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Snowy Owl: Ontario, Canada
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Not sure if that is actually what this Great Blue Heron is doing, but I am sure it was happy after enjoying a big feast of Sickle back and other ocean edibles during the low tide.
I liked how the green kelp made for a nice contrasting natural background for the heron.
The landscape may not be turning green yet, but there's one sure sign of spring here - a ballast train!
CP 6241 and CP 6306 lead two GREX conveyor train sets south over a classic truss bridge approaching Marquette, IA. This curve across the floodplain of the Yellow River and the Mississippi Backwater slough is below the bluffs Effigy Mounds National Monument, on the ridge in the background. The crew, running under the symbol BAL-05, has been battling a bit of congestion this morning around Harpers Ferry, but is finally getting to run out the last few miles for a crew change ahead at the depot. The former SOO SD60 duo sure brings a nice pop of color to the otherwise dull early April landscape. I’ve always liked this bridge but the ground view has always felt like it could use a slight bit of elevation. I don’t shoot “wide” with the drone as much anymore (I prefer the far-less-distorted 3x tele of the Air3 more often lately) but this scene and height seemed to suit.
A little more of the story for those that care:
The CKPC has started the annual warm-weather blitz of loads out of the pit at Waterloo, WI which supplies rock for many of the former ICE (nee-Milwaukee Road) lines into Iowa. And thankfully for us railfans anyway, these trains seem to be some of the last holdouts for some of the EMD SD products still getting to regularly run the mainline. So on this sunny beautiful Sunday morning, when I heard the CP 6241 get a warrant out of Bluff (La Crescent, MN) for a run down the river, I drove north to meet them.
The BAL-05 had a good run to Harpers Ferry, but then was stalled out by traffic ahead. There were at least 7 trains within about 25 miles of Marquette at one point for a couple hours: 4 trying to go south, two trying to come up from Dubuque and turn the corner towards Mason City, and one poor northbound that got hosed at Harpers Ferry for quite a while.
The CP Marquette Subdivision from Marquette to Bluff is one of the last bits of track that’s still under Track Warrant Control on this now-critical link between Davenport (Nahant) and St. Paul (there are a couple others, but CTC has been installed most of the way now), so the first trick DS was quite busy trying to keep on top of issuing and canceling warrants to keep everybody moving. It sometimes got a little messy (there was a shove move up a different leg of the wye in Marquette required at one point to make a meet work…). But trains eventually got to where they were supposed to be going! And since this BAL-05 was also following a slower train ahead, it allowed me to get 10 separate runbys over the course of the afternoon of this fine duo. A good early spring day even if it was still the "brown season!"
I'm not quite sure if the coordinates are correct, but that's what I thought when I photographed the pine tree and the oak on opposite sides of the yard, almost touching each other.
I'm sure O'hare is as big of a mess as Schiller Park was on this fine snowy afternoon. The WC Y0175 pig transfer for Bedford Park is sitting on the Gauntlet with Super John Fenliciki chomping at the bit to go while a CSX Grand Rapids crew (you can plainly see) is in their usual no hurry to depart on CP 504 out track 7 to B-12. He's doubled out of the south end of the yard at Soering Avenue before power switches and CTC... A SOO SD60 is very rare on jobs that always rated CP SD40's and sometimes MLW's in their final winter in 1996.... I'm sure 3025 is warm, I guess its time to crawl back up on my geep and have another cup of coffee, it's going to be another all day, one-way adventure...
Not sure if these longnose suckers (let me know if mis-identified) are still in the spawning stage of their annual life cycle. They can become quite red on their sides when they do. Regardless, I like the way their tails looked in the water as they were undulating to keep their position in the water flowing down Whitemud Creek. The water in this creek is like tea, or maybe pee, being quite yellow/brown. Made for fun during post processing.
I haven't been here for a while, waiting for proper winter conditions.
I always loved the shape of the Blondin support tower, the aerial ropeway system that lifted carts of slate out of the bottom of the quarry. I'm not sure where the other end was secured to on the opposite side of the quarry but it must have had equally substantial fixings.
There are some climbers, slightly below centre of this shot.
They sure do master that stare early - wild young Great Horned Owlet perched waiting for an adult to return with a meal. Fun to watch them develop and grow.
Not sure what the status is with the original 'Maritime One' given the deal and repaints in DBC. A welcome sight therefore before a possible repaint, to capture this loco at the head of 6L61, under an STP. This was the forth train to traverse the Rylstone branch since midnight and it wasn't even 9am. Another three were seen later in the day.
66727 passes Scale House with the 08.20 Rylstone to Scunthorpe Anchor sidings. 25/7/2019
Sure, Sintra is a tourist trap, but I was happy to be held captive by a leisurely hike to the summit of famed Pena Palace so as to see its colours accentuated by the late afternoon sun.
The Pena Palace is a Romanticist palace in São Pedro de Penaferrim, in the municipality of Sintra, on the Portuguese Riviera. The castle stands on the top of a hill in the Sintra Mountains above the town of Sintra, and on a clear day it can be easily seen from Lisbon and much of its metropolitan area. It is a national monument and constitutes one of the major expressions of 19th-century Romanticism in the world. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. It is also used for state occasions by the President of the Portuguese Republic and other government officials.
Source Wikipedia
First saw this a couple of weeks or so beforehand, but foolishly I didn't get photos. Made sure I got some this time!
I'd be a fine thing to see on my French holiday, let alone here. Looks to have been a local-ish car from new as well, yet I don;t recall seeing it until this year.
Be sure to click the following link for more pics and blog credits... [ladiesstylecloset.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/4827/ Blog]
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Not sure which one of the Doli flies this is, they don;t still for long and this one was gone before the next shutter click. Happy Fly Day Friday
Sure It looks pretty when that snow's in the forest, but when it's piled up on your driveways, streets and sidewalks - not so much.
I was very pleased to see a few snowdrops growing out at Alturlie. They are so delicate and a sure reminder that spring is in the air.
Not sure what it’s doing in Maine, but it definitely found the best spot and I think it’ll be happy there for quite awhile. So fun to watch him hawk big insects. Lifer!
Sure it was trailing...but having never seen this one of a kind unit before I did my best to capture a clean roster shot here since this was a rather cool bonus. Iowa Interstate ES44AC 516 was blt. Dec. 2014 as part of the regional's third order of modern GE road power. It was specially painted in this Rock Island style red and yellow scheme as part of the IAIS' 30th anniversary celebrations.
It is seen here switching across South Sixth Street adjacent to the historic Rock Island depot.
To learn more check out the long form caption with my first post of this train:
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Tuesday August 31, 2021
A sure sign of spring! This Hairy Woodpecker was loudly drumming in a stand of Balsam Poplar trees. Drumming, or pecking very loudly, is the mating call for most woodpeckers.