This morning I watched as the city clean up crew came by and gathered the fallen debris we had gathered in front of our house. I liked the shapes and color of this shot.

From time to time we have seen woodpeckers in the back yard. They usually are in the trees next door or on the utility pole in the back yard but occasionally will come to the feeder. This guy, I believe a Downy Woodpecker, has been a regular at the feeder the past few days. Every time I would try and get a shot, however, he would fly away. I managed to get a few shots through the window but wanted to get a clearer view.

Yesterday I watched as he flew away from the feeder. I opened the back window to get a clearer view and watched as he returned to the tree but was pretty hesitant to actually go to the feeder. I got this shot as he sat in a clear area of the tree and later was able to get a few shots while he ate from the feeder.

Thanksgiving evening I stepped outside and snapped this shot. It was a beautiful sunset and this shot, although taken by chance, turned out pretty well.

Vultures sit on a power tower near our house.

On my way to school this morning I saw three birds flying overhead. I thought at first glance that they were hawks. I pulled over into a  open area and saw several vultures on a couple of power towers. There were 8 or 10 in all including the ones flying around.

David Lee looks content to be visiting.

It was great to have Lee and David Lee visit with us on Wednesday and Thursday this week. Before he left we took some photos and had to shoot quite a few to catch him smiling. There’s a hint of a smile  in this shot. Grandma and Granddad had no trouble smiling, however.

Jen, Lee, and DL pose for a family picture on the Furman campus.

We had a great Labor Day weekend with Jen, Lee, and grandson David Lee III visiting. On Saturday we drove over to Furman University and I took some family portraits of the new family. Babies are always a challenge so we took lots of shots in a variety of locations. This was one of my favorite shots. Click on the photo to see the gallery.

Greenville Resident George Hincapie rode in the middle of the pack on the first lap.

The US Pro Cycling Championship returned to Greenville for the fourth year. The race passed a few blocks from our house and I took several shots on the first two laps. I caught this shot of Greenville resident George Hincapie on the first lap as he stayed in the middle of the main pack. He went on to win the race by one second. Click on the photo to see a gallery of shots.

Hummingbird approaches the feeder carefully

I watched the feeder this morning and saw a hummingbird approach several times only to be chased away by a bee. I took this shot as he approached carefully and watched for the bee to leave. I was quite close to the bird as I was using my 18-50 macro lens. Later I watched for quite a while as one bird guarded the feeder and chased away any other birds that approached.

Whale Sharks at the Georgia Aquarium

The Ocean Voyager exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta features a 6.5 million gallon tank that is home to a variety of fish including a manta ray, large groupers, and four young whale sharks. In the photo above two of the whale sharks swam by as we watched through the huge window. In addition, we saw baluga whales, otters, and a huge variety of colorful fish.

There was also a special exhibition of artifacts  from the Titanic that we toured. Each of us received a boarding pass with the name of a passenger to check at the final stop against a list of survivors and victims. Dena’s pass was of a first class passenger who survived, mine was of a single male in third class who was lost. Click on the photo above for more photos from day.