Raptor visit...an urban bird...

My son brought our "Little One" over to play today.  Just as they were entering the back door, I spotted a very large bird, an obvious bird of prey, on the ground near our back fence. It looked as if he "had something"...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Not sure the gender, so I will just say "he"...he quickly, but without urgency, flew up to a branch just over our patio, only about 12 ft (4m) off the ground.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

When I finally got a glimpse of the back end of him, 

it was clear that he is a Red-tailed Hawk, a rather common hawk in America.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

It also soon became clear, from the trail of Pigeon feathers drifting down from his perch, that he'd just caught lunch, and was proceeding to pluck and consume it.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

We peered quietly from the garage door for a few minutes, but there were branches in the way from that angle, so I thought I'd try to creep left and improve the view.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

He kept an eye on me, but didn't appear particularly nervous.  It took him near a half-hour to pick the carcass clean, and in that time he didn't mind my re-positioning more than once, with my camera at times only 10 or so feet from him.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Not a good day to be a Pigeon.  This fellow must have a taste for them, because several times I have seen feathers or other scraps in the backyard.  If a cat plucks a bird, on the ground, he leaves a rather distinct "pile" of feathers.  But when a raptor is doing the plucking, well up in a tree, the feathers tend to drift over a broader area, easy to distinguish from a "cat kill".

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

With intent, but without nervousness he continued to pluck and eat.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Munching, and munching...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

...watching me, but not much worried about me, 

even though he'd selected a rather low perch, 

which had us almost nose-to-nose.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Finally finishing and attempting to tidy up...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

His perch was a nice broad oak branch, so it made a good "table" and nothing of importance fell to the ground...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

I suppose he wasn't into eating Pigeon feet...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Recently, I noticed a place, about 20 feet (6m) off the ground in a large tree near the street, where some "critter" has been "cutting" small leaf clusters and dropping them to the ground. I speculated that it might be a large bird, who was opening up the foliage a bit, better to fly in and out of his "home".  It certainly seems plausible that this fellow is the culprit.  

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

I'll keep an eye out for my very welcome friend, and hope to see him again in the future, but I would never expect to have another "blind-luck" face-to-face photographic opportunity like this !!

Camera handy, batteries charged !!

Y'all take care,
- Mark

Airshow Houston 2015 !!

Hello folks,

Well, Mid-October in Houston is time for "Wings over Houston 2015", the annual airshow at Ellington Field, just next to NASA, a little south of downtown Houston.  We've been a couple of times and had fantastic luck with the weather each time.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A huge Airlift Command C5A...astounding !

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

My favorite is probably the B-17 Super Fortress, but Brenda's favorite 
is far and away the P-51 Mustang "Cadillac of the Sky !"

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

NASA's "Flying Guppy", for air transport of relatively light equipment, 
aircraft components, large satellites, etc.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

I hope I don't sound arrogant when I say that I am proud of my country.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

"My" B-17.  Brenda's favorite component of the B-17 is the Ball Turret, which you can't see well here, but it's embedded in the belly of the plane, and is just large enough for a small guy to cram himself into, knees up in his face, firing a machine gun between his feet.  It is not a job for a guy with "tiny stones".

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

This year there was a beautiful British Spitfire,  Developed at a time similar to the P-51, and with a bit of developmental cross-pollination, the two had a huge impact in the air battles of WW-II.  Huge.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Here's the Spitfire reflected in the highly polished aluminum skin of the P-51.  
It think this it's my favorite shot of the day.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Plenty of sun splashing around...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Looking down the flight line, I noticed something a bit "different"...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Brenda said, "oh my gosh, look at those shoes !"...
...I said "yes dear...it's all about the shoes..."  ;-)

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

I had never seen one of these fly before, a Junkers 262, the world's first jet powered military aircraft, developed by the Germans late in WW-II.  It was late in the war, and German industry was under such assault by US and British bombing that it couldn't be produced in large numbers.  That's quite fortunate for us, it's speed was a serious game-changer.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A slightly more modern jet, 
one of the US Air Force Thunderbird's F-16s.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A bit of a contrast...a US Air Force B-52 Bomber, which still fly in large numbers today even though they first flew in the early 1950's (yes...the 50's)...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

And a very modern Predator unmanned ground-attack aircraft.  Painted on the side of its two Hellfire Missiles..."Don't Mess with Texas" (this and a few others are based here on the Texas Gulf Coast).

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Quite a few folks out on the flight line...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

This B-17 is a tiny one, only 5 ft (1.5 m) wingspan (...a radio controlled model).

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Here come the "Japanese" (only one is a real "Zero", the rest are US-made aircraft with paint jobs to make them look like Japanese planes for movies like Tora Tora Tora.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

What's an airshow without a dog fight reenactment and a little smoke !

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Flying all together is a very rare site, 
the Spitfire, the Junkers 262, 
and "The Cadillac of the Sky !"


Wings Over Houston 2016 
will be October 22-23, 2016


Y'all come on down !!
-Mark

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin