Wren

The Wren is smaller than the Coal Tit (about 3.5 ins long), and for me, more elusive in terms of getting a photo. We catch regular glimpses as they hop in and around shrubs and hedges, but they normally remain under cover and only occasionally appear in in the open for any length of time, so not the easiest of "catches". I managed this photo of a Wren perched on one of our plant pots.

Coal Tit

Back to Wales and the unusually mild and dry autumn has disappeared. November has started cold and damp. In otherwords much the norm! With Winter around the corner we have noticed significantly more activity at the bird feeders, and throughout the garden in general. In addition to the usual occupants, we have seen Jay, Goldfinch, Starlings (now moving around in large flocks) and, yesterday, the first Redwing of the season....no doubt more will follow soon. In amongst these, at long last, I have managed to get a decent photo of a Coal Tit. This is the smallest Tit and one of the smallest birds to be seen in the UK.

More bird sightings

Last of the Woodpecker's from last months trip. This is a Downy Woodpecker, the smallest of the species in North America, measuring just 7 ins in length. They can be found throughout the US and most of Canada. This is a female...the male can be distinguished by a red patch at the back of the head.









To the right is a Mourning Dove, a common sight which can be found throughout much of the continent. Similar in size to the Collared Dove.

Below is a Loggerhead Shrike. Less than affectionately known as the "Butcher Bird" as a result of its rather unusual behaviour of impaling its captured prey on plant spikes or barbed wire! Quite why it does this is unclear. It is found throughout the southern half of the US. It measures 9 ins long. Here it is seen at a suitably appropriate location!

Newark

Our way out to the US earlier last month involved a 3hr stopover in Newark. Boring for many, but other than giving us the opportunity to stretch our legs, it allowed me a short period to photograph some aircraft! These all had to be taken through the expansive windows of Terminal C, which overlook downtown Manhatten accross the Hudson River. So here are a few examples that did not have annoying reflections or significant distortion. Newark is the 2nd major hub of Continental Airlines (after Houston) so movements were dominated by them. Nevertheless in the afternoon and evening it comes alive with international traffic, largely from Europe plus India and Singapore.

Top...One of the oldest aircraft in regular airline service, this 40 year old Douglas DC-9 of Northwest taxies out for departure

Above...Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-700 on very short finals

Right...Air Canada Jazz Bombardier RJ900 taxying.

Left... the latest and largest of the Boeing 737 family, a -900, this example in retro Continental colours.

Below...one of the many Continental commuter types, this being a De-Havilland Canada Dash Eight Q400 aircraft




Bottom...a Delta Airlines Boeing 767-300ER taxies out

All in all a pleasant stopover. We flew home via Newark, but sadly it was getting dark, so no opportunity to spot or photograph.

Fall Colors

I have gone slightly American here....I do of course mean Autumn Colours! However whatever you prefer to call it, and however you prefer to spell it, what you see is still the same. Perhaps not as well known for its colours as New England, our trip timed very well with the change of season, and despite less than ideal weather, I was able to capture the flavour of autumn. These pictures were taken in West Virginia (above) and literally from our car whilst driving north through Virginia.

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Another Woodpecker, again from West Virginia. This is a female Red Bellied Woodpecker. Mainly found in forests in the eastern half of the US. The female has a red patch on the back of the head...the more spectacular male has a red top half of the head. This bird actually gets its name from the reddish patch (that you can just see) on its lower belly. Smaller than the Pileated Woodpecker, it's approx 10 ins long.

Pileated Woodpecker

You will not see these this side of the Atlantic. This striking bird is a Pileated Woodpecker which I photographed during our recent trip. This particular example was at my brothers home in West Virginia. The picture quality is not good as it was (a) taken through glass and (b) it was a long way off. Still hopefully it gives a good idea of what they look like.

This is a large Woodpecker, approx 16-18 ins in length. What you cannot appreciate from these photo's is that the undersides of the wings are largely white. Sadly I never managed to capture a moment when the wings were extended.

The Pileated Woodpecker can be found in forests right accross southern Canada, the eastern half and western coast of the US.

More from Charlotte

Here are some further photo's I took whilst at Charlotte.

Above....US Airways Airbus A320 inches from main gear touchdown.

Left....another US Airways A320 (this one being one of many acquired with the take-over of America West).


Right....Bombardier RJ700 of US Airways Express

Below...United Airlines Airbus A319 moments from landing









All in all I can highly recommend this location to any aviation photographer or anyone who just enjoys watching aircraft. I think the only downside is that with the predominance of US Airways aircraft it could get a little boring after a while! Mind you there is always a chance for a different view when the runway changes.

Below....a US Airways Airbus A321 shortly after take-off.

Charlotte, North Carolina

Apologies to those of you following my blog, but I have been away on holiday, and whereas I would like to think that I am a reasonably dedicated person, some things are more important than blogging!

Still, I am back refreshed from 2 weeks visiting family in the US. Despite being a very relaxing and welcome holiday, amazingly we visited no less than 7 states, namely New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia! I personnaly squeezed in an 8th, with a flight Florida to visit the NBAA (National Business Aircraft Association) Convention being held in Orlando.


One of my finds during our travels was the aircraft viewing area at Charlotte International Airport. The US has never really understood the concept of aircraft spotting and aircraft photography, treating as they do their airlines and aircraft much as we do our bus services. But despite this the authorities at Charlotte have allocated a sizeable area for the likes of the aircraft spotter/photographer, and I have to say, it probably ranks as one of the best viewing locations that I have ever been to! So here are some photo's that I took.

Pictures from the top:

A queue of aircraft jostle for position for departure.
Above left...US Airways Embraer 195 on short finals.
Above right...Northwest Airlink Embraer 170 touches down (downtown Charlotte in the background)
Above....Northwest Airbus A319 on its take off roll.

Left...Delta Connection Embraer 170 just about to touch down.


Surprisingly Charlotte ranks as the 9th busiest airport in the world in terms of aircraft movements (that puts it ahead of Heathrow, Frankfurt and Tokyo to name but a few). This is largely due to its position as one of the two main operating hubs for US Airways (the other being Phoenix). There are a number of international flights serving Charlotte but the majority of services are domestic, and a good 40-50% of
these, gathered from my limited time there, are operated by regional jets in the 40-70 seat category. Hence Charlottes somewhat lower ranking of 26th in the world in terms of passenger numbers.

Right...US Airways Bombardier Regional Jet on very short finals while a company Embraer 170 awaits take-off clearance.

Another Sunrise

The rains of yesterday subsided and it cleared up overnight. This morning we were greeted by a thick blanket of mist. I took this photo at 8am this morning. Since then the mist has now cleared and we have a lovely sunny day.

Cows

Not exactly the most likely things to see flying, but following yesterdays reference to the moon, who knows! Besides which there is actually a case of a cow flying, vertically, at least (although I think I am using some poetic licence by using the term "flying"...falling would be more appropriate!). This happened some years back when one fell out the back of a Russian cargo aircraft flying accross the Pacific...apparently the cargo door somehow came unlocked and during a period of air turbulence a prize bull literally fell out the aircraft! Allegedly the said bull hit and sunk a ship, although I am not sure how much truth there is to that....it does seem rather unlikely....mind you a bull falling from 30,000 ft is pretty unlikely too! Anyway here are some with their feet definitely on the ground which have just moved in to the field at the back of our house. You can also see that the fine weather has finally broken....a very damp and dismal day today.

The Moon

With partly clear skies last night and a full moon, it was time to experiment with camera and tripod again. Here are a couple of photo's I managed before the moon became obscured.

Bathtime

Activity at the bird bath this morning. Here we have a bunch of Sparrows stopping off for a wash and brush-up this morning. Then it was a case of basking in the morning sunshine to dry off.

Nuthatch

Like the Great Spotted Woodpecker, the Nuthatch was another regular Spring visitor to our peanut feeders. Recent appearances have been rare, but I managed this photo the other day, and actually captured the subject the right way up. I say that since normally they are upside down when seen on the feeder!

BAe Bribery Claims

It seems that the SFO are going to keep their teeth well and truly sunk into BAe Systems. Just when it had all calmed down after the much publicised Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, now BAe are accused of bribery to secure deals in South Africa, Tanzania, Czech Republic and Romania.

When is someone going to wake up to the fact that if you deal with the authorities in such countries, somewhere along the line, the wheels will need to be oiled. Just because we have a cleancut approach (supposedly) to such contracts, why do we expect other countries, particular in Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe, to do the same? On the contrary, to merely do business in some of these countries requires a middle man, who will not only want his share, but will also need to offer financial encouragement to the decision maker (or the person who has the necessary influence on the decision process) to come a favourable agreement with the company who is bidding for the business. We are naive if we really believe that contracts can be won in these places by simply offering the most competive deal. In fact having dealt in 2 of the aforementioned countries I can totally support BAe's position.

Now the question I suppose is, that being the case, should BAe simply not bother? Well I hate to say it but if they don't the contracts will be awarded to those organisations who make the necessary effort to secure the deals. So, the end result would inevitably be that BAe (and hence the UK) loose out on multi million pound contracts, which in turn results in laying off staff, and so it goes on...and the questions then get asked, why did BAe loose out to say Lockheed Martin, or Boeing, etc etc? I think the powers that be and the SFO need a serious dose of reality....after all this is how business is done in these countries!