Air Show

August 23, 2018 Jerry King Comments 0 Comment

Last weekend the Chicago Airshow was held at the lake front. I did not attend. Not that I do not enjoy airshows. I’ve attended my share in the past. One of my enduring memories was the privilege of viewing a mock dogfight between a Japanese Zero and the American P-38. A low altitude twisting and turning ballet displayed the engineering strengths and weaknesses of each of the aircraft. In WWII these encounters were nightmarish for the airmen and one almost always died, a ballet of death.

I was present for an airshow of sorts down on the creek bed at Kraklauer creek in Mundelein. It is late summer. As is my habit I took my camera to capture the seasonal change in wild flowers, and to witness whatever wild life activity I might see.

I found myself in the midst of an airshow. Bees flying all around me, some quite close. The bees were busily working the flower heads of the wild sunflowers. They know the days will become cooler and there will be less pollen and nectar until the first frost comes.

A steep rock-lined creek bed was thick with tall wild sunflowers. There is a variety of yellow finch that loves to feed upon the flower heads. these tiny creatures flit along the length of the creek and are difficult to photograph. They are hyper alert and take wing with any approach. I managed to capture this one feeding by fully extending the lens into telephoto mode.

I feel a kinship to the bees in particular. I have no doubt they were aware of my presence yet they allowed me to move quite close. They provide human society with a indispensable pollination service of fruits and vegetables. Reports continue to come of colony collapse disease, where entire colonies die off. Global warming/climate change is a likely contributing factor as well as mites; malnutrition; various pathogens; genetic factors; immunodeficiencies; loss of habitat; changing beekeeping practices. Use of neonicotinoid pesticides is speculated as a contributing factor too.