30 May 13. Over the weekend with the extreme low tides and the cherubs visiting, we took several trips down to the beaches to see what we might encounter. After 3 such excursions, they had had enough, and declined to see any more. On our first trip to a beach just 1.1 miles from our house, walking distance actually, we roamed a fair amount of beach looking at what was available, only to "discover" that the best part of the low tide was a small pond up at the shore edge that they found to be of far greater interest than anything on the beach. As I was sitting on a log watching them play, I absentmindedly tossed a rock into the pond and watched as it made a nice splash. I then had the cherubs toss rocks into the pond as I tried to capture the splash. I got a few I liked, and this one reminded me of a fish jumping out of the water to take a fly, a real one in my thinking, but for you fishermen, it could just as well be one on the end of a line. After getting the image to look as I desired, I altered it to take on a water color-like appearance. The technique is called under painting which I imagine means that something is first laid down on the paper prior to the actual watercolors being applied. Or at least that sounds good. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.
31 May 13. Drift back in time with me to the mid 80s. Maverick and Goose are at the bar bragging about their earlier sortie, both sets of hands in the air demonstrating to all who will listen how they flew the flight. Or just think about any tactical aviator with whom you may be acquainted. It's all the same. Jump forward now to last Sunday as we were returning from taking the cherubs to Scenic Beach to see the intertidal zone life. On the way to the beach as well as on the return we passed over Big Beef Creek. The link shows you an aerial view at high tide, but with the extreme low tides over the weekend, all the area in light green was a tide flat, and it was covered in Bald Eagles feasting on the bounty provided by the tide. At least most of the eagles were feasting; a couple, however, were not, and we got to watch a marvelous display of aerial combat. Mostly it was a flat out chase with lots of fantastic flight maneuvers. In the end, at least for us viewers, it was a chase to another place, but while we got to watch it, it was a wonderful demonstration of just how agile these big birds can be in flight. 5 eagles feeding, 2 fighting, and 2 crows who were seemingly oblivious to it all. The birds are much smaller than I would have liked, but as I don't have a long birding lens (c$10K+), I went with what I had. I've added a small amount of texture, removed a bit of the distractions in the distance, and left it for all to imagine what the heavy blue line in the middle is; current consensus is that it is portions of the replacement I-520 floating bridge which will replace the current old floating bridge crossing Lake Washington in Seattle. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f/9.
