Kestrel Aerial Services

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY: Lighthawk In Mexico

In January I helped 2 other Pilots ferry Lighthawk's Cessna 206 from Phoenix, Arizona to Merida, Mexico. Lighthawks first mission of this year's Mesoamerica program was on behalf of the Yucatan conservation group Niños y Crias. Tranlating roughly into "Kids and Critters," this group has been a driving force behind successful programs in the preservation of critical flamingo habitat, eco-education programs for children, and sustainable land use practices.

5:30 am, our hosting biologists meet us at our hotel, the very clean and simple Maison Lafitte, in downtown Merida.
   
Lighthawk pilot Will Worthington goes over maps and flight plans with Dr. Xiomara Gálvez Aguilera, and Leonardo Leonel Guerrero González over revueltos at an all night cafe.
   
Lighthawk Pilot Kitty Houghton preflights 17November for the first mission.
     
  
Merida, the state capitol of the Yucatan, is one of the cleanest, safest, and friendliest cities of 1 million you will find anywhere.
   
We found flamingos in pairs....
   
....by the dozens....
     
  
....by the hundreds...
   
and so on.
   
A fisherman surrounded by flocks of flamingos.
     
  
Streaks of suspended sediments in the bays and flats indicate where flamingos are foraging in the substrates.
   
With both cargo doors of the 206 removed I had an amazing field of view for wide angle work, and the luxury of not having to fly the airplane while trying to make good images.
   
We covered the entire coast between Isla Holbox and Campeche, a distance of nearly 300 miles.
     
  
An incredible diversity of estuarine habitat types.
   
At times I was wishing I was down there with a 10 wt. tarpon rod, rather than up here with a camera.
   
     
  
   
  
     
  
   
  
     
  
   
The salt works east of Rio Lagartos.
   
     
  
Self portrait during a quiet moment on the way back to Merida.
   
Be careful of the many Zopilotes, or Black Vultures on final approach.
   
Captain Worthington makes a seamless transition between flying and driving.