Category Archives: Video

October 29, 2023 · 23:27

The Wind & A Surprise Hummingbird

The Santa Ana winds are blowing – we’ve had gusts pushing 40 mph here for about the last 24 hours and in the next 24 hours there’s a possibility we’ll get them up to 50 or even 60 mph. The BBQ and some backyard chairs and empty trash cans have been repeatedly scattered, retrieved, and scattered again. As long as they don’t end up vanishing from the yard and disappearing toward Malibu, I’m just going to leave them for now and worry about it later in the week.

I went outside to take a thirty-second video, which turned out much longer when I got a visitor. I completely didn’t realize that I was standing directly underneath Little Bastard’s hummingbird feeder…

The perspective on the iPhone video is deceptive, in part because I started holding it down around waist height. The bottom of the feeder is only about an inch above my head, and when the hummingbird is flying the buzzing sound is LOUD. You can hear it a little bit in the video, but in real life it sounds like the biggest bee or wasp you’ve ever imagined is two inches from your ear.

I expected him to fly away as soon as I started moving my arm with the camera (sloooooowly…) and at least three times he does fly away, but only a couple feet, then he comes back. Once he finally flew away at the end and I stopped recording and left, he was back at the feeder in just a few seconds. I’m guessing that with the very, very low humidity, the wind, and all of the work he was doing flying around in the wind, he was really, REALLY hungry and taking a chance on me being a danger was a chance he had to take. Again – a guess.

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Filed under Birds, Video

October 23, 2023 · 21:48

Falcon 9 Launch From Vandenberg

I’ve shared a number of pictures and (I think) one or two videos from when SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket out of Vandenberg Space Force Base, 115 miles to the northwest. They’re amazing when they’re right after sunset, pretty cool in the middle of the night, and a “challenge” to capture on film or video.

But I have a Nest security camera looking at the front porch. What does it see?

Here’s your generic, normal, daylight view, looking northwest-ish. Where’s Vandenberg? On the lefthand side, in the distance just to the right of that support pillar with the flag, you can see the northern flank of Castle Peak. There’s a bit of sloping hillside there between the pillar and the trees where the red-tailed hawks hang out (and attack me).

Watch there…

First a full-frame view, then zoomed in.

Hmmm, how to improve this? Probably easier to move the camera than to chop down that support pillar. Besides, if I hack away at that sucker I’ll NEVER get my security deposit back!

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Filed under Castle Willett, Photography, Space, Video

August 20, 2023 · 23:49

Passing Through The Storm

We’re fine. In our particular neighborhood we haven’t had anything particularly threatening going on, fortunately. Other folks in other areas have been less fortunate, but overall, so far, it seems as if the impacts have been within reason. I haven’t heard of any fatalities or serious injuries due to the storm beyond a couple of traffic accidents probably caused in part by the rain – but that happens any time it rains in SoCal.

I got going early this morning and went out to get our weekly groceries and our Sunday breakfast. It was just starting to rain here, even though it had been raining for several hours further south in Long Beach, Orange County, San Diego, and Mexico.

By late afternoon it had started raining much harder and the wind had come up, but again, nothing disasterous. We got a bit over two inches of rain so far (it’s still raining and expected to continue for the next 10-12 hours) and we saw winds in the 20-25 mph range, but none of the 50-80 mph gusts that were possible. No power outages. A few flooded intersections around town, but we weren’t going out! The National Weather Service said “Stay!” and I did my best golden retriever imitation and stayed!

Of course, in the middle of all of this there was that magnitude 5.1 earthquake about fourty miles from us that rattled me from side to side for about ten seconds and shook up some stuff on the shelves behind me. Who had that on their SoCal Disaster Sunday bingo card?

Meanwhile, there’s street flooding and swift water rescues going on out in Ventura, some very near Camarillo Airport where I’ve spent so much time over the last few years with the CAF SoCal Wing. Today was supposed to be the second day of the Wings Over Camarillo airshow out there (do a search, there are a dozen more posts full of pictures over the years from that show), but that got cancelled last night. Out in the desert and in particular around Death Valley National Park there was some massive flash flooding, but the park had been evacuated over the weekend so no word of any casualties. It might just have the park closed for repairs for a while.

All in all, it could have been a lot worse. And while it still is unstable out there and could still be worse tonight, I think the odds are that SoCal dodged a bullet on this one. I just doubt that it’s going to be another 84 years before it happens again.

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Filed under Los Angeles, Video, Weather

August 7, 2023 · 22:00

Tonight’s Falcon 9 Launch Out Of Vandenberg

I was hoping that tonight’s Falcon 9 launch out of Vandenberg would be soon enough after sunset so that we would get a spectacular “jellyfish” effect. That’s when the huge cloud of turbulent gas being released by the rocket engines is high enough to still be in the light of the sun, while down below we’re in darkness already. It’s really, REALLY cool! (Like this one from December, 2017!)

Tonight – close, no cigar.

Oh, I saw the launch, it was great! Clear as a bell here, so I could follow the second stage for over five minutes as it headed toward the southern horizon, out over the San Fernando Valley:

And the video I got as it came up over the mountains to the west and climbed toward MECO (Main Engine Cut Off) was decent:

But it would be nice to get to see a couple of launches close up. Like, as close as I can get without either being arrested or pulped by the acoustic energy.

Of course, ultimately I would like a seat on the pointy end… One step at a time.

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Filed under Photography, Space, Video

July 11, 2023 · 23:08

Mockingbird Nest

Remember the day that a HUGE red-tailed hawk swooped right past me in the front lawn and grabbed onto something in this bush that’s grown up around a support pillar in front of my front door? (Here are the pictures.) I may have figured out what it was going after.

A couple of weeks ago, after noticing some mockingbirds flying into and out of that bush more and more often, I took a closer look and found a nest in there.

Yesterday I heard a very soft peeping sound coming from there, and found at least three mockingbird chicks in there.

They’re ALL MOUTH. They must only be a day or so old because they’re blind and just running on instinct. Something comes near (i.e., me) and they pop up for a few seconds, mouths open, peeping, then hunker down and hide if no food is incoming.

When I’m getting close enough to get these pictures, rest assured that Mama Mockingbird isn’t far away and is giving me the stink eye every second. The nest is at about head height, with the gutter about four feet above. She’ll perch up there sometimes, the better to be that much closer to me so she can save time in attacking and gouging my eyes out if I make a false move. Or she’ll be out on the power line, thirty feet away, with a mouthful of food to bring back as soon as I get out of sight.

Directly above them on the inside of the roof line is the mourning dove nest, still with two fledgelings, although they’re big enough now to take off more and more often.

Welcome to the “Willett Aviary – Front Yard Edition!” Here’s a quick video of the little squeakers! And you can actually see all three!

 

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Filed under Birds, Photography, Video

June 24, 2023 · 23:33

Hawks, More Hawks, And Ravens – OH MY!

It started with the distinctive cry of a Cooper’s Hawk in the back yard, along with the squawking of several ravens. The hawk was close, somewhere in those big pine trees on the hill behind the house. I quickly pulled up the Cornell Labs Merlin app (you need this app too!) and started an audio recording with the app identifying the birds as it hears them.

You can hear the Cooper’s Hawk at the very beginning, over the sound of the screen door closing, and again (much more clearly) at the 01:06 mark.

I had set the phone down and grabbed my camera, looking for the Cooper’s Hawk, when from behind me (at the 00:57 mark) I heard a Red-tailed Hawk, then a second one. This pair is familiar! They were close and getting closer, flying right over my head into the trees where the ongoing fight was happening.

As a helicopter goes over you can hear chirping and calls from all three hawks, as well as the ravens still harassing them. The ravens finally forced them out of the trees, the Cooper’s Hawk going down into the canyon behind us where its nest is and the Red-tailed Hawks climbing back into the thermals over Valley Circle Boulevard.

Notice the missing feathers on this hawk’s right wing. I would have thought they would have grown back by now, but it’s become an identifying mark on this particular magnificent bird, one that’s easily seen even when it’s several hundred feet in the air and a half mile or more away.

Spectacular!

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Filed under Audio, Birds, Photography, Video

June 22, 2023 · 22:47

Fire Season 2023

And so it begins, at least locally.

It’s been a really, REALLY wet winter, which was fantastic! Everything’s green and growing! Until it gets hot, and dry, and “everything” turns brown and highly flammable.

We aren’t quite there yet with all of the May Gray and June Gloom that I’ve been complaining about as the marine layer stays over us all day long for weeks on end. But we haven’t had a good, soaking rain in a couple of months, so we’re getting there.

As a side note, there’s a new app that I like a lot called “Watch Duty.” It goes off and sends you notifications if any brush fires pop up within the range you have set. I have mine set to all of LA County and it’s gone off a half dozen times this spring and early summer. Imagine my surprise when it beeped and vibrated this afternoon and said there was a new fire in West Hills, at an intersection that’s maybe a mile away as the crow flies…

(Image: Watch Duty)

And about two seconds later I heard ALL of the fire trucks firing up their sirens and two air dropping helicopters going over at about 500 feet.

Huh! Something’s going on, me thinks! Let’s go look!

About two acres of light brush, reported to have started at Knapp Ranch Park. The bad news is that Knapp Ranch isn’t at the top of the hill, but just a block or so up from Valley Circle Boulevard, so there are three or four streets crossing the hill north to south above it. Streets with houses on both sides. Which the fire was rapidly approaching.

LAPD and LA County Fire hit this one hard. We had at least three, maybe more, water dropping helicopters overhead in less than ten minutes. It looked like they were going to refill up in Chatsworth Reservoir, which is directly behind us compared to the fire, so we had our own little airshow going on.

We also of course had a whole fleet of fire trucks and crews converging on the area. Which blocked Valley Circle Boulevard and had a whole stream of folks cutting across to Platt and Sherman Way via Highlander, making a mess of our local side streets.

Meh, could have been a lot worse. The winds were light and while today was warmer and clear, the recent history of cloudy, cool days helped. It didn’t spread fast. It took them less than an hour to declare it contained and I never heard any reports of any houses being damaged. Although I do bet there were some homeowners immediately uphill of the fire needing a change of underwear.

It might be a really long, hot summer.

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Filed under Los Angeles, Photography, Video, Weather

June 20, 2023 · 23:18

Hummers At The Watering Hole

I do wish that the sound quality on YouTube videos was better. On my phone you can hear all kinds of bird songs, the drone of other hummers buzzing me, dogs barking, planes goin overhead…

On this video, it’s all dulled down and dampened, like listening through it with soggy sponges stuck into your ears.

Maybe it’s something I’m doing wrong…

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Filed under Birds, Video

May 24, 2023 · 23:42

Midnight Visitors

I’m something of a night owl. I can’t remember the last time I got to bed before midnight, and usually it’s much closer to 01:00. It’s been years.

Last night, a couple minutes after 00:30, something bumped against the outside wall of my office. There’s a security camera there…

What a pleasant surprise! I mean, as long as the little monsters haven’t found a way in and out of the garage or roof or something.

Those of you who have been here a while will remember that at our previous house we had many, many adventures with trash pandas!

“Raccoon Sex (The Noisy Kind) On The Skylight!”

“Raccoons Sex On The Roof!”

“Mama Raccoon Rescuing Her Babies From The Empty Jacuzzi!”

“The Ceiling That Dripped Blood!” (Oh, wait, that one was an owl. It was only after we got rid of the owl that the raccoons moved in, and we never got rid of the raccoons.)

And on and on. Just search for “raccoon,” a few dozen more pop up.

But that was at the old house. We’ve now been here, up on top of a freakishly steep hill and I have only seen a raccoon once or twice, even though we’re only a mile away from the old place.

Until last night.

I will have to keep my eyes peeled.

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Filed under Critters, Video

May 21, 2023 · 23:01

Yesterday’s Storm & Today’s Birds

First of all, I was astonished to see in this morning’s news that last night’s thunderstorms that moved from the Antelope Valley into Pasadena caused a major disruption to the Cruel World Festival going on at the Rose Bowl. Cruel World features artists from the punk and alternative days of the 70’s and 80’s, the sort of music you can hear on SiriusXM Channel 33. The sort of music you hear me listening to ALL DAY LONG.

The Pasadena Fire Department ordered the show cut off in the middle of Iggy Pop’s segment, and headliner Siouxsie Sioux’s segment got cancelled altogether. It was her first (and only!) North American appearance in something like 15 years.

Today was the second day of the Festival and they got some more rain, but no reports of lighting and apparently the show went on.

Weird weather!

Meanwhile, out in the back yard, I was trying to get a bit of down time to do some reading. A group of mockingbirds (at least three, maybe as many as four or five) had other ideas. They were flitting in and out of the big tree and it was unclear if they were fighting, mating, building nests, or all of the above, but they were definitely LOUD!

TURN IT UP!!

 

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Filed under Birds, Video, Weather