rbtree

Love the Euro robin. They don't make it out my way. But I captured this happy fella today. He was busy preening and drying out, after another rainy day.... ...and sneaking peeks at me standing on the roof of my canopy. Robins are such poseurs!! Got an itch? Well, scratch it already then!

I like the shape and quality of Sandviks (now called Bahco?) Of course Felcos are just fine too. I lost my Okatsune pruners years ago. They are the best, mainly due to the blade having a Rockwell hardness rating of 70, a good 5 points above any other "secateurs", as you weirdos call 'em! LOL, j/k...!!

Thanks, David. Yours are as well. What's in your kit?

As I was leaving to do bids, I spotted the flicker who resides near me. chased him from a lawn to his current fav power pole . Then, after bids, and visiting a heron rookery in Renton where there used to be 130 nests till a pair of eagles nested nearby--and no herons were present--, I got some shots of Barrow's goldeneneyes, buffleheads, and mallards. Then I went across the street to Waterworks Park, and got some ducks in flight..unsure of the species. Few of these shots were good, but then this downy woodpecker showed up. Within a couple minutes, I fired off scads of shots, including several of him, the early bird getting the worm, errr grub. Shots sans tripod with the 300 f/2.8 L and 1.4 teleconverter mounted on a Canon 7D.

Sorry, it's 12 minutes long....but it's HD <iframe width="960" height="720" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UqXEBUUn4mI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> This awesome old tree had to go to make room for construction on this commercial lot. The wood is being milled into decking for the project, which may become a design studio for the owner, a sculptor and design instructor. The tree was about 40" at the bottom, and created a good 20 yards of chips, and lots of firewood from the big limbs. The work is a little rough, as you guys who do lots of crane removals may note. We don't do many spreading trees like this, with a crane. And I'm getting a tad old...plus I have tendinitis in my left elbow, a rarity for me. My arms and shoulders have caused my little problems in my 37 years of tree work. I had three rope slings ready to go, which would have been better than the three fixed length chokers, but overall, the picks came off well enough. To save crane time, I sent Pat up to drop or rig out a few of the limbs over the only usable drop zone. Plus, there was a roll off container in the way, which meant Mike had to wait 30 minutes to set up his crane. Then, after I craned out the limbs, Pat burst his crane cherry with the trunk picks. He had some trouble, as Mike still thinks the last cut should be made opposite where the load is choked. He thinks this, because he is then going to boom it toward the centerpin. But first, the action needs to be cabling up, which will pinch the saw when it is coming in from the back. Otherwise, Mike's a good operator. A couple of the limb picks could have been swung away from me quicker, or I could have balanced them better. Also, the contractor who I asked to run the camera didn't notice that it tipped on the tripod head. Thus, the 10-15 degree off level sections.

Great blue heron gathering nest building twigs

My friend flicker

An Anna's Hummer More Hummingbirds - a set on Flickr

Mandarin Duck, with a wood duck in the foreground 44 more quackers in this slide show...all from Pillings Pond in Seattle. The deceased Mr. Pillings was the first to breed ducks in captivity Pillings Pond Waterfowl

Not woods ported, but muffler mod and timing advance. The saw rips!! http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/185736.htm

Well, there ya geaux... Just don't want my chipper doin' any Slingblade action....!

Don't mind me, but they are correctly called knives.

More Colorful sumac too! And freshies on Three Fingers Mt, 35 or so miles east of Everett, a city north of Seattle. 6900 foot peak, with snow down to ~3500. We pruned this superb copper beech about 7 years ago. Time for more! It's fast approaching 5 feet dbh!

Well, we have had a coupla rainy days. But the trees in their fall plumage are spectacular. Here's a slide show of images here and there, close up, and not so close, from the last few weeks. Fall 2011 Some teasers: How's this for a hedge like effect? A row of Japanese maples:

ballz...?!! [ame] [/ame]

Bump, here's a great blue heron, doing some nest buiding

I've been shooting lots of wildlife lately. Just check my flickr site. Here's one of the appx 500 shots from yesterday: This was shot about 100 yards away from an 80 nest heron rookery, with a Canon 7D, equipped with a 300 f/2.8 and 2x teleconverter, so effective focal length is 960mm....

Moonshot, framed by madrone Here's a preening flicker, shot with the 7D, and Canon 300mm f/2.8 IS and stacked 1.4 and 2xteleconverters..tripod used or course..effectively 1350 mm or 26 power!

Nice work, guys. Mind if i pop in? These were shot last spring... Leaves after Rain Canon 5D Mk ll, 100 mm macro IS....handheld

Oh, Reggie babe..if'n ya send me your masta piece.....I'll have one of each.....then you can bribe me ....I'm easy....

The heck you say...... Alright, who bribed ya to say that?

Thanks, Nick... Wasn't so much the sawdust as it was the huge quantity of bark that sloughed off easily, especially where it was disturbed by crane slings and the self loader's grapple.

FWIW, here's a slideshow of a recent sequoia removal we did. It was 10.5 feet at ground level, 8' dbh at breast height, 158 feet tall.....weighed about 110,000 lb, produced 2 log truck loads, about 12,000 board feet, bark included, and 70 yards of chips. Took 2 full days, plus portions of two others. 90 ton crane bill was about $4300. I gave them a deal at $6500 labor, a couple grand low. Largest tree dto be cut in this area in 13 years, residentially....I wonder if anything larger has been cut anywhere in the US, except in Redwood country.

My comments in bold

Well, not so small axtually....I say baby as the tree was about 3% as massive in wood volume as the largest of its species.....which just happens to be the General Sherman Tree.. Sorry, I've no time to post it here just yet, here's a link to the TH discussion..... Shame.awesome 98 yr old Giant sequoia is coming down - The #1 HARDCORE arborist forum, bar, and grill - Enjoy the buffet and libations! --------------------