for bugs, they hovered and bobbed, poking at whatever was flying by.  Their hunting flight is very interesting to watch.

I looked over my shoulder and saw one of the two hawks flying by, giving me a few loud squawks.  I was actually a long ways from their nest, but it might have remembered me from the other day.

Yep.  He remembered.  And I remembered to duck.

Suddenly, the Kingbirds decided I needed a little bit of protection. For little bug eaters, these guys were absolutely fearless.

Clearly all the birds are being very protective of their little ones right now.  I try to stay a long ways off and use a big lens, but clearly that isn't quite enough.

I will try another visit in a week or so to try and get a glimpse of the baby hawk venturing out.

Our new recycling program

I've mentioned on my blog how happy I am that we now have curbside recycling throughout the county.  The new strategy is a small trash can, picked up once a week and a big recycling can picked up every other week. This was our first week to get both.  Most people seemed to get the idea, although I am sure that it will take a while for thorough recycling to become a habit for some people.

In our neighborhood, everyone did a great job...

except the Morris's, who were the only ones with an overflowing trash can.  Funny enough, they were also the only ones with no recycling at all.  Go figure.

I have heard several people complain about not being able to get by with such a small (65 gallon) trash can, but I think that is almost the definition of our landfill problems. Over consumption. Over packaging. Limited or no recycling and reuse.

I'm hoping more and more people get on board.  The county has done a great job of making it easy for everyone.

Another Life Bird

Jasper and I hadn't been back to Antelope Island in a while, so we packed up the camera and went for a morning visit.  I was really caught off guard by the early morning clouds and thunderstorms, which I don't think had been in the forecast.

I spent most of the morning on the causeway, shooting my bird of choice for the day, the American Avocet.  These birds are very interesting looking, especially in flight. It wasn't that much of a choice.  The only other birds were a few varieties of gulls.

I got lucky as the morning wore on.  The sun poked through the clouds for a bit and the improved light made for better views.

While a lot of the nesting birds hang out way off shore, the Avocets seem quite happy feeding right off the causeway.

There is an insect on the Great Salt Lake called the Brine Fly.  While they may make for good eating, too many is just too many.

I liked this one's look just as he was landing.  Once they got used to me being there, they came and went as they pleased.

I got lucky when this one flew past the small section of clear blue sky.

Tired of shooting one species of bird, I decided to do a quick drive around the north end of the island.  This is where you always see the bison and pronghorn, but I also tend to find coyote here.

Every trip for the past several years, I have looked for the Burrowing Owls.  I know they live on the island, but they can be tough to find. Sometimes they hang out in their burrows. Other times they sit on the ground where you have almost no chance of seeing them. Yesterday I got lucky and found three sitting in a tree.

Yes, I know there are only two in the photo, but one flew off before I could quietly, very quietly, get the car stopped in the right place, roll down the window, get that big lens out and start shooting.  While I was photographing these two, another two came out of the burrow and flew off.  This meant mom, dad, and three young ones.

Here's a closer view of an adult. I may just be paranoid, but I am pretty sure I was being watched.

I went looking to find where the others had flown off to.  I eventually found three of them, but only one would sit still long enough to have it's picture taken.

I drove off to give them some peace, but did a quick drive by on the way back off the island. One was back in the little tree and I couldn't help stopping for some more photos.  I got several with him staring right at me, but my favorite was when he watched a jet fly by.

While photographing the birds, I also stumbled on a few mammals.  I never could get close enough to the female Pronghorn with her two babies to get a good shot.  However, the bunnies were cooperating.  This one seemed a bit bashful.

I got so close to this one that my long lens wouldn't even focus.  This is an uncropped photo. Once I got home and looked at the picture, I felt sorry for this little guy.  He has one tick on his ear and two right above his eye.  That can't be fun.

My favorite mammal was this long-tailed weasel.  He was extremely fast, dodging from rock to bush to rock.  I gave up trying to find him and went back to photographing the birds.  I had my long lens on the tripod when I glanced down and saw him dash right over my feet.  I think he was toying with me. Perhaps it was a dare from another weasel.

By the time I could get my camera aimed the right direction and focused, he was gone.  Then he popped back up as though to say "Psych!"

More fun photography and my third life bird in two months, all of which were owls (Burrowing, Flammulated and Short Eared).

Swainsons Hawk

Today I got a lesson in photography, and an exciting one at that.

What happens when you combine a momma hawk, sitting on the nest with her fluffy white fledgling?  (Crappy photo, but they built the nest deep in a pine tree.)

Now, add dad at the top of the tree, just keeping a watch on everything going on.

Once you get close enough to get pictures, dad starts vocalizing to let you know you shouldn't be around.

Now he takes off and starts flying around.  Oops, must have scared him off.  At least I got a good picture.

Then he starts dive bombing me at high speed, coming within feet of my head.  This is a big hawk, flying in like a missile. He did this several times until I went back to the truck. 

There are my things to be mastered:

• Moving the camera on the tripod fast enough to track the bird
• Ways to keep the fast moving bird in focus.  I think a big part of this is the camera you use.  My Nikon 300s is certainly not the best at this.
• Setting the camera's shutter, aperture, and ISO to have a prayer of capturing these kinds of shots clearly.

Cool day.  I'll try to go back and visit again, but this time without aggravating them so much.

Hunting for hawks. Finding bluebirds.

A few weeks ago, I discovered a Swainsons Hawk's nest.  It is in a dead pine tree, which should make it easier to see, but it is deep in the tree, protected by tons of branches.

I went to try and get some photos yesterday.  The mom was on the nest and dad moved from the nest, to the tree top, and then flew off.  I got some shots, but I'm not happy with them.  I hope to post some when I get something more interesting. I haven't seen babies yet, but I am not sure I would if they were there.

Meanwhile, just below the hawk's nest is a bluebird box.  Two mountain bluebirds were busy running back and forth with food for their little ones.  They were fun to watch and a lot more cooperative than the hawks.

Not much to describe.  Just pretty to look at.

John, John and Pattie

This week we some some great friends from Raleigh head west to visit.  In the photo below, from left to right:

• John Steigerwald - Julie and I worked with John a bit at IBM, but more importantly, he became a manager at our company, Ganymede Software.  John is one of the seven other guys I golf with every spring in Myrtle Beach.
• Pattie Steigerwald - John's loving spouse and Julie's cohort for visits to the pottery kilns in NC.
• Julie - My tolerant spouse
• John Q. Walker - a long time best friend and coworker.  We worked very closely together at IBM and were two of the founders of Ganymede.  I work as well with John as anyone I have ever met, even though our thought processes seem dramatically different.

The pictures are out of chronological order, but who really cares?

This is us over at the St Regis hotel for a big wine and food fest.  Lots of distilleries and wineries were present to show off their beverages.  We did this last year, but I think it was better in 2012, mostly because the food was handled a lot better.

Here we are at the top of Deer Valley, not long before some thunderstorms came rolling in.  It started raining a bit after we got back down to the base.

Our friends the Covaleski's were also in town and Saturday evening, just before they headed back to Virginia, they threw a party.  Right as it was all starting, these three biplanes came buzzing right over the house.  In 8 years, I have never seen these planes around Park City.  The Covaleski's have certainly raised the bar for good parties with a private flyover.

At the party, the Covaleski's grill regulator had died and was leaking propane.  The cooking moved into the house and into the hands of Chad on John.  The food turned out great, but I still can't imagine ending a party at your house after midnight and having to head to the airport around 8:00 in the morning. I am weak.

Another big event while our visitors were in town was the annual 4th of July parade.  It's always fun to see a big parade in a small town.

Every year I see this big monstrosity and every year I want one.  Can't say why, but it would be fun.

The worst job in the parade... following the big horses. At least they gave him a wheelbarrow instead of carrying a bag.

How do you train a big dog to ride down the street with his butt hanging out of the car?  He seemed quite happy with the whole thing but it is still a weird idea for a float.

Poor little horses in ugly hats.  I felt for them.

There was a long line of girls, all sorted by height.  The little girl in the back had to feel a LOT of pressure with this big tall guy stalking her.

You just can't beat a motorized, riding ice chest.  I'm thinking Nobel Prize for something.

Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) is the new big thing.  Supposedly fun while getting a great core workout.  This guy was doing fine until they unloaded on him with hoses and squirt guns.

Every year, the people from the Park City Math Symposium march in the parade.  This year they even made a very complex float of sorts.  I am sure it is something very important to mathematicians.

Normally when you see bagpipes, it is almost 100% men and mostly adults.  This was the youngest and most gender-balanced bagpipe group I have seen. Just the same, they always play the same one or two songs and it sounds like a cat being beaten to death in a bag.

Our group, watching the parade.  I go down at 5:30 to put out our chairs and leave a car. Then Jasper and I walk home in the peaceful hours when few people are about.

JohnQ saw a stranger walking by with a box of Krispy Kreme donoughts.  He just shouted out "Sure, I would love a donut."  She actually stopped and gave John one, and then offered one to a little girl that was next to us.  You just never know until you ask.

This is Teresa, our good friend and the wife of our builder.  She is a recent and very happy grandmother.  Unfortunately, Sullivan was pretty zonked out this day and running a bit of a fever.  How he slept through a loud parade is a testimate to a child's' ability to survive.

I didn't get photos of Bill and Loris's 4th of July Barbeque.  I left my camera at home because the fireworks show was canceled. Without that in hand, I just forgot to take any shots.  Great food and people.  I'm not sure how it happened, but John Steigerwald (our guest) ended up at the grill cooking many, many pounds of Tri-tip.

The Steigs left yesterday and JohnQ leaves this morning, although it still isn't clear who will win the race home.  American Airlines was a disaster yesterday. Bad weather in Dallas left planes and crews scattered everywhere and the best the Steigs could do was get from Salt Lake to Dallas for the night.  In theory, they were on a flight this morning to Chicago, and from there to Raleigh.  Yuck!

A great week in Park City with great friends that we just don't get to see enough!

A new running star

Hannah Lutzker is my adorable 7-year old neighbor.  She's a sweetheart and always greats Julie and I with enthusiasm and love. This was a photo I took a while ago for her family Christmas cards.

It turns out that Hannah may be a running prodigy.  Last year she ran a 5k race for the first time and finished in about 33 minutes.  Not bad! As a six year old, she beat a lot of other finishers.

Yesterday she ran the July 4th 5k.  There are about 1,000 entrants, doing this rolling course at about 7,000 feet in elevation. Jasper got to ride in the car, but did not get to run.

Her time for this 5k was an amazing 25:37, or 8:16 per mile!  In one year, without serious training, she cut 8 minutes off her 5k time.

• She won the age 1-8 Girls group, beating her 20 competitors by a minimum of 8 minutes
• She beat all 25 girls in the 9-11 age group
• She beat all 25 boys in the 1-8 age group
• She came in the top 10% of all 400+ women finishers. This is in a town full of athletic crazies.

I will be expecting to see her start pulling in the cross country scholarship offers pretty soon.

As for the rest of us, I was running with Jim Covaleski.  In the last half mile, he started outrunning me, so I just slipped in quietly behind Hannah. I could have past her in the last few feet, but I figured I should go ahead and give in to the inevitable. She beat me, so now I no longer need to try to bother keeping up.

Julie and her training partner Sally (Hannah's mom) did a great race.  This was Julie's first 5k in over a decade.  For whatever reason, her back problems have subsided and she is able to run again.  Yeah Julie!

Our local wildfire

The Quail Fire is only 10% contained, but we are having our first rain in over a month.  It's just a drizzle, but that means that the humidity is much higher and the temperatures are cooler.  Hoping this helps the firemen.

They are planning on doing a 100 acre prescribed burn in Willow Canyon to try and stop the fires progress. We will have to trust that it is a good idea.

The best news is that we didn't hear any fireworks last night.  We were certain that some idiots would be out shooting them off no matter how dangerous it was.

UPDATE:  It is now 3:15 in the afternoon and we have had about 5 hours of steady rain.  Nothing hard, but the perfect rain for soaking into the ground, watering plants, and helping to stymy wildfires.  Wonderful!!  They have ended all the evacuations.

Old film and photos

If you have old photos, negatives, slides or 8mm film that you want scanned, and scanned well, consider DigMyPics.com.  I haven't used them yet but a close friend, John Walker has and said they were excellent.

If you are looking for a service like this, I think one of the most important things is to find someone very credible.  Just think, you are sending them your irreplaceable mementos!

The Quail Fire

Yesterday went from a nice sunny, clear day to one deep with smoke, all in about an hour. The wildfires are all given names, and this became the Quail Fire.

It has burned about 3,000 acres so far, but much lighter winds today seem to be helping slow its progress. This is the closest major fire we have had and everyone is already quite wired.

They had already passed rules preventing anyone in Park City from lighting fireworks, but last night they even canceled the two professional city-run shows.  Everyone seems quite pleased with this decision.

Now we just have to hope they knock it down completely before the winds pick back up.