Picture-A-Week 2021 - Week 16

[pierces]

Pictures taken between Monday, April 12 and Sunday, April 18.

 

Things are starting to open up! Get out there and take pictures!

 

Rules: See above

That's it. This isn't a contest.

All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising).

Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize.

The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays.

Post one. Post many. Up to you.

Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

[Docker123]

A new toy to try out -- Nikon 105mm micro. No i don't know why they don't call it a macro. FF lens on APSC body.

 

[ski ww]

It was nice and sunny & warm out yesterday, today cold & wet.

 

[boeckli]

I wonder if this critter in the hibiscus had anything to do with the swiss cheese effect on the flowers 🤨

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by boeckli

[PurpleHays]

That sucker blends right the heck in, doesn't it?

 

[zackiedawg]

It's getting nasty, summer-like hot around here - Saturday at the wetlands was 96 degrees with 84% humidity...that's running around 130 degrees on the heat index.  Warm?  Ummm, yes!

 

Spent a few hours in the wetlands before getting home and jumping in the pool for a few hours to cool off.  Here are some of the critters out there dealing with the heat:

 

Green heron on the hunt for fish:

 

This green heron seemed to be playing airplane...maybe he forgot he actually CAN fly:

 

A raccoon wandering through the flowering fields:

 

A least bittern wading through the shallow water just about 10 feet from me:

 

The bittern's colors are richer - more reds and orange tones in the bill and brown feathers, as it gets dressed up for breeding season:

 

A pair of baby wood storks, growing larger very quickly - the open mouths are to deal with the heat:

 

Yep - mom also had her mouth open like her two chicks, because they're all standing in direct sun.  Note she's got her wings out a bit to try to provide shade for the chicks:

[pierces]

Early in 2019, I started a home computer replacement project. Since tech had changed a lot in the  4 years since the previous build, nearly a year passed as I researched and waited through the inevitible new-release shortages for the new stuff to reach the market. Last January, I put the finishing touches on the new box and pressed “GO”. It has been reliable to the point that I just realized I hadn’t really looked at it closely since then. The wall-mounted case is completely open with only a glass shield in front of it and I was surprised to find virtually no dust on the fans on the graphics card, radiator or non-moving components. I also noticed that it is still, by far, the best looking computer I have ever built and deserved a fisheye closeup because I, like most people, like shiny things.

 

Still Shiny

 

 

 

 

Dave

[Oviedo32765]

Sorry for posting late, but I had over 2000 photos to cull thru after attending the Cocoa Beach Air Show on April 17 and 18. To ensure I got the one photo I wanted, I shot on continuous high speed at 10 frames per second. The first day I think I shot 1200 photos and kept 142. I'm still plowing thru the second days event.  Weather was great the first day, started out iffy the second but cleared for the show. These photos were taken from the 4th-floor balcony of the condo we rented for the weekend. The next day we had tickets at show center on the beach.
 

Mike Wiskus in his Lucas Oil Pitts buzzing the Coast Guard ship anchored at show center. And yes, Mike had an FAA waiver to perform that low and close to the Coast Guard.

 

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor the fastest and most maneuverable fighter jet in the world today pulling hard into a vertical climb. The F-22 makes sharp, sudden turns displacing and compresses air into vapor seen here creating its own weather system with massive clouds that engulf the jet.

 

This Douglas C-47 is the "TICO Bell." On June 5, 1944, she was one of the hundreds of C-47s that flew across the English Channel on D-Day, dropping members of the 82ndAirborne behind enemy lines.

 

A U.S. Navy TBM-3U Avenger makes a fly-by. The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American torpedo bomber from WWII.  Unfortunately this war bird developed engine trouble returing to base and ended up ditching in the ocean near Patrick Space Force Base.  The pilot survived unharmed.

 

A B-25 Mitchell bomber named "Killer Bee" by her crew from WWII.  Named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation, the B-25 was used by many Allied air forces, and served in every theater of World War II. 

 

Two vintage SNJ-2 WWII era aircraft from the GEICO Skytypers perform an opposing fly-by.  The GEICO Skytypers are a flight squadron of six vintage aircraft that performed precision flight maneuvers. 

 

The main attraction was the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds flying F-16 Fighting Falcons.  The four-jet diamond performed precision formation flight with the aircraft wingtips as close as 4 feet apart while performing loops, inverted rolls and even high performance turns.  The two solo jets performed high energy maneuvers together and from opposite directions.

 

[tommui987]

GREAT SHOTS!

 

Any P-38s?

 

[Oviedo32765]

Sorry, no P-38.  But there was a P-51 Mustang that joined the F-22 and A-10 in a Heritage Flight, and an N25 Steerman biplane.

 

P-51, A-10, F-22

 

N25

[olemissreb]

On 4/28/2021 at 11:52 AM, Oviedo32765 said:

A B-25 Mitchell bomber named "Killer Bee" by her crew from WWII.  Named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation, the B-25 was used by many Allied air forces, and served in every theater of World War II. 

 

The Milwaukee, WI Airport is named in honor of Billy Mitchell.  I'm not sure, but he may have been from that area. (Guess I could google it and find out).  So cool seeing this.

[pierces]

These make me want to make plans for the next show I can find. I haven't been to an airshow since the last one at Norton AFB before they closed it in the early '90s. It was a great show that ended with a  takeoff and flyover of the SR-71 that was on display all day. A very science fiction moment. That jet is just plain eerie.

 

Dave

[ski ww]

Great shots. Love going to air shows, this years show is cancelled again.