Though a lot of my photography focuses on birds, such as this Northern Gannet…

…sometimes I get the opportunity to photograph whales as well.  

Even when I go on whale watches, it’s primarily about finding new birds, and Monday’s trip was no exception.  But this time, something happened that I’d never seen before.

But first, the birds.

Almost every whale watch I’ve ever been on has involved a single sighting of a Common Loon.  This isn’t a very good look, but it was enough to ID it clearly:

Another common sight is double-crested cormorants.  This trip both began and ended with them:

Northern Gannets are birds I’ve seen in both small and large numbers on different trips, but this trip yielded some of the best looks I’ve ever gotten of them:

This Parasitic Jaeger was a real treat.  I’d never seen one before:

Same with this Roseate Tern.  I spotted it from a distance and just kept photographing it as we got closer, hoping it was something other than a common tern.  I lucked out.

We saw three kinds of Shearwaters on this trip, and I managed to photograph two of them.  The ones that are all one color are the Sooty Shearwaters, named for their relatively gray appearance.  The Greater Shearwaters are the brown and white ones:

Wilson’s Storm-Petrels are one of the most common birds in the world, but they’re difficult to photograph.  They’re sea birds, but only the size of robins and they dart around very quickly.  Again, I got lucky, not just for the Wilson’s, but because some of these might be Leech’s storm petrels (they both have that white rump marker, but the leech’s are known to have theirs split).  If anyone can positively ID these as either Leech’s or Wilson’s, I’d appreciate it.

And now the whales.  I got a few photos of fin whales, but I’m not including them.  They’re great animals, but they’re a little dull from the surface photography perspective.  Instead, I’m focusing on humpbacks.  First, a humpback skimming the surface, getting ready to dive:

Notice the green in the water.  Those are the whale’s flippers, which are white, appearing green through the water.  Next are flukes, which are the whale tails, sticking up as they go in for a deeper dive:

Finally, the most exciting part.  I’ve been on lots of whale watches.  There are two I will remember above all others.  The first was getting to see a mother and baby humpback do synchronized swimming together.

The second was this.  

When humpbacks feed, they sometimes do a trick with bubbles: they will blow up from underwater, creating these pockets of bubbles which trap fish in them and make it easier to take a big gulp of fish in one try.  I’d heard of this, but never seen it.  My impression of it was that it was something that happened underwater.  

But.  Not.  Always.

What you see below is the result of that bubble feeding, not by a single whale, but by a pair of them, which pushed the fish to the surface and then simultaneously popped out of the water with their mouths wide open.  I did not get this photo the first time.  The 2nd time, I was ready for it, but the light was poor, so I made the best of the opportunity.  These are by no means the best photos I’ve ever taken of whales, but there’s something about being witness to this that was pure exhilaration, and I’m just hoping I can convey some small part of it.

Take a careful look at that first photo.  What you see is the open mouths of the whales– you’re only seeing part of the mouth.  In the second photo, you can see both the upper and lower part of the whale’s jaw.  In the third, you can see its mouth almost closed, while the one behind it still has the jaw wide open.

Wow.

A quick note: all of these are smaller versions of the photos on my website.  Clicking on them will get you to larger versions with more details (ISO settings, lens settings, etc.).

This was part of a 5-6 hour trip, a specialized tour for both whales and birds, put on by a joint effort with Joppa Flats Nature Center and Newburyport Whale Watch.  They do a few of these each Summer, and they’re well worth it.  

( – promoted by odum)

First off, before all you Democrats jump down my throat, I still think he’s way better a president than McCaint ever woulda been.

But ya know, his rhetoric far exceeds his deliverables.

For example, Obama had promised (and it was on the White House website at least until April 15) to fully fund needle exchange programs to prevent the spread of HIV. So guess what? Not only did he cut the funding for the needle exchange programs in his budget, but he called for the funding ban to remain in place. And his promise disappeared from the website. And if you don’t believe me, Rachel Maddow had it on her program a few days ago. So I guess it went down the memory hole.

So then there was this demonstration in the Capitol Rotunda, and 26 people got arrested for chaining themselves together and shouting “Clean Needles Save Lives” in protest of this gross betrayal. But, over on Pam’s House Blend, Keori reports that “Protests Work – House Dems Buck Obama and Lift Federal Ban on Syringe Exchange,” quoting a story from Huffpost. It’s all in the Appropriations Committee and there’s a long ways to go, but the HIV advocates, at least, are not taking Obama’s reversals lying down. Yay for them! Now, if only the HRC and the NGLTF could get a little inspired, we might get somewhere on DOMA and DADT.

 

And then there’s a kind of confusing story about Obama’s first signing statement over at The Hill. I don’t actually know whether it’s Obama’s first signing statement. And, it’s true that he never actually promised not to do it. But given how much he (and all of us too) criticized the former Chief Executive over ridiculous signing statements supposedly canceling out huge swaths of the laws they were attached to, well, you wouldn’t expect Prez O to go ahead and do one this soon, wouldja?

This one is about some restrictions on international aid payments involving stronger environmental and labor protections. The Prez didn’t want to go along, and the House voted 429-2 (talk about bipartisan!) for an amendment that requires the big O to abide by these restrictions. And, it was proposed by a REPUGLICAN!

Love him or hate him, Barney Frank had this to say:

“We do this not just on behalf of this institution, but on behalf of this democracy,” said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). “There’s kind of a unilateralism, an undemocratic, unreachable way about these signing statements.”

I think if we want activists to make a difference here, we should do some kind of “Obama Watch” where people keep an eye out for broken promises and serious flip flops. I’m not volunteering, I’ve got enough to do. But maybe if everybody contributed something, we’d all know more about where to put our energies to make change (and I ain’t talkin’ nickels and dimes). How else are we going to keep him accountable?

 

Three things have happened: 1) The Senator was on the Tim Johnson radio show on WTSA in Brattleboro yesterday. A caller asked the Senator whether he would support the repeal of DOMA. The Senator reportedly said he would support repeal. 2) The Senator has released a letter explicitly indicating his intention to support the repeal of DOMA (excerpt below). 3) The Senator’s office has released a letter indicating he would support repeal of DADT (excerpt 2).

On DOMA:

As a Vermonter who has been married for 46 years, I am a great fan of the institution of marriage.  […]

I believe that all people should be treated equally and that the issue of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights — like the rights for women, racial minorities, and people with disabilities — is one of basic civil rights for all people.  Secondly, states, not the Federal Government, have traditionally set laws on marriage.  Just as Vermont passed a bill to recognize same-sex marriages, I believe that each state should retain authority to define marriage as it sees fit.  

Now that states that have voted to give full marriage rights to same-sex couples, the Federal government should not interfere with those laws.  Vermont and other states have chosen to give these rights to same-sex couples, and states should be allowed to do that. DOMA now can be used to withhold those rights in some instances, and I would vote to repeal it.

On DADT:

The current policy on service of gay and lesbian citizens is that they can serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation secret. […] This policy has resulted in the discharge of more than 10,000 [sic; the number is actually more than 13,000] well-trained, committed individuals due to their sexual orientation.  Instead, I believe each and every member of our military should be judged solely on their ability to get the job done for our country regardless of their sexual orientation.  

On March 3, 2009, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2007 was introduced in the House of Representatives.  This bill would repeal the current Department of Defense (DoD) policy concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces by prohibiting discrimination against any member of the Armed Forces or any person seeking to become a member.  […] This bill has been referred to the House Committee on Armed Services where it awaits further consideration.  Should similar legislation be introduced in the Senate, I plan to support it.

These statements didn’t come out of the blue. Local activists pushed to get the Senator to take a public stand ahead of the VDP State Committee’s endorsement vote for Leahy on July 18.

 

In the last two weeks an unknown but relatively substantial number of Vermonters – including VDP chairwoman Judy Bevans — have called or emailed the Senator’s office to raise the issue. According to state committee supporters of LGBT equality, without a public statement from Senator Leahy, there might have been as many as 18 votes against endorsement — * enough to derail what would otherwise be a foregone conclusion.* [corrected: if every voting delegate attended the meeting, there would be 47 votes; an endorsement requires 2/3 plus one or 32 votes; 47-18 = 29]

It became an issue because Senator Leahy voted for DOMA in 1996.

The statements are also happening within the context of the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Sotomayor, a major priority for the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

So far so good. Our senior Senator has promised to support repeal of two laws enacting official discrimination against Americans on the basis of their sexual orientation. So, for that matter, has the President. Let’s keep the pressure on so their statements are only the beginning of real action.

Cross posted from Rational Resistance:

Okay, here's another one: you wouldn't necessarily say that every time a Republican goes near a computer it helps us, but they really aren't helping themselves.

Here's a story from the Daily Beast about Audra Shay, a woman who's the leading candidate to be the national chair of the Young Republicans. (I know, I know, my mother always said there was no such thing.) On her Facebook page she starts complaining about Wal-Mart, and how they're helping the country go communist by supporting Obama's health plan, and people start making comments.

One of her friends posts this comment:

“Obama Bin Lauden [sic]  is the new terrorist… Muslim is on there side [sic]… need to take this country back from all of these mad coons… and illegals.”

Eight minutes later, Audra posts back: “You tell em Eric!  lol.”

Two of Audra's friend point out that there might be something wrong with endorsing this kind of racist statement, and Audra responds by defriending them. Then she claims that she wasn't responding to Eric's racist comment, but another comment he made an hour earlier.

Yeah, right.

So follow the links and read the whole story. She took down the page, but someone had already archived it, so the links take you right to the evidence.

Once again, I say, let's handcuff the Republicans to their computers. It can only help us.

Dr. Naylor will appear on our television show this Sunday, July 12 at 7pm.  The focus of the program will be GM’s bankruptcy, Senator Sanders’ S604, VT’s budget gap and Obama’s healthcare proposals.  In our phone conversation yesterday, he told me that he’s particularly interested in presenting a philisophical perspective on healthcare rather than economic; specifically that when a person’s fear of death meets a physician’s/insurer’s/policy maker’s greed, then the sky is the limit on price.  

The show can be watched LIVE on channel 15 in Burlington or LIVE online at http://asrblog.com/airtimes-in…

The call-in number is 656-0589

A dubious distinction.  The article (which I lifted from Huff Post) points out that, in underfunding our famous environmental regulatory system, the governor is, in effect, attacking the Vermont “brand” that makes our state and its products marketable to the rest of the country.  Some recovery plan!

Here is the link:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business…

This is from the Public Service Board website.

“Public Hearings Scheduled:  

Docket 7530 In Re Petition of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, to locate a new perimeter fence is scheduled for July 13, 2009, at 7:00 P.M., at the Vernon Elementary School Cafeteria, 381 Governor Hunt Road in Vernon.”

Entergy Nuclear wants to move the fence farther away from their leaking reactor because they can’t comply with radiation limits.

I say, sure, let ENVY move the fence. Move it to the other side of the Vernon Elementary School  — the school’s too close to the reactor. Shut down Vernon School and have Entergy build a new school where it’s safe. The radiation exposure limits are not set to protect growing children. The limits are based on damage to healthy adult men, not on the effects to more vulnerable people.

And if everything is so hunky-dorey at Entergy, why haven’t the radiation calculations from last year been released yet?

Still massaging the data at the Dept of Health?

Or did Gov. Douglas lay off too many people?

CIA Director Leon Panetta told the House Intelligence Committee that the agency had misled and “concealed significant actions from all members of Congress” dating back to 2001 and continuing until late June, according to a letter from seven Democrats on the panel.

The letter was dated June 26, two days after Panetta appeared before a closed door session with the committee and it asked that the CIA chief “correct” his statement from May 15 that “it is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress.”

(Panetta Admits CIA Misled Congress on “Significant Actions”, CQ Politics, 07/09/09)

Per today’s Rutland Herald:

In a repudiation of the state’s handling of wastewater treatment plant permits, an environmental court judge has tossed out an approval granted to the Montpelier facility.

There are significant potential long-term implications as a result of the ruling for all wastewater treatment plants that discharge into the Lake Champlain watershed – which includes two-thirds of the state and the majority of Vermont cities from Rutland to Burlington.

Judge Thomas Durkin, appointed by Gov. James Douglas, ruled that the Agency of Natural Resources had not done enough analysis of the impact of the plant on Lake Champlain before granting a permit renewal to the city of Montpelier.

This is kind of big.  Not only does it put every other plant producing similar pollution on warning that they may have to upgrade, it strikes a major blow against the laissez faire attitude towards pollution shown by the Douglas administration.  

 My apologies here .As GMD fact check points out I do not know my  NRG(NRG Incorporated ) from ENT(Entergy) and jumped foolishly to some very mistaken conclusions here .I intend to put much greater stock in fact checking and patience in the future ….BP

According to reports the deal making is heating up in the nuclear sector as Chicago based Exelon upped it hostile take over bid for Entergy .However Wednesday Entergy rejected the $8billion stock bid from the hostile suitor ,but also said “it is still open to any proposal that properly accounts for its fundamental value and extraordinary growth prospects.”

A hostile takeover allows a suitor to bypass a target company’s management .I didn’t even know Entergy was dating. I must read all the wrong Vermont papers to have just discovered all this by accident or maybe it just isn’t a big game changer .It certainly sounds newsworthy.

Exelon Corp  said it plans to hold a conference call on Thursday morning to discuss its hostile takeover bid for independent power producer NRG Energy Inc Exelon, the largest nuclear power company in the United States, in October offered 0.485 of one of its shares for every NRG share. It has nominated a slate of directors to stand for election at NRG’s annual meeting………..

But the bid has become the subject of much speculation as NRG’s stock price has risen above Exelon’s offer price. Analysts have suggested that this means that Exelon would have to materially raise its bid to win NRG shareholder support.

Several arbitrageurs — investors who speculate on companies involved in ongoing deals — suggested that Exelon might simply try to talk NRG’s share price down or its own share price up. But another did say that it would be unusual for the company to hold an event if it did not plan to change its bid.

Naturally this raises a ton of questions about how the deal will effect Vermont Yankee and its pending license extension. Who might get custody of poor little debt ridden potential spin-off Enexus? An Exelon Entergy mash-up would create a most formidable corporate foe for the state to deal with on the regulatory level. Another question that springs to mind is has this on-going threat of a hostile takeover already been a factor.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/…

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/…

http://www.reuters.com/article…