Author: Doug Backlund

A Jellyfish and a Dolphin

No, I haven’t been to the coast. Just cruising around the Milky Way Galaxy with my 500 f4 lens. Despite the brightening moon, I’ve been having great success with the new IDAS Nebula Booster filter. This filter is a real game changer for me. It is like having a new astronomy camera, it is that good.

First up, the Jellyfish Nebula, IC 443. I have imaged this nebula many times in the past but always with marginal success. Part of the problem is the dense star field, StarXterminator helps with that. However, the IDAS filter also reduces light from stars, leaving mostly the very bright ones. It also allows me to do longer exposures, gathering more light from the two spectrum bands I want, OII and Ha, and less light that I don’t want. In this case, the nebula is mostly Ha. In the constellation Gemini, about 5000 light years from Earth, C 443 is most likely the remains of a supernova that occurred 30,000 – 35,000 years ago.

This one is just incredible, in my opinion. I’ve tried this before (with no filter) and could never get anything worth using. Not even close. This is the Dolphin Head Nebula, Sh2-308, locate about 8 degrees south of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Sh2-308 surrounds the Wolf–Rayet star EZ Canis Majoris, the bright star in the center of the nebula. This nebula is composed mostly of OII and some Ha, it is very faint. There is a larger Ha nebula that just starts to show in the upper left. In the lower right side of the Dolphin Head is the magnitude 4 star, Udra. The most amazing thing to me is I could do this in a bright moon and still get results like this. I am really looking forward to doing more with the IDAS Nebula Booster filter.

Astrophotography Birding

January Astro

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date January 15, 2024

Although I haven’t had many good nights for astrophotography, I do have a couple of images to show. I spent many hours on each one, including the taking of images and then the processing. It was so cold one night I just quit. Now, the weather is back to more normal temperatures but tonight looks like it will be too cloudy again. And the moon is getting bright but with my new nebula booster filter I can still shoot for another week or so, assuming I get any clear skies. As always, a larger image can be seen by opening in a new tab or window.

Harold Lower and his son Charles were amateur astronomers and skilled telescope makers in the 1930’s. Harold reported that by utilizing red-sensitive film and a deep-red filter, he and Charles had encountered considerable success in imaging dim emission nebulae. Among these objects was a previously unknown nebula in Orion which decades later was given the catalogue designation Sh2-261. In honor of its discoverers, this nebula is commonly known as Lower’s Nebula. I have read that this is a difficult nebula to image, but I tried it last night and am very happy with the results. It is found in the Orion constellation.

The Strawberry Nebula, Sh2-263, also located in the Orion constellation. This one took many hours of imaging to get this much signal. I could probably use a lot more. The nebula includes both emission and reflection nebulas. In our daily lives, we bask in the light of one star, look at all the stars in just this one image!

At Highway Tank a few days ago, this female Common Goldeneye and a Redhead were new species for me at this eBird hotspot. I didn’t get any good shots of the Redhead but the Common Goldeneye came out nice. I now have 119 species at Highway Tank.

Birding Photography

Yikes! Shrikes!

This afternoon I was just finishing up birding the Ajo golf course. I came around the rear of the truck and there on the ground, right by the front door, was a Loggerhead Shrike and a Cactus Wren in a deadly struggle. I was quite amazed as I have never seen a Loggerhead Shrike kill anything much bigger than a lizard. The Cactus Wren was nearly as big as the shrike and it was putting up quite a fight. Several times it tried to get its claws into the shrike’s eyes. The shrike never gave up and eventually it killed the wren. I timed it at 16 minutes, but I have no idea how long they had been battling before I found them.

My first few shots were like this, the wren actually seemed to be getting the better of the shrike. Notice how it has it claw in the eye of the shrike.

The shrike is maneuvering for a better hold.

Now it is going for the neck, a typical attack point for a shrike. They are known to snap the vertebrae, but it was having a hard time of it.

The struggle moved out into the late afternoon sunlight.

The shrike gave up on its hold and tried another. It took a few more minutes before it finally killed the wren.

I’ve read that shrikes can fly short distances carrying birds as large as themselves. This shrike couldn’t even get the wren up the first step. I suppose it was exhausted. I took the wren and impaled it on a thorn in a mesquite tree. By then it was getting too dark for sharp photos, and I left the shrike to feed on its prey. Why this shrike would take on such a large bird and continue the attack for at least 16 minutes, even at the risk of losing an eye, is a puzzle. I have read about and seen a few other encounters between shrikes and birds of equal size, the shrike normally backs off. Not this one though.

Astrophotography Birding Mammals

A New Year

Since I’ve started using eBird for my bird sightings, I now have an easy way to tabulate all my sightings from last year. That’s assuming I remember to use it. I generated a report, and it came in at 262 species for 2023. However, I noticed that I did not report Sharp-tailed Grouse or Common Tern and I know I saw those species at some point in 2023. So, I probably missed a few other species too. That brings me to my New Years Resolution, do a better job of documenting my sightings and see how big of a list I can come up for 2024. Maybe this will give me some enthusiam for a birding trip to somewhere I can pick up lots of species, like south Texas or Florida. We will see. On the local scene, it has really cooled down here. I have not had many good nights for astro, lots of clouds.

I was birding in The Thicket a few days ago and I always check the tree where I saw a Gray Fox a few years ago. There was one there, again. It does not seem like a regularly used tree but if one keeps checking, sometimes it works out.

I have not seen many Sagebrush Sparrows this winter. I went out Pipeline Road a few days ago and found that area to be my best bet. Yesterday I had eight. I keep checking carefully for Bell’s Sparrow but so far, I have not found one.

I’ve been having unusually good luck with Kestrels this winter. Usually, I can’t get close enough for a good photo.

I have managed to get in about 2 hours on this scene in the constellation Auriga. There is a lot to look at here. On the left is the open star cluster M 38. To the right of M 38 is a smaller open star cluster, NGC 1907. The largest and brightest nebula is known as the Spider Nebula (IC 417) and the smaller one below is the Fly Nebula (NGC 1931). I want to put in a lot more time on this but for now, here it is.

Birding

A Bout with Covid and Some Birds

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date December 26, 2023
3 Comments on A Bout with Covid and Some Birds

As I mentioned in my last post, I wasn’t feeling too well. It wasn’t a cold, it was covid. I picked up some home tests and tested positive Sunday, the 17th. Today, I am still testing positive, but I feel a lot better. It was pretty rough for three or four days, followed by gradual improvement. Anyway, ten days later I’m still positive for covid. I don’t expect it to hang on much longer. I have felt OK for the last 4-5 days, good enough to get out for some birding.

The entire Sonoran Desert and many other areas around Arizona got significant rain last weekend. From reports I’ve seen, rain around Ajo and the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument area varied from 1.5 to 2 inches. It rained enough to generate runoff, Highway Tank is full again.

This morning, I saw this American Kestrel sitting on the road. It let me get quite close, but the sun was not positioned well for photography. At any rate, it seemed like it was eating something, but I couldn’t see any prey.

As it turns out, it was eating “grit”. I’ve never seen a raptor do this. It is a common behavior for seed-eating birds, the grit goes into the gizzard and helps to grind and digest the hard seeds they eat. I had to do some digging on the internet to find out what is going on with raptors. The insects and meat raptors consume is partially digested in the crop by strong acids and the indigestible materials are regurgitated as pellets. What they do need is some small stones to help clean the crop, which can get full of fatty tissues from their food and can hinder the function of the organ. Owls do not have a true crop; I don’t know if any owl species ingest grit.

One of two Gray Vireos I found this morning. These are the first Gray Vireos I have seen this winter, the winter storm up north must be pushing a few more of them south.

Barn Swallows also made an appearance over the last few days. I’ve seen as many as eight at the ponds. This one was flying low over Highway Tank.

Astrophotography Birding

Mid-December Update

It has been a long time since I posted anything, so here goes. I had some good nights for astrophotography. Birding has really slowed down, but I’m still taking photos. The most exciting birds have been a Herring Gull at the ponds, but it didn’t stay long enough for anyone to drive out to see it. And at Highway Tank, during a Cabeza Prieta Natural History Association field trip, we saw three Red Crossbills, a very rare bird for the Sonoran Desert. After three years of not catching a cold, flu or covid, I have now come down with something. I think it is a cold but can’t get tested for covid until tomorrow. At any rate, I don’t feel like doing much today.

Later this week it looks like very good chance for rain, and it is badly needed. Fingers crossed.

One afternoon I looked out and saw this Loggerhead Shrike perched on top of the astronomy mount. It let me get very close.

One of the three Red Crossills at Highway Tank.

A distant photo of all three, two males and a female. After getting a drink they flew south.

This is a dark nebula, Sh2-239. It is a star forming region in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. It takes a lot of exposure to capture these dark nebulas but I find them fascinating and worth the effort.

I’m not even sure this one has a name, but the dark nebula near the top is shown as B209 in Stellarium. The B stands for Barnard. The galaxy in the upper right is IC 359, which is what I had to use to find this dark nebula. Framing is always difficult because these dark nebulas are nearly invisible until the images are stacked and processed.

VdB 14 and 15, reflection nebulas in the constellation Camelopardalis. Both are illuminated by two super giant stars. These are very faint too, took me hours of exposure to get this much.

Here’s an easy one. I couldn’t resist it one night, the Horsehead Nebula. Compared to the nebulas above, this one is easy to do. Only about 2 hours of exposure and the processing is very fast. All of these astrophotos were taken with the 500f4 lens.

Astrophotography Birding

A New Bird for Lake Ajo

A few days ago, I stopped at the Ajo sewage ponds and counted all the birds for my eBird checklist. I was leaving when I took one last look and saw a gull that hadn’t been there before. A look through my binos revealed it was a Black-legged Kittiwake, quite a rare bird in Arizona and the first one ever recorded here at Ajo. Needless to say, quite a few birders made the trip out here to see it and it stayed all day, so they all got to see it. The following morning, it was gone.

The star of the show for one day, a Black-legged Kittiwake.

This Lincoln’s Sparrow posed nicely for me with a nice background. This was at Highway Tank.

A young Oregon Junco at the golf course.

Yesterday I saw two Prairie Falcons at Highway Tank, one chasing the other. Later I saw this one perched and it let me get fairly close.

A Desert Blond Tarantula that was out on a cool morning.

IC 410, popularly called the Tadpole Nebula. It is located in the constellation Auriga, about 12,400 light years out there. I used a new filter, the IDAS NBZ Nebula Booster, to create this image. It is a dual band filter that allows Ha and OII light waves to pass but it filters out moonlight and other light pollution, so I can still do astro on moonlit nights, as least for nebulas. It is not going to work on galaxies. It will only work with the 500f4 lens. In this case, this is the first time I’ve imaged this nebula and was able to really see the “tadpoles”.

The Heart Nebula, taken during a night with a bright moon, using the new filter. With this new filter and my new software, I’m seeing a big improvement in nebula photography.

Astrophotography Birding

Mid-November Update

I’m still here. It has been a while since I have updated anything. Birding has been good, and the weather has been fantastic. Last night it rained, reports vary but probably around .2 to .25 inches in the Ajo area. More rain is forecast for tonight.

The star of the show this fall, a Rufous-backed Robin at Bud Walker Park. It has been two years since I’ve seen one. This bird has been quite cooperative for photos too. A number of birders have traveled here to see it, some were successful others were not.

A Varied Thrush in the town plaza has been getting a lot of attention too. This bird has also been very cooperative for photos.

Kestrels don’t usually let me approach very close; this one was an exception. A female at the golf course, there seems to be more Kestrels around this winter than usual.

Also at the golf course, a Gilded Flicker posing in nice light.

This is Arp 273, pair of interacting galaxies nearly 300 million light years out there. Located in the constellation Andromeda, this is a very small and faint target, but I think it was worth the time I spent on it. They are also known as the Rose Galaxies.

NGC 660 is a rare polar ring galaxy. I copied this information from Wikipedia: NGC 660 is a peculiar and unique polar-ring galaxy located approximately 45 million light-years from Earth in the Pisces constellation. It is the only such galaxy having, as its host, a “late-type lenticular galaxy”. It was probably formed when two galaxies collided a billion years ago. However, it may have first started as a disk galaxy that captured matter from a passing galaxy. This material could have, over time, become “strung out” to form a rotating ring.

NGC 925 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the Triangulum constellation, about 30 million light years away. Although relatively large in the field of view, it is very faint. All of the galaxy photos I posted are taken with the C8 and a .63 reducer, so about 1200mm focal length.

Birding Mammals Photography

Cat, Canine and Birds

I’ve been keeping busy with some astrophotography but don’t have any images that I’m ready to show just yet. I did have some success with the trail cams at Highway Tank, finally, a Mountain Lion passed through the field of view. I’ve been seeing the fresh tracks of a lion there for a long time.

Here’s a screen shot from a 10 second video of the Mountain Lion. Judging from the number of deer and burros I got video of, this lion is having no problem finding something to eat.

This Kit Fox has been fearless in coming around at night. Yesterday I found a road killed cottontail and brought it back to camp.

It wasn’t even dark yet when the fox showed up for its dinner.

As it turned out, there are two of them, but the other one was shy and didn’t come in.

While on a hike yesterday, this Loggerhead Shrike posed nicely on an ocotillo.

Birding Blacklighting Insects

Birds and Bugs

OK, also one mammal. The weather has cooled down nicely and is perfect fall weather for the Sonoran Desert. It seems every day brings something new. Just yesterday I was counting birds at Lake Ajo when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, it was a Gray Fox out in broad daylight, sauntering by the truck. Now that the full moon is past, I expect to start doing astrophotography again.