Film Review: "The Wildest Dream"

A month ago I wrote a blog about Wade Davis’s Into The Silence - his recent book describing the British expeditions of 1921, 1922 and 1924, which developed into a sustained campaign to conquer Mt. Everest for the first time. It was the last major prize of a long period of exploration and adventure in the early decades of the twentieth century. Davis focused especially on the talented and charismatic George Mallory – considered the best British mountain climber of his generation. He was the only mountaineer of the group who participated in all three trips west across Tibet from northern India - attempting to reach the top of Everest via the immense mountain's daunting north face.

Interested in learning more about Mallory and those expeditions of the early 1920s, I did a search of the resources available at the Hamilton Public Library. To my surprise, I discovered a blu-ray DVD titled The Wildest Dream. It turns out to be a perfect companion-piece to the Davis book – or an alternative version of the story, for those reluctant to plough their way through the detailed history found in his 573-page book.

The Wildest Dream was directed by Anthony Geffen for Altitude Films; it was released in 2009 by National Geographic Entertainment. Its focus is on George Mallory’s attempts to climb Everest - and how his life-story intersects with, and parallels, that of contemporary American climber Conrad Anker, who found Mallory’s frozen remains on the upper slopes of the mountain in 1999, 75 years after he died in a last desperate attempt to reach the summit.

The film opens with a re-enactment of Anker’s discovery of Mallory’s body. It wasn’t an accidental discovery – Anker was part of an expedition team who were looking specifically for Mallory’s and Irvine’s bodies (Irvine was Mallory’s climbing partner on that day of June 8, 1924, when they went missing, trying one last time to get to the top of Everest). Footage from 1994 shows their search of the dead climber’s clothing. Mallory’s identity is confirmed by a name tag sewn into a piece of his clothing. Artifacts and papers are removed from the scene and provide some clues about their owner’s final hours alive on the mountain. Mallory had promised his wife Ruth that he would leave a photograph of her at the summit. That photograph was not found in any of his pockets. Also, a pair of snow goggles were found – suggesting that the sun had gone down when the accident occurred that killed the two climbers. If it was that late in the day, perhaps they had been delayed getting to the summit, and were on their way back. Furthermore, Mallory’s body was found in a position well below the Second Step, the last difficult bit of climbing they would have faced.

Modern climbers in vintage climbing gear of the 1920s

The first half-hour of the film gives a good summary of Mallory’s  life, up to the time he made a lecture tour of the United States between January and March of 1923. It was during that visit that Mallory was asked, at the end of one of his talks, why he was driven to climb Everest. He responded famously: “Because it’s there.” This part of the film goes into the background of his life, including his education at Cambridge University and his experiences in the trenches during World War I. Twenty of the twenty-six climbers who took part in the 1920s expeditions were veterans of the Great War.

The next section of the film concentrates on Conrad Anker and his decision to return to Mt. Everest in order to attempt a free-climb of the Second Step, a tricky cliff face at 28,300 feet that Mallory and Irvine would have had to get up and over in order to reach the summit. Just as Mallory needed a partner during his climb – he and Irvine would be attached to each other in the “brotherhood of the rope” – Anker recruits young British mountaineer Leo Houlding to join him on his adventure. Houlding was a talented young climber, but like Mallory, Irvine and the rest of the climbers on those 1920s expeditions, he had no experience of high-altitude climbing. But he's a good rock-climber - demonstrated by an amazing sequence that shows him climbing a rock-face without any ropes. He clambers over a couple of overhangs - suspended just by his fingertips.

During Anker’s and Houlding’s climb of Everest they also test out modern reproductions of the gear that Mallory and Irvine were using – clothing made from gabardine and climbing shoes which were nothing more, really, than hob-nailed boots.  They wore seven layers of clothing – just managing to cope with conditions on the upper reaches of the mountain. The boots, however, were completely inadequate. When Anker and Houlding don the vintage clothing for the second time - above Camp 4 - they narrowly escape suffering frostbite.

Conrad Anker (left) and Leo Houlding (right)

The last section of the film shows the struggle to get over the Second Step. It takes about 45 minutes, but Anker - taking the lead - eventually finds a route. The way is clear, and he and Houlding quickly make their way to the summit. Did Mallory and Irvine get over the Second Step themselves and reach the top? Or were they forced to abandon their goal after a long struggle with the extreme weather conditions? It seems no definitive answer is possible – unless Irvine’s body is eventually found and reveals more conclusive clues.

The Wildest Dream is a fascinating film for those who are interested in mountaineering in general, or the climbing of Everest in particular. The mix of historical detail and contemporary adventure is compelling; and the production is top-notch. There are two narrative voices driving the documentary forward: Liam Neeson is used predominantly to give the history of the 1920s expeditions; in the second half of the film, Anker’s voice takes over - recounting his ascent up the mountain, following in Mallory’s footsteps.

Ruth & George Mallory

One of the most effective techniques in the film is to use actors Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson to give voice to George and Ruth Mallory. And Hugh Dancy speaks for Sandy Irvine. No captions or identifiers are needed; their distinctive voices are immediately recognizable. Whenever they speak, we know who it is being portrayed. And the excerpts we hear - especially those from the regular letters back-and-forth between Mallory and his wife - recreate the drama of those times brilliantly, and, as Mallory’s fate moves inexorably closer, they become very moving.

The Wildest Dream is a blu-ray production. The modern footage of Everest and the land seen on the long approach to the mountain is stunning. Some computer-generated sequences are amazing – such as the footage showing the long ascent up the main Rongbuk Glacier, the parallel East Rongbuk Glacier, and the steep cliff of snow and ice leading up to the North Col. The views looking north, down and away from the Second Step, are breath-taking.

The film is also full of excellent black-and-white photographs taken during the expeditions of the 1920s. More importantly, there are many sequences showing film shot during 1922 and 1924 by British cinematographer John Noel (taken from the National Archives of the British Film Institute), who would use his footage later to produce a couple of documentaries about the British exploration of Tibet and the attempts to climb Mt. Everest. So we see lots of images – still photographs and very old film footage – that help us to imagine the type of person George Mallory was.

The director adds several dramatic reconstructions of Mallory and Irvine’s final climb – including an impressive sequence that shows the probable course of the accident that led to their demise. Seeing the actors on the slopes of the mountain in their period clothing makes you marvel at the ability of those early climbers to deal with the incredibly harsh conditions faced at those high altitudes – not just the extreme weather, but also the debilitating lack of oxygen.

Conrad Anker and Leo Houlding wearing vintage gabardine climbing clothes and hob-nailed boots

Eight years after finding the body of George Mallory 800 feet from the summit of Everest, the circle is complete. Anker and Houlding have retraced the intended path of Mallory and Irvine to the top of the world. “I know you can achieve your wildest dream,” Ruth wrote to Mallory about his obsessive drive to be the first man to conquer Everest. This fascinating film gives a riveting account of the struggle, and goes a long way to showing what kind of special people they are who are willing to risk their lives doing the same.

Saints promoted to Premier League!

With today’s 4-0 win against Coventry at home in St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton Football Club (the “Saints”) have been promoted back to the Premier League, after seven years in the English footballing “wilderness”. Southampton were relegated from the Premier League in May 2005, ending twenty-seven successive seasons of top-division football (the “First Division”, and then the “Premier League”).


The financial and administrative mess that led to the collapse of the club’s fortunes continued, as Saints were relegated to League One (the third division) at the end of the 2008-2009 season. On 23 April 2009, Southampton received a ten-point deduction, following their parent company going into administration. This deduction led to the second relegation – into League One. 


Through May and June of 2009 Southampton were in danger of going bankrupt and folding as a football club, but they were bought by Swiss industrial magnate Markus Liebherr. Liebherr eliminated all the club’s debts and hired Swiss businessman, Nicola Cortese, as the new CEO of the club.

Rickie Lambert - 27 league goals this season

 In July 2009, Cortese brought in Alan Pardew as manager. He proved to be an astute signer of players – bringing in Rickie Lambert, Dean Hamond, Radhi Jaïdi, Graeme Murty, Dan Harding, David Connolly, Michail Antonio, Papa Waigo, Lee Barnard, José Fonte, Danny Seaborne, Jon Otsemobor, and Jason Puncheon. 


In August 2010, Pardew was fired and Cortese signed Nigel Adkins as manager – joining Saints from Scunthorpe United. Adkins proved to be an excellent man-manager and he quickly built a tremendous team-spirit at the club – emphasizing the fact that successful clubs are built on a strong squad working towards a common goal, rather than relying on a few individuals. He consolidated the team around the squad that Pardew had assembled and brought in some key players of his own. 

Adam Lallana - local boy and talented midfielder

Behind the scenes, Cortese completely re-built the club’s business ethos. His no-nonsense, principled approach worked quickly. The chaos and dissension of the Rupert Lowe era was gone. Cortese announced a five-year plan to get the club back to the Premier League. And they’ve done it in three seasons – back-to-back promotions in the last two seasons. 


So, time to celebrate. Well done Saints! 


“Oh, when the Saints go marching in …”

CD Review: Ry Cooder's "Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down"

In my review of Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball back in March, I mentioned that during our family’s March break holiday down in Florida I took a couple of CDs along to listen to in our rented car. The other CD was Ry Cooder’s latest, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down. It’s been out for a while – released back in August, 2011 - so I’ve been listening to it for quite a time; and, unlike Springsteen’s effort, this one sounds more impressive every time you hear it. 

Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, Ry Cooder’s fourteenth studio album, is the latest in a long line of excellent recordings dating back to the early ‘70s. And this is one of his very best. Cooder emerged first in the 60s as an accomplished guitarist - he worked as a session musician with the likes of Van Morrison, Randy Newman and The Rolling Stones. He taught Keith Richards a thing or two about guitar-playing, and you can hear the influence on “Honky Tonk Women”. Cooder also plays on Let It Bleed. His own recordings revealed an interest in American roots music; over the years, he has shown a continuing interest in traditional folk, blues, rock, gospel, soul and Tex-Mex. And, of course, he introduced us to traditional Cuban music on the marvellous Buena Vista Social Club (1997).  The first of a series of a collaborations he's done in what they now call "world music".

For the bulk of his career, Ry Cooder has worked like a musicologist – using his solo albums as a platform to introduce unfamiliar genres and figures to a primarily rock-listening audience - expanding the horizons and tastes of a constituency that can often be narrow-minded and surprisingly conservative. He did this not in a proselytizing way, but by exposing his fans to the musical delights of interesting songs and intriguing music.

Ry Cooder beside his '53 Chevy lowrider

In more recent years, Cooder has come into his own as a successful song-writer. On his earlier albums he might offer an occasional song or two of his own; but, starting with Chavez Ravine in 2005, he has put his own songwriting at the heart of his artistic vision. This continued with the other albums of his “California trilogy” – My Name is Buddy and I, Flathead.


Some themes from that trilogy recur in the new album, but Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down is a more wide-ranging look at the temper of the times in contemporary America. Cooder doesn’t like what he sees. His response is a collection of scathing songs about the corrupt politics and the troubling social conditions he sees around him. In this sense, the album is similar to Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball. But Cooder’s work is more radical than Springsteen’s. It doesn’t have the didactic and anthemic pretentions of The Boss; it gives the themes a human face. Cooder prefers “to show, rather than tell”. His songs don’t preach; themes are contextualised in the specific situations of individual lives.


Cooder’s songs here zero in on a corrupt political and economic order – how Wall Street bankers are aided and abetted by the political elite; how desperate Mexican immigrants risk their lives getting into the country illegally, and are then exploited as cheap farm-labourers; how fundamentalist Republicans use a twisted sense of religion to pursue immoral ends; and how poor Americans join the army to escape dead-end lives and are put in harm’s way by a criminal administration.

The back cover

The title of the album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down makes reference to the depression-era careers of Woody Guthrie and friends. Guthrie put out an album called Dust Bowl Ballads (1940), full of social-activist songs about the poor and down-trodden. His song “Pretty Boy Floyd”, for example, is about an outlaw – a bank-robber eventually gunned-down by the police. Guthrie makes him a tragic figure – suggesting his criminality is partly explained by the hardships of the time. He may have been an outlaw, Guthrie sings, who robbed banks at gun-point, but he didn’t steal people’s houses with the flourish of a fountain-pen:

“… as through your life you travel, yes, as through your life you roam;

You won't never see an outlaw drive a family from their home.”

This is the world Cooder evokes with the second song on the album, “El Corrido de Jesse James”. He puts the lyric in the mouth of another outlaw, the notorious Jesse James - who declares that he may have been branded a bandit, but he “never turned a family from their home”. Who is the real outlaw, anyway, Cooder seems to ask. And do we need the likes of Jesse James to exact vigilante justice?

“I’ll cut you down to size my banking brothers,

Put that bonus money back where it belongs.”

The first song that Ry Cooder recorded for this album was “Christmas Time This Year”. It is a scathing anti-war lyric focused on the fate of those poor grunts sent over unwittingly to Iraq to face the horrors of modern warfare. The sarcasm in the lyric is emphasised by the music – a jaunty polka featuring Flaco Jimenez (a long-standing collaborator of Cooder’s) on accordion. He provides a few Christmas-themed flourishes as Cooder sings a song of both pathos and suppressed rage:

“Now Johnny ain’t got no legs and Billy ain’t got no face;

Do they know it’s Christmas time this year?

Tommy looks about the same, but his mind is gone,

Does he know it’s Christmas time this year?”

The themes of these songs are presented with lyrics that are forthright and compelling. And the music is equally effective. The arrangements are sparse and simple - open and spacious - none of the over-produced washes of the Springsteen disc. Cooder often overdubs himself on three or four instruments. His son Joachim plays drums on most tracks. There are tasteful background vocals – a trio of voices – on several tracks. And, unlike the ineffective brass parts on a few of Springsteen’s tracks, Cooder puts some gorgeous horns on a couple of the tracks – the Mariachi choruses on “El Corrido de Jesse James” sounds particularly good.

Two of the best tracks feature just Cooder on guitar and vocals. “Baby Joined the Army” is really a companion piece to “Christmas Time This Year”. It’s a heart-rending song put in the mouth of a father (or husband – it’s ambiguous), whose daughter (or wife) has enlisted in the army to escape her everyday problems. The man had no say, he sings. The deed is done:

“… wasn’t nothing I could do but cry … so I cried.”

Cooder's guitar playing is a slow, hypnotic blues.

The other solo piece is a real tour de force. Cooder channels the great John Lee Hooker in a song called “John Lee Hooker for President”. Not only is his impersonation brilliant, but the song is very funny. Cooder uses Hooker’s persona to make some pointed comments on American politics. On campaign financing, for example, he sings:

“I don’t need yo money, cause I finance my own campaign.

I ain’t for sale; I keep a fat bankroll in my pocket, baby, big as a hay bale.”

There are lots of musical styles here – each done with impeccable taste. Every song’s a gem. Cooder is not the best of vocalists, but he has learned how to overcome his limitations, as many singer-songwriters do, who have been at it for so many years. What’s impressive here is his ability to adopt very different personas in order to deliver a particular lyric. The hard-rock track “I Want My Crown”, for example, has a truly malevolent voice – singing with glee about usurping power and casting down the working man. In “Dreamer”, he sings in the voice of Julio Ruelas, the brother of Fernando Ruelas, the president of Duke’s So Cal, a lowrider car club. The Ruelas brothers worked on a high-profile project with Cooder, turning a 1953 Chevy truck into a lowrider ice-cream truck. The song is a wistful ballad, featuring more distinctive accompaniment from accordion-playing Flaco Jimenez.

Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down is an excellent album. If you’re a Ry Cooder fan, this is essential. If you’re not that familiar, check it out. I think it’s a real work of art – great music and compelling song-writing. Not to mention some typically tasty guitar work from a master musician.


[Thanks to Michael H.]

Photo Essay: Kennedy Space Center in Florida

Front page of The Guardian on July 21st., 1969

1969 was a watershed year in my life. In February I left the De La Mennais Brothers’ juniorate at Woolton College in Liverpool and returned to St. Mary’s College in Southampton to finish Fifth Form and complete my ‘O’ Levels. And in August, I emigrated to Canada and joined my family in Burlington, Ontario.


During the few weeks between the end of school and the day I left England, I took a job as a paper-boy. Now, unlike the North American set-up - where a newspaper deliverer works for one newspaper company, and only delivers their particular paper - in England you worked out of a newsagent’s shop, and delivered about a dozen different papers to the houses on your route. I was working for a shop on Hollybank Estate in Hythe - the village I grew up in - so the route was familiar to me. And I had my bicycle to carry me faster between certain spread-out sections of the route.


It became an educational experience to see how the different types of newspapers (broadsheets, tabloids, etc.) targeted the same news at their particular audience. As I pulled out each paper from the diverse collection in my shoulder-bag, and walked up to shove it through the letter-box of each house, I had time to give it a quick perusal – to scan the pictures, headlines, and, perhaps, an article's opening paragraph. And during those few weeks, the continuing news story of most interest to me was the impending flight of Apollo 11, which was going to attempt to put two men (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin) on the surface of the moon. Some papers covered the mission in a rather cursory manner (other things, strangely, seemed of more importance to their editorial concerns); others provided in-depth coverage, with feature articles, photo essays, and special supplements. During the intense, week-long duration of the Apollo 11 flight itself, in late-July, I followed the newspaper coverage with deep interest – buying one or two of that day’s newspapers, when I got back to the shop at the end of my run.

Front-page of Toronto Daily Star in a KSC display

And the climax of the Apollo 11 mission could not have been more dramatic for me. The TV coverage, of course, was geared to put the important events on prime-time broadcasts in the United States (EST) – but that meant five hours later in the UK (GMT). The Lunar Module landed on the Moon at 8:17 p.m. GMT. The two astronauts aboard (Armstrong and Aldrin) were given about five hours to sleep before the intense and exhausting exploration of the moon’s surface. That meant the TV coverage of those first steps on the Moon would not happen until about 2:30 the next morning (GMT). Not to be missed, of course. But I had to go up by train the next day to visit Canada House in Trafalgar Square, in order to sign a couple of immigration documents. So, I set the alarm and got about four hours sleep – getting up to watch the BBC-TV coverage of the momentous event. Neil Armstrong, after careful preparation, stepped onto the Moon’s surface at 2:56 a.m., on the morning of Monday, July 21st, 1969. I watched for another hour or so, and then got back to bed for a few hours sleep, before getting up again to make my train journey to London. By the end of that momentous day, I was thrilled by the sense of its historical import, but tired after the long hours of travel.

The Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center

So, the Apollo programme was of intense interest to me. During our recent March Break holiday in Florida, therefore, whilst Barb and Gillian went off to Harry Potter World, on our first day there, Colin and I went east to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at Cape Canaveral. As we got close to the visitors’ complex, we knew we were in the right place – half a dozen rockets were poking above the facility's outer fencing. After showing our tickets at the gate, we made our way over to the rockets – collected in an area referred to as “the Rocket Garden”. Here were housed some of the key rocketry of the three programmes of the 1960s American space effort  – Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. 

Project Mercury rockets - Atlas D (left) and Redstone (right)

 Here are the two rockets of the early-sixties' (1961-1963) Project Mercury. The rocket on the right is called the Redstone-Mercury. It is a one-stage rocket, eighty-three feet long, used for sub-orbital flights. It was used in May and July of 1961 in the first American manned flights - putting first Alan Shepard and, then, Gus Grissom into fifteen-minute sub-orbital flights. The rocket on the left is the Atlas D. It's a two-stage rocket, and was used to put the other Mercury astronauts into earth orbit: John Glenn in February, 1962 (three orbits); Scott Carpenter in May, 1962 (three orbits); Walter Schirra in October 1962 (six orbits); and Gordon Cooper, who did twenty-two orbits of the Earth, and was the first American astronaut to stay in space for more than a day. The 1983 film The Right Stuff, based on a book by Tom Wolfe (1979), was focused primarily on the history of the Mercury program.

Titan II rocket (in the left-foreground) used throughout the Gemini program

The manned flights of the Gemini program ran from March 1965 to November 1966. The launch vehicle used for all those flight was the Titan II - pictured above (left-foreground). This rocket was built by the U.S. Air Force and, like the Mercury-Atlas rocket, was originally designed for use as a missile to deliver nuclear weapons. The Titan II was 109 feet long. It was a two-stage, liquid-propelled rocket.

Colin in front of the Saturn 1B rocket in the KSC Rocket garden

The Saturn 1B rocket is the largest rocket displayed in the Rocket Garden. It's so big they cannot safely display it upright. It is 141 feet long and composed of two stages. It was used in several unmanned Apollo flights designed to test systems and equipment being developed for the program: the Apollo 5 unmanned mission tested the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) for the first time (in Earth orbit); and the Apollo 7 mission took the first three-man crew into Earth orbit for 11 days.

Gantry used for all the Apollo Moon missions moved to the Rocket Garden

This is the actual gantry that was used by all the Apollo missions, including Apollo 11 in July, 1969. It sat atop Launch Pad 39A. The three astronauts would walk across this gantry in order to get into the command module at the top of the huge Saturn V rocket. It must have been an intimidating and rather scary moment to realise what they were about to do.

Vehicular Assembly Building seen from Launch Complex 39

The large building at the back of this shot is the Vehicule Assembly Building (VAB). This is the view taken from an observation tower near Launch Pad 39A, from where all the Apollo missions were launched. The VAB is a huge one-storey building, within which the huge three-stage Saturn V rockets were assembled. It was built in 1965. The VAB is 526 feet (160.3 m) tall and covers eight acres. It was designed to hold four separate Saturn V rockets in various stages of construction. The building has 10,000 tons of air-conditioning equipment, including 125 ventilators on the roof, to keep moisture under control. The interior volume of the building is so vast that it has its own weather - small clouds form below the ceiling on very humid days. This building was also used to assemble the Space Shuttle prior to each flight - attaching the three fuel tanks used to put it in Earth orbit.

Launch Pad 39A - all the Apollo missions to the Moon left from this pad

This is Launch Pad 39A, photographed from the observation tower about 1.5 miles away. It was used as the launch site for all the Apollo Moon missions. The vehicles would be transported from the VAB to the Launch Pad on the gigantic transporters ("crawlers") on the specially-constructed "crawlerways". The crawlerway (seen in the foreground) is a 100 ft-wide (30m) double-pathway that leads to the Launch Pads 39A and 39B. A seven-foot deep (2 m) bed of stones lies beneath a layer of asphalt and a surface made of Alabama river rocks. It is 3.5 miles from the VAB to Launch Pad 39A. The maximum speed of the crawler was 1 mph (1.6 kmph); it would take it about five hours to get a Saturn V rocket to the launch pad. This lauch pad was adapted later for the launches of the Space Shuttle.

The "firing room" - launch control - for Launch Complex 39 at Cape Canaveral

After you leave the observation Tower near the launch pads, the KSC bus takes you to the most impressive element of the Kennedy Space Center - the Apollo/Saturn V Center. This building lies north-west of Launch Complex 39. It was completed in 1996, built primarily to house a restored Saturn V launch vehicle, but it also houses various exhibits related to the Apollo program. The structure was erected around the original Apollo "firing room" - the communications centre which controlled all the launches of the Saturn V rockets. It provides an impressive ten-minute simulation of the environment inside the firing room during the launch of Apollo 8. Eight seconds after the rocket left the launch pad, control for the mission would switch to the Johnson Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas.

Colin stands near the base of a Saturn V rocket

Colin stands near the base of a Saturn V rocket - to give a sense of its enormous size. It stood 363 feet high - as tall as a 36-storey building. Its name comes from the five F-1 engines at the bottom of its first stage, and the five J-2 engines attached to the second stage. It is the largest, and most powerful, rocket ever built. The Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph and built by Boeing Corporation - they constructed fifteen of the rockets. The Saturn V was propelled by a mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Each rocket contained three million parts: fuel lines, pumps, sensors, gauges, circuits and switches. It had to lift 285,000 pounds into Earth orbit, and then 107,000 pounds to the moon.

The Saturn V's second stage, with five J-2 engines

The second stage of the Saturn V rocket was 81 feet long (25 m). It would burn for 6 minutes and 24 seconds, and accelerate the Saturn V through the upper atmosphere with 5.1 mega-newtons of thrust.

The Saturn V's Instrument Unit

The Saturn V's ring-shaped Instrument Unit sat between the rocket's third stage and the SLA panels, which housed the the Lunar Excursion Module. It was built by IBM. This computer controlled the operations of the rocket from just before lift off until the third stage was discarded. It included guidance and telemetry systems for the rocket. By measuring the acceleration and vehicle attitude, it could calculate the position and velocity of the rocket and correct for any deviations. You may be familiar with film shot from the top of the rocket looking back at the Earth, which shows the ring turning over as it tumbles back into the upper reaches of the atmosphere.

Here's my son Colin touching a small piece of Moon rock.

The Apollo 14 Command Module - Kitty Hawk - with its hatch open

The Apollo 14 crew were Alan Shepard (who was the first American astronaut to fly - a sub-orbital fifteen-minute flight in May, 1961; Shepard was also the only Mercury astronaut to fly to the Moon), Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell. Shepard and Mitchell were on the Moon on February 5th and 6th, 1971.

Hand casts of Apollo 11 astronauts - to make properly-fitted gloves

One of my favourite shots from the photos I took at the Saturn V/Apollo Center at the Kennedy Space Center. The astronauts had casts made of their hands, in order to ensure that the gloves of their space suits fitted properly. The casts done for the three Apollo 11 astronauts - Michael Collins (the Command Module pilot), Buzz Aldrin (Lunar Module pilot) and Neil Armstrong (Commander) - were mounted in a display. It makes for a very evocative sculpture, don't you think?


If you are at all interested in the American space program, and are ever in the Orlando region of Florida, I highly recommend a visit to the Kennedy Space Centre. It's about an hour's drive east of Orlando.

Book Review: "Into The Silence" by Wade Davis

Each March Break, for the last five years or so, I've picked a big book or two to keep me company on the trip, and to help make it notable. In two Cuba trips I got through five Hemingway books (four novels and a memoir). This year I ploughed through a 573-page book. It's a good one.

In the spring of 1996 Canadian anthropologist, ethno-botanist, and travel writer Wade Davis was completing a 4,000 mile overland journey from Chengdu, in China, through Tibet, and on to Kathmandu in Nepal. By coincidence, he passed close by Mt. Everest in mid-May, just as the tragic events unfolded on its upper slopes that would be chronicled later in the compelling books Into Thin Air, by journalist Jon Krakauer, and The Climb, by Anatoli Boukreev. Those books provide gripping accounts of how five climbers died on Everest on 10 May and 11 May  -  a blizzard hit the mountain, just as a group of 34 exhausted climbers were struggling to return to the safety of camps below the mountain’s “death zone”. Davis, like many others who have read the books, was seized by an intense interest in Everest and the dramatic history of attempts to reach its lofty summit. The title of Davis’s book, Into The Silence is a salute, perhaps, to the inspiration of the Krakauer book.

In the fall of the following year (1997), Wade Davis was back in Tibet, with hopes of photographing the elusive snow leopard. He hiked on trails in the Kama Valley, south of Kharta - the same trails British expeditions had taken in their explorations of the early 1920s. His companion on this trip, Daniel Taylor, had made some 45 expeditions into Tibet. Taylor had been raised in the Himalayan region, the son of medical missionaries. One of his childhood heroes was George Mallory – the lead mountaineer on three successive British expeditions in 1921, 1922 and 1924, which hiked west through Tibet and attempted to reach the summit of Everest by climbing its northeast ridge. Mallory and Andrew Irvine died mysteriously at the tragic conclusion of the 1924 expedition, attempting to reach the summit. Their bodies were abandoned to the mountain – frozen in snow and ice.

Back in Vancouver, Davis discovered in a second-hand bookstore three rare first editions of the official accounts of those British expeditions (‘21, ‘22 and ’24). This began a systematic campaign to find out everything he could about the lives of George Mallory and the other members of those early expeditions, as well as classic books about Mt. Everest and the Himalayas. Wade Davis first wrote about Mallory in a book of essays published in 1998. The following year he wrote to his agent, outlining thoughts of a book about the little-known mountaineer.

The north face of Mt. Everest, seen from Tibet

And then, just as Davis’s research began in earnest, George Mallory’s body was discovered by Conrad Ankar on the north face of Everest. Mallory’s name was suddenly everywhere in the media. Within a year, eight books were published about him and the failed attempts to put a British climber on the summit of the mountain in the early 1920s. Davis didn’t want to write just another book about George Mallory. He decided, instead, to take his research into “new levels of depth and scope”. And, indeed, he has.

The resulting book, Into The Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, took ten years of research. It explores four main areas: the First World War experiences of the twenty men (amongst the twenty-six expedition members) who saw active duty in France and Belgium; the history of the Mount Everest Committee, supported and manned by members of the British Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society; the history of political and military relations between the British Raj administration in India and the Tibetan authorities; and the detailed history of the three expeditions in the early 1920s which hiked from Darjeeling in the Himalayan foothills of Northern India north into Tibet, and then west to the Mount Everest region.

1921 Expedition: George Mallory is far-right on the back row, Oliver Wheeler stands beside him

Most of the British explorers were veterans of the Great War. Part of The Lost Generation. They were physically damaged by the war - most of them wounded in one way or another - and emotionally scarred. Davis provides a thorough treatment of each man’s war experience – and what an appalling thing it was that they endured. Mindless carnage. Hundreds of thousands of men on each side were slaughtered in battles that seemed to go on for ever. The number of artillery shells launched by each side on the other is almost inconceivable. And the top commanders were almost completely ignorant of the real conditions in the field and the complete futility of their campaigns. Their ignorance was criminal. Entire brigades were wiped out because they were ordered to walk or run at enemy positions that were solidly defended by machine gun fire. They were sitting ducks – both officers and regular troops. 

After the war, thanks to sustained negotiations between a few leading British diplomats in India and Tibet (the key figure was Sir Charles Bell), an opportunity opened up for exploration into Tibet and the planning of a possible expedition to Mt. Everest. In the early 1920s, the political situation in the Himalayan region was the opposite of what it is today. Then it was impossible to approach Everest from the south – through Nepal. The only chance was to come at it from the east, through central Tibet. Interested parties at the British Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society formed the Mount Everest Committee. Expedition leaders were hired and climbers and explorers were invited to join the team. George Mallory was the leading British mountaineer of his generation. He was an obvious choice and was soon part of the first expedition in 1921. Mallory’s climbing experience was primarily in the Alps. He and the other possible climbers who would attempt to scale Everest had no high-altitude experience at all. They knew almost nothing about the debilitating effects of the lack of oxygen in the so-called “death-zones” faced on mountains with peaks above 8,000 metres. Mallory was a much-admired mountaineer – recognised for his strength and courage. But he had faults – he was absent-minded, and did not always make sound judgements.

The route up the north face of Mt. Everest from Tibet

 

The first expedition into Tibet in 1921 was primarily a detailed exploration of all the possible routes available leading to the mountain. The fittest and ablest members of the team worked in two and threes to scout out various valleys and passes. It was Mallory who did most of the important exploring along the Rongbuk Glacier, and the paths leading off of it towards Everest’s northeast ridge. But strangely, although he’d travelled south down the glacier several times, he neglected to check out an access leading east out of that glacier into an adjacent glacier - the East Rongbuk Glacier - which turned out to be the easiest, and eventual, route up to the northeast ridge. Much to Mallory’s embarrassment (although he wouldn’t admit to it), that route was discovered by Oliver Wheeler, one of a few non-English members of the expedition (he was a Canadian surveyor) – embarrassing because Mallory had not been very complimentary about Wheeler’s abilities and attributes. After four months of intense exploration and surveying in 1921, the expedition was finally within striking distance of the mountain itself. Mallory was the first climber to set foot on the mountain.  He, Wheeler, Guy Bullock, and some porters began to climb its icy slopes towards the North Col. But a gale on top was blowing whipping snow into deep drifts. They got as far as the North Col (23,030 feet). They attempted to make further headway before being forced back. The weather had turned. It was the end of their first season; but Mallory had seen enough to realise that they had found the best route available up the mountain.

Last photograph taken of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine on Everest

A second expedition returned in 1922. This time there was little exploring to do; their focus was to be on getting up the mountain. They had to endure some horrendous weather conditions. They didn’t have appropriate mountaineering gear and were always in danger of frostbite and high-altitude sickness. Mallory and two other climbers managed to reach about 26,800 feet. But a day later George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce, using oxygen canisters for the first time, climbed another 500 feet higher, reaching 27, 300 feet. It was a vindication for those who believed that the use of oxygen was the secret to avoiding high-altitude sickness and exhaustion - particularly George Finch and Sandy Irvine. Many climbers felt that the use of supplemental oxygen in cylinders was "cheating". A couple of weeks later, Mallory began a third attempt. He and his party were caught in an avalanche. Mallory was able to dig himself out of the snow, but seven Sherpa porters were killed. These were the first reported deaths of climbers on Mt. Everest. It was a disastrous conclusion to a difficult season of climbing. Mallory was partly responsible and he was devastated by feelings of guilt.

The final expedition of 1924 faced the same horrendous problems of bad weather and extreme conditions. The team's careful planning and their experience from the previous trips counted for nothing once the mountain unleashed its fury on the exhausted climbers. On June 2, Mallory and Charles Bruce left the North Col to make the first attempt on the summit. Extreme wind and cold and the refusal of the porters to continue led Mallory to abandon the attempt. On June 4, Edward Norton and Howard Somervell attempted to reach the summit in perfect weather without oxygen; Somervell was forced to abandon the climb at about 28,000 feet because of throat trouble; Norton continued on alone, reaching a height of 8,573 m (28,126 ft), just 275 m (900 ft) short of the summit. Exhausted, he turned back. Finally, on June 8, Mallory and Irvine left their high camp at 26,900 ft to attempt the summit. Their colleague, Noel Odell, climbing in support below, wrote in his diary that at 26,000-ft he "saw Mallory and Irvine on the ridge, nearing base of final pyramid", climbing what he thought at the time was the very difficult Second Step at 12:50 p.m. It was the last time the two were seen. Whether either of them reached the summit remains a question for the ages. And the discovery of Mallory’s body on the mountain in 1999 provided no definitive clues to answer that mystery.

Sandy Irvine (left) and George Mallory (right) - faced death together on Everest in 1924

Into The Silence is a big book – 573 pages of text. It has sixteen pages of excellent photographs. And it has four crucial maps: showing the treks the expeditions took across Tibet; detailed regional maps of the area around the mountain; and a schematic map of Everest itself, showing the progress that various climbers made, on the two expeditions (’22 and ’24) that got near the summit. You’ll come back to these maps, time and time again as you’re reading the text, especially during the section which describes the reconnaissance exploration of 1921.

Some readers may find the amount of historical and political detail tedious. But this book will fascinate those willing to follow Davis into his detailed treatment of World War I, and the background politics that affected the course the expeditions took. Those interested particularly in Tibet – its history, culture, geology, flora and fauna will be riveted; it’s all here. These expeditions were important for their contributions to science and topographical surveying, as much as for the human drama of extreme mountain climbing.

Wade Davis took ten years to write Into The Silence

And, of course, it does come back to that human drama. A great climber who perishes on a mountain - a man who pays the price for his obsession. 

This is an informative and, surely, definitive treatment of its subject. I highly recommend it.

CD Review: Bruce Springsteen's "Wrecking Ball"

The front cover of Wrecking Ball

Wrecking Ball is Bruce Springsteen’s 17th studio album. Released here in North America three weeks ago (March 5th), it is his first album since 2009’s Working on a Dream. In its first week of release it hit #1 in the albums charts in the U.S. and the U.K. I picked it up just a few days before leaving on our March Break holiday in Florida. I thought it would be appropriate to have a couple of typically American albums to listen to in our rented car down there – so I took this and Ry Cooder’s latest album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down. Guess which one I preferred?

Wrecking Ball was produced by Ron Aniello, with assistance from Springsteen. Aniello is a successful pop producer who has worked with a couple of dozen other pop acts, including Springsteen's wife, Patti Scialfa. He co-produced Scialfa’s 2007 album Play It As it Lays.

In Wrecking Ball, Springsteen presents a collection of songs primarily about the economic troubles besetting the American working-class during this latest recession. He also lays into the rampant greed and corruption of the economic elite - the Wall Street bankers and industry leaders identified these days as the 1%. He explores the devastation their greed has wrought.

Most of the songs were written last year (2011), but three of them were written earlier and have been performed live over the intervening years. The title track, “Wrecking Ball” was written in 2009 prior to a series of shows the E Street Band did at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It is a tribute to a stadium built in 1976 (which hosted games by the New York Giants and the New York Jets), and demolished in 2010. “American Land”, one of two bonus tracks on the extended edition, was written when Springsteen was working on the 2006 Seeger Sessions. It shows the folk influence. A studio version was recorded back then, but never released. “Land of Hope and Dreams” was written in late 1998 and performed during the E Street Band’s reunion tour in 1999.

Bruce Springsteen

Wrecking Ball is one of those curious albums which sound less interesting the more you hear them. And I have been listening to it a lot. If the adage “less is more” means anything to you, musically, then this work is a good example of its corollary - “more is less.” Springsteen’s rock ‘n’ roll has often come over-dressed in a dense wall-of-sound wash. Combined with lyrics that are often preachy and tendentious, the result can be overwrought and bombastic.

On this album the production does the songs no favours; and there are some good songs here, but they suffer from similar, murky, over-the-top arrangements. It makes the music dull and lifeless. The strategy is generally the same throughout: begin with a laid-back, interesting couple of verses, where individual instruments can be heard; then, in the middle and again at the end, crank up the production into overdrive – guitars, keyboards, electronics, strings, horns and choir belting out a repetitive riff in which there is no space for individual elements to be heard or appreciated. The New York Chamber Consort (a sixteen-piece chamber ensemble) plays on three of the tracks, for example; but it’s difficult to hear much of what they’re playing. And five or six musicians are credited with playing horn-parts; frustratingly, their work too is buried in the mix. Tellingly, four of the songs here feature loops extracted from other recordings (folk and gospel) - and even the loops are hard to hear, buried as well in the murky mix.

So many opportunities lost. On the dirge-like “Jack Of All Trades”, for example, a horn section is added to the middle of the song. They sound a bit like a Salvation Army band, or an English colliery’s brass band. Featured up front, it would have sounded great, but they’re hiding in the mix. A tin whistle playing a riff through “Death to My Hometown” is also buried. Strangely, when an instrument is featured and placed front-and-centre – like Tom Morello’s guitar in “Jack Of All Trades” and “This Depression” (both solos are given special mention in the album’s booklet) - the results, really, are damp squibs.

Some of the arrangements, too, seem strangely at odds with the words: “Easy Money” and “Shackled and Drawn” are both downbeat lyrics, but they’re hammered out in perky productions that present them as upbeat sing-alongs; and “Death to my Hometown”, with words like a Michael Moore rant put to music (think Roger and Me), sounds like a perky sea shanty. Perhaps the problem is the dominance given to percussion – these tracks invariably feature drums-on-steroids. Combined with other electronic percussive effects, it sounds just too heavy on the beat to my ears.

The most interesting track here is the experimental one, “Rocky Ground” – the one production that’s different from the rest. There is a strong gospel tinge to much of the album, although the choir-like vocals are often just unison voices added as another element to the dense mix. In “Rocky Ground”, there is a kind of hip-hop/gospel blend, with Michelle Moore providing a brief rap. There are horns again in the mix, this time used more effectively. “There’s a new day coming”, Springsteen sings here, and it’s one of the more affecting moments in the album.

“Land of Hope and Dreams”, near the close of the album, attempts a kind of epic-statement that Springsteen is keen on. The track is notable for containing Clarence Clemons’ last work with Springsteen. The E Street Band’s sax player died in June, 2011. (Springsteen provides a written tribute to Clemons in the accompanying booklet). He plays a couple of typical solos in the middle and end of the track. The song is an extended train metaphor; the words sound trite and familiar: “This train carries saints and sinners; this train carries losers and winners; this train carries whores and gamblers …” Get on board. Take the ride. Etc., etc.

The back cover of the extended edition

What it comes down to, for me, I think, is that Springsteen too often sounds inauthentic. He’s striking a pose; making a statement; pushing a message. And even though I have no quarrel with the message, I don’t want to hear it declaimed like it’s preaching. Otherwise, it becomes pretentious. Effective when delivered live in concert at a huge sports arena - and he's a superb live performer - but ostentatious in the context of a rock ‘n’ roll recording. Springsteen fans will probably love this album. If you’re not always convinced that Bruce is the Boss, however, you might find your response more ambivalent – like mine.

Oh ... and the Ry Cooder? Stay tuned!

Photo Essay: Birds of Florida

Early morning at Estero Beach, on the Gulf of Mexico

Barb and I, and the children - Gillian (15) and Colin (13) - spent last week’s March Break holiday in Florida. It was our family’s first visit to Florida. For Barb and me, one of the main attractions of the place is the interesting birdlife. I was anticipating it greatly.

In fact, I went out and bought a new lens for my digital SLR. Usually I use a 18-105 mm zoom lens. To do real justice to the beauty of some of the large wading birds (herons, ibises, pelicans), however, I decided to invest in a zoom lens with a much longer telephoto capacity – a 70-300 mm zoom. (Although, as you may know, using these lenses on digital cameras multiplies the focal lengths by one-and-a-half, so it behaves like a 105-450 mm lens.) I couldn’t wait to try it out on the birds that would appear. So, what follows, is a photographic journal – offered chronologically – of the birds that stood out on this trip to Florida. I photographed some of these birds forty or fifty times – different habitats, different lighting conditions, different times of day. These are all my shots. 

A male Boat-Tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major)

The Boat-Tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major) is a non-glamorous, rather bland kind of bird species. But it's a perfect example of dimorphism in birds. “Dimorphism” means literally ‘two-forms’. And it refers to the distinct differences in the appearance of the male and female species. This first significant species of the vacation (because I hadn’t seen it before) was all over the place at the LC-39 observation gantry at the Kennedy Space Centre. This spot is a three-storey platform that allows you to get an elevated view of the key launch-facilities at Cape Kennedy: the gigantic Vehicular Assembly Building (VAB), for example, where they assembled the Saturn V rockets; and the 39A Launch pad, where they launched all the Apollo missions. All around the site were these grackles. 

In southern Ontario we have mostly common grackles; this is a different grackle, much bigger (the male), but just as noisy and aggressive. The grackles are icterids - very intelligent, pushy birds, that like to dominate their habitat. Icterids include blackbirds, cowbirds, meadowlarks and grackles.

A female Boat-Tailed Grackle

So - the dimorphism. The male boat-tailed grackle looks a lot bigger than the female. At 16-17 inches (41 cm), these are large perching birds. And like the very irridescent common grackle - which shines with a greenish hue - the boat-tailed grackle shines royal blue. Nice. The female has no irridescence, but it does show a pleasant blend of pastel browns and yellows. And it is a smaller bird. I thought they were two different species. They were both loud birds - but even more-so, the male. They seemed to be stealing and begging for human scraps – popcorn, bread, snack food, that kind of thing. Not very attractive. Not musical either. This bird emits mostly harsh whistles and clucks.

Royal Tern  on Jensen Beach

The next bird of note was found in a small flock on the beach when we first arrived at Jensen Beach, located on Hutchinson Island, hugging the Atlantic coast, just north of Fort Lauderdale – the Treasure Coast, it’s called. On our first reconnoitre of the beach, there was a flock of about a dozen Royal Terns (Sterna maxima). Terns look like gulls, but they are generally smaller and more streamlined (18-21”, 45-53 cm). Unlike gulls, terns do not land on water and swim about. They often hover over water and dive into it for fish. Compared to the terns found in southern Ontario, Royal Terns are closest in look and niche to the Caspian Tern.

Royal Terns (Sterna maxima) on Atlantic Ocean at Jensen Beach

These Royal Terns were on Jensen Beach every day – standing as a small group close to the shore. They were not skittish at all; you could walk by them as close as a few feet. They would back up, or move sideways, but they wouldn’t fly off, unless you walked right up into their midst. A very attractive bird. A crowd of them standing around is very photogenic. I took lots of pictures of them - in groups, pairs, and individually.

Royal Tern (Sterna maxima) on Gulf of Mexico at Estero Beach

Sanderling (Calidris alba) at Jensen Beach, on the Atlantic coast
 

The Sanderling (Calidris alba) is a type of sandpiper – a small wading shorebird (about 7-8”, 18-20 cm). It’s found at beaches and mudflats. We saw this bird first at Jensen Beach, and found it again at Estero Beach. It was still in its winter plumage – pale, snowy-white underneath, and pale grey above with dark shoulders. It has a straight black beak, which is somewhat thicker than the smaller “peep” sandpiper. It is a wave-chaser – it runs up and down the beach like a clockwork-toy, following the retreating surf in order to feed within centimetres of the waves. Usually seen in small groups.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) on Estero Beach, Florida - the Gulf of Mexico

We saw the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) everywhere we went in Florida. Like the Bald Eagle, it eats only fish; because we were next to water throughout our visit, we saw lots of Ospreys. They are raptors (birds of prey). The term raptor comes from its hunting technique - seizing prey with its sharp talons. Unlike Bald Eagles, which fly just above the surface of the water and scoop fish out of the water with their talons, the Osprey actually plunges into the water to seize the fish. Then it carries it away to a high perch to feed, by pulling apart the fish with its beak.

The Osprey is a medium-sized bird of prey (21-24”, 53-61 cm) – about the size of a buteo (buzzard). Smaller than a Bald Eagle, and its wings are longer and thinner. Ospreys build very large nests out of twigs and branches at the top of a bare tree. You will often see platforms attached to a high pole. This is done not only to assist the bird, but to keep it off of electricity poles, where the huge nests would disrupt the electric cables. Ospreys are easier to spot than many other birds of prey – they don’t soar as high and seem less skittish of human beings.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) taking captured fish to high perch for feeding

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) overhead at Estero Beach

Willet (Catoptrophurus semipalmatus) on Estero Beach, Florida

The Willet (Catoptrophurus semipalmatus) is a medium-sized (14-17”, 35-43 cm) shorebird found, like many other shorebirds of its type, at beaches and mudflats. It's double the size of the Sanderling. We saw an individual bird on our first day at Estero Beach (on the Gulf of Mexico, below Fort Myers, and just north of Naples); after that, we found it in small groups there every day. 

Willet on Estero Beach

You identify them from the combination of size, leg-coloring (bluish-grey), and beak (medium long, fairly thick, straight and dark). Even more distinctive - when it’s in flight - is the large, white, horizontal band running across the underside of the outstretched wing. It strolls the beach at the shoreline, looking for tiny invertebrates that are washed up by the incessant wave running up the strand. Its name comes from the cry: “Pill-will-willet.” I got some shots early in the morning, and at dusk, so there are some nice hues to the pictures. I love taking photos on a beach: pale sand, waves, birds, and people. Perfect.

The Willet at dusk on Estero Beach

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) on Estero Beach

The Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is everywhere on the Florida coast. We saw it all the time – and at all times of the day. That allowed me to shoot it, like the Willet, in some very different lighting conditions, with some dramatic colour. Large water birds are a delight to photograph. They don’t flit around constantly, like sandpipers, or warblers – they move slowly and deliberately and strike majestic poses. Easy to follow, most of the time. A telephoto lens is best, to frame a large individual specimen against the pastel colours of sand and water. The Brown Pelican is a big bird (50”, 125 cm). It is generally a dark brownish bird - but it has lots of white (tinged with yellow) about the neck and head. The wings spread out to six-and-a-half feet.

A pelican in flight is easy to recognise, and the way this species plunges into the water bill-first is distinctive. It was impressive to see a flock of six or seven of these birds on the estuary (during our boat ride around the Estero Bay) plunging into the water in tight formation - like a team of synchronized divers. I tried to get a good shot of that, but failed. Sometimes, you only get a few chances to shoot, and the technical demands are too great to handle within just a few seconds. 

Brown Pelican at dusk on Estero Beach, just south of Fort Meyers

The best shots of pelicans are not when they’re on the water, but when they glide through the sky like a pterodactyl. They’re slow enough to allow successful pictures. Ugly birds in a way, but also very elegant. 

The Brown Pelican in flight at dusk on Estero Beach, on the gulf of Mexico

A banded Brown Pelican flies over Estero Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, just south of Fort Meyers

Great Egret at the "Ding" Darling Wilflife Refuge on Sanibel Island

Herons and Egrets are amongst my favourite birds. Compared to tiny warblers, which flit about all the time, and never stand still for a moment, herons are slow, and, therefore, easier to photograph. We saw eight different species in Florida: the familiar Great Blue Heron and Black-Crowned Night Heron of southern Ontario, but also the Little Blue Heron and the Reddish Egret.  And then there are three all-white egrets – the Great Egret, the Snowy Egret and the Cattle Egret. And the Tricoloured Heron.

Herons are sleek, slow and deliberate. They pace about stealthily in shallow water, waiting patiently to spear an unlucky fish or amphibian with their long, sharp bill. One of the birding highlights of our trip was the visit to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, south-east of Fort Myers. We saw several large alligators, different frogs and lizards and lots of large wading birds.

A "GBH" - Great Blue Heron - flies over Estero Beach

We got one close-up view of the familiar Great Blue Heron (found all over southern Ontario), but what a dramatic encounter it was! The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is a large heron (42-52”, 105-130 cm). It’s mostly a blue-grey colour, but there is lots of white around the head and neck. It has yellow feet and beak. It flies with a folded neck – with a distinctive wing-beat. 

Great Blue Heron snatches a large frog out of the mud at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Just beside us, off the boardwalk, a “GBH” (as birders call them) snatched up a huge frog, or toad, and devoured it in one gulp right in front of us. We could see the bulky shape of the large amphibian sliding down the inside of the bird’s neck – pressing up against the skin. Amazing! 

Great Egret crossing road at Ding Darling Refuge

We got several close-up sightings of the Great Egret - both at the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, and at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, just south of Fort Meyers. It is a big heron – stretching to 38” (95 cm). Sometimes it stands erect, looking very slender, with the neck sticking out straight vertically; other times, when it’s feeding, it tips over, with its beak almost horizontal to the ground - readying itself to strike at a fish with its long, spear-like, yellow beak. We got a good look at one fishing at Corkscrew. It was standing very near a large, black alligator – but didn’t seem at all concerned by the giant reptile’s presence.

The Great Egret’s plumage is completely white. Its legs and feet are both black – which is a good way to distinguish it from the similar Snowy Egret, which has black legs, but yellow feet. It flies with its long neck in a deep “sink trap” shape, with its long legs trailing behind. During the breeding season, it has long, filamentous plumes down its back. The Great Egret prefers freshwater habitats, mudflats and tidal shallows.

 

 

Great Egret at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Snowy Egret on a beach of Estero Island

The Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) is a similar-looking, all-white, heron-type bird, but it’s much smaller (20-27”, 50-68 cm) than the Great Egret, and its beak is dark. And, although the legs are black like the Great Egret, its feet are yellow. When it’s flying away from you, the yellow feet trailing behind are distinctive; and it has quicker wing beats than the Great Egret. When it feeds, the Snowy Egret shuffles its feet, in order to stir up food. We saw it several times on the beaches of Estero Island.

The orange-yellow trailing "slippers" is a distinctive mark of the Snowy Egret

Tricoloured Heron in the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

An exciting new addition to our birding “life list” was the Tricoloured Heron (Egretta tricolor). This bird was formerly known as the Louisiana Heron. It frequents the same habitats as the other herons – salt marshes, tidal shallows, mudflats, and freshwater marshes. The Tricoloured Heron is about the same size as a Snowy Egret. It is slimmer and longer than most other herons; and it wades into rather deep water to forage for food. The three colours that give this species its name: dark grey-blue upper parts and neck, a maroon or chestnut throat, and a white belly and rump. It also has an intermittent thin white line running down its throat. Our best siting of this bird was in the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

Tricoloured Heron fishing at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

 

An American Anhinga drying its wings in the sun

The American Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) is similar to a Cormorant. It is another new bird for our “life list”. It’s the same size as a Cormorant (34”, 85 cm), and is also a predominantly black bird – but it has very distinctive, large, silvery patches on the top of it its wings. It often holds its head and neck in an S shape. The anhinga’s beak is pointed – it doesn’t have the small hook on the end that the Cormorant has. And its neck is thin and snake-like.

American Anhinga spearing fish at Corkscrew

When this bird is hunting for fish it swims underwater. It will bring up a fish in its beak above the water, but only have its neck exposed – most of its body still submerged. After a session of fishing it will perch on a thick tree-branch and spread its wings – letting them dry off in the sun.

White Ibis at Corkscrew Swamp

Another new bird for us is the White Ibis (Eudocimus albus). This is a long-legged, heron-like, wading bird. Apart from its slender, decurved, reddish bill, red patches around the eyes, and its reddish legs and feet, this bird is completely white. It’s about the size of a Cattle Egret (22-27”, 55-68 cm). In flight it shows black wing tips. We saw this bird in the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island and the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. At Corkscrew, we saw a group of five or six of them at a fair distance. But then one individual flew over close to us, perching in amongst the branches and twigs of a small tree. The foliage was interfering with the focusing of my telephoto zoom, so I was happy when this Ibis jumped down to feed in shallow water – allowing me to get some good, close-up shots.

White Ibis

 

Semipalmated Plover on lagoon mudflat

The final good bird sighting happened on our last day. There was a single Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) on the mudflat beside a lagoon near our hotel on Estero Beach.  Plovers are small wading birds (7”, 17 cm) about the size of a sparrow. They are more compactly built than the smaller sandpipers. And the Semipalmated Plover is a small plover. Its colouration is similar to the Wilson’s Plover and the Killdeer, but it is smaller and the single dark band across its breast is thinner. The bill is a deep yellow, with a small black tip. And its legs are orange or yellow. It likes shores and tide-flats. Its foraging is of the look-run-look-peck variety.

A Barred Owl at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

© Clive W. Baugh

All of these photographs were taken with a Nikon D7000 camera using a Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto zoom lens.

Please do not copy or use these photographs without the permission of the photographer.






Resources used: Eastern Birds by Roger Tory Peterson; and Eastern Birds: An Audobon Handbook