An arborist in a helicopter

November 16, 2007 1:36 PM

An arborist in a helicopterArborist Todd Irvine gets a ride in a news chopper, photographing and annotating Toronto’s tree canopy – still largely in place and vibrantly colourful due to winter’s late arrival.

(And did you know Google Maps are photographed in winter to avoid having leaves block the images?)

posted by joeclark (23 comments total)

Those are nice photos, but Toronto's urban forest isn't doing too well.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:42 PM on November 16, 2007

I totally thought that said "abortionist" for a second. But this really doesn't add anything to the discussion. Sorry.
posted by ba at 1:50 PM on November 16, 2007

I totally thought it said abortionist as well. I guess the arborist lobby hasn't been as active as it could be.
posted by crickets at 1:53 PM on November 16, 2007

Doesn't your local news chopper have better things to do, like hunt for pedophiles and terrorists?
posted by kuujjuarapik at 1:54 PM on November 16, 2007

It's too bad the photo quality is terrible.
posted by null terminated at 1:58 PM on November 16, 2007

The Card cheat: That's teh same guy...
posted by Brockles at 2:00 PM on November 16, 2007

No, that's just Toronto's air, null.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:01 PM on November 16, 2007

Boy, is my face red.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:02 PM on November 16, 2007

It’s probably Toronto’s air, the cloudy day, shooting through windows, and resized digicam pics without serious Photoshopping. I agree, this could use a Flickr set at higher resolution.
posted by joeclark at 2:16 PM on November 16, 2007

I imagine that shooting through Perspex windows on helicopters with a low sun isn't spectacularly brilliant practice, either.
posted by Brockles at 2:49 PM on November 16, 2007

Yes, Brockles, he should have ordered up a different weather forecast and swapped out the chopper’s windows for plate glass.
posted by joeclark at 2:51 PM on November 16, 2007

Should've gone for the footbridge.

Honestly, I expected something more like this.
posted by dhartung at 3:03 PM on November 16, 2007

Awesome! It's amazing how much you can find out about trees from the air. While doing my master's I worked with a forestry professor who did research on methods of tree analysis from aerial photography. He had remote control camera rigs for giant helium balloons and radio controlled planes and plans to mount a camera to the wing strut of a Cessna.
posted by zsazsa at 3:39 PM on November 16, 2007

The photos may not stand on their own, but they're made immensely meaningful by what he's able to say about them. I don't really follow why people are complaining.
posted by kowalski at 3:58 PM on November 16, 2007

The attitudes of some people in card cheat's article made me sick.
posted by notsnot at 4:07 PM on November 16, 2007

I don't really follow why people are complaining.

Have you not been around in a while? Mefites could complain about free pie.

It's a point of pride, in fact.
posted by quin at 4:08 PM on November 16, 2007

I thought it said "Arsonist" myself.
posted by SomeOneElse at 5:19 PM on November 16, 2007

I don't like pie. Interesting FPP, the article linked in the first comment is especially nice. Here in Seattle we regularly have monied idiots paying people to cut down trees in public parks so they can have their precious views. (I say burn their houses to the ground, but that's probably why I'm not in government.)
posted by maxwelton at 5:36 PM on November 16, 2007

This year, as a result of the long summer drought, followed by a mild fall with no frost and cool rains, trees are holding their leaves longer. They are doing so partially to take advantage of the unseasonably good growing conditions by storing extra sugars they were unable to during the summer, because of the crippling drought.

Cool. We were just wondering about that yesterday at work, trying to figure out why a fall at the end of a long drought would actually result in leaves staying on trees *longer* than usual in our neck of the woods. Now I know.
posted by mediareport at 6:17 PM on November 16, 2007

Honestly, I expected something more like this.

There was a James Bond rerun on TV the other night and the villians had helicopters with spinning blades dangling below cutting through buildings. I commented on the absurdity of the whole thing, but you know ... it's a James Bond movie ... it's supposed to be ridiculous.

Wow, turns out those damn things really exist (still seems like a bad idea somehow).
posted by itchylick at 7:19 PM on November 16, 2007

Those aren't Toronto trees! Those are York trees, dammit. They can keep their damn trees. /hugs a street light
posted by SassHat at 8:49 PM on November 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

Todd used to live above some good friends of mine on Degrassi Street. Yep, that same Degrassi.

Their yard always looked great. The benefits of having an arborist live upstairs.

Some Degrassi St. trivia: the street was named after Captain Filippo "Philip" De Grassi, an Italian born mercenary who fought for the French during the Napoleonic wars and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1831. More here.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 8:07 AM on November 17, 2007

Metafilter: We could complain about free pie.
posted by Zinger at 11:20 AM on November 17, 2007