Messier 13 (M13) The Great Globular Cluster in the constellation Hercules. From my backyard observatory.

I didn't read the text and thought to myself.
Where did he find a metal flake bowling ball ?

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 N711HK
The "The Herbert D. Kelleher" named after the company's late founder. One of only two planes left in SWA's fleet in their original Desert Gold livery. A very rare site coming out of Logan.

Unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the sun from this when it was taking off so I had to saturate the hell out of it in lightroom to get the detail to show. But there was no way that I wasn't going to get a picture of it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ryan81986,

Took a ride to one of our favorite reservoirs, it was still icy at 8500 ft. On the way back we decided to check a private reservoir for shore birds nesting. No shorebirds but the spawning carp were amazing, I think they have a problem.

Kolob Reservoir:


Blue Spring:

This is the First Hummer we seen this year.
In Northeast Indiana

Was supposed to put the necter bottles out today, got side tracked till tomorrow, there was a Baltimore Oriole at the bird bath this morning, real early.

Took the boat out for a test run today after doing some work on the fuel tank earlier this week. The lake was gorgeous...water was crystal clear and you could see all the way to the bottom down to 10-12 feet or so. We tried some fishing but the the water is still very cold and not much was moving.

Then we saw a big dead fish on the bottom. My son, being an 11 year-old boy, decided to hook it and check it out. Turned out to be a 32" northern pike with a whopper of a bluegill stuck in his gullet. He must have bit off more than he could chew and choked to death on it.

He unhooked it, but it didn't sink. We kept fishing and started drifting away from it, when I looked back and a bald eagle (we have them around here, but they're not terribly common) was diving right at me not 20 feet away. It hit the fish, but left it in the water...not sure if it decided it was too big, or wasn't looking for already dead stuff. Either way, it was pretty awesome!

One of these days I'll have to get somewhere else to link these photos from other than Facebook. Hopefully everyone can see it.

Snuck out during the last New Moon cycle and took a couple pictures of the Milky Way. I was finally playing with some new techniques for adjusting them tonight.

I can see it....and it's gorgeous.

Nice catch!

quote:

Originally posted by WildSig:
One of these days I'll have to get somewhere else to link these photos from other than Facebook. Hopefully everyone can see it.

Snuck out during the last New Moon cycle and took a couple pictures of the Milky Way. I was finally playing with some new techniques for adjusting them tonight.

My HOA last year replaced some shrubs with Prickly Pear cacti. They've been covered with bud all this spring and now they have begun to bloom. Herewith a few shots I took today.

DEC_3241 by David Casteel, on Flickr


DEC_3233 by David Casteel, on Flickr


DEC_3232 by David Casteel, on Flickr


DEC_3230 by David Casteel, on Flickr


DEC_3229 by David Casteel, on Flickr

These plants will become much more full of blossoms in the next few days, but I wanted to get some as soon as they appeared.

And here is one of my garage Flag (the stars actually are embroidered white, but they don't show up that way here):


DEC_3243 by David Casteel, on Flickr

flashguy

Went back out yesterday to do some more fishing, and took the DSLR along just in case the eagle made another appearance. The lighting kinda sucked, but I got a few shots:

you are very fortunate, we have to drive 20 miles to see those. how far are you from my cornfields?

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
you are very fortunate, we have to drive 20 miles to see those. how far are you from my cornfields?

We're in North Central Indiana...about 2 hours east of Chicago. That nest is on a 550 acre lake about 5 minutes from my house...we fish it often.

How about another one from my trip out in April.

I really like shooting this old house but there are so many trees around it I can't get very far away from it and it does kind of make it hard to frame shots.

All of this is just practice for when I actually take a night photography class later this year with a professional photographer that specializes in this. Hopefully it doesn't get cancelled.

There's a house similar to that a few miles from here, not much better condition except it has a porch and windows ... and people live in it. Ive often wondered if they make it look aged on purpose as its been like that for 20+ years and it hasn't gotten condemed!

92, that is awesome, seeing them up close is impressive, it's been a long time since I've had to chance to see one up close.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
92, that is awesome, seeing them up close is impressive, it's been a long time since I've had to chance to see one up close.

Yeah, they're pretty amazing, and HUGE! There's also a family of kingfishers on the same lake, and lots of blue herons and sandhill cranes. Getting out on the lake is a treat, even when we don't catch any fish...especially this time of the year when the water is still cold enough to keep all the FISHTABs with their wakeboats and obnoxious blaring music away.