JDW Photos and Life

After the whooping crane family left with the pelicans, I took a quick photo of a hog before we left the location. Fortunately, all I wasted was a few electrons on this critter. The hog was likely eating the red wolf-berries seen in the photo. We moved the boat to a new family group of whooping cranes. These three were on the sunny side of the boat and forced us to shoot into the sun - rarely a good thing for photography. You can see this colt has much less color indicating a bit older. It is still interesting to see how the color transforms to pure white. We were commenting about their poor choice of lighting for our preference. They overheard us and agreed to move to the west side of the waterway for better portrait lighting. As they took off into the sun, they were whooping up a storm and letting us know it was OK to follow them! They crossed the water and landed in their new territory with the sun behind us. You can see the color variation of the colt on the topside of his wings. O...

First, I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Many of you wrote back and wished me a happy Thanksgiving (thank you). Indeed, we were blessed with a good family gathering in Amarillo. We are even more fortunate to claim we survived I-35 and the awful mess around Waco. We left Amarillo at 6:00 this morning to try and avoid the expected traffic jam as everyone returned from the holidays. Traffic was bad at noon so I don't wish to think what traffic was like this evening. Well, we are back to Rockport and the battle for marsh territory between the pelicans and whooping crane family. Just as the pelicans arrived, they began their departure in the same single-file formations. The morning sun was behind us and provide a good opportunity to get a close view of the pelicans. They were all close enough that my telephoto lens couldn't capture the scope so you will have to be satisfied with small groups or individual portraits. With the pelicans having left the area, the family of whoop...

I mentioned in an earlier e-mail that the whooping cranes are territorial. The parents are also very defensive in protecting their colt. I never saw a specific gesture but there was sudden movement of the pelicans giving up that point of marsh to the whooping cranes. The pelicans were not just casually swimming away as you see. It was pretty clear who was the top bird in this part of the marsh. If the pelicans didn't move to the left (seen above), they moved to the right as seen in this photo. Whatever the case, they gave the cranes all the room the cranes wanted! Again, the colt looks really small in this photo! As if to declare their victory and claim to their land, both parents started whooping as junior kept looking for food. Stay in touch! Doug White

So all of these pelicans decided to land in the same area as our boat and family of whooping cranes. We saw them approaching from a long way off so I have no idea what attracted them to our location. This is a portion of the pelicans after most of the flocks landed. They were spread wider than my lens could capture. The family of whoopers went on about their business looking for food. You can see how perspective changes our view of size. The colt is in the foreground, is more horizontal, and possibly in deeper water so it looks much smaller than the parent. When side-by-side, on ground, and both standing tall, the colt and parent are much closer in size. As the family continues their stroll along the marsh, the water channel leads them to a large group of pelicans. The colt is easy to spot and the two parents have their head down looking for food. Hmmm..... What do you think happens next? Stay in touch! Doug White

We were photographing the whooping crane family in the previous e-mail when a large number of white pelicans decided to take center stage. I have no idea how many flew in but it was a LOT over several minutes. Here is one group coming in to land near us. Note that they are being led by a mighty cormorant! This fact is particularly funny since the mentor photographer of our group just "loves" cormorants! These are affectionately know as "Spencer Birds"! You can also see a blue heron on the far bank to the right of the photo. As the birds approached their desired landing spot, they began lining up in single file - again, led by the Spencer Bird! Several groups of penguins did the exact same thing over the next few minutes. One more shot as the group lands in single file while Spencer Bird continues on his way! Stay in touch! Doug White

As noted before, the Rockport flock of whooping cranes spend the summer in Wood Buffalo National Park in Northwest Territories of Canada - 2500 miles between the two locations. They often have a stop-over in Nebraska. They nest and hatch their young (colts) in Canada. The colts are born with brown feathers so to blend into the grasslands. As they mature, they transition to the adult white color. Only a few whooping cranes were in Rockport for our trip as we were very early in the migration season. Our guide knew their location and took us right to them in the early morning. They stake out sections of the marsh and become very territorial.  In this first photo, you see a mating pair with their colt. When we were photographing this family, we thought this colt looked small but this photo proves us otherwise! This is the most colored colt I (and others more experienced) have seen with very little white showing through. Very few brown feathers are actually visible when the colt flies (...

OK, I was too lazy and too warm in bed to get up and capture the lunar eclipse early this morning. However, I did take a moon photo this evening. The moon is waning (just past full moon) at 99.86%. As the shadow line moves over the moon, we can see more of the lunar landscape. In this case, the TINY shadow is about 10:00 - 4:00 on a clock face in this photo. You can see the sharp round moon outline on the lower left and the terrain on the upper right. Stay in touch! Doug White

No, I'm certainly not whooping for the Aggie football team after last week.... Donnice and I had some business to take care of in Rockport and I stayed over to meet up with Pedro and Spencer to photograph the whooping cranes. The weather was spectacular and the company even better. Kevin and Lori Sims at Aransas Birding Charters run a first-class boat charter. I've lost count over the years but I have used them 4 times now (I think). They are skilled at getting the boat close without disturbing the birds. These photos make it look like we were very close. Remember that we used long lenses and the photos are cropped to boot. The early morning sunlight was just great to bring out the changing colors of the coastal waters foliage. These birds spend their summer in Canada and winters in Rockport. Other flocks travel to Florida while Louisiana has a small non-migrating flock. The total population of this very endangered species is around 600 birds. A full grown adult stands about 5 ...

At this point in the semester, this first photo is about what I feel like - hanging on by a thread! I'm in the peak grading cycle and way behind while still trying to get away from it for mind-health! I will probably not post much, if anything, for the next week. Hopefully by the end of the Thanksgiving break, my work will be complete until the start of the Spring semester. The milkweed seed spreads via the wind using its light weight and thin hair as a sail. You see many, many seeds in the pod that has just split open. The seeds file out to the world like paratroopers exiting a C-130. If this guy wasn't the first out the door, there were not many in front of him! The next puff of wind dislodged the seed and it was off to find a new home. You see the next paratrooper up and getting ready with the army behind getting ready! As I was walking back into the house, I see a squirrel getting a mid-afternoon snack of sunflower seeds. Obviously, I had to take a photo. My friend Mark cal...

I believe this message will wrap up the air show photos. I hope you enjoyed the photos! All 6 made one more pass from the left to the right. As they scatter a bit a prepare to land and wrap up the show, the two solo pilots couldn't help themselves from making one more high-speed opposing pass. This frame did a pretty decent job capturing the exact moment of the pass. This sequence of photos was the last I took and this photo tells me I need to be happy, pack my bags, and make my way to the car and get caught in traffic! It was a good show with good company. Stay in touch! Doug White

Back to the Thunderbirds at the air show. The two solo pilots joined back up with the other four for a few passes. In the shot below, they are making a large sweeping turn in formation coming at the audience. They passed pretty close to us as they completed that sweeping formation turn. Stay in touch! Doug White

I don't need to give all the attention to the solos! The group of 4 continued to fly formations between the solo acts. Did I mention that the clouds and sun made for some pretty nice shots? The jets made a low altitude, lower speed pass with their landing gear down in this shot. Stay in touch! Doug White

Those solo pilots line up for some very high speed head-on passes several times during the show. It is virtually impossible to capture a good focus on both jets for these shots.  You see Jet 6 is on the left with Jet 5 rotating into its normal inverted position. I like this shot as both noses line up nicely. The full resolution photos have so much more detail than these e-mail versions.  You can tell that I was tracking the jet coming in from the left and guessing when to start capturing shots hoping to get the jet approaching from the right in the shot. The camera is firing 12 times per second but capturing that perfect moment is left to chance! Here is another high-speed, opposing pass for the two solo pilots. This time, I am tracking the jet approaching from the right and guessing when the left approaching jet will be in the frame. The high speed shutter did not capture a similar photo the one above. The frame before this shot did not capture the full left-approaching jet. ...

The two solo pilots begin ramping up their game with a high-speed pass starting from behind us and then them crossing paths a good distance in front of us. Everything happens fast with these shots! The two solo pilots later lined up for the shot seen below. They do this in every show I've seen but I still gasp a little thinking about the skill involved. You never really know the horizontal spacing (is one closer to us than the other) but there can't be a lot as the size of the two planes is very similar. I believe Plane 5 is slightly closer to us than Plane 6. The difference can't be a lot as you see the shadow of the top plane on the bottom plane (and the sun was behind us at this point in the show). These pilots are master magicians aligning angles to give the audience the view they want you to see while maintaining safety margins! Stay in touch! Doug White

This is a shot of Pilot/Plane 6, one of the two solos. He is starting to climb and you see the vapor cloud forming above the wing. Not exciting action but still a nice shot with the light. The group of 4 flying another formation - not nearly as close to each other but still perfect alignment. The clouds provide a great background for the shot. test Stay in touch! Doug White ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Doug White <jdwbq78@yahoo.com> To: Doug White <jdwbq78@yahoo.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2021, 06:21:02 AM CST Subject: Thunderbirds - 4 This is a shot of Pilot/Plane 6, one of the two solos. He is starting to climb and you see the vapor cloud forming above the wing. Not exciting action but still a nice shot with the light. The group of 4 flying another formation - not nearly as close to each other but still perfect alignment. The clouds provide a great backgrou...

The four jets continue to circle and make smooth transitions from one formation to another. You can see just how tight they are with shadows laying on top of each other while flying several hundred mph. Nerves of steel.... And yet another smooth transition to different tight formation. Stay in touch! Doug White

Back to the Thunderbirds! Jets 1-4 are all lined up and providing great photos! Here, they make a left turn holding their precise spacing. Stay in touch! Doug White

I will get these first two photos out for the Thunderbirds. I have some other commitments across the weekend that will prevent me from sending more. I will get the shots moving Monday. They fly 6 jets in their shows. Planes 1-4 stay together for the majority of the show. I'm pretty sure these pilots are joined at the hip rarely stray from each other even when they are not in jets! They even take off together in close quarters. This is a nice shot where I can see the number of each jet on the air intake. The landing gear is in the process of being retracted. If you look closely (I hope the e-mail photo is clear enough), you will see the Pilot 1 looking straight ahead and Pilots 3 and 4 looking left judging their distance to the adjacent plane. I would be Pilot 3 is looking right! Planes/pilots 5 and 6 are their solo pilots. Pilot 5 is taking off in the photo below - all lonesome like! You see the plane number is upside down. The reason will be obvious as we progress through the show...

This e-mail wraps up the F-22 portion of the show. There is only the Thunderbirds left now! One more pass in front of us as he lines up for the heritage fly-over (below). The heritage fly-over mixes various generations of aircraft flying in formation. This year, the heritage pass was the F-22 Raptor with the P-51D Mustang. In years past, there were more that just 2 planes in this portion of the show. If you had to limit it to two planes, these two would be hard to beat. Stay in touch! Doug White

The pilot then takes the F-22 into a low-altitude left-hand roll. This pilot did not turn off the afterburners more than a few times making for great exhaust photos. I have to think it would be hard to get in a car and stuck in Houston traffic after flying this! He is at top of his roll in this shot. I like this view as you can see just how low the side profile is for this craft. With the canopy shielded from the sun, we can also see the pilot and heads-up display in this shot. Stay in touch! Doug White

He is taking the jet vertical in this shot and managing a LOT of g-force as evident with the vapor could above the wings. He is fully vertical and heading to the stars with full afterburners roaring and still accelerating. Stay in touch! Doug White