jgrussell – my world

I was planning to go do some other kind of photography today… but the babies kept showing up…

House sparrow: "Feed me, Mom!"

Baby northern cardinal

Busy day today — had some electrical work done in the house this morning, went to pick up a bird bath I’d ordered, got it installed, worked on some genealogy stuff… and took a break just long enough to discover that I’m being overrun by juvenile starlings! You hate to wish anything bad to happen to young birds, but starlings are such pests…

Juvenile starling

So the treerats have, so far, been thwarted by the new feeder. They can’t climb up and get to the seed or jump down and get to the seed because the only place to hang on to is the bar that triggers a counterweight and closes the seed bin. But the messy eater birds — house finches and house sparrows in particular — are making sure nobody (and I mean nobody) goes hungry…

Tree rat

So my brother thinks I take too many pictures of birds. Maybe so. But I’m not apologizing for this one. Not when I’ve been trying to get him to pose for me for what seems like forever.

Blue jay

Back to my home and to my own backyard birds (sorry, Bill!). Loved this little catbird hopping all around the feeders and the backyard!

Grey catbird

My brother Bill says I take too many pictures of flowers and birds, especially since this is supposed to be a photo-a-day project. So this one is for you, Bill. It surely isn’t a flower or a bird.

Sharp edges

I am very far behind in posting since I was away for more than two weeks shaking the family tree again to see who (or what) fell out of the branches, but wanted to pay my respects today to all of the men and women of my family who have served from 1776 through to today (including most especially my siblings Evan, Diana, Fred, Warren and Bill) and to all of the men and women throughout our nation’s history who have worn the uniform in times of war and peace. I stopped by Quantico National Cemetery on my way home this morning, and spent a few minutes with, among others, Sgt. Jonathan McColley USMC, who died in Iraq on February 17, 2006, at the age of 24:

Sgt. Jonathan Eric McColley

and Elizabeth Margaret Anders, who served as a PFC in the US Army in World War II:

Elizabeth Margaret Anders

On this Memorial Day 2009, for myself and, I hope, for the entirety of a grateful nation, I thank you for your service.

I stopped off near Norfolk, Virginia, on my way home from North Carolina. There is a nesting pair of bald eagles at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens with three nearly-grown eaglets. The prospect of being able to see bald eagles, close up, in the wild, was too much of a lure to pass up. The weather was lousy, the skies threatening, the humidity up, the heat up… and I loved every minute of it.

Female bald eagle

Eaglets

Female bald eagle and eaglets

I wanted to go to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens on my way home from Raleigh so I spent the night in nearby Virginia Beach. Since I arrived early enough, I spent a few hours just wandering around the acres of gorgeous gardens.

Rose at Norfolk Botanical Gardens

Wildflowers and fence

Water lily

Last long… very long… research day at the NC State Library and Archives. By the time the day was over, my brain was totally fried — I literally could no longer get my brain to compute from a deed index to the deed book where the index said a deed should be. It was time to put the research aside and go do something else. I chose to get some shots of an old Episcopal Church a couple of blocks from the archives building.

Raleigh Episcopal Church

Church fence

Church steeple

Church breezeway (HDR)