in town, engaging in their usual harassing behavior towards the other birds at the feeding stations.
Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia).
Perseverance's view...
during entry, descent and landing on Mars, as captured by the Lander Vision System camera used for terrain recognition and final targeting of the landing site. The Jezero delta is clearly recognizable in these images captured during its last minutes of flight. Wow!
Landing site indicated by red circle near the bottom-center of the image.
Oblique view of delta front captured just seconds before landing.
Muley portrait...
Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus).
Seasonal changing of the guard...
as spring arrives. The Dark-Eyed Juncos have migrated elsewhere and the common House Sparrows have wasted no time claiming the territory.
Male House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in breeding plumage.
An absolutely glorious day...
in Castle Valley, pretty much demanding that I get out on the bike. But then, what day doesn’t? I saw the first lizards scooting about the red rocks today, a sure sign of spring.
Pano of Adobe Mesa and the distant, higher La Sal Mountains (click on image to enlarge).
The rear rack is a new addition and will now allow me to make full use of the RadRover 5, enabling me to carry my heavier camera gear and tripod when stalking wildlife.
Back in the valley...
after a two week absence. First order of business was to go for a ride! Priorities.
State of the western snowpack...
as of 1 March 2021. At a glance the Cascades and northern Rockies are average to well above average while the central and southern Rockies are average to well below average.
Snow water equivalent percent map from NRCS.
An adventure in the Adriatic...
region in 2016 with Zegrahm Expeditions is now featured in a new gallery page.
Plitvice Lakes is the oldest and largest national park in the Republic of Croatia, and features natural tufa dams that are growing higher by the continuous deposition of dissolved calcium carbonate in the water by plants, algae and mosses.
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge...
in eastern Washington provided a sunny but wintry backdrop for an early morning outing in sub-zero windchill conditions. The various and active waterfowl did not disappoint, and patient shooting was richly rewarded.
Mated pair of Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) in flight, the largest of waterfowl, and both the heaviest and longest native bird of North America.
Northern Pintails (Anas acuta) maneuvering on final approach.
Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) on parade. (Click on image to enlarge.)
Read about the restoration of Trumpeter Swans at Turnbull NWR in the 1950s.
Jezero delta front panorama...
constructed from images acquired by the Mastcam-Z cameras on the Perseverance rover during Sol 3. I’ve been drinking from the fire hose of thousands of new downloaded raw images and selected three to process and stitch together that depict the low escarpment at the delta front. The panorama clearly shows the distributary channels standing out on the upper delta plain in relief, as surrounding finer-grained sediments are swept away by the wind, coarser-grained channel deposits stand out as more prominent outcrops.
Panorama view of delta front about 1.8 km away from Perseverance rover. High crater rim is approximately 10 km distant. (Click on image to enlarge.) The former inflow channel to the delta from Neretva Vallis is in the low spot on the very left of this image.
Perseverance rover location indicated by red circle, 1.8 km from the delta front. The curved red line indicates portion of delta front seen in the first image above, and the red X (upper right corner) marks the high peak seen in the distance on the crater rim.
Screenshot showing the Horton River delta in the Canadian Arctic, a smaller but excellent terrestrial analog of the Jezero delta on Mars. These small deltaic landforms are known as a “Gilbert-type deltas,” so named after G.K. Gilbert of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Plate XXVII from US Geological Survey Monograph No. 1. (1890), Gilbert’s study of pluvial Lake Bonneville. Here the Logan River is incising into the Pleistocene-age delta deposits along the Wasatch front in Utah. Compare this diagram with the panorama of the Jezero delta on Mars.
Local geography revealed...
of the landing site of the Perseverance rover, facing rearward towards Jezero delta and the distant high crater rim. I’ve downloaded and enhanced a just-released new image from the left navigation camera, seen on the right below, annotating prominent points on the horizon (H), a small butte (B) and two nearby delta lobes (L). One can also spy the former inflow channel, Neretva Vallis, as the low point on the crater rim.
Aerial view of landing site in Jezero Crater (on left) and processed Perseverance image (on right) showing annotated landscape features. The light blue lines indicate the camera’s field of view in the image, and the orange oval surrounds an area brushed clear by the descent stage rockets during landing. Those are the right rear wheels of the rover seen in the image. (Click on image to enlarge.)
Am I enjoying this? Yes, yes I am! If you wanna play, here are the raw images.
New Astrophotography gallery added...
that features images caught (mostly) in the dark of night, including the Milky Way, star trails, lunar and solar eclipses. Navigate to the Gallery link in the menu and enjoy!
My buddies and I...
would like to announce the new gallery page on Papua New Guinea. Images shot during Zegrahm Expeditions’ 2019 itinerary are now featured, so hit the Gallery link to navigate to the new page. Enjoy!
Hooray hooray...
we landed on Mars (again) today, exactly on target! Here are the first low-res images from the hazard cameras on the belly of the Perseverance rover, now healthy on the surface in Jezero Crater at the foot of a Gilbert delta. Happy exploring! I’ll eat rocks if they find stromatolites!
Here’s the NASA/JPL Mars 2020 Mission Website.
Red circle indicates approximate position of Perseverance rover, about 2 kilometers southeast of the delta front.
Screenshot of an on-line interactive map showing the rover’s position throughout its mission on the red planet.
BREAKING NEWS: Marvin just entered the picture and he seems none too pleased at the sudden intrusion!
19 Feb 2021 UPDATE: Sol 1 images from Mars!
First high-res color image (without lens cap) showing an escarpment that is the delta front on the horizon.
High-resolution image showing one of the rover’s six wheels and what appear to be fragments of vesicular basalt, likely from the crater floor.
21 Feb 2021 UPDATE: I’ve stretched and annotated an image from the rear hazard camera with my interpretations, shown below.
Click on image to enlarge.
Another return visitor...
at dusk, looking for a Junco snack. I love the somewhat macho Napoleonic pose being struck here by the most diminutive hawk in North America. (These guys aren’t much larger than an American Robin.)
Sharp-Shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus).
They're back...
at the feeder this afternoon. Persistent Pinyon Jays. And wonderfully colorful!
A party of Pinyon Jays...
invaded the feeding stations this morning.
Juvenile Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) relaxing in the rabbitbrush.
These two jays, working with dozens of others, shoveled nearly the entire contents of this feeder onto the ground in about 20 minutes time.
A junior member...
of the local Sharp-Shinned Hawk family visits this morning. Again, lousy conditions for photography but this was the first opportunity to catch this little one, all fluffed up and waiting for a meal.
Sharp-Shinned Hawk spying breakfast...
from its perch near the feeding station. Poor conditions for photography, but I do like the posture.
Mule deer trotting by...
this evening as I quickly got a couple of shots off from the back deck.
