030. Hawks Train Hunting

This is my favorite time of year, and not just because of that crispness in the air which fall brings.

No, it's because it's when young hawks are trained to hunt!

Usually this means there are two adults and one juvenile flying very close, and hang out in one spot (over my house) long enough to take photos... oh, and it helps there's an early-detection system, too, with a loud alarm: CROWS!!!

Crows don't like hawks "conducting business" in their neighborhood, so they gang up and "mob" the trespassers. Normally this means a close-range cacophony of belligerent ca-caws, but one brave crow actually went birdo-e-birdo against the youthful hawk this time! Maybe it's a mutually agreed upon training strategy between the species, who knows...

*** NOTE: these photos were taken in the driveway (and it's a residential neighborhood) ***

028. 2012 Chicago Air Show

024. JSOH Air Show

This weekend was the air show for the Joint Services Open House at Andrews Air Force base. 

I only had an hour and a half to take it all in...

Of the few aerial displays I saw, the osprey was easily my favorite. Note that the propellers switch from forward-facing like a plane's to vertical like a helicopter's, while it's flying!

They called it an Air Show, but there was plenty to see on the ground... planes, jets, helicopters, tanks and all sorts of military vehicles, old & new. I could have spent all day there, easily.

Wish I could have seen this Harrier jump jet in the air...

Military golf-cart:

This next one may have been Photoshopped, I'm not sure...

International Trucks were proud to serve our country as well: