On to DC
I spent a couple of days in DC for work the week of April 10, but I had time for a few photos. Here is one of a woodpecker and a young eagle from the St. James Creek Preserve.






Springtime in Sweden
I spent the week of April 17 either traveling to/from or working in Southern Sweden. During my last two trips the weather was nasty, but spring finally sprung when I arrived. The staff at the Grand Hotel where I stay was kind enough to give me a room on the top floor with a small patio. Here is a shot of my “avian roommate” and a couple other photos taken off the patio.







Easter Break
In Sweden they take their time off seriously, and “officially” everyone is off from midday Thursday until Tuesday morning. Friday, my last morning there, I was out at dawn trying to capture some of the budding trees and flowers. Since many folks were in party mode the night before, it was pretty quiet. Here are a few photos of nature waking up.









Hotel Menu
Finally, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the holiday special menu being served. Nothing like lukewarm scallop, smoked cottage cheese, white dead nettle, and mustard-glazed wild boar with carrots and sage to get your attention. All for $70! By the way, I have no idea what sea buckhorn, nettle juice, or sorrel is.



See you soon.

Tags: Sweden

Vegas
Early in the week I facilitated a business trends session for a group of senior services executive in Las Vegas. Great people, great session.

Baby Eagles
Here are a couple of images of young eagles taken in the St. James Creek Preserve on Pine Island. It is quite enjoyable watching these two youngsters start off in life.





Live Eagle Cam
Speaking of eagles, check out this marvelous, real-time close up action of an active eagle nest in Iowa. Here is the URL—take a look.

Also go to www.npr.org and search for “Eagle Cam” and you’ll see several cool postings. And of course YouTube has several video clips as well. This stuff is fun.

Snake!
While looking for birds on the south end of Buchanan Lake I heard rustling and felt movement zip my right leg—I almost stepped on a Black Racer. We both jumped back, and in a nano-second multiple thoughts went through my mind, “Yikes!”, “What was that?”, “Am I in Trouble?”, “Poisonous?”, “It was pretty fast”, “Wear boots next time”, “Watch your step”, “I’m going to live.”, “No worries” “Better take a picture.” Funny how the mind works…





As my pulse rate started to settle back to normal, this black beauty signaled his displeasure with me with some cobra-like moves that would have made Michael Jackson proud and a lacing tongue routine reminiscent of the cowboy lariat performer in a Wild West show. However, after his display, he patiently waited as I took a few images to remember this Kodak Moment.

Miscellaneous
I have also included a few random pics from Island action just for fun.











Pups Across America
Here is a shot of a reflective Jerry.



Also, a few shots from a Schnauzer shoot. Cute pups—check out the Mitzy Wannabe.











See you next week.

Tags: Pine Island, photography

Sunday River Church
About 30 family and friends attended a tree-planting dedication for Uncle Brad at a replica river church being build by friends of the family. Here are a couple pics. If anyone wants to see more, click here.







Ding Darling
Wednesday I went to Ding Darling with some family and friends. Here are a few pics from this excursion.























Baby Eagle
Here is a close-up pic of a few-weeks-old eagle behind the St. James City post office.



Onward to Vegas.

Tags: Pine Island, Bird photography