OM1 first shots!

[AndyS]

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture

Not the most beautiful birds but oh, so graceful!

The Bird ID continuous autofocus plus tracing works quite well. Much improved over the EM cameras. Just point the camera and if there's a bird in the frame it locks on and will track all the way to the edge.

Next project is to catch one of the F-35 fighters that buzz over the house at under 1000 feet and over 500 mph! I'll see if the airplane ID works as well.

Incidentally vultures and jet planes don't get along well. Yesterday a jet trainer ingested a vulture into the engine and crashed in a residential area just short of the run way! The whole thing was caught on cockpit camera--bird makes a blur across the windshield and the pilot says, "OH SHIT!" followed by "We're not gonna' make the runway. Punching out." No body on the ground was injured although neither the jet nor somebody's house will ever be the same, not to mention the vulture. Instructor and student both hospitalized but okay.

Still working my through the menu with saturation, sharpness and noise suppression to be tweaked. Give me a few days and I'll have it dialed in so it thinks and sees like I do.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Wonderful, graceful photos! Glad to see you out and taking pics, Andy!

These are great and they flew right there so you could catch them.

[MLAA]

2. Nothing like a new piece of equipment to energize you! Great shots.

[Grasswire2]

3. where do these black vultures live?

I've been watching a group of five large dark birds for a month or so. I live on the bank of a large river. Lots of bald eagles, turkey vultures, etc. I think you might have identified what I'm seeing. Black vultures.

[Grasswire2]

5. just looked them up

That's it. Black vultures.

[magicarpet]

4. Looking good,... very nice photos.

Hope your calibration adjustments turn out as expected.

More photos - please.

[Pobeka]

6. Happy early Christmas. Have fun with it! (As you already are ;-) )

[George McGovern]

7. Excellent photos -- Excellent that you have a camera to match and expand your capabilities. Congrats!

[MagickMuffin]

8. Just watched the news and the crash happened last year

I thought there was another crash in Lake Worth. Glad this story was a follow up. I was helping a friend in Azle when this happened last year.

It would be scary living near the air base.





Nice photos of the vultures! Cameras are so amazing what they can do nowadays.

[AndyS]

9. This happened in Sept '22. Not last year.

When something like this happens things go quiet for a few days.

Living just north of the Joint Naval Reserve base gives me a head's up if there's a kerfuffle anywhere in the world. If there's a serious unrest out there they train 24/7. The F35 is one noisy beast!

When things get busy they fly over my house between 500~1000 feet and sometimes I can actually see into the cockpit as they bank hard to the right. I hope to someday get a shot but at that distance and at that speed with no warning it's a challenge!

For some reason the population of vultures in this area is very healthy. Birds and airplanes occupy the same airspace and it's kinda' surprising there isn't more interaction.

[MagickMuffin]

10. Wow, so one downed last year as well as this year, Yikes!

I’ve have several friends that live in the area. One lives close to the 199 bridge, another one lives in Azle close to Eagle Mountain Lake. I’ve had other friends that lived on Lake Worth, they’ve since moved outta state.

And yes those planes are loud.

I currently live with several airports around. With the arrival of Alliance Airport we now have FedEx planes, plus I think the military also uses it. Those FedEx planes fly pretty low over our house and I’m south of 820 and east of I35.


Stay safe out there. Vultures abound, in avian form and sometimes in human form. Vulture Capitalists are everywhere!

[AndyS]

11. The one last year was a mechanical failure of some kind.

It surprises me how often these ridiculously expensive airplanes just fall out of the sky . . .

I live on Eagle Mountain Lake. Little community called Pelican Bay. I can see the lake from my second story balcony. All the land along the lake shore is owned by the Tarrant Co water district and is posted.

[MagickMuffin]

12. Yeah, my friend lives up the street. There's a very small public park I checked out

Last edited Sun Sep 25, 2022, 01:52 PM - Edit history (1)

I’m familiar with Pelican Bay but I don’t think I have never been to it.


Wildlife unlimited access.



Edit to add Oak Harbor Park is close to my friends house, just across the lake from you.