Eagle-Watching on Mentor Marsh

Mama's taking a rest before embarking on a hunt for food

An eagle’s nest is still a rare thing to see in this day and age, so when we heard that there was a mated pair of eagles nesting in the Mentor Marsh, Sally and I decided to see if we could get a few photos.  We found the location of the nest easily – it’s quite visible from Rt. 44 near Headlands Beach State Park.  The Mentor Marsh is home to numerous wildlife species, but this pair of eagles are recent residents.  They first nested here last year, according to a local photographer that I met today at the site.   Approaching an eagle’s nest is highly illegal, as they are still endangered, so I want to stress that these photos were taken from FAR away.  As a result, the digital shots are pretty low quality – I had to use a digital zoom factor of 48x to get them.

I also took a few film photos with my old Nikon and a 300mm zoom with a 2x telextender, providing an effective focal length of 600mm.  I haven’t got these photos scanned yet, but I’ll add them to this post when I get them.

It’s really quite moving to see our national symbol in the wild.  Let’s hope that bald eagles are around for a long time!

Out and about

Dad is doing much of the babysitting

Here's a closer shot of the female eagle

Preparing for takeoff!

Summer’s Over, Winter’s Rolling in, What Happened to Fall?

View to the East from Lakefront Lodge

Arrival in Tucson

Holiday Inn Express Tucson

Despite his expression here, Andy had a good time!

The chef did a great job!

The hotel is on Wetmore Road

The lobby is inviting and well-appointed

Our trip from Cleveland to Tucson being uneventful, we picked up our rented minivan (a severely stripped Dodge Caravan with manual everything, but a bargain at $44.95 a day!) and headed across town to the Holiday Inn Express.  I was a bit wary about the hotel, but my fears were unfounded.  Both the room and the amenities were far beyond my expectations.  The hotel employees were friendly and courteous, and the free breakfast was excellent.  I’m really impressed by this place.  The outdoor hot tub was a great way to loosen up the kinks of full day on the plane!

Headed for the Dark Skies of New Mexico!

My newest avocation is amateur astronomy, so when my wife, Sally, suggested we vacation in New Mexico this year, I was overjoyed.  The night skies of New Mexico are some of the clearest and darkest to be found in the United States.  Given the opportunity to spend 7 nights observing under these most coveted conditions, I resolved to be ready to make the most of it.

 I quickly decided that I needed a larger telescope for this trip, since my little 60mm go-to scope simply wouldn’t gather enough light to do the job.  My larger scope, a 5” Newtonian on a Dob mount, was a bit too heavy to transport on an airplane (mostly due to my inept carpentry and a heavy dose of over-engineering), and besides, I wanted a tracking mount for astrophotography.   The ideal scope, I decided, after much research, is the Celestron C-6S Advanced GT, a 6” Schmidt-Cassegrain on an equatorial go-to mount.  For those not familiar with telescopes, this model has a computer that can locate objects in the sky, and then “track” the object, keeping it in the field of view by compensating for the apparent motion caused by the rotation of the earth.  But this telescope was, frankly, beyond the bounds of my meager budget.

My C6-SGT

 Fortunately, however, I am a bit of a packrat.  Some sympathetic souls would call me a “collector”, but my wife clearly prefers the less respectable term.  I have managed to accumulate a collection of photographic material that dates back to my 13^th birthday, a number of coins, knives, firearms, and, as luck would have it, a few toys from my childhood 45 years ago or thereabouts.    One of these toys was a spaceship known as Fireball XL-5 in its original box.   Off to Ebay it went without a moment’s hesitation. 

One of my former interests was scuba.  Unfortunately, I now suffer from asthma, so diving is prohibited.   Off to the auction site went my regulators, bags, dive light, gauges, weights, BC vests, and another full set of equipment that had belonged to Sally, who was quite happy to see it all go (she never cared much for scuba diving)!

 Now there was lots more room in my storage space, but the auction results would determine whether or not I could afford the new Celestron.  As luck would have it, several collectors were very interested in the spaceship, and the scuba gear sold quickly as well.  I ordered the Celestron as soon as the payments cleared the bank.

 After much practice assembling and disassembling the scope, mount, tripod, and controls, I think I’m ready to venture forth.  We’ll be flying out of Cleveland on Sunday morning, connecting in Houston, and arriving in Tucson, AZ on Sunday afternoon.  We’ll spend the night in Tucson and drive out early Monday, with a short stop in Tombstone (who could miss a chance to see the site of the gunfight at the OK Corral?) and thence to Los Pinos Altos, near Silver City, NM. 

 If you are reading this, and you have any suggestions about what to see in the daytime, where to eat (we love southwestern food), or anything else that strikes your fancy, please post!  Also, if you’re experienced with astrophotography or webcam astro-imaging in particular, please post any suggestions you may have.

 

Dana Kennedy  June 3, 2009  9:44:59 PM