Plus a ‘bird’ of a very different feather.
1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
This might be the most cooperative Western Tanager I’ve ever photographed. Five days ago she landed on this branch in the mountains and stayed there long enough for me to get almost 200 shots of her. And she was quite close to me. In my experience that’s highly unusual for a tanager – they’re nearly always nervous and highly skittish.
As a bonus I actually liked the diagonal perch and her position on it which allowed me to get a clean background but still have leaves around her to provide more habitat and frame her nicely.
1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
At one point she seemed to by studying what I believe to be a colorful leaf gall on the underside of one of the willow leaves. I think it resembles a red Cheerio. Although Western Tanagers are primarily insect eaters they also eat fruit so perhaps she thought it might be a berry since they’re common in the area right now.
1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
If that’s what she thought she wasn’t fooled for long. Here I caught her seeming to stick her tongue out at the gall as if showing her displeasure. I didn’t notice her tongue in the field when I took the photo but it brought a smile when I spotted it while reviewing my images at home.
OK, now we’ll move on to a different kind of ‘bird’. Usually when I see low flying aircraft in wild areas while I’m photographing birds my only reaction is extreme annoyance. But I found this helicopter that flew overhead earlier on the same morning I photographed this tanager to be interesting for several reasons.
- It’s a Kaman K-Max K-1200 registered to Helicopter Express Inc. out of Chamblee, Georgia (according to the FAA website). They’re a long way from ‘home’ so I have to wonder what it was doing flying so low over the Wasatch Mountains in Utah – there were no fires in the immediate area. The K-MAX is a single seat workhorse helicopter designed to lift external cargo loads. The K-MAX can lift 3 ton payloads which is more than the helicopter’s empty weight.
- I was struck by those scary-looking dual rotors rotating in opposite directions. They’re mounted on rotor masts at different angles which allows the blades to intermesh without colliding (synchropter) and the helicopter to function without a tail rotor. But damn, that’s a lot of things that have to go right to prevent a truly catastrophic collision of the rotors going in opposite directions so close to each other at incredible speeds. The only reason I got the rotors sharp was my 1/5000 shutter speed.
- The front profile of the helicopter reminds me of a beluga whale. I like that.
- And dig that crazy paint job. I once saw a hippie VW bus painted like that.
I apologize if you have no interest in helicopters. But when I see something of potential interest in the field my instincts are hardwired to shoot first and ask questions later.
The more I looked into this chopper the more it intrigued me and the more questions I had so I did a little research.
Ron
It is so funny to me how you’ll post about a bird that shows up the very same day in my fountain (has happened with Bullock’s Oriole and another I can’t recall). I had seen your subject line in my inbox but couldn’t read the post right away — and moments later, a gorgeous big male WT dropped in to visit! He was snapping and sticking his tongue out at the finches to chase them off! But to the point — your little female is gorgeous too! And all the elements of the images are very simpatico, and soothing to the eye.
I’m a fan of all “wingy-thingies” — birds, bees, butterflies, dragonflies) and, in the right place at the right time, jets, planes, space shuttles/rockets, even helicopters. The latter fly over my neighborhood (too often) carrying water to drop on (too frequent) fires in the Santa Monica Mtns and surrounding areas, so I have an appreciation for the things they can do. But still would never go up in one! It even one with a hippie-like paint job! 😎
Thanks, Chris. It’s funny how few males I’ve seen this summer. Quite a few females and juvies but hardly a male at all. I’m jealous of your male.
Just beautiful. Interesting helicopter photo and comment too! Thanks as usual. First rate stuff.
Thanks very much, Fred.
Love the tanager who was so agreeable and posed nicely.
Helichopters (which is what we have always called them) signify bad times for someone to me. In the snow season they are ferrying injured patients to hospital, much of the rest of the year their cargo is car accident victims, and in fire season they are everywhere.
Same thing here, EC. I live fairly close to a huge hospital and two freeways so I hear those medivacs often.
You may be interested to learn that the questionable interwoven rotor design was one of the first things someone thought of in the earliest days of helicopter development. The Germans developed the Flettner 282 during WWII that used the same design. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_Fl_282) . They used it mostly as a naval observation platform, probably for gunfire spotting. There was a second observer seat behind the rotors.
Being a fixed wing guy I’ve always thought that a lot of things have to go right for any helicopter to stay in the air. The advantage to this design is that it eliminates the tail rotor and all of that machinery which absolutely has to work right. A friend of mine used to say that a helicopter doesn’t actually fly, it beats the air into submission.
Yeah, I read some of that history while I was researching, in Wiki I think.
I think your friend was right.
I forgot to mention, I think the Fl 282 was call the Hummingbird.
Not only a tanager in the open, but one who seems to pose for you! I am doubly jealous.
Superb photographs, Ron. That first image is impressive, with her leaning in alignment with the branch. Wow!
The chopper shot and research is interesting. In another life, I did a lot of studying about helicopters. But those were Russian birds. Long time ago.
“In another life, I did a lot of studying about helicopters. But those were Russian birds.”
Hmmm, methinks there’s a story there, Wally. An interesting one…
Your artistry shows very well even the whirlybird. Your comments are equally enjoyed.
Thanks very much, Betty.
Wikipedia says Kaman’s first helicopter had the “intermeshed contrarotating” twin rotors, Don’t know who developed the Western Tanager. In any case, methinks the Tanager is the superior design. The outstretched tongue leads me to believe the Tanager agrees.
Love it!
Thanks, Sallie.
“In any case, methinks the Tanager is the superior design”
I’d certainly agree with that, Lyle. They’re prettier too.
Again, wonderful images! And I agree that you’re getting a raspberry! She was definitely checking you out! The good news is she deemed you safe so she didn’t beat wings to get away from you! GADS but I love birds and thank you so much for bringing me birds that I’ll probably never see in person. THANK YOU!
My last REAL job (before I ventured out to be an INternationally INfamous motorsports journalist) was with Singer/Link Flight Simulation Division, designers/makers of the Shuttle Mission Simulators that trained the Shuttle astronauts. I first worked on the Space Shuttle program from STS-1 through STS-3 (the first through third shuttle flights), then transferred to the Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS MKIII) helicopter program where I learned a bunch about helicopters! We had a skeleton crew so I moved from secretary to editing design documentation, translating engineering language to Military Standard language for U.S. Navy documentation. Just before I left, I got to “fly” the LAMPS helicopter simulator to two successful “landings” on the U.S. Nimitz in Sea State 5 weather conditions (just this side of hurricane conditions). My first landing wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t a crash, either–although it was close. My second landing was much better.
ANYWAY, that experience tells me that while helicopters are like bees–they really CAN’T fly–that particular design is pretty darn precarious! Of course, a tail rotor doesn’t provide a much bigger margin of safety, either. You really don’t want to lose the tail rotor and go into an autorotation! That’s very bad, but those two rotors going even a little bit out of proper alignment would be very bad, too!
All that said, while it’s very curious that this Georgia-based helicopter flew low over your head in Utah, birds are definitely better 😉 I wonder if its ultimate destination is the fires in California? The geography doesn’t really work, but there’s a wild a$$ guess (not even a little bit scientific) for you!
Wow Laura, you’ve lived an interesting life!
Wonderful shot of the Tanager and comical that it appears to be sticking it’s tongue out at you…… 🙂 Would be interesting to find out what the “whirley bird” was doing there. Haven’t heard that term in awhile…… 🙂
Thanks, Judy. We used that term fairly often when I was a kid.
For some reason, yesterday & today, I could not see a couple of the photos on your blog, but I could see them on FaceBook! ? (I just noticed the F on the upper right of your blog, & clicked on it, suspecting it would take me to your FaceBook page.
Barbara Harley
Barbara that happens to me regularly, but a page refresh generally brings all the photos to me. Give it a try.
Barbara, try Laura’s suggestion. That stuff happens to all of us occasionally.
The tongue sticking out is the classic pose I get from my children every time I try to photograph them!
There were hauling helicopters with big loads around Little Dell Reservoir last time I was there. Not as colorful, basic green.
April, they were hauling water from Little Dell to fight the Parley’s fire. But that fire had been out for days when I photographed this helicopter.
The tongue shot is hysterical. And she is a lovely poser. 😀
Stephanie (Arwen?), she posed nicely and it helped that she chose the spot on the branch that she did.
Love these shots of the Western Tanager, up close and personal!
Re: the other bird, my dad was a helicopter pilot (as well as fixed-wing) for Johnson Flying Service out of Missoula for many years so whirley-birds always catch my eye. (Curious to know if you find out what this one was doing, call me a suspicious Nosey Parker!)
I’m curious about what they were doing too, Becky. But I’m not optimistic about ever finding out.
Nervous and skittish is right. Early this spring I was trying to get a photo or two of a pair at riparian pond here, but it was impossible. I should have switched to video because there was no way I was going to get a sitting photo of either of them. Every time they landed somewhere they were gone before I could even focus. Beautiful birds and great shots Ron.
That is interesting that a helicopter licensed to a Georgia company is flying around your mountains there.
“Every time they landed somewhere they were gone before I could even focus”
Yup, that’s usually my experience with them too, Everett.
Since you did some research–( or maybe you already knew ?)–what’s the
purpose of those 2 rectangles on the flanks of the helicopter body–radar ?
or solar receptors ? Hippie bus colors or no, mechanical stuff will never be
as beautiful to me as just about ANY bird……..
I don’t know their purpose, Kris but my guess is that they stabilize the fuselage during forward flight.
The Pilot seems to be looking at something. Maybe one of your friends will know why the Copter was flying around. I agree with Marty. The Tanager was giving you a raspberry.
Jean, I’ll take any look from a tanager – even a raspberry.
Hey, a whirly-bird is still a bird, right? 😉 I wonder what it was doing there.
I like the Tanager — perhaps she was sticking out her tongue at you (or the old truck). She does seem to be giving you “the eye” in your 2nd shot.
“Whirly-bird” – wish I’d thought of that.
You’re probably right, Marty – my old truck was so dirty it might have offended her.
There used to be a TV show I watched as a kid with helicopters and rescue and the like. They called the helicopter a “whirley-bird.” Can’t for the life of me remember the name of the show. Loved it. Nice shots today.
Stephen
I remember that one, too, Stephen! It was called “Whirlybirds”! (1957-60 on CBS.)
Sorry, Stephen. For some reason I didn’t see your comment until just now.
I’m curious to know if Chris was right about “Whirlybirds”.
Ron, Chris,
Chris is spot on. I googled it. 111 episodes from 57-60. I loved watching it. The google page has the old black and white opening logo with a picture of the helicopter and the word “Whirlybird!” It brought back memories of an exciting (for a six year old) series of heroes in a helicopter!
SEC
🙂
6-yr-olds knew a thing or two about good television! 😂 (My dad and big brother, of course, taught me to love cars and flying machines; my Barbie doll was minor competition.)