Some Sandhill Crane Pictures

I decided to head over to Kensington Metropark tonight.

 I didn't see much except for a group of sandhill cranes.

 I decided to get out and take their pictures.  They didn't seem to mind much.  I wasn't sure if they were going to fly off or not.

 They didn't fly off.

 In fact, I think they were posing for me.

 Which is good because they are cool looking birds.

 Not quite eagle cool but still pretty cool.

One more shot.

Long Distance Planewatching

I had a little time during lunch today, so I decided to get some pictures of the planes flying overhead.

 Sadly there wasn't much.  Also sadly, they weren't creating contrails so it made spotting a little more difficult.  I did manage to catch this American Airlines A321 that was heading from LAX to JFK.

Then I caught this Delta 757 on the same route.

And the Munson

The Frontenac was followed pretty closely by the next ship.

 The next ship was the John G. Munson.  She is another classic laker but I don't think I have to worry about her going anywhere as she was just repowered.

 I think she was heading down from Calcite with a load of stone but I'm not sure where she was heading.

 It was nice to catch her, as she's one of my favorite boats.

 I was able to get a head shot of her.

 And another.

 She makes the turn past the bridge.  The lighting was perfect for me.

 A nice beam shot.

 And she continues down the river.

One more shot.

And the Frontenac

With the eventual scrapping of the Algomarine and Algosteel, that doesn't leave too many classic Canadian lakers.  There's the John D. Leitch, but many in the boatnerd community consider her ugly.  There's also the CSL Tadoussac but I missed my chance to catch her.  That leaves the Frontenac.

 I kind of wish she didn't have that ugly self unloader, but I think that's what keeps her around.  You can still see her classic lines.

 The classic pilothouse.  I'm pretty sure this isn't her final voyage but I have to believe its soon.

 I was in a spot where I could get a fairly nice headshot.

 She passes under the Blue Water Bridges.

 Another shot of that.

 The almost beam shot.

 And the beam shot.

 I think she is on her way to Montreal but I'm not sure.  Again, I hope that's not in preparation for her final load.

Anyway, I hope this is "See you later" and not "Good bye".

Some Seagull Pictures

Between ships, I usually have some time to get some pictures of the birds.

 I couldn't pass up a picture of this seagull, because he just caught a fish.  I liked the way he was skipping over the water.

 I think he still had it here.

But he was looking again.

The Cuyahoga Going to Dock

One of the ships that I was hoping to catch was the Cuyahoga.  I don't think she's in any danger of getting scrapped soon, but you never know.  I should have checked AIS before leaving because if I had, I would have found out she was docking Sarnia.

 Fortunately for me, she was docking at a place I could catch from the River Walk.  I think she was delivering coal.

 At this point, she was slowed down to a crawl and it looked like she was going into her layup spot.

 It turns out that she was just using that to turn around.

As I type this post, she is on her way to Grand Haven.  It seems like she usually has a busy season.

Nearly Missing the Dreamliner

I was not feeling motivated on Monday.  It was still hot outside and it felt nice to sit in the air conditioner.  Then I looked at Marine Traffic and saw that there were three ships that were going to pass at roughly the same time.  Since that meant I wouldn't spend a ton of time outside, I decided to head out.

 As I headed out, I realized that I would be passing the airport at about the same time the Royal Jordanian 787 would be landing there.  I stopped in order to get pictures and I nearly missed it but it turned out that it had to do a go around.  I'm not sure why it had to go around but that meant I wouldn't miss it.

 And it was perfect day to catch it too.

 And for some reason, my timing was there to catch the beacon shots.

 A 737 arriving from Atlanta.

 A jetBlue A320 in special livery.  This plane's slogan says, "To beach their own".  It's kind of cool they do that.

 The Air Canada CRJ-200 from Toronto.

 A CRJ arriving from White Plains, New York.

I also caught N801NW which is an A330 belonging to Delta Airlines.  It turns out that this is the A330 I caught on Saturday.  Then it was arriving from Paris.  On Monday, it was arriving from Amsterdam.

A Stop at Magee and Ottawa

My friend had never been to either Ottawa or Magee before, so I had to take him there.  I figured he would enjoy it there and that probably would have been true had it not been so hot.  I think we would have walked around more if the weather were better.  As it was, I got a few pictures.

 An egret after taking off.  After a few years of doing this, I am getting familiar with the comfort zones of birds.  I try not to step too close but you never know.

 Egrets look pretty coll when they are flying though.

 I saw the eagle in the other nest but he was hidden by the leaves.  I think the two black eagles are fairly young and if they haven't flown already, they will.  I'll have to say that this spring has been weird.  It seems like everything has been sped up.

 A red winged blackbird.

 I barely caught this heron.

 One of the birds that has eluded me is a cardinal.  When I try to get a picture of one, they usually fly off.  I was able to get a picture of this one.  Sadly when I tried to get a better angle, he flew off.

 Another egret.

 I think this is a trumpeter swan.  The reddish color is because it feeds in water rich with iron.

 One of those swans swimming.

And one more.

Overall, it was a nice day.  The last time I did something with my friend was before I went in the hospital, so it was nice to get out with him.