Elephant Seal

When I heard there was a seal on the beach nearby I assumed it was a Harbor Seal and I didn't get too excited since I have a lot of photos of them. But I discovered it was a juvenile Elephant Seal, probably on the beach for its annual molt. (They are susceptible to the cold when molting and haul out on land.) The first time I went to take photos it was lying motionless under the walkway with no angle to get decent photos. But I went back later and it was in the water, quite active and playful. After taking lots of photos I even took some video. My video skills are crude, but it's fun to see it in motion.

Like Harbor Seals, Elephant Seals were also almost hunted to extinction, this time for the oil from the thick layer of blubber that insulates them. Elephant seals get big. Our northern species is smaller than the southern ones but the larger males still get up to 16 feet long and 5500 lbs. The males are up to 10 times larger than the females. Elephant Seals can hold their breath for up to 100 minutes and dive as deep as 5000 ft (a mile!) Race Rocks near Victoria is their northernmost breeding location. The "elephant" name comes from the big "trunk" on the adult males.

When I first got there it was fairly sedate.

But then it started playing with a piece of kelp and got a little more lively. It reminded me a bit of a dog playing with a stick.

And finally tired out from playing.

See all 11 photos in this batch

Paragliding at Five Springs

Thanks to Shelley for putting together her video of me flying at Five Springs (Wyoming) in June.

I love it here. It's a nice launch and a good landing area, and I've never seen another person flying here. (That might be a negative to most people, but it suits me.) The launch is within walking distance of the small campground at the top, and the road up is paved. And the vertical is small enough (500m) that you can hike back up. Usually there are good thermals and reasonably long flights. Unfortunately, although you can't tell from the video, conditions this trip were not great for flying, there was a lot of wind and often from the wrong direction. That was disappointing after two years of no flying due to Covid. But it was still great to get back in the air.

Photos of the Week

I opened the shed to get my bike and noticed two moths on the door. One immediately crawled away to a dark inaccessible corner, but the other posed in the open long enough for me to get my camera out. I think it's a Copper Underwing. You can see where the name comes from in this iNaturalist photo.

We're past the peak of the flowers but there are still some around. I like the details of the lilies.

There was no wind for a change this morning so the reflections were very clear. Hard to even tell this is a reflection until you notice the water lilies floating in the "air".

Approaching slowly while it scolded me, this red squirrel let me get quite close before scampering up the tree. Squirrels seem to be getting more common in Saskatoon. I'd assume that was global warming, but there are lots of squirrels further north.

There are lots of these funnel weaver grass spiders around this time of the year. Usually if you approach too quickly they retreat into their funnel. But as I took photos of this one, it started coming further out - a strangely aggressive spider. But on my way home I spotted it again and waved my hand to see if it would come out again. This time it retreated as they usually do. Thinking about it, I wonder if it was seeing its reflection in the camera lens and thinking it was another spider, had come out to chase it away.

The jackrabbits are also unpredictable. Sometimes they run away as soon as they see you. Other times (or other jackrabbits) they let you get quite close. This one was keeping an eye on me, but it was busy eating fallen apples and let me get quite close.

The bumblebees like the globe thistles. And with lots of little flowers, they kept this Tricolored Bumblebee busy long enough to get some video. It seemed to be collecting nectar and not pollen.

See all 11 photos in this album

Close Encounter of the Fox Kind

Walking to work along the lower dirt trail by the river, I glanced up to find a fox staring at me intently from about 20 feet down the path.



I assume he was coming down the path from the opposite direction and stopped when he (or she, but I hate to use "it"). It seemed like a very intense stare. People are always distracted by one thing or another. This guy appeared very much to be living in the here and now.

I thought he would run away. I've encountered a few coyotes along here and they tend to be much more skittish, rapidly departing. After a few seconds of staring at each other he turned and walked away. I backed up slowly to get out of sight so I could get my camera out of my pack. It was a long shot that he'd stick around long enough for photos, but it's always worth a try. Sure enough, by the time I had my camera out and ready he had disappeared.

I started walking slowly down the trail. The leaves haven't all fallen, but enough that visibility is better than in the summer. I didn't know which direction he'd gone so I was looking all around. I had the telephoto zoomed all the way on my camera, assuming I'd see him in the distance if at all. Of course, he appeared right beside me and I got a couple of shots of a big blur before he sauntered away again, just doing his own thing.

Humorously, when he reached the open area he sat down and looked back at me, almost as if to say "are you coming?",



Then he headed into the bush on the river bank. I followed slowly. He seemed unconcerned about me, but I didn't want to push my luck. I found him sniffing around in the leaves.



He uncovered the remains of a magpie and lay down to chew on it. You can see a feather hanging from his mouth. I'm not sure if he just happened to find it, or if he'd left it there previously. Some magpies had been in the trees above him and he had looked up at them. I though maybe they were harassing him, but perhaps he's been catching them?



Then it was time for a good scratch. This was the only time that he stayed in one place long enough for me to take a little video.



Then time for a thoughtful look at the river.



I figured I'd pestered him enough for one day and I let him go his own way. Besides, it was -5c, my hands were frozen, and my camera battery was low.



I love the bushy tail and the black tips on the ears.

Sadly, none of these shots is as sharp as I'd like. They're not bad for the web, but not for big prints. I wish I'd had a better camera, but at least I had the little ZS100. And regardless of the photos, it was wonderful to spend a little time with such a beautiful creature.

Weasel

I have a favorite spot where I like to sit and eat my lunch at Innovation Place in the winter. It's beside floor to ceiling windows and looks out on the gardens. I often see birds, and occasionally a mouse or one of the jackrabbits. But this day I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see a weasel run by! That was a first for me.



I assumed that would be as much as I saw, so I didn't bother getting my camera out. But then I saw it running around the area. A couple of people came out of Boffins and I thought for sure the weasel would run away. But it stuck around, in and out of the bushes, seemingly unconcerned about the people a few feet away trying to take photos of it with their phones.

At this point I figured I'd better get my camera out, although I knew I wouldn't get great photos through the windows. The weasel stayed in the area for quite a while, occasionally disappearing into the bushes, but soon returning. It was moving around so rapidly that it was hard to catch a photo of it. I wasn't sure any of them would turn out, so I was happy I got a couple that were at least recognizable.



I assume the weasel was hunting, looking for mice and voles. At one point a mouse came running out of the snow where the weasel was searching. Luckily for it the weasel didn't see it and the mouse went running down the sidewalk. A passing magpie spotted it and came swooping down. But the mouse escaped back into the bushes. Who needs National Geographic!

Since I knew photos were a dubious, I thought maybe video would do better at catching it. I managed this one short clip. You can see how it didn't sit still for long!



I think this is either a short-tailed or a long-tailed weasel. Apparently they are quite difficult to differentiate.

Paragliding at Five Springs

A few short clips from my best flight at Five Springs back in August. The flight was an hour and twenty minutes so it was a lot of footage to go through. I'm afraid after you've seen a few of these videos, they all look much the same!

The thermals weren't going very high - launch is about 2100m (6900ft) and my high point was about 2550m (8400ft). But it was fairly smooth conditions and I had a good time cruising around. Last time I was here I made the mistake of venturing too far north and ended up sinking out, so this time I stayed closer to launch where the best thermals seemed to be.  I headed down because it was getting to the middle of the day and I was afraid it would get rowdy in the landing area (like it did last time) since this is more or less desert. It turned out that wasn't a problem, but I did have some trouble getting down since there were some big thermals around the landing. How come I never find those thermals when I need them!

I was flying by myself so I had to hike back up after each flight, but it only took about 40 min to regain the 400m (1300ft) so it wasn't a big deal. I actually like to hike up since otherwise paragliding doesn't involve much exercise. Other people flying might be able to tell me where to look for thermals and how they've made longer flights, but it's a fun challenge to figure out a site for myself.

See also my previous blog post about Five Springs

Hike & Fly Montana

I'm on a solo road trip, just me and my Geo (paraglider) while Shelley is at a conference. She's also not quite as "crazy" about picking a random mountain, hiking up, and flying off. Whereas, it's one of my favorite adventures these days.

This flight was at Holter Lake, a dammed section of the Missouri River, just north of Helena, Montana. My human powered adventure was an aberration. Pretty much everyone else was there to roar around the reservoir in power boats. That's if they weren't running their generators from early morning till late at night (why?) or using chainsaws (?) to cut their firewood. Sometimes I feel like a stranger in a strange land. (Heinlein reference for scifi fans.)

I was up at sunrise to hike up 1200 feet to the top of a nearby peak. It turned out to be a great site - nice grassy slope to launch, and a big open field to land. I had a beautiful mellow first flight so I turned around and hiked back up. My hiking speed isn't what it used to be, but I still managed it in 45 minutes with no trail. The second flight the thermals were starting but not enough to stay up. But still a fun flight. I was back in the campground by 11am. I'm sure the boaters thought I'd just got up.

Jackrabbit

I was checking out some flowers at Innovation Place when I got the feeling that I was being watched. I turned around expecting a person, but instead there was a jackrabbit watching me from the flower bed, not 10 feet away. I backed away around the corner and got out my camera. But it seemed pretty relaxed and went about its business. I took some photos and then some video before leaving it in peace. As usual, I love the big ears and eyes.

Although it's getting almost as big as an adult, I think this is one of this year's offspring that I've seen off and on for the last while. 

Paper Wasps

Sitting outside on our patio, these yellow and black wasps are regular visitors. They are a little annoying buzzing around, and make you a little nervous about being bitten. I hadn't really paid attention to what they were up to until recently, when I realized the regular visits were to collect wood fiber from our weathered table. They use the fiber to build their gray paper like nests.

Next time I took my coffee outside I brought a camera. Eventually I had a visitor. They become quite occupied once they start harvesting which allowed me to take lots of photos. I took stills and video with my new Sony RX10m3 and my Nikon 7200 + macro lens. Both did a reasonable job. Up close the wasps are actually quite attractive with their glossy black and bright yellow.



Once you watch them closely you notice that they gradually back up as they harvest, leaving a differently color stripe on the wood, about an 1/8 of an inch wide and 3/4 of an inch long. Then I realized the whole table top was marked up this way!

I couldn't really tell where the fiber was going. Were they swallowing it to later regurgitate? Once I looked at the photos and video on the computer I could see they were just collecting a ball of fiber that they then carried away. It's hard to see because they collect it under their body. Here's a shot that shows it:



You can also see it in the last clip of this video.

See all 7 photos

Spider at Work

I've been keeping an eye out for the fishing spiders but up till now have only seen a few tiny ones. Then when I took a walk around on a morning coffee break, I saw three big fat ones. (Presumably females getting ready to lay eggs.) I didn't have a camera with me but I figured they'd still be around at lunch time. Unfortunately, the grounds crew decided to redistribute all the floating water plants that the spiders like to sit on. So there were no fishing spiders to be seen.

I noticed a different spider on a web, but as soon as I approached it ran out of sight. I noticed another web to the side, also with a spider, which instead of running away seemed to just be running around. Then I realized it was in the process of building its web and I got this video. I expect these webs to be quite uniform, but this guy didn't seem too worried about getting it exactly right. I don't know what kind of spider it is.

Dandelion Control

Jackrabbit at Innovation Place. Getting very tolerant of people.

Paragliding Jean Ridge, Las Vegas

After the rainy weather in Santa Barbara our best bet for good weather looked like Las Vegas. Usually we come to Las Vegas to climb at Red Rocks. This was our first trip since we learned to paraglide and we were keen to check out the local sites. Jean Ridge looked like the obvious choice - close to town and doable on our own without a second vehicle to shuttle. Driving to the top required a four wheel drive vehicle, but we could get to the bottom in a regular car and then hike up. We tried to contact the local pilots but didn't get any response.



The first day we were the only ones there. We hiked up to the launch about two thirds of the way up the hill where the wind was about 12 mph, no problem to launch. It was forecast to get stronger later so we didn't wait around. Shelley launched first without problems. She went up right away but moved out front and seemed to be doing ok. I launched shortly after. I was more concerned about staying up but the problem turned out to be the opposite - I was soon well over launch and unable to penetrate. Even on full speed bar I slowly drifted back behind launch. On the positive side the air was smooth with no turbulence. I debated whether to turn and run downwind but I wasn't sure what was back there. I landed (if you can call it that) going slowly backwards. If I'd been thinking I would have killed the wing with the rears as soon as I landed. But I wasn't thinking that clearly. I was too busy cursing myself for ending up in this situation. Luckily there wasn't much rotor (turbulence) since the slope was rounded and not too steep and there was a big plateau on top.  It was hard to resist the instinct to flare (pull the brakes) but that's not what you want to do when you're landing backwards. I didn't even attempt to look behind me and steer. Luckily there was only scattered bushes and sand. Since I hadn't killed the wing and there was (obviously) strong wind, I got dragged until the lines caught in the bushes. Thankfully there was no cactus here! Every time I'd untangle some lines the wind would grab the wing and wrap it around a new bush. Eventually I got it free and gathered up. I was about half a kilometer behind launch and then had to walk down the hill. Holding my bunched up wing I couldn't see my feet and the stumbles on the walk down were more painful than the landing!

In hindsight, I obviously should have gone to the top of the hill and checked the wind up there. I knew it would be stronger up top, but didn't think it would be that much stronger. If we could have contacted the locals and got a site briefing that probably would have helped too.

The next time we drove out, the wind was the same at the bottom (about 12 mph) so we hiked up to the top without our gliders. Sure enough it was too strong at the top (over 20 mph). No flying that day.



Our third attempt was on Saturday and there were actually other people flying. Winds were light and they weren't staying up long, but at least we could fly. There wasn't enough wind to ridge soar but there were some small thermals to stretch the flights out.

As we were leaving some other pilots showed up and offered us a ride to the top for another flight. We decided not to go since conditions were getting a little squirrelly. I felt a little guilty about passing up a flight, but it turned out they weren't able to fly due to the winds, so I guess we made the right call.

The next day conditions looked similar (i.e. light and unpredictable). Although it was still the weekend there was no one else at the bottom of the hill when we arrived. But a few minutes later, a truck pulled up. They opened the window and asked "You here to shoot?". We said, "No, we're here to fly". It turns out this is a favorite site for shooting. They can get up to a mile away from the hill. We countered by saying it was a favorite site for paragliding. Eventually they conceded that we'd got there first. Every day we flew here we could hear constant gun fire in the area. A bit disconcerting!

We also got visited by the dirt bikes and ATV's. One time I was coming in to land and was lined up to land on the road right beside the car. Three dirt bikes roared up and stopped to watch me land. The only problem was that they stopped right where I was about to land. I assumed they would clue in and move, but no such luck. I had to shift to the side and land in the bushes instead. They called out "nice job!" and roared away.

Another dirt biker showed up as we were packing up. He asked what we were doing and we explained we were flying off the mountain. But he was more impressed with us getting our Prius up here. (The road is marginal for a car with the clearance of a skateboard!)

Overall I've been pretty happy with my launches this trip. But I had a sketchy launch on my first flight that day. The wind was shifting directions and strength and my wing didn't come up straight. I lowered it almost to the ground, and brought it back up, straight this time. I turned and ran, but the wing again got off to the side. I followed it and steered. You can see in my video that I turned to look at the low wing tip, decided it wasn't too bad and kept going. I got off fine, but the corrections cost me some speed and I barely cleared the boulders below launch. It's a fine line between what you should try to correct and what you should abort and start over.

Jean Ridge is normally a ridge soaring site but unfortunately we didn't get soarable conditions. The wind was either too strong to paraglide or too weak to soar. We did get enough small thermals to stretch out a few flights to about 15 minutes, not bad for a 400 foot hill. One flight I managed to catch a thermal to about 300 feet above launch, but that was the best I did.

Luckily the one time this trip that I actually videoed my flight was the longest flight here. This is a few highlights. For more viewpoints and much more polish see Shelley's video.

Paragliding Makarska, Croatia

I had another amazing flight today, this time at Makarska, Croatia. Conditions were not ideal and we weren't sure we'd be able to fly, but we made it into the air. It's quite a long drive up the mountain, into a national park, and then about a 20 minute hike to the launch.



From launch you could look down to the town. The LZ (landing zone) on the beach looked pretty tiny from up here!



The launch was rocky but otherwise pretty good.



Nick went first to check out the conditions and then flew straight down to the LZ to talk people through their landings.



Most people just headed down, but I managed to stay up on the ridge, scratching for bits and pieces of lift. After about 40 minutes I got up above the ridge and level with the clouds and took a cruise along the face. At the end of the face I started to get sucked up into a bigger cloud so I headed for the beach. This is an amazing site, you are 4000 feet above the Mediterranean sea, flying beside 1000 foot cliffs. It was quite warm on the ground and I didn't wear my heavier gloves, a choice I sorely regretted as I lost the feeling in all but my forefingers and thumbs, which were luckily all I needed to fly! Thankfully I recorded this flight on video. (My memory card filled up after an hour, but I got all but the final descent.)

Here's a two minute clip about 40 minutes into the flight to give you a taste of what it was like:



And the Doarama 3D visualization to get an idea of the overall flight:



And Shelley's video of landing at the beach:



We're hoping the weather will cooperate to get another flight here tomorrow.

Flying at the Ranch

"The ranch" is a private flight park near Cashmere, WA. Our instructor in Santa Barbara had talked about how nice it was and we were in the area so we thought we'd check it out. Aerial Paragliding runs the school there and it turns out that the ranch is mostly used by students. It's possible to get some longer flights from here if the conditions are good, but there are other bigger flying sites nearby.

In addition to the flying we really enjoyed the peace and quiet of the place. There are lots of deer around, wild turkeys came to visit, a coyote wandered past, and a skunk crossed the road (we didn't ask why). The road up to the ranch is a little tricky in a low clearance car like our Prius but passable.

The first day the wind was wrong for flying so we went down to the park in Cashmere and did some kiting. I'll be the first to admit I need the practice, but it's still a little frustrating to come all this way to do something we could do at home!

Thankfully the wind was better the next day and we got in 7 flights. Most of the flights were from "Don's" launch which is about 800 ft vertically above the landing zone. A "sled ride" is about 4 minutes long. If the wind is right you can do some ridge soaring and I managed to stay up for quite a bit longer on one flight. It was a good place to practice flying closer to the terrain since the slopes are smooth and grassy. The landing zone was large, which is a good thing since I'm still inconsistent on landing at a specific place - sometimes right on target, other times way down the field.

We hadn't signed up for any specific instruction but Doug and Denise gave us lots of helpful tips and we got to eavesdrop on the lessons to the students, at varying levels of experience from first day to almost certified. It's always fun to see the excitement of people getting their first flights.

Our last day we got in 8 flights, including one from a higher hike up launch (Tibbets). There was almost no wind first thing so the first few launches were forwards. After that it picked up enough to do reverse launches. But the best part (for me) was 8 flights = 8 decent launches. Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming they were perfect, but they were relatively smooth and straight with no obvious screw ups. (And no aborted attempts.) Conditions were relatively mild, but that didn't stop some of the other students from having problems. After my screw ups at Jackson I was a bit bummed out, so it was nice to end the trip on a much more positive note.


One of the low wind forward launches. Thanks to Shelley for the video.

Flying Practice

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”

- Aristotle

A few days ago the wind was right for another practice flying session at our local hill. With the wind from the south we got a break from the smoke from all the forest fires up north.





And a quick video:



We also got out yesterday for a no wind, forward launch practice session at the tiny hill in the park at the end of our block. With practice, we're gradually improving, going from the glider controlling us, to us controlling the glider. As skill improves, frustration decreases, and the enjoyment goes up :-)

PS. While we were practicing our no wind forward launches, first a group of pelicans flew over with their effortless graceful flight, and next the Snowbirds air force demo team blasted by (airshow is on). I felt like an ugly duckling in comparison!

Florida Keys Dive Video

I almost forgot about this short video I shot on one of our dives in the Florida Keys. I don't normally shoot video since stills are enough of a challenge. But it's hard to capture the feeling of being underwater with all the fish in a still photograph. And the RX100m2 is supposed to be good at video so on the spur of the moment I took this short segment. It was a shallow dive with some surge, hopefully it doesn't make anyone seasick :-)



This shot was taken around the same time. Which do you prefer?



See also my post on Diving in the Florid Keys

Wild in the City

I left work early for a change today (it was a holiday after all) so I could enjoy the sunshine. The first thing I saw was a coyote beside the railroad tracks. Initially I thought it was a fox, but it was larger and didn't have a bushy tail. The other possibility was a dog, but it didn't look or behave like one. It was digging in the snow and when it saw me it trotted off down the tracks, stopping several times to look back at me.

On the other side of the railroad bridge someone was taking a picture of an animal beside the path. I assumed it was a rabbit but there were a couple more people there with binoculars who said it was a northern hawk owl eating a pigeon. I started to get my camera out of my pack, assuming that, as usual, it would fly away before I could take a photo. But it stayed there busily eating the pigeon. I was afraid to approach too close, so I didn't get great photos (only had the G12). This was my first view, you can see how close to the path it was.



I didn't linger since I was headed to Museo for coffee and they were closing early. On my way home from Museo I wished I had spent more time watching the hawk owl, after all, I can go for coffee anytime. Luckily my wish came true - the hawk was there in the same spot eating a pigeon. Given that it was an hour later, and judging by the rate it gobbled its food, I'm guessing it was a different pigeon. This time I wasn't as worried about scaring it away, since it obviously wasn't too concerned about people. I got some good photos in the lovely evening light. What a beautiful bird! (click for a larger view)



I even thought to take some video. (full screen recommended.) You can hear the cars going by on the road right beside us.



My iBird Pro iPad app (recommended) confirmed, "They have little fear of humans" and "Eats mostly voles and other small mammals; also takes birds, especially in winter; active during the day." And "A group of owls has many collective nouns, including a 'bazaar', 'glaring', 'parliament', 'stooping', and 'wisdom' of owls."

There were also lots of geese on the river, presumably stopping on their way south.



On a lighter note, when I stopped at Museo for coffee on my way home, my latte even came with a creature :-)

Then an attractive young women walked up and asked if she could sit with me. (But don't read too much into that, all the tables were occupied and a middle aged guy alone at a large table was an obvious choice.) She asked what I was writing and when I explained it was a blog post about the creatures I'd seen on the way home she suggested I could add a wild red head (her words) to my post. And then she left.

Amazing Riding

Patagonia Time Lapse

Beautiful time lapse video of Patagonia by Adam Colton.



As usual, it's worth viewing it larger size.

Growing is Forever

Watch it on Vimeo to get a larger version.