Newport News Park (4/5/2015)

Looking outside over the cityscape and skyscrapers of Richmond in the rain today, I have to reminisce about the wonderful weekend we had: the weather was glorious and the company (family) was glorious.  It was Easter weekend and that absolutely contributed to the great mood and atmosphere.  Having too many recreational choices: hiking, biking or sailing (you guessed right we are not great church people in our family), we settled on a good hike in Newport News Park.  I brought the camera and concentrated on wildlife (bird) photography.

There were plenty of cool birds to be found.  While my wife and I are birdwatchers, we took the dogs this time, and it is almost impossible to look through a pair of binoculars while a dog is tugging on the leash that is in your other hand.   Thank goodness our daughter was visiting, so I had my hands free to take pictures.  During our walk in the park we ran into a group of birdwatchers.  I forgot what the group is called, but I am sure they have the words “Hampton Roads” and “Birdwatchers” or “Birdwatching” in the name.  It seems that they meet every first and third weekend in Newport News Park (I think at 7 am), rain or shine to go bird watching.  We met them at the end of their bi-monthly trip and they reported to us that they had seen 73 different species.  Not bad for a Sunday morning, or for the park.  Birdwatchers are generally a great group of people, they are almost always willing to talk and just our inquiry, asking them if they had seen something interesting, resulted in a conversation that lasted at least 20 minutes.  I really think that is the case globally.

We walked almost the same way as the week before, so if you want to read more about the park look here or look in the labels column.  But, below are six of my bird pictures.

This is a blue heron.  You can see a pretty big turtle behind him going through the marsh. 

This egret just caught a fish and he is ready to swallow it.

Another egret in the forested part of the wetland, in the background you can see a swan on the pond.

This green heron landed right in front of me on a branch.

A white breasted nuthatch; their call is so recognizable and they are fairly easy to spot but difficult to photograph at times (they never pose).

Last but not least a picture that should be turned into a jig saw puzzle.  Two Canada Geese and a mallard.

Newport News Park (10/26/2014)

Some fall we are having; blue skies and delightful temperatures.  Who needs more reasons for a nice walk in Newport News Park around our drinking water reservoir.  The reservoir is an interesting place.  It is a dammed off section of the Warwick River, and it actually has a lot of significance.  Picture more than 100 years ago this area was the site of a civil war battle between the Union and Confederate Forces.  They were dug in on both sides of the river and gunning for each other.  I understand there were much fewer trees around and it must have been an interesting sight; not something I would want to experience.  But now it is all water under the bridge, or should I say into the reservoir.

The reservoir is fed by a few stream, but mostly by a pipe line that brings water from 40 or so miles away.  From here it goes into the water treatment plant and comes out of our faucets.  While these pictures show the lake and it's surroundings in full glory, it is actually the areas far away from the dam that are the most fun.  We can reach these areas from our home as well as from the regular parking area, and we have spent a lot of time in those swamps looking at red-headed woodpeckers, herons, gannets, wood ducks, Canada gees, bald eagles and even at various plants like lizard's tails.  We have been standing in the swamp in February doing the great back yard bird count ankle deep in mud and chilled, but thrilled at all the birds.  That bird count is always on president's day weekend and it is so appropriate to count in a park where George Washington hung out at one time to make the life of the Britts miserable.

At one point the swamp/lake is fed by a spring that is located in the Yorktown Battle Field National Historic Park, a place I have written a lot about.  This spring is actually located need the encampment that George Washington used during the revolutionary war.  I am sure he drank from the spring.  This is another subject I wrote about in a post called George Washington's shovel.  The area is full of remnants of these two major wars that were fought on the Peninsula.  It is really a neat place to live and experience.

It is actually amazing knowing that drops of water that we drink and molecules of air that we breath have all passed through the body and lungs of people like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Hitler and people alike.  We are such a closed system, that we better take care of it.

Yorktown Battlefield National Historic Park (9/1/2014)

Labor Day weekend was spent as a Briedé family triathlon.  On Saturday we sailed, on Sunday we split wood, and on Monday we biked 28 miles (45 km) in preparation of a century ride we will be doing at the end of September.  Although it seems that spring is finally over and summer started, the ride was fun.  (If you live in our neck of the woods, you know what I mean: we had a very mild summer, and temperatures are finally going above 90°F.)  I am sure that many climate change deniers have a lot of fun with our mild weather, but it looks like it was a warmer July for many on the globe except in the eastern US, Siberia and northern Italy.  I am not sure what August will look like.  Oh well, it seems that a lot of us try to grab at straws to prove their point and I am probably one of them, but there is nothing as aggravating to me as people just following what the pundits say on radio and television without researching it themselves.

The photo below was taking during our ride from a bridge in the colonial battlefield park.  I took pictures here before of the lizard tail, but this was such an idyllic sight: a heron standing on a fallen tree.  I did not have my SLR with me, so you cannot really zoom in on the heron, but it is still nice.  Moreover, it is tough to carry a heavy camera on the bike, so my phone will have to do.  As I mentioned before biking itself is sometimes taking you life in your own hands.  Roads are narrow and drivers seem aggravated by cyclist and don’t respect them.  On almost every ride we come by areas where bikers were killed or hurt by a vehicle; although in not every circumstance was the driver at fault.  Cyclists need to be careful, as well.  But it always gives me chills driving by a site where a cyclist was killed.

I was struck by a letter to the editor in this morning’s newspaper (not yet published, but it should appear here).  In this letter the author wrote about a cross country running team from a local high school and how they were running along a narrow road without a sidewalk, where drivers can drive 55 miles per hour.  I think that is so common for our area, nowhere for citizens to go from one place to another to go without the mighty car, truck, minivan or motorcycle.  Life would be so much nicer if we could walk, bike, or use public transportation.