Isolated Photos from Original Pictures

This photo (ABOVE) of four Canada Geese flying over the tree-tops offered a chance to create several other pictures simply by working out some blowup isolations.

In the first picture (BELOW) the two middle geese are isolated to create a new photo via blowup. The blowup clearly allows one to observe the top goose’s feet, which have yet to be tucked in during the beginning of his flight.

A blowup of the lower three geese follows (BELOW):

(BELOW) is the final blowup created from the lowest bird in the original shot of four Canada Geese.

More of the same may be seen and discussed at this earlier post.

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Credit:
Photos and Blowups from the personal and copyrighted collection of Barbara Anne Helberg

Take-Off Flight Sequence of Heron

The Great Blue Heron has an amazing take-off sequence. A wingspan of 77 to 82 inches flaps him into flight.

Involuntarily hitting the shutter on my Canon PowerShot SX410 IS with 40X Optical Zoom in different times — quickly, normally slowly, and abnormally slowly — I captured pictures of a Great Blue Heron in a patterned sequence of take-off and resulting flight.

(ABOVE): This is an incredibly lucky shot! The heron has used his skinny, long stick feet to push himself slightly forward and out of the water. (See the water dripping heavily down below him.) His wings are in the first take-off motion, with most of the wings in a flapped down position from which he is about to swing them upward to gain more lift.

(ABOVE): In the second flight sequence, the heron shoots his wings fully upward and folds his eight stick feet (four on each leg) closely together in preparation for lifting himself into full flight. His head and neck remain high, here, and his legs are dangling while his feet shake off water.

(ABOVE): Low over the river and pulling in his rudders (legs and feet) straight behind him, the heron has fully launched himself out of the water (third sequence) in a forward push. To give himself momentum and speed, he has lowered and leveled his wings.

At every take-off from the water, the Great Blue Heron uses the same basic three-part sequence to become airborne.

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Credit:
Photos from the personal and copyrighted collection of Barbara Anne Helberg

Birds In the Air

The Great Blue Heron (BELOW) is a shadow in the sky above the bridge in Napoleon, Ohio. Notice how his long, long neck is pulled into an “S” as he flies high. The heron’s equally long legs and stick feet fly straight out behind him as he glides along.

(BELOW): When he lifts off, the Great Blue Heron displays beautiful, incredibly huge wings of purple-blue edging and relatively small, fan-like tail feathers.

(BELOW): Pigeons that live under the bridge give their own impression of shades against the sky. They regularly give a fly-by show around and under the bridge as a troupe.

(BELOW): The Great Egret shares fishing space with the Great Blue Heron. They rarely argue on territorial water rights.

(BELOW): Notice the Great Blue Heron’s head is straight up, and that’s because he/she just watched the Great Egret fly over his/her head and land in front of him/her.

Turkey Vultures, or “buzzards”, as the ones (BELOW) are easily recognized on the ground for their red, bare-skinned heads. But in high flight, they display silver-gray outer flight feathers and black feathers in front, while their white, short beaks are more visible than their red heads. Highly predatory, Turkey Vultures flap and soar in circles above prospective ground prey.

(BELOW): Geese fly above the Maumee River at Napoleon, Ohio.

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Credit:
Photos from the personal and copyrighted collection of Barbara Anne Helberg

Best of A Cold Morning

Gulls come in flocks and singles around the bend in the Maumee River to the direct East of our apartment building. Such was the case this morning.

I’m on an endless quest to get close-up flying photos of these beautiful white, long-winged birds. They appear to be Herring Gulls, which, according to and as pictured in my “Smithsonian Birds of North America” (2001), are very prevalent in our Ohio area near the Great Lakes.

It’s also interesting to catch these birds cruising along the tree-lined riverbank.

It’s easy to see the gulls coming down river crossing the East bend along Winter’s bare tree-line in long swoops that bring them closer to the South side, or in tighter angles that take them along the North edge of the water.

Wingspans of these gulls can be nearly five feet, and their pure whiteness is highlighted by black wingtips.

This morning, against a cold, blue Winter sky (brrr… ! ), they photographed quite well with my Canon Powershot ELPH 135:

The fun is catching their wings in different stages of flap and float and soar.

Any way you look at it, these gulls are like low- and high-flying aircraft. And sometimes they depart from their plane-like behavior to dip low enough to the ground to inspect prospects for lunch.