New Arrivals at the Bird Feeder

I recently set up a bird feeder out back and one squirrel has decided that it's his OWN feeding station and guards it. I've seem him resting on the pole with feet dangling. The other squirrels come in and if he's had enough of them a major squirrel fight begins with hair flying everywhere.

Here is the squirrel on guard with a pretty good grasp onto that feeder pole.

We also have about 8 baby chipmunks running around. I caught this one peeking out of his home. They enjoy the bird feeder too but are too fast for those fat lazy squirrels to chase.

Storm Loses 2-1 Today

Storm lost today 2-1 but the girls had a great time.

Follow this link to see the rest of todays pictures

Storm Soccer a Draw Today 1-1

Storm tied their opponent today 1-1. Both teams played very well. Storm kept pounding at their goal keeper but only managed to get one in. Great shot Nicole! Tomorrow, Storm plays one of their makeup games. More pictures next week.

To see the rest of today's game follow this link.

Fairfax County baby killed by falling TV stand

This is a very sad story that I had to share as most people don't think about the dangers these new TVs pose and the solution is simple. Here is an excerpt of the article found here:

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2389850

"A baby boy in Fairfax County has died after a TV stand fell on him Wednesday afternoon."

"The child, which police say was less than a year old, died just before 4 p.m. Thursday. Fairfax County Police say the incident happened in the 4100 block of Chantilly Lace Court in Chantilly. "

If you have a flat panel TV on a TV stand or on a cabinet I can't stress enough that you should attach a cable to the TV and fasten it tight to the wall so the TV cannot fall over on children or animals. Better yet wall mount it and get rid of the TV stand all together. It is very common for kids to be injured by these TVs falling on them. If you don't have kids, consider your visitors or even your dog. Best case is your TV wont get ruined accidentally when someone bumps into it or the stand.

The stands on these new TVs are not very substantial and I'm sure you noticed when it was set up that it seemed inadequate. The reality is that they are in fact VERY inadequate. The TVs should be securely anchored to the wall either on a bracket designed for wall mounting or just simply a cable that is attached to the back of the TV and anchored to one of the wall studs behind it so that it cannot fall over on anyone or on your pet.

Don't think it wont happen to you as it just happened to a local resident and they lost their baby.

Storm's Opponent a No Show!

The club rescheduled Storms game last weekend and the other team apparently did not get notice of the time change. Would have been an easy forfeit but the team decided they wanted to play and voted for a make up game at the end of regular season. Instead, Storm decided to use the field and hold a scrimmage game.

You can go to this link to see all of the pictures of the scrimmage.

The Storm Blows the Competition Away!

The Storms furry kicked in last Saturday with a 2-0 win against another local team. The game started out slow but as the barometric pressure dropped, Storm kicked into high gear. Here are a couple of shots of my girls (in red) showing their fancy footwork. Carina was pulled out of the game with a bloody nose after attempting to head a ball on a goal kick. So brave she was to also make it for the after game team picture. Everyone will have to wait for that one!

Here is a link to the rest of the game shots.

Storm's Fury Not Enough After 1-0 Loss

The girls played very hard and very well but were unable to get past the other teams goal tender. Storm lost 1 - 0 on Saturday morning. Hopefully the weather will hold this week and the team will get a couple of practices in before looking toward a second win next weekend. For the rest of the game shots go to this link.

They're coming after me

I was showing my daughter the latest pictures I had taken and she spotted this furry jumping spider on the back of my chair. No less than 8 eyes, it perched itself up on the corner of the chair while I took endless flash pictures. I then captured it and released it outside. These spiders have no fear and they WILL come after you! They are aggressive hunters no matter how big the prey.

At the Lake Today

I took a walk with the girls this afternoon and Carina spotted this Great Heron on the shoreline. Last night while I was packing to come home from Madison, I found a North American Millipede on the garage floor. This one was about 5" in length but they can get to be over 8". Some people keep them as pets and they are easy to take care of. These particular millipedes are only found in North America.


A Great Heron fishing in the shallows


A North American Millipede up close

When disturbed, the North American Millipede will curl up to protect itself.

Our Downy Woodpeckers Were Busy

Yesterday turned out to be an exceptional day for a day that was so supposed to rain. Walking into the woods in the front yard, I discovered two Downy woodpeckers building a nest in a dead pine tree. I watched them for almost an hour when they decided to take a break.


Female Downy Woodpecker looking for her male


A Male Downy Woodpecker checking sapsucker holes for insects


The pair mating in a nearby tree

Aliens in the Back Yard

In recent days I have turned my lens from the trees to the ground. Most people don't spend much time looking at the aliens right in our own back yard. I suppose it's mostly because we are disgusted with things that have more than four eyes. Maybe also because some of these aliens are cowards waiting until after we go to sleep to wreck their havoc. Here are a few of these aliens we have in our own yards that we never get close enough to look at in any detail. Try not to look at these too late at night...sweet dreams! (Click on any image for a larger version...if you dare)


A wasp guards it's nest in a conifer


A very ugly spider with an egg sack. Note the fang!


Two black ants attack an inch worm which mounted a defense by secreting a sticky substance that bought it some time to escape.

Looking Down for a Change

Here are a few shots of some critters I took down in Madison, VA. I spend too much time looking up in the trees and not enough looking at the forest floor. All shot with a Canon 100mm Macro L lens.



A juvenile newt I found under a log


A Bumble Bee pulling nectar from a flower

A Hovering Bee pulling nectar from a purple flower

Spring Must Be Here!!!

Spring must be here. This Robin has built a nest outside our dining room window.

Went Searching for a Bald Eagle's Nest Today

A co-worker and I went searching for this eagle's nest at Lake Mercer but we turned up nothing. People on the trail say there is two of them but we only saw this one pictured below. It was the best of only three shots I got before it flew off. I'm constantly amazed at the abundance of wildlife to photograph at the lake. I go out to shoot something and come back with gigabytes of photo's to sift through. Below are a mother dove feeding her babies, a Sand Piper near the south west bog, and one of three deer we saw in the woods. They were curious enough to come toward us for a bit. We got quite a few pictures of them before they headed east up the trail. The herons have been elusive. We saw one perched on top of a very tall pine tree but neither of us got any good shots. We will keep trying.

Bird Politics

These flycatchers were interesting to watch down at Lake Accotink today. They chase bugs all over the place. At one point they stopped to rest on top of a log in the middle of the creek and one began to scream loudly at the other. One can only imagine what was going on there.

Fly Catchers having an argument

A Tufted Titmouse

The center of a small pink flower

A Double Crested Cormorant Landing at Lake Mercer