Istanbul not Constantinople

So I saw that I had a chance to catch an airline I've never see at Detroit before.  I have caught it at O'Hare a couple of times though.  The sun was shining and it was a nice night.

First up was an A350.

This one came all the way from Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France.

I've seen this flight and plane a few times now.

But it is still nice to see it because it's a nice looking plane.

Next up was a Delta CRJ-900 from Toronto.

It was followed by an A321 from Fort Myers, Florida.

A Dassault Falcon.

But I'm not sure where it came from.

But it was still nice to catch since it was a surprise.

A 737 coming in from Montego Bay, Jamaica.

And one from Cancun.

And then the plane I was waiting for appeared.

I've seen Turkish a few times at O'Hare, so it was not a surprise.

I like the 787.

The lighting was just about perfect too.

I like this shot.

But I like this one more.

It was followed by a 737 MAX coming in from Dulles Airport in Washington DC.

And I end the night with a sunset picture of an AeroMexico E190 coming in from Monterrey.

A Nice Evening at Ottawa

 I ended up heading down to Ottawa Wildlife Preserve tonight.  The drive was open and it was a nice sunny night.  I figured there would some birds floating around.

First thing I ran into was a trumpeter swan.  Most of the swans were back in the park and I couldn't get a decent picture of them but this one was cooperating.

The sun was just about right.

I like the reflections too.

A pair of geese.

I'm not sure what kind of bird this was.  I think it was a hawk of some sort.  It's not the greatest photo though.

And then I saw this eagle swoop in from out of nowhere.  This is probably the best picture of the bunch though.

I kind of like this picture, I just wish the eagle were a little more in focus.

Same with this picture.

It was a nice night.  I didn't see as much as I hoped though.

Success Finally

 After several times of heading up to the Fish Point area, I was finally able to catch a snowy owl this season.   I had to look on a snowy owl site a few times to finally narrow down where I could see one.

First of all, it was not at Fish Point.  I think too many people found that spot and scared them away.

When I headed down the road where I thought it was, I saw a bunch of people with cameras, so I figured that would be the spot.

I'm not going to mention the spot because I don't want them to go somewhere else.

I think this one is a male.

I wish I could have moved to spot where the wire wasn't in the picture but I guess it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

I love those yellow eyes.

One more shot.

A Herky Bird Comes in From Goose Bay

 This morning I saw that the An-124 was going to come into Metro but as I looked up the flight information and figured out when it would arrive, I saw that it was going to be landed before I could get out of work.  I looked again just before I could get out of work, I saw that the An-124 had landed but I found an acceptable substitute.

The substitute came in the form of a Lockheed 382 which is the civilian version of the C-130.

This particular one is a sort of stretch version of the normal C-130.  It looked pretty cool.

The plane was coming in from Goose Bay but I'm not sure what it was carrying.

At any rate, it is a cool looking aircraft.

One more shot before it landed.

Seeking the Snowy Owl

 I had the day off today, so I decided to go looking for snowy owls.  I wasn't confident I would find any but I saw pictures on Facebook.  I decided to head up to Fish Point since that is where I usually see them.

I didn't see any snowy owls but I did see quite a few red wing blackbirds.  Normally, I wouldn't do a picture like this but I liked the cattails.

Most people call the robin the harbinger of spring but I think a few of those stay behind for the winter.  When you see them come spring, usually those are the ones until you see lots of them.

I consider the red wing blackbird the harbinger of spring because they are generally one of the first birds to come back and one the first birds to leave.

Because they leave the earliest, you are not likely to see ones that wintered over.  So when you start seeing them, spring is around the corner.

I also like them because they are very regal looking birds.

I liked this guy.

I love the colors.

They have a very unique song too.

I was able to get a few pictures.

I like this one.

But I think this was my favorite of the bunch.  I might try to go see snowy owls this weekend but I'm not confident.