Month: October 2022

Categories
Astrophotography Photography

Space X Falcon 9 Rocket Launch

It was December of 2017 when I saw my first nighttime rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base. I had no idea what it was and was not prepared for photos. I managed to get a few that were handheld and poorly focused, which can be seen at this LINK. Since then, I’ve been waiting for another opportunity and last night I got it. I have subscribed to Launch Alert and I knew this one was coming. Vandenberg AFB is now Vandenberg Space Force Base, it is about 500 miles west, on the California coast. This rocket is a Space X Falcon 9 that was launching 53 Starlink satellites into orbit. The timing of the launch put the rocket and the exhaust in the light of the setting sun while I was far enough east where it was dark enough to see it. I was set up with the Canon 6D and 35mm Sigma lens on a tripod.

Launch was scheduled for 6:14:10 PM Pacific daylight time. Arizona is not on daylight savings time so there is no time difference. At nearly 6:15, I was beginning to think the launch had been delayed, when there it was!
The rocket rapidly gained altitude, remember this is all about 500 miles away. The first stage booster can be seen falling away. The radar on top of Child’s Mountain is on the lower left. This launch was not as spectacular as the one I witnessed in 2017.
Now passing over the setting Moon. The rocket is probably traveling around 18,000 mph by now or getting to that speed.
Cropped view showing the separated booster.
Categories
Insects Photography

A Few Insects

Last fall all the insect action was on Chuckwalla Delight flowers, this fall it is Desert Broom. Find a Desert Broom plant in flower and one is in business. Since I’ve been here, I have seen no kangaroo rats out at night, then last night I saw two near the camper. They seem to be inactive some nights and active on others. I’m still working on a couple of astrophotography targets, but they are not ready to show yet.

Leda Ministreak with one wing raised enough to see the blue on the upper part of the other wing. The flower is Desert Broom.
Here we go again, more photos of Great Purple Hairstreak. I can’t resist. This one is a male.
A Bee Fly, genus Bombylius.
Mexican Amberwing, Perithemis intensa. A dragonfly species of wet areas in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts.
A longhorn beetle on Desert Broom. It has no common name, but is known as Sphaenothecus bilineatus, according to BugGuide.
One of the Merriam’s Kangaroo Rats I saw last night.
Categories
Birding Insects Photography

Birds around Ajo

It has been hot for the last week or so but now a big cool down is here. Very windy yesterday and it finally blew in some new birds. Today, I had Red-necked Phalaropes, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, California Gull and some Ring-billed Gulls at the sewage ponds. There are Soras and Virginia Rails at Highway Tank. Today I watched a Great Egret in a palm tree, I wondered what it was doing up there. About an hour later I came back and it was swallowing House Finch. I had a couple of good nights for astro too, but nothing ready to show yet.

There is still one Lewis’s Woodpecker at the golf course, and I got a good photo this afternoon.
I’ve seen two Sora at Highway Tank; this one is a juvenile and the other is an adult.
No frogs, no fish, no problem.
Carmine Skimmer at Highway Tank. I originally thought this was a Flame Skimmer but have changed my ID.
Virginia Rail at Highway Tank
More Great Egrets
Categories
Astrophotography Birding Insects Photography

Ajo for the Winter

I arrived in Ajo almost a week ago. I’ve been waiting to accumulate some new photos before posting an update. The area has had a good monsoon season, everything is green, and all the tanks and ponds are full of water. The bird migration is building up slowly here, so far nothing very exciting. I had a Kit Fox near the camper last night while I was out doing astro. It is good to be back in the Sonoran Desert.

A California Patch, first one I’ve seen in a long time. This species is not common here. This one was nectaring on Desert Broom.
This is only the second Pyrruloxia I’ve seen in the Ajo area. More common to the east. I found this one this morning near Darby Well.
A female Phainopepla, these birds should be happy this winter, there is a huge crop of mistletoe berries for them to eat.
Another dark nebula, this is known as the Wolf’s Cave Nebula, or LDN 1217. It is located in the constellation Cepheus.
Categories
Birding Travel

On the Road Again, New Mexico

I left Pierre last Sunday morning and headed south. First night was at McCook, NE and the second at the roadside park at Timpas, CO. Now I’m at the Bosque Birders RV Park near Socorro, NM. I paid for two nights here since I was really tired of driving and needed a break. Birding at Bosque del Apache NWR is pretty slow but I’m seeing lots of birds I haven’t seen for many months now. Tomorrow, I plan to drive to Ajo but may make a stop at the Sonoran Desert Museum outside of Tucson. There has been a White-eared Hummingbird there for several days. It would be a life bird for me if it stays. I will need to get an early start for that, it is over 500 miles to Ajo and I won’t be able to make it if I spend too much time looking for this hummingbird.

While in Pierre, I saw this mantis laying eggs on the corner of my parents’ house. I’ve never seen this before. This is the European Mantis, not native. They are introduced into gardens as a means of pest control, but this is a misguided action. Mantids eat any insect, beneficial or harmful. They are not particular.
This fall migration produced more Nashville Warblers than I’ve ever seen before, here is one of them on a red-osier dogwood.
Here’s a somewhat rare bird for the Pierre area, a Yellow-throated Vireo. I keep a few county life lists, and this was a new species for my Stanley County life list (now at 292 species).
Orange-crowned Warbler, also on red-osier dogwood. Notice all the dark spots on the leaves, those are aphids that the warblers feed on, heavily, in the fall.
Yellow-rumped Warblers are known to feed on fruits, usually in the winter, but this one is already eating cedar berries in September. The ability to eat and digest fruits allows this species to winter further north than most warbler species.
The only photo I’ve taken since I left Pierre, a Roadrunner at Bosque del Apache NWR.