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.

Seaford (8/17/2014)

It was a very quiet Sunday morning when I went to the boat to prepare it to receive a coat of nonskid paint in the cockpit.  I took this picture at 10 in the morning.  I was the only one there, and there were even very few people at the public boat launch in the far back of the photograph.

Typing the word cockpit makes me all the sudden realize that airplanes also have cockpits.  Interestingly the dictionary says its origin is from an enclosed area where they had cock fights.  It goes on and says it is also the name of the quarters of warships where the junior officers are housed.  A very interesting juxtaposition here.  On small water crafts like sailboats and smaller motorboats the word “pit” in the word cockpit sounds more true to its meaning; it is a well where you stand in and do most of the boating and having a nonskid floor is important. 

Oh well.  An egret was standing on the dock, peering down, probably looking for a juicy morsel like a small crab or small fish.  At low tide (which it was) the mud flats are often overtaken by fiddler crabs.  Neat little animals; the males have one huge claw and one that is the normal size.  Females have equal size claws.  Makes you wonder if size matters in this part of the animal kingdom as well.  There are so many ways of being attractive to the opposite sex in the animal kingdom; it is amazing.  Even in our own species, the humans, different cultures have different (physical) things they look at to judge whether that person makes a good mate.  It is absolutely fascinating what evolution did to further a species and facilitates selecting mates that would make my offspring more successful than yours.  That’s what Darwin called “Natural Selection” and “Survival of the Fittest.”  Guess that is also why we called out boat the "Beagle."

Anyway, there had been heavy dew fall, and after drying the boat and waiting some time, I had a successful day getting the nonskid paint down.  It is now safer down there; it looks better and hopefully less sensitive to water getting into the core of the boat.