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Some Unexpected Visitors at the Flying Field


The images presented here were taken in late July, 1999, when I went to visit my friend David inCalifornia. During my stay, we flew on two separate occasions. Each session began about 2:30 pmand ended sometime around 10:00 pm. Needless to say, we like to fly. I brought three of my planesout: a Balsa USA Stick 40, an old Stick 30 (with a 4-stroke diesel engine), and my night fly GoldbergEagle II. David brought out his red night fly Eagle II that he seems to have been flying foreverwith a diesel .20 2-stroke engine. He has racked up over 90 hours of flight time on that plane (with that engine),and it is obvious the Energizer bunny doesn't have a chance. On our first trip out to the field,David added about three hours of flight time to his Eagle. On the second trip, he added 4.25 hoursto the total, and consumed only 30 oz. of fuel. He really likes to fly!
On each of our visits to the field, we encountered some unexpected visitors. There were six owls seekingshade under the ramada. Here's just a few of the shots we collected before we scared them off forthe day.
Our arrival concerned some of the owls, and they fled from under the ramada only to perch on a nearby fence. They never took their eyes off of us.
I suppose owls must find it tiring to stand on the end of a thin post after a while. This onetook a moment to stretch out its leg. Either that, or it was trying to teach us its favorite dance.
Well, when I said the owls never took their eyes off of us, I guess what I really meant was thatthere was always at least one owl checking us out while the other owls were watching their backs.
While a few owls chose to perch on the fence in full sunlight, others chose to seek shade behinda bush in the desert behind the fence. These two owls were doing their best to beat the heat,wishing we would just go away and leave them alone.
Last, but not least, is an artist's (my fiancee's) rendition of me and the owls, each enjoying ourown unique ability to fly at night.
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Copyright 1999
07/28/2000