Posted on by Anne Sandler

No horse on this island: Mare Island, Vallejo

It’s been a few years, and I wondered how much this former naval shipyard may have changed. Mare Island, in Vallejo,was America’s first such military post on the West Coast. Established in 1854, it was closed in 1996.

When I first visited, the transformation to a multi-use of commercial, residential and other uses had begun. During one visit, we caught the sunset as it gleamed through broken windows. The old buildings were already decaying. I also visited the island to view Osprey as they nested. (Of course, I can’t find those pictures. I did notice from the pictures I did find that my shooting and editing abilities have progressed!)

So, at our recent visit, I wasn’t surprised to find small changes. Some of the buildings that were behind chain-link fencing were re-opened and turned into businesses. Some older buildings remained as was.

Window reflections told stories:

We toured the USS LCS (L) (3) 102: “A Mighty Midget.” This Landing Craft Support ship was a shallow craft vessel designed to provide close-in fire support for our troops going ashore in the amphibious landings in the Pacific during WWII. Dedicated volunteers are restoring the ship and giving tours:

We also toured the Mare Island Museum, and I’ll show you those images in my next post. Stay tuned for part two!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Second Annual San Francisco Bay Osprey Days, part 2

Don’t waste gas! Now that we’ve done our best to capture the ospreys and their nests, Laura, Jean and I decided to shoot more of Mare Island. I’ve shown you some of it in a previous post, but this time I’m working on mastering HDR.

The Island is being transformed into a multi-use area including a golf course, restaurant, museum and more. We went down to the dock to shoot some of the vacant buildings. This is a short post since I mostly wanted to show you the images that weren’t related to the ospreys.

We do try to get as much done during out outings–we don’t want to have to come back again. But, I have a feeling I will be back!

 

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Second annual osprey festival at Mare Island, California

We were told to bring our long lens–or rent one! That was one message that many of us did not listen to when we went to the San Francisco Bay Osprey Days Festival. 

During this two-day event, you could take a boat tour, car tour or walking tour. All tours allowed for seeing the huge osprey nests. The free car and walking tours were led by volunteer docents from the Mare Island Preserve organization. They also hosted a visitors center where they offered us drinks and delicious desserts, asking only for a small donation. The docents were extremely knowledgeable about the osprey and their annual nesting habits. And, fortunately, they knew where each nest was located. We were also shown a couple of abandoned nests. We may have been able to locate the nests on our own, but I do get dizzy when I keep looking straight up in the air! Yes, the nests are high and are typically on phone and/or utility poles.

Viewing the nests was a challenge. My 300 mm lens barely made it. I only captured one nest where the birds were in focus because I was standing on a bridge. While shooting that nest, we saw a mother bird fly in with a fish to the three babies, she puts it in the nest, dad flies in, dad sits with mom and the babies, and then he flies off with the fish! I caught it all with my camera. The docent said that many dads will eat part of the fish before the babies who get the leftovers. And, I’m wondering, when does the mom eat? Didn’t she catch the fish?

Fortunately, at the other nests, one of the docents had a small telescope and shared it with us. At least we could all see the birds up close. I am going to post some of the shots that did not catch the birds in focus because I do want you to see where and how high these nests are.

After both tours, we did some shooting down by the docks. Again, I tried some HDR. I’m doing this as a two part post. First, enjoy the action at the osprey nest.