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July 2026
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July 3, 2026 [LINK / comment]

The Nats bounce back from adversity

After the horrendous series of stunning 9th-inning reversals against the Phillies on June 22, 23, and 24, one might wonder how the Washington Nationals would react. Pretty well, actually. Even though they lost the first game against the Orioles in Baltimore last Friday, they won the next two, thus winning yet another series on the road. On Saturday Foster Griffin had a splendid outing, striking out 10 batters over 7 innings, but then the bullpen blew it as usual, and the game was tied 2-2. In the top of the 10th inning, Daylen Lile batted in the "ghost runner" from 2nd base base, and the Nats held on to win. On Sunday Luis Garcia almost single-handedly won the game, with 2 home runs, a double, and 5 RBIs. Nats 6, Orioles 4.

On Monday the Nats headed to Boston, where the Red Sox had just beaten the Yankees in a thrilling 10-inning game that was broadcast on NBC. Unfortunately, the Nats starter Miles Mikolas was totally ineffective, while the Red Sox still had lots of momentum from the night before. Final score: 6-3. But on Tuesday there was a real pitchers' duel, with the score 1-1 after 6 innings. Then the Nationals unleashed their awesome offensive firepower, with multiple doubles and another home run by C.J. Abrams. Nats 8, Red Sox 1. In the game on Wednesday afternoon, Cade Cavalli had his best day pitching of his entire career, striking out 13 batters over 7 innings. The Red Sox' only runs came off relief pitcher Riley Cornelio. Final score: 10-2.

That series (and the one before it) erased any doubt about whether those adverse outcomes last week might have a lingering effect. The Nats may still be in 4th place in the NL East, but they are still in the running for a wild card spot. In tonight's game back home in Washington against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Nats have hit 3 home runs so far, and lead 5-1 after 4 innings. [UPDATE: The Nats built a 9-1 lead in the latter innings, as both Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile hit two home runs each, but the bullpen flinched once again and the Pirates scored 4 runs in the top of the 9th. Final score: Nats 9, Pirates 5.]

[I should have mentioned that Luis Garcia was named NL Player of the Week for the week of June 28. He hit 11 home runs in June, and has 18 for the year now, tied with C.J. Abrams and 2 behind James Wood, who is tied for 7th in the major leagues. Kyle Schwarber has 30 already, setting a Phillies club record for the first half of the year, and on his way to challenging Aaron Judge's MLB record* of 62.]

[* excluding the steroid era]

[That fracas in Boston]

[I also should have mentioned the unpleasantness in Fenway Park on Tuesday after Wilson Contreras struck out. There was an ugly glance and Cade Cavalli said "Sit down, boy," prompting Contreras to start fighting. Contreras had tossed his bat high in the air after homering on Monday, and that apparently angered the Nats. It took a few minutes for the melee to die down, and Contreras, Cavalli, and Miles Mikolas were all suspended for multiple games. Trash talk is often risky business, and Cavalli acknowledged his mistake. He'll only miss one game in the Nats rotation.]

Follow-up on the Phillies

To amplify what jaw-dropping feat the Philadelphia Phillies accomplished in Washington last week, it was the first time in MLB history that a team hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning of three consecutive games. The "heroes" (from the visitors' point of view) were Bryson Stott on Tuesday, on an 0-0 count (final score 14-9), Derek Hill on Wednesday, on a 1-2 count (final score 5-4), and Bryce Harper on Thursday, on a 1-0 count (final score 10-5). I'm pretty sure it was the first time in many years that a team came back to win after being so many runs behind with two outs and two strikes in the 9th inning.

Follow-up on FIFA stadium names

I neglected to include a link to the article upon which much of my recent summary of FIFA stadium name changes was based. For the record, it was in the Washington Post. (For those who are trying to keep up with the World Cup, the U.S. national men's team beat Bosnia-Hercegovina on Wednesday, thus going to the Round of 16.)

Washington Nationals page update

The Washington Nationals page has been updated to include the month of June, just a couple days after I did the updates for May. It now includes the head-to-head records against all opponents the Nats have played during the first three full months of the 2026 season. The Nats' best record is against the Milwaukee Brewers (4-2), and their worst record is against the L.A. Dodgers (0-3) and the Miami Marlins (1-5).

Rate Field update

As noted on May 15, the name of Guaranteed Rate Field has been changed to simply "Rate Field." This was reported in December 2024 apnews.com. Accordingly, [the Stadium name chronology page has been updated] with the new name for Rate Field, "UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium," etc. I have made the usual tweaks to formatting [to the renamed Rate Field page], with a transitional photo section. In the interests of simplification, [there will be fewer photos on stadium pages in] the future. This is the composite "preview" [similar to what most stadium pages will eventually have]:

Views of what was then called "U.S. Cellular Field" when I saw a White Sox-Cardinals game there in July 2015.

City and stadium composite photos

In addition to the stadium composite photos, there are now [larger-size] composite photos for cities as well. [These will appear on most or all pages of stadiums currently in use.] Here is the one for Chicago, consisting of photos that I took in 2008 and 2014:

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Chicago River, downtown, the Calder steel sculpture, skyline from (Guaranteed) Rate Field, and one of the typical elevated trains.

July 4, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Independence Day 2026:
How to cope with Trump's power grab?

I thought the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the official signing* of the Declaration of Independence would be appropriate for me to wade back into the murky waters of online pontificating, a.k.a. "blogging." (My last blog post on politics concerned the topic of mass shootings, on May 24, 2023!) A few months ago I started a Substack account, but haven't written anything for it so far. So the focus of today's musings will be on how to keep the power of the president in check, especially during times of deep domestic division.

* the Second Continental Congress had already voted in favor of independence two days earlier, but a few details on the words that Thomas Jefferson had drafted needed to be ironed out.

Though his most ardent supporters might deny it, President Donald Trump's grab for power really is unprecedented in U.S. history. Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama all exceeded the proper bounds of executive authority based on some emergency or other, but in each case the assertion of power was circumscribed and at least arguably within constitutional bounds.

Most constitutional scholars agree with the idea of "inherent" powers, under which the president has the authority to take actions that are necessary to preserve the existence of the government itself. No constitution could possibly foresee every single contingency that might make it necessary to take exceptional actions. It was on that basis that Abe Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in 1861, because otherwise Confederate spies and saboteurs lurking around the District of Columbia could have substantially neutralized the U.S. government's power, allowing the secessionist states to destroy the Union.

As Harvey Mansfield Jr. noted in his 1979 book Selected Writings -- Jefferson (p. xii), declaring that governmental legitimacy rests upon the consent of the governed does not imply any specific form of government. Even a monarch with limited powers (as has been the case in Great Britain since the early 19th Century) could be considered legitimate, or else what was the point of listing all of the grievances in the Declaration of Independence? That puts the protest slogan "No Kings" in an interesting perspective.

In Trump's case, the very notion that there are limits on presidential power is tossed aside. For almost every issue or problem there is an "emergency" that requires an immediate drastic remedy. Here are some of the leading examples:

• Ordering that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the "Gulf of America." I'm not aware of anyone who previously suggested this sort of thing might be within a president's purview.
• Attaching his name and face to government buildings (such as the Kennedy Center, which thanks to a court ruling no longer says "Trump" on it) or documents such as passports and possibly currency notes. These are the sorts of things a Third World dictator would do, and it makes us look ridiculous
• Invoking a 1970s law to exercise the power to set tariff rates (in quite a capricious manner) on the grounds that there is some kind of national "emergency."
• Sending military forces into several cities without the consent of local leaders, on the bogus grounds that some kind of insurrection was taking place.
• Using the FCC's regulatory power to pressure TV networks into removing TV hosts who criticize Trump.
• Undermining the autonomy of the Federal Reserve by threatening to bring charges of incompetence against (former) Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who is a widely-respected financial expert.
• Ordering U.S. military forces to attack Venezuela and detain the dictator Nicolas Maduro, without seeking authorization or even consulting Congress about it.
• Making outrageous threats to seize control of Greenland, which is administered by Denmark, a NATO ally. Such an action would effectively destroy NATO.
• Finally, ordering U.S. military forces to launch (on February 28) a full-scale war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, apparently with the express purpose of killing its then-leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khameini. There was no pretense at all of seeking Congressional approval.

Tragically, Congress has utterly failed in its responsibility to maintain a balance of power among the three branches of government. To better understand how our government is supposed to work, read James Madison's The Federalist #51. In it, he articulates how "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition" so that no one branch becomes too powerful. Ultimately, it is up to the voters to make sure that happens.

It was of some consolation that the Supreme Court rulings of the term that just ended did block Trump from doing whatever he wanted to, but in some cases they were unnervingly permissive. Whatever one thinks of Trump's policies and his higher goals of making America "great," the fact remains that our system of government has broken down. Decisions that are made in an improper manner simply do not carry the moral weight of decisions that are reached within constitutional limits and traditional norms. That's important because the opposing party could quickly reverse many of those policies if they find a way to get back into power. Such a turbulent series of back-and-forth policy reversals would undermine respect for authority and would diminish investor confidence in the United States. Meanwhile, the national debt continues to climb by well over $1 trillion per year, and the two parties just blame each other for it.

President Trump's image adorns the northwest corner of the Justice Department Building. (Feb. 21, 2026)

Virginia Democrats' bogus response

Early this year, Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly managed to squeeze through a "temporary" state constitutional amendment that would have enacted an extreme gerrymandering measure in retaliation for Texas and other GOP-led states for doing so. In April their redistricting amendment was narrowly approved by voters. I have mixed feelings about that, but am mostly disgusted with the whole thing. Evidently, the Democrats didn't think they could pick up enough seats with the current congressional districts in Virginia by reaching out to moderates.

After the election, I accessed 2024 election data from the Virginia Department of Elections, and found that the Democrats won 51.5% of all votes cast for House of Representatives candidates in Virginia, while Republicans won 47.7%. (The rest were independents and write-in votes.) That corresponds very closely to the distribution of House seats: 6 Democrats (54.5%) vs. 5 Republicans (45.5%), which indicates that the current district arrangement is almost ideal. And yet the wording on the ballot describing the proposed amendment describes its purpose as being to "restore fairness." Talk about misleading advertising!

We all know what the real purpose of this amendment was: to fight back against gerrymandering measures recently adopted in Texas and other "red" states. Tit for tat, fighting fire with fire, etc. Maybe it will end up helping to block or even reverse President Trump's grab for power, but we may not know the ultimate results of the Democrats' own grab for power for many years. It's just an awful shame that the Democrats saw no other way to accomplish their anti-authoritarian objectives than by resorting to the most blatant case of gerrymandering in U.S. history. Fortunately, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the whole effort was improperly conducted, mainly due to the fact that the measure was approved by the state legislature after early voting in the 2025 state elections had already begun. And so, it was invalidated, leaving the public confused and annoyed.

The Democrats seem to think that all our nation's troubles can be fixed if only they regain governmental power, but they are a big part of the problem. What they don't seem to realize is that the Trump phenomenon (right-wing populism) is a manifestation of systemic forces tending toward greater and greater polarization. In a midterm election with a historically unpopular president, the opposition party in Virginia would ordinarily be expected to gain two or perhaps even three seats, if they had gotten away with this measure they probably would have picked up four seats. It looks like incumbent 6th District Representative Rep. Ben Cline will win easily in this November's elections.

I think this episode in Virginia offers broader lessons for the country as a whole. Why can't the Democrats respond effectively to Trump's power grab? In part it's probably because they realize deep inside that they have a similar lust for power and have abused authority in the past. But a bigger reason, I think, is simply that they have let themselves be overwhelmed by Trump's nonstop bluster, allowing Trump to set the terms of discourse. It will take some true wisdom and leadership for the opposition party to win convincingly in the polls this November, and frankly I'm not very optimistic. The ongoing decay Democracy is part of a vicious cycle, in which politicians who pander to majorities facilitate the "dumbing down" of the electorate, which thus becomes more docile and so cynical about politics that our system of self-government keeps eroding.

I don't pretend to have all the answers to our country's problems, and this essay is but a tentative, preliminary effort to clarify what is really taking place. I hope to develop these thoughts later on.

July 4, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Birding in Virginia, February 2025

This is another episode in my efforts to get caught up with my blog posts about birding. (The first item should have been included with the previous post on May 25.)

January 28: In the morning (Tuesday) we had a Cooper's Hawk out back for the first time this season, or at least for the last couple months. It was a first-year bird, as you can see from the brown streaks in front. (Adults have a dull orange front.)

Cooper's Hawk (1st year) out back, Jan. 28

February 1-2: I took advantage of the nice weather by going for a nature hike at Dowell's Draft and then Braley Pond, and essentially struck out. Snow lingered, and the pond was still covered by ice. I heard a Red-breasted Nuthatch, but did not see a single bird! The next day was cloudier but birdier, with a variety of birds out back: Downy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Finches, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Over on Bell's Lane, the usual raptors were present: American Kestrel (feasting on a vole, it would appear), Two Northern Harriers, and two Red-tailed Hawks.

February 9: It was definitely a Superb Owl Sunday for me, as I saw three (3) Short-eared Owls in the Swoope area, and photographed two of them! The one shown here was squabbling with another one that eluded my camera. The other big highlight was a Bald Eagle perched in a tree, which may have been an auspicious sign for the Philadelphia Eagles, who ended up winning the big game! I also saw two American Kestrels, as well as some White-breasted Nuthatches, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, and a Ring-necked Duck on the lake by the Boy Scout camp.

(February 9, 2025)

February 12: In the aftermath of a snow storm, we had plenty of birds out back, and I had good looks at a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker as well as two Yellow-rumped Warblers. The Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, and White-breasted Nuthatch paid several visits, enabling me to get good images of each one. There were also quite a few Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, etc.

February 14 (Valentine's Day!): I got some much-needed exercise walking along the trail behind the Murphy-Deming School in Fishersville. A few Yellow-rumped Warblers popped into view, and I heard and glimpsed a couple Red-breasted Nuthatches, but not much else. Then along Bell's Lane just before dusk, I spotted a Short-eared Owl and a Red-tailed Hawk.

February 16: It was the Great Back Yard Bird Count weekend, but we had no electric power due to the ice storm. So, I went for a brisk stroll along Bell's Lane, where the winds were wreaking havoc. Fallen branches everywhere! I had a beautiful view of an Eastern Bluebird early on, and eventually had decent views of some Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. No raptors were in sight, but I did spot several Common Mergansers on one of the ponds.

February 22-23: Jacqueline and I took a random drive around the periphery of Staunton, and came across a variety of raptors. In front of Chipotle on Rt. 250 was a young Red-shouldered Hawk, and we soon saw two adults of that species: one was about a mile north, along National Avenue, and the other was along Bell's Lane. In that general area is where we also saw a Northern Harrier, a young Red-tailed Hawk, and an American Kestrel, along with a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Yellow-rumped Warbler. The next day (Sunday) we went for a walk along the road at the Boy Scout Camp, but didn't see much other than a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Field Sparrow, and a bunch of Dark-eyed Juncos. Elsewhere in the Swoope area, we saw two Killdeers, some Eastern Bluebirds, and some American Kestrels, but no other raptors, and no Shrike, once again.

(February 22, 2025)

February 25-28: Jacqueline and I went hiking at Madison Run (east of Grottoes), and saw a Mourning Cloak butterfly but no birds of note. Two days later (Thursday) we hiked along the Johnson's Draft trail near Braley Pond, but saw little more than a Dark-eyed junco. And on Friday (the 28th) we drove up to Harrisonburg and then the Mount Crawford area, apparently in search of some rare bird. (I forget what it was.) We stopped at the Green Valley Book Fair, then passed the Rockingham County Buc-ee's construction site, and ended up seeing various hawks, woodpeckers, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, and a Brown Creeper.

Additional photos and montages, including individual photos of some of the birds in the above montages, can be seen on the Wild Birds chronological (2025) page.

July 9, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Yet another road trip to the Midwest!?

As noted in my June 26 blog post about baseball, I spent the first half of last month on an overland journey to the Midwest and back. It was actually the third time over the past twelve months that I have made such a trip, with similar destinations but significant variations in the routes to and from. (Family obligations were a big factor behind these trips.) On this trip I made three notable "touristy" stops on the westward leg, three major day trips (oriented around birding) while in South Dakota, and five notable (if not lengthy) stops on my way back home in the east.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: U.S. Air Force Museum, Dayton, Ohio (May 31); Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois (June 1); the new stadium near the Field of Dreams movie site northeast of Dyersville, Iowa (June 1); and Highway 61 (Revisited?) sign in eastern Iowa (June 1).

On May 31, I fulfilled a long-deferred goal when I spent a couple hours at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. It is located next to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and in fact used to be part of it. Four of the big hangars in which historical aircraft are displayed were formerly used operationally by the Air Force. Being time-constrained, I only visited the section devoted to World Wars I and II (a highlight being the "Memphis Belle" B-17 bomber), leaving for a future date a visit to the Cold War and recent sections, including missiles. I then drove straight across Indiana, catching a glimpse of Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL Colts, and got through most of Illinois before dusk.

The next day, June 1, I started by visiting the campus of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Besides being a fine academic institution, it has historical significance for being the site of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858. I had caught a glimpse of the south edge of the campus previously while traveling on Amtrak trains. Then I drove around Galesburg, which seems like a prosperous, friendly community. While downtown, I noticed a sign for the "Ronald Reagan Trail," which I assume takes a person to various historical sites where the 40th president spent his formative years. I then crossed the Mississippi River east of the Quad Cities and then proceeded north on U.S. Highway 61, which was made famous by Bob Dylan in his 1965 album with that name. As noted in my June 26 blog post, I paid a visit the Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville, Iowa. (They were putting the finishing touches on a new stadium where an MLB game will be played in August!) Then I resumed my westward course along Highway 20, and arrived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota late in the day.

Out and about in South Dakota

During my ten or so days in South Dakota, I made several day trips oriented around birding, taking advantage of the fact that it was still breeding season. On June 6 my brother John and I drove all the way up to Watertown in an ambitious birding venture, passing many lakes along the way. Northeastern South Dakota is full of lakes, and it's chock full of recreational tourists during the summer months.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Dewey Gevik Nature Area (June 9); grain elevators in Parker (June 11); skyline of Sioux Falls from the east. (June 12)

My next big trip was June 9, when I went to Wall Lake and nearby Dewey Gevik Nature Area, located about 12 miles west of Sioux Falls. There were lots of folks on boats and on the beach. While there I saw four F-16 fighter jets from the South Dakota Air National Guard flying overhead.

My last full day in South Dakota (June 11) I took a meandering drive during the morning and early afternoon to see various towns such as Parker and Marion. I decided to photograph the grain elevators in each town that I passed, since agriculture is the biggest business in the state. In the late afternoon my brothers and I got together for a delicious barbecue dinner in the town of Freeman. On the way back to Sioux Falls, I finally got a good look at several Ring-necked Pheasants, as will be described in more detail in a future bird-oriented blog post. It was a fitting send-off, since they are the official state birds of South Dakota.

Ring-necked Pheasant (male), north of Freeman, SD. (June 11)

While on a birding walk west of the Sioux Falls airport on June 8, I spotted three different small mammals in the open fields. The 13-lined Ground Squirrels are fairly common, and most people just call them "gophers." I was lucky to spot a Richardson's Ground Squirrel. That species is plain in appearance, looking like tiny groundhogs. Finally, I was very lucky to see several White-Tailed Jackrabbits foraging in the distance. I learned that they are reclusive by nature, but one is more likely to see them during breeding season.

LEFT: 13-lined Ground Squirrel; TOP RIGHT: Richardson's Ground Squirrel; White-Tailed Jackrabbit. (June 8, west of Sioux Falls airport)

Return trip: east by northeast!

Since I had already driven across the Midwest to or from Virginia five times since the previous August, I decided to something different for my return trip to Virginia. So, instead of heading east on the morning of June 12, I went northeast toward the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Gradually the terrain changed, with more and more trees. I was curious about the social situation in the wake of the violent clashes with ICE agents during the winter, so I drove for a while along Nicollet Avenue in southern Minneapolis. One thing I learned is that there are a lot of people from Muslim countries there. Another thing is that the McDonald's restaurant south of downtown did not have restrooms available to the public, presumably for fear of crime. Very aggravating! Once I reached downtown, I parked for a while so that I could get some photos of Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins. This time I passed the western and southwestern sides, whereas before (2010), I had seen it from the north and eastern sides. After some awkward navigation along congested streets, I made it to U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings. Then I drove to St. Paul, where I got some great photos of the Minnesota State Capitol. (My previous visit there many years ago was during the winter, and the photo I took was lousy.) Then I drove straight east through Wisconsin for a few hours. I was surprised and annoyed to encounter major traffic delays in the middle of nowhere, and I really don't know what the problem was. There were more pine trees the farther east that I went, but no special nature areas that might have been worth visiting. I spent the night about an hour west of Green Bay.

TOP: Minneapolis (June 12); MIDDLE: Mackinac Bridge (LEFT, June 13) and Detroit (RIGHT, June 14); BOTTOM: Minnesota State Capitol (LEFT, in St. Paul, June 12) and Michigan State Capitol (RIGHT, in Lansing, June 14).

On Saturday June 13 I had two objectives: visiting Lambeau Field (home of the Green Bay Packers) for the very first time and stopping to look for birds that breed in northern latitudes. I struck out as far as birds, but got some very nice photos of Lambeau Field in the morning sun. I was mildly surprised that the stadium is adjacent to a residential neighborhood, and that most of the parking area consists of nothing but grassy vacant lots. (Most of the Packers' fans "commute" to the games from Milwauakee via bus or train.) I drove northeast toward the town of Marinette, which features an impressive gleaming white county court house. Then I crossed the river into Michigan, and a nice lady at the visitor center tried to be helpful as far as identifying locations to look for birds. I ended up spending too much time stopping at various places along the way, further delaying my very ambitious itinerary. During my cross-continent road trip in 1987 I had crossed the Upper Peninsula (U.P.)* of Michigan from east (Sault St. Marie) to the west, parallel to Lake Superior. This time I crossed along the southern, Lake Michigan side. In the mid-afternoon I crossed the famous Mackinac Bridge (built in 1958) for the very first time, and I spent the night near the town of Grayling, where I was delighted to see "Kirtland Community College," named for a rare bird that I was pursuing.

* People who reside in the U.P. are called "Yoopers," and I saw a sign for a "Yooper Winery."

Sunday June 14 was a big day, but it was already getting cloudy in the morning, a rather ominous sign as we shall see. I spent a couple hours in the morning searching for the seldom-seen Kirtland's Warbler, as will be described in a future blog post. (Spoiler alert: I succeeded in my quest!) The land in north-central Michigan is covered with pine forests, and it seems they have reached a good balance between commercial use of the timber resources and the wildlife conservation. I saw timber operations owned by Weyerhaeuser and Arauco near Grayling. The Weyerhaeuser Corporation advertises itself as "the tree-growing company," and that seems to be an accurate description from what I could tell. Anyway, I got back on the highway and headed south, as it began to rain lightly. By the time I got to Lansing, where I paid a visit to the state capitol building, the rain was getting steadier. On the radio were warnings about floods in the Detroit area, which was my next destination. Indeed the rain became a real problem, causing the traffic to slow down as I entered the suburbs of Detroit, and I saw some accumulated water in a couple places. I visited four separate stadium sites in Detroit: Hamtramck Stadium, Comerica Park, Ford Field, and "The Corner Ballpark," where Tiger Stadium once stood. As in the Twin Cities, navigating urban streets proved to be a big challenge, and I wasted some time making wrong turns. Because of the rain, there wasn't much point to taking photos of the downtown skyline, as I had hoped to do.

Anyway, I got back on the road heading to Toledo, but as I approached Cleveland there were more reports of severe thunderstorms, so I bypassed that city entirely. It was already late afternoon, and my hopes of taking photos in Pittsburgh quickly dwindled as the rain got worse again. To save money on the very expensive Pennsylvania Turnpike, I headed south toward Morgantown, West Virginia and spent the night in that area. The next day I drove along I-68 in western Maryland, picked up Jacqueline at Dulles Airport, and we headed home together -- quite exhausted!

To see some of the above photos in larger size, see the Chronological Photos, 2026 web gallery page, which has been thoroughly updated, but probably needs a bit more tweaking.

July 14, 2026 [LINK / comment]

All the stars gather in Philadelphia

The 2026 All-Star Game is being played in Philadelphia this evening, and once again, I won't be there!

Three Washington Nationals made the All-Star roster: C.J. Abrams (SS), James Wood (RF/DH), and Foster Griffin (LHP). Abrams has 20 home runs, is batting .275, and has 67 RBIs. Wood has 28 home runs, is batting .279, and has 89 runs and 79 bases on balls, in both cases the most in the majors. Griffin has a 2.77 ERA (ranked #13 in MLB), has a 10-2 record, and has thrown 109 strikeouts. He is the Nats' best pitcher since Max Scherzer. Can he keep it up? And can the Nationals front office keep him in Washington?? Luis Garcia Jr. has also been putting up All-Star caliber batting numbers, and Keibert Ruiz is not far behind.

2026 Home Run Derby

In last night's Home Run Derby, Bryce Harper didn't make it out of the first round and was thus denied the chance to win the Derby in his home stadium twice. (He did so during his final year as a Washington National way back in 2018.) His team mate Kyle Schwarber (another former National!) made it to the final round, but fell just short of the winner, Jordan Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals. The new rules took the pressure off time-wise, giving the batters a chance to get ready for the next pitch. Walker connected on his last five (?) pitches, after I thought that Schwarber had already wrapped up a victory.

Oops: They blew it again! *

For most teams, going into the All-Star break with a nine-game home stand would be a welcome opportunity, but for the Washington Nationals it was the road to disappointment. They had a good chance of winning the first series (against the Pirates) on Sunday, July 5, with a 4-4 tie going into the 8th inning. That's when the Nats' infamous bullpen choked once again. Brad Lord, who is usually the team's most reliable reliever, gave up 5 runs and then newly acquired Justin Lawrence gave up 2 more in the 9th. Final score: Pirates 11, Nats 5.

The next day the Houston Astros came to town, and this time the Nats were ready, amassing 5 runs in the 3rd inning and 6 runs in the 5th inning to take a 12-6 lead. But the Astros came back with 1 run in the 6th and 4 more in the 8th to narrow the gap to just one run. The weary home fans' nerves were on edge, but this time the relief pitchers held the line, and Clayton Beete got the save in a 12-11 cliffhanger. Starting pitcher Miles Mikolas had an unusually strong outing, going 6 innings and getting the win. But the next day Houston got the best of Andrew Alvarez, who was charged in the 6-3 loss. In the rubber game, Foster Griffin only gave up one run over 7 full innings, while Luis Garcia and C.J. Abrams both homered, leading to an 8-2 Nats victory.

After a day of rest, the Nationals welcomed the recently-struggling New York Yankees to Washington. It was a matchup between the two teams with the most number of home runs in the major leagues. The Nats were hoping to take the series and go into the All-Star break with a record above .500, but it didn't quite work out. In all three games, the Nats had the lead going into the late innings, and each time the bullpen choked badly. Manager Blake Butera seems obsessed with changing pitchers based on righty-lefty matchups, but that blew up in his face. On Friday Matt Krook, who has a career ERA in the double digits and had no business pitching in a game with a one-run lead, blew the save in the 9th inning and took the loss. On Saturday, the Nats were leading 2-0 going into the 8th inning, when Clayton Beeter gave up 4 runs and was charged in the loss. And on Sunday Andrew Alvarez gave up a 2-run triple to "Uncle" Ben Rice, giving the Yanks a 4-3 lead which they padded with one more run in the 9th. I should mention that the decisive triple might have been caught if the usual center fielder, Jacob Young, had been playing. He is only so-so as a batter, but he has made some spectacular catches on defense. Dylan Crews missed that catch as he bumped into the wall in front of the "Red Porch" section, and a photo of that play filled the front of the Washington Post sports section the next day. The Nats hit 6 home runs during that series, but the Yankees hit 7, thus widening their lead. It's now the Yankees with 142 total home runs this year, and the Nationals with 138.

And so, the Nationals now have the dubious distinction of leading the major leagues in blown saves, with 28 altogether! THE WORST BULLPEN IN HISTORY? Maybe. The MLB record for team blown saves in a year is 37, and with two-fifths of their 162 games left to play, the Nats are well on their way to surpassing that ignoble level of incompetence. The Washington Nationals BIG moments page will soon be updated to include James Wood's second career grand slam and the recent 9th-inning reversals.

It's really quite striking that a team that are veritable juggernauts on offense are so weak on the pitching side. A team that was a contender for one of the NL wild card spots is slowly fading into insignificance just because the front office can't seem to field a reliable group of pitchers. The upshot is that whereas the Nationals were considered possible "buyers" as the trade deadline approaches at the end of July, they are now more likely go trade away some of their top talent, going back to the drawing board in a never-ending ritual of "rebuidling." It is all such an awful shame.

* with apologies to Britney Spears

Several more page updates

Over the past couple weeks, I have been revamping the format of several stadium pages, making them much more consistent and (hopefully) accessible. Other than Citizens Bank Park (because of the All-Star Game, of course), I focused most of my attention on the eleven past and present MLB stadiums in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Texas. I mentioned this endeavor in my July 3 blog post. Of special note on the Arlington Stadium page, I have edited the (low-resolution panoramic mosaic images) sent to me long ago by Clifford "Bucky" Nance, such that the previous sharp differences in lighting between the three segments have been substantially eliminated.

Views of Citizens Bank Park when I saw Nationals-Phillies games there in April 2005 and September 2016.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Independence Hall, downtown Philadelphia skyline with the City Hall in the left foreground; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Liberty Bell.

July 17, 2026 [LINK / comment]

American League shuts out the National League

As things turned out, the 2026 All-Star Game was over almost as soon as it started. The National League's starting pitcher Christopher Sanchez (of the Philadelphia Phillies) gave up 3 singles and 2 walks in his one inning on the mound, giving the American League a quick 3-0 lead. That was a big surprise, given that Sanchez has a record of 11-2, with a 2.62 ERA and 144 strikeouts. Hardly any NL players reached base In the 8th inning, Miguel Vargas (White Sox) hit a solo homer to pad the lead, and the AL won it, 4-0. It was the first shutout in an All-Star game since 2013, when the AL beat the NL, 3-0 in Citi Field.

Of the three Washington Nationals who played in the ASG, only the pitcher Foster Griffin had much to brag about. He got three quick outs in the 5th inning, including 2 strikeouts. C.J. Abrams struck out in both of his at-bats, and James Wood struck out the only time he was up to bat. Among the former Nationals, neither Bryce Harper nor Kyle Schwarber (playing in their home field in Philadelphia) reached base in their 3 combined at-bats, while Juan Soto at least hit a single in one of his 2 at-bats.

This was the first All-Star game to be played in Citizens Bank Park, which is in its 23rd year of operation, an unusually long waiting period to be granted the honor of hosting an ASG. Among all MLB stadiums built since 1989 (Skydome / Rogers Centre), the next longest waits were for Chase Field and Great American Ballpark, 13 years in both cases. [Actually, New Yankee Stadium has yet to host an All-Star game either, and it is now 17 years old; that's because the original Yankee Stadium hosted the 2008 ASG.] Perhaps they wanted to have the All-Star game coincide with the observance of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which was signed in Philadelphia.

The official All-Star Game logos for the years 2005 (Detroit), 2008 (Bronx, New York), 2009 (St. Louis), 2012 (Kansas City), and 2018 (Washington). For some reason, I often seem to visit MLB stadiums either in the same year, or one year before or after, the All-Star Game is played there. Other such cases: 2001 (Turner Field, 2000), 2017 (Marlins Park), 2023 (Dodger Stadium, 2022), and 2023 (T-Mobile Park),

Just how good are the Nationals?

The Washington Nationals have greatly exceeded preseason expectations, maintaining a record of over .500 until just before the All-Star break, and racking up superior statistics in most key offensive categories.

As for individual performances, I would be remiss not to highlight some of James Wood's slugging achievements this year. In the week before the All-Star break, he was named the National League player of the Week, in recognition of all his home runs. (He has a total of 28, tied for fourth in the majors.) In addition, he has hit TEN lead-off home runs this year, leading the majors and one ahead of Shohei Ohtani. He has a decent shot at tying or breaking the MLB record of 15 lead-off homers, set by Kyle Schwarber in 2024. (Data from screwball.com.) I am reminded of Schwarber's historic run of home runs in June of 2021. (See my July 1, 2021 blog post.) Wood also leads the majors by far in runs scored: 89, compared to 68 for Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates. He ranks second in OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging): his .985 is just behind Yordan Alvarez of the Astros (1.059) and just ahead of Juan Soto of the Mets (.975).

Finally, a shout-out to some individual achievements: Nasim Nunez leads the majors with 34 stolen bases, over a third of the Nationals' total. Luis Garcia Jr. has 68 RBIs, tied with "Uncle" Ben Rice for third in the majors, and C.J. Abrams has 67.

This might be a good time to recall what a fantastic deal the Nationals got when they traded Juan Soto (and Josh Bell) to the San Diego Padres on August 2, 2022. In return they got three players who are now top-notch regulars: Mackenzie Gore (P), C.J. Abrams (SS), and James Wood (OF), plus three others including Robert Hassell, who was just traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For the second half of this month, everything depends on whether the pitching staff can improve sufficiently in order for the Nationals to resume their winning ways and grab one of the wild card spots. (On Facebook recently, a fellow Nats fan chided me as "delusional" for thinking that the Nats might actually be postseason contenders. I know it's a lot to hope for, but without high hopes, what the #&@+% is the point of being a sports fan???) One reason for elevated hopes is that the Nationals rank very high in terms of the ease of their remaining 2026 schedule: their opponents' aggregate win-loss record ranks 20th out of the 30 MLB teams. Meanwhile, the Mets' have the toughest schedule, ranking first! Maybe that explains the rumors that Juan Soto and other players might be traded away as the big deadline approaches.

[UPDATE: In a few minutes the first pitch will be thrown in Sutter Health Park, as the Sacramento Athletics host the Washington Nationals in a three-game interleague series. The Nats are beginning a six-game western road trip, and will visit Denver, Colorado from Monday through Wednesday. Cade Cavalli is the starting pitcher for the Nats tonight, to be followed by Zack Littell and Foster Griffin. It's a truly pivotal moment for the Nats' 2026 season.]

More stadium page updates

During this week I have continued updating the format and content of several stadium pages, focusing this time on the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states. I needed a definite plan of action to tackle this project, and I pondered either going by alphabetical order (referring to the Stadium lists page) or chronological order (referring to the Stadium statistics page). I finally decided to go on a state-by-state and region-by-region approach, mainly because most of the stadium pages have links to stadiums in the same city or area, and this links are usually reciprocal. In choosing that option, I found myself checking a U.S. map over and over, which was tedious. (Call me lazy.) I realized that having a map of MLB stadiums and cities would be handy, so I created one! I will probably either put that map on an existing web page, with interactive "rollover" features showing the names of each city's stadiums, or perhaps create a new page with a geographic focus.

MLB stadiums and cities. Showing all current and past concrete / steel stadiums used in MLB for at least one year.

I changed my mind and decided to include Buffalo's Sahlen Field, since the Toronto Blue Jays used it for the equivalent of almost a full season: July through September 2020 as well as May and June in 2021. All those months add up to most of a full year of baseball.

For the record, I would like to state that ALL of the work on updating the page formatting and content are being done with good old-fashioned HTML coding skills and my graphical editing craft, NOT "Artificial Intelligence"! The same thing applies to as well as ongoing updates to stadium diagrams, which will be the next phase of my web site refurbishment endeavors.

World Cup: the final matches!

The championship match of this year's World Cup will be played on Sunday in "New York-New Jersey Stadium," which is the temporary name of MetLife Stadium, home of the NFC Giants and AFC Jets. Unfortunately, the air in that area (and in much of the northeastern U.S.A.) is filled with smoke from wild fires in Canada and some north central states. Defending champion Argentina will face Spain, in a sort of rematch of the 1810 war of independence led by General San Martin. On Saturday, England will face France (the runner-up four years ago) for a chance to claim third-place honors. That match will be played in "Miami Stadium," better known as "Hard Rock Stadium," home of the AFC Dolphins.

July 17, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Birding in Virginia, March 2025

This is another episode in my efforts to get caught up with my blog posts about birding; the last such post was on July 4.

On March 2 (of last year) I was pleased to see and photograph a Short-eared Owl in their usual location along Bell's Lane. Six days later I saw a Bufflehead on the pond behind Hardee's on Mill Place Parkway in Verona, along with a Great Blue Heron and some raptors. On the Ides of March (the 15th) I saw a Common Grackle out back, a sign that spring migration was underway. That species is supposedly non-migratory, but they gather in large flocks in "undisclosed locations" during the winter months, and are seldom seen. The next day along Bell's Lane I spotted two more migrating birds: an Eastern Phoebe and a Tree Swallow. There was also a Bald Eagle flying above, and a Great Blue Heron foraging along a pond. In my visits to Bell's Lane in the following weeks, I saw Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and Yellow-rumped Warblers several times.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (M), Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red-bellied Woodpecker (F), Eastern Towhee (M), and Common Grackle. (Bell's Lane, March 15)

On March 29 I was determined to see a Pine Warbler, so I went to the closest place where they are reliably seen during the warmer months around here: Coal Road, in the Big Levels area. At the trailhead that leads up to Coles Run Reservoir I heard and soon saw one nearby, and then at least one or two more. The first one of the year for me!! Also along that trail: Downy Woodpeckers, a Hairy Woodpecker, a White-breasted Nuthatch, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and a Brown Creeper.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Pine Warbler, Brown Creeper, Purple Finch (F), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (F), and Downy Woodpecker (M). (Big Levels, March 29)

Birding in Virginia, April 2025

The month of April got off to a nice start with a Brown Thrasher and Blue-winged Teal along Bell's Lane. In Waynesboro's Ridgeview Park on April 6 I was surprised to see an Osprey (first of year, i.e. "FOY" for me) and two Hermit Thrushes. At Augusta Springs on April 12 I saw a Pine Warbler and my first Louisiana Waterthrush of the year. On April 17 the Gray Catbirds began taking over Bell's Lane, and the next day at Montgomery Hall Park I saw a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and a White-eyed Vireo, both FOY. With the Augusta Bird Club at Natural Chimneys on April 19 I saw a migrating Broad-winged Hawk, and other good birds. We heard a Wood Thrush and a Louisiana Waterthrush, but I couldn't get photos of either one.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Pine Warbler, Brown Creeper, Purple Finch (F), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (F), and Downy Woodpecker (M). (Montgomery Hall Park, April 18)

On April 24 I saw my first Great Crested Flycatcher and Red-eyed Vireo of the year on Montgomery Hall Park. On April 27 I was alerted by Allen Larner to the presence of a Black Tern flying around the big pond at Bell's Lane, and I managed to get some barely-recognizable photos of it for confirmation. On April 28 I was delighted to find a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers behind Staunton High School. Back at Montgomery Hall Park on April 29 I saw Great Crested Flycatchers, Red-eyed Vireos, and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and heard but did not see a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and an Indigo Bunting. But not a single warbler! Late in the afternoon a Cooper's Hawk flew across North Coalter Street toward Staunton High School.

Pileated Woodpecker (M) (Staunton High School, April 28)

Additional photos and montages, including individual photos of some of the birds in the above montages, can be seen on the Wild Birds chronological (2025) page.

July 21, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Even Steven: at 100 games, Nats are were 50-50

For the first time ever, the Washington Nationals attained a perfectly balanced record of exactly 50-50 two days ago, after winning the final game of the series against the Athletics. They came very close to reaching a 50-50 record twice before: July 24, 2018 (losing to the Brewers in Milwaukee) and July 23, 2011 (losing to the Dodgers in L.A.). Both times, of course, they then had records of 49-51.

Also for the first (and almost certainly the last) time ever, the Washington Nationals played a series in Sacramento, California over the weekend, and boy was it a doozy! In Sutter Health Park (capacity just over 14,000), On Friday the offensive juggernaut got started in the 3rd inning, and by the end of the 7th inning, the score was 18-2. The Nats tacked on five more runs in the top of the 9th, while the A's narrowed the gargantuan lead by two runs in the bottom of the 9th. Cade Cavalli had a fine 6 innings on the mound, while the often-woeful Andres Chaparro hit two home runs, to the surprise of almost everyone! Harry Ford, who was just called up from the minors to fill in as backup catcher for the injured Drew Millas, hit his very first home run in the majors! There was no momentum from that victory, however, as the home team jumped to an early lead on Saturday. After giving up 6 runs in the first two innings, Nats starter Zack Littell settled down for a while and put 3 zeroes on the board, but then the home team scored 2 more runs. Max Kranick then took the mound but was relieved after another rally by the A's. The Nats failed to get any hits until the 7th inning, and the only run they scored was in the 9th inning. Final score: 15-1. The day-to-day net difference of the margin of victory defeat was a mind-boggling 33 runs! (A 19-run positive margin on Friday vs. a 14-run negative margin on Saturday.) Also worth noting: until the Saturday game, the Nats had hit at least one home run in ten consecutive games! The rubber game of the series on Sunday was much more normal. C.J. Abrams and Dylan Crews both homered, while the Nats' superb ace pitcher Foster Griffin only gave up one run over 7 innings. It was the 8th straight game in which he pitched 6 or more innings while giving up only one run, thus setting a record for the Nationals. And thus the wildly inconsistent Nats eked out a series win.

On Monday the Nats took on the Colorado Rockies in Denver, and none other than Andres Chaparro hit a 3-run homer in the first inning! The Rockies soon tied it, but the Nats tacked on more runs in the later innings thanks to home runs by Jacob Young and C.J. Abrams, thus winning the game, 7-3. Tonight got off to a fine start with yet another homer by Abrams in the first inning, and he later added another one, reaching 24 total for the year! But the Nats pitchers (especially Carson Palmquist, Miles Mikolas, and Clayton Beeter) just could not contain the Rockies, and a home run in the 8th inning by Hunter Goodman proved to be decisive in the 8-7 loss, putting the Nats right back to an even .500 record. Since the Miami Marlins also lost today, the Nats could have claimed a tie for 3rd place in the NL East, but that quest will have to wait another day.

One more thing worth noting: Thanks largely to C.J. Abrams (with four homers in three days) and Andres Chaparro (with three homers in four days), the Nationals now have the most number of home runs in the majors, with 149, which is 3 more than the New York Yankees! They also have substantial leads now in RBIs as well as runs, the statistic that was cited in that table of team offensive statistics I posted on Friday.

NOTE: When I was assessing the Nationals' near-term prospects for winning and whether they will be "buyers" or "sellers" as the August 3 trade deadline approaches, I meant to cite Danielle Allentuck's article on that topic in the Washingtonp Post.

MORE stadium page updates

Just for the record, on Sunday I updated the pages for the SIX (6) MLB stadiums located in Ohio, three each in Cleveland and Cincinnati. Some of the stadium composite photos on those pages (such as Crosley Field) are "ver-r-ry int-er-esting," as Sgt. Schultz would say. Also, I did likewise for Wrigley Field, thus finishing my work for the three MLB stadiums in Illinois.

Las Vegas sneak preview

The Sacramento Athletics played a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies at Las Vegas Ballpark recently (June 12-14), as a way to promote interest among the team's future fan base. That means I need to update the Anomalous stadiums page soon. I still don't understand why they didn't just move to Las Vegas Ballpark (located in a suburb on the west side of the city) after they departed from Oakland 21 months ago, rather than taking a 3-year detour through Sacramento. Back in 1996 the Athletics played six games in Cashman Field (on the northeast side of the city, NOT on "the seedy south side of Las Vegas," as that page says) because of construction delays at Oakland Coliseum. I have yet to visit Las Vegas, just as I have not yet visited two other MLB cities: St. Petersburg and San Diego. For this purpose I would count Anaheim as part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Otherwise, I've seen them all.

Spain wins World Cup

Well, baseball fans, you can enjoy the rest of the summer without being annoyed by all the hoopla over the 2026 World Cup. Felicitaciones (congratulations) to the people Spain for their triumph over Argentina! To my surprise, the smoke had cleared away by the time the final match at "New York-New Jersey Stadium" got underway. The English team took third-place honors over France in the game at "Miami Stadium" on Saturday.

July 24, 2026 [LINK / comment]

The Nats win another road series

After splitting the first two games of the series against the Rockies in Denver, the Washington Nationals fired on all cylinders for the game on Wednesday afternoon. Cade Cavalli pitched 6 shutout innings, during which the Nats scored exactly once on a timely 2-out sac fly by James Wood. That would have been enough, as the bullpen held up this time. Eddy Yean, who was called up from the Rochester Red Wings on Tuesday, pitched two innings, and Max Kranick, who had a rough outing in Sacramento on July 18, closed the game. Nasim Nuñez sparked a rally in the 7th inning with a 2-run single (helped by a fielding error), then Luis Garcia homered (#21!), and the visitors put 6 runs on the board, with one more in the 8th inning. Final score: Nats 8, Rockies 0.

Tonight the Nats begin a 3-game home series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with the often-shaky Zack Littell expected to pitch after Carson Palmquist "opens" with an inning or two. The D-backs currently rank third in the National League wild card race, behind the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies. If the Nationals are going to make it to the postseason, they will need to overcome the D-backs as well as the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Miami Marlins. It's a tall order, but it is an eminently attainable objective -- as long as the front office manages to acquire a good pitcher or two in the next ten days or so. In the 6th inning, the score is tied, 2-2.

How about those Red Sox?!

This is the time of year when trends often shift, either due to injury or morale factors, and the postseason picture starts to come into focus. For the Boston red-hot Red Sox, the first half of 2026 was a miserable frustration, and most people counted them out. But in early July, they started to click, winning nine straight games before the All-Star break, and then six more games afterward. Their opponents during this streak included two strong teams (Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays), two weak team teams (L.A. Angels and N.Y. Mets), plus the Baltimore Orioles. It was the Orioles who finally beat them 5-1 in the second game of a double-header on Wednesday. The Red Sox tied their franchise record of 15 consecutive wins, which they last accomplished in 1946 -- back in Ted Williams' day. Well, you can't win 'em all!

So who was the last team to beat the Red Sox before this year's big winning streak started? The Washington Nationals, of course! That was on July 1, the end of a 3-game series in Fenway Park in which the Nats prevailed in two games out of three.

More stadium page updates, eh?

Four more stadium pages have been updated to conform to the new standard, with city composite photos and (where available) stadium composite photos. And all four of them were in Canada! It happens that I have begun scanning old slides (inherited family archives, etc.), and I managed to get slightly-improved images of some stadiums that I saw for the first time during a cross-country journey in 1987. One of those was in Montreal!

Olympic Stadium in July 1987, as work on the retractable roof was being completed, which is why the crane was there. The guy in front, José Benitez, was kind enough to show me around the city.

Likewise, I found some slide photos of the city that allowed me to create a composite photo of Montreal as well. Both this image and the above stadium photo (including a large version) are now shown on the Olympic Stadium page. Please note that my scanning endeavors are part of an ongoing project, and I may end up posting improved versions of these photos in the near future.

TOP: Downtown Montreal skyline (to the east) on a misty, rainy day, seen from Mount Royal Park. In the distance is the St. Lawrence River. BOTTOM LEFT: A distant view of Olympic Stadium (to the northeast) and residential neighborhoods from that same elevated location. BOTTOM RIGHT: Place Jacques Cartier in Old Montreal; on the right is Hotel Nelson.

July 24, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Birding in Virginia, May 2025

This is another episode in my "catch-up" blog posts about birding, the last one being seven days ago. If I can cover two in one post, rather than just one month as usual, and if I do three posts per week, I might get caught up with my birding blog posts by the middle of next month!

On May 1 I visited Bell's Lane early in the evening and saw Eastern Kingbirds for the first time this year. Also present were American Goldfinches, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Eastern Bluebirds, and Eastern Towhees. Also, plenty of Gray Catbirds, of course. There was also a Northern Flicker in the back yard. The next day I saw my first House Wren of the year along Bell's Lane.

On May 3 I drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, hoping to see the Kentucky Warbler that had been reported near the telecommunications tower along Route 610. Indeed, I found it! All six birds pictured below were the first ones of that species I had seen this year. At the first BRP overlook, I heard and soon saw Indigo Buntings (center), and along Rt. 610 to the south I saw (clockwise from top left) American Redstarts, a Kentucky Warbler (appropriate on Kentucky Derby Day!), a Hooded Warbler, a Cerulean Warbler up in the tree tops (as usual), and an Ovenbird very close by. Wow!!!

Blue Ridge Parkway, May 3, 2025.

On May 9 I saw my first Yellow Warbler of the year while walking along the Mill Place trail in Verona in the morning. It was hard to see as it hopped around the willow branches, but I finally got a nice look. On the other (north) side of the pond, I noticed an Eastern Kingbird near the ground, which seemed strange until I noticed it (presumably she) was gathering nesting material. I also heard and glimpsed an oriole, but couldn't be sure which species it was. Over on Bell's Lane I spotted some kind of yellowish warbler in the tree tops, but my photos were inconclusive. I also heard a Common Yellowthroat (FOY) and White-eyed Vireo, but didn't see either one. I did, however, get a nice look at a Red-bellied Woodpecker guarding his (presumably occupied) nest hole! Nearby was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher darting about.

On May 11 Jacqueline and I went hiking in the Shenandoah National Park for the first time this year, from McCormick Gap to the top of Bear Den Mountain and back, about 3 miles round trip. The birds more than lived up to my expectations! We saw Yellow-breasted Chats (my first of year) at two different overlooks, plus multiple American Redstarts (bottom left), Hooded Warblers (bottom center), Chestnut-sided Warblers (top right), and Scarlet Tanagers; the latter two were also first of year. Indigo Buntings, Ovenbirds, Red-eyed Vireos, and Wood Thrushes (the latter three not pictured) rounded out a spectacular day.

Bear Den Mountain in the Shenandoah National Park, May 11, 2025.

On May 15 I visited Bell's Lane in the afternoon, by which time the sun was out. I saw four birds for the first time this year, and got photos of three of them: Eastern Wood Pewee, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and Orchard Oriole. I also saw a Baltimore Oriole fly into a big tree. (I had heard both oriole species previously, so it's really only two FOY species.) The other highlights included a White-eyed Vireo, at least three American Redstarts, a Red-eyed Vireo, some Brown Thrashers, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tree Swallows, and Eastern Meadowlarks. Finally, I heard a Great Crested Flycatcher and a Common Yellowthroat. Yesterday, I also checked out Bell's Lane, but the light conditions were too poor for decent photos. I did hear a Black & White Warbler (FOY) very close by, but never saw it.

On May 16 I walked to the top of Betsy Bell Hill, hoping to see a Black & White Warbler, but without success. I did, however, see a Scarlet Tanager, some E. Wood Pewees, Red-eyed Vireos, and Great Crested Flycatchers.

On May 17 I went back up to the Blue Ridge Parkway / Route 610, and that Kentucky Warbler (bottom right) was still in the same location, by the telecommunications tower! I also had a great closeup view of a male American Redstart there. A mile or so to the south I heard a Cerulean Warbler, but I had to wait over a half hour before I got a good view of it. I also saw M & F pairs of Hooded Warblers and Black-throated Blue Warblers (FOY for the latter) there, as well as more Redstarts (M & F) and an Eastern Towhee or two. At the Humpback Rocks picnic area I saw an Eastern Wood Pewee, and at the Hickory Springs overlook I had a nice view of an Indigo Bunting, but none of the hoped-for Chestnut-sided Warblers. Red-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos were heard in multiple locations, but I didn't see any. Still no Black & White Warblers!!

On May 18 I went to Bell's Lane mostly for exercise, and had two interesting sightings: a young Cooper's Hawk up above, and a very small bird with a thin beak hovering like a hummingbird next to some bushes. I soon realized to my utter astonishment that it was a Least Flycatcher, and I managed to get a couple photos before it got away. Wow! This was near Carolyn Ford's gate where we always look for owls in the winter. Nearby were some Brown Thrashers, Song Sparrows, and a Northern Cardinal.

On May 20 I hiked along the Chimney Hollow trail for the first time this year, and saw most of the birds that usually frequent that location this time of year. I saw my first Acadian Flycatcher (bottom left) and my first Black-throated Green Warbler of the year, and heard (but did not see) my first Blue-headed Vireo and first Northern Parula of the year. Other birds heard only: Red-eyed Vireo, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Red-shouldered Hawk, Black-and-white Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and two Yellow-billed Cuckoos. Finally, I saw three other warbler species, shown on the right (top to bottom): Worm-eating, Ovenbird, and Louisiana Waterthrush. NOTE: There were quite a few fallen trees, some of which have been sawed and removed from the trail, but it is totally blocked at one spot.

On May 22 Jacqueline and I went for a walk along Bell's Lane in the afternoon, where we saw numerous Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows, and heard some of the latter species' babies clamoring for food inside the nest boxes. A female Red-bellied Woodpecker was tending to a nest hold near "Cujo Corner," while a two Eastern Kingbirds were noisily hunting for insects in the pastures. The highlight of the day was hearing and then seeing a male Orchard Oriole very close by.

On May 24 I led an Augusta Bird Club field trip hiking to the Reddish Knob-Bother Knob area on the northern tip of Augusta County, not quite reaching it due to all the time and energy it took getting there. It was about 3 miles altogether, plus more distance walking around various other bird hot spots along the way, including the Reddish Knob summit. I was joined by six club members, and we had a great time. Interestingly, while we were still gathering in the Food Lion parking lot, we noticed a flock of 30 or more Cedar Waxwings feeding on the berries they love. A very auspicious beginning! Later we had a great closeup view of an Indigo Bunting at the Briery Branch Reservoir, and then on the way up had great views of Chestnut-sided Warblers, a Scarlet Tanager, and a Common Yellowthroat. (The latter was a first-of-year sighting for me.) Thanks to a new member (Christine), I also saw (very briefly) a Black-and-white Warbler for the first time this year. Finally! At Crossbill Corner, we saw a Black-throated Blue Warbler, an American Redstart, a Brown Thrasher, and finally a dozen or so Red Crossbills. While there we met with William Leigh Tern, who gave us some good tips on what to look for. Next, we drove up the road a ways toward Bother Knob and hiked about a mile and a half each way. There we saw a Blackburnian Warbler, a Canada Warbler, and a Black-throated Green Warbler, along with a few Dark-eyed Juncos. I finally saw my first Blue-headed Vireos of the year as well! We heard several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Veeries, but never saw any. We also had a great closeup view of a Chestnut-sided Warbler while at the summit of Reddish Knob, as one shown in the first composite photo. In sum, it was a truly spectacular day, with ideal weather and fun companionship.

SEVEN WARBLERS! Reddish Knob, May 24, 2025.

SIX NON-WARBLERS! Staunton, Reddish Knob, etc. May 24, 2025.

On May 30 Jacqueline and I went for a casual walk along Bell's Lane late this morning, and I was pleased to see a Common Yellowthroat (female) there for the first time this year. (I had heard a male singing there previously.) Other highlights included Indigo Buntings, an Orchard Oriole, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Towhee, and White-eyed Vireo. I also heard a Baltimore Oriole and possibly a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

Finally, on May 31 I paid a visit to the waterfall in Folly Mills (south of Staunton) for the very first time. I was glad (and quite surprised) to see a Red-headed Woodpecker, but it was hard to photograph in the tree tops. Other highlights included some Cedar Waxwings, Eastern Wood Pewees, a Scarlet Tanager, and a Wood Thrush. I also caught brief glimpses of a Louisiana Waterthrush and an Acadian Flycatcher.

Additional photos and montages, including individual photos of some of the birds in the above montages, can be seen on the Wild Birds chronological (2024) page.

July 27, 2026 [LINK / comment]

D.C.'s "Bash Brothers"?
Abrams and Wood both hit two more home runs!

The Washington Nationals wasted multiple run-scoring opportunities versus the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night, thus allowing the visiting team to eke out a 3-2 win. On Saturday, Foster Griffin was pitching, and for the first time since June he allowed more than one run to score. Nats 5, D-Backs 3. And on Sunday, both C.J. Abrams and James Wood hit two home runs, adding four to the Nationals' MLB-best team total. (After Andres Chaparro homered in tonight's game with Toronto, it's now 157 home runs, five more than the second-place New York Yankees.) The bullpen buckled a little bit, as Matt Krook (who has been sent back down to the minors) gave up 2 runs in the top of the 9th, but Clayton Beeter got the job done as the Nats held on to the precious 10-7 victory. It was a series win (at home!) against a potential wild card rival.

Tonight in Our Nation's Capital, future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer took the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays, getting a warm nostalgic welcome from the fans in D.C. He gave up singles to the first two batters in the first inning, and then walked the bases loaded with one out, but managed to escape unharmed. The Nats scored one in the second, but it easily could have been more. Even though Scherzer didn't even last three innings, it's fair to say that keeping his cool is what ended up making the difference in the game. Blue Jays 3, Nats 2. (The same score as the Friday night game!)

Meanwhile, the Miami Marlins had lost 12 games straight through Sunday, thus allowing the Nats to climb back into third place. It's as if they and the suddenly red-hot Boston Red Sox were mirror images of each other! But tonight the Marlins finally won, scoring 3 runs against the Phillies in the bottom of the 9th inning, so now only one game separates them from the Nationals.

C.J. Abrams and James Wood are setting all sorts of records, and folks are making comparisons with the Oakland A's "Bash Brothers" of the late 80s and early 90s, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco. (Hopefully the PED issue will not recur.) With 27 so far, Abrams has now hit more home runs in a season than any other shortstop in Nationals history. He leads the National League in RBIs, with 82. For his part, Wood is the first National to reach 30 home runs in a season since since Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto in 2019 (34), and he stands a very good chance of breaking Alfonso Soriano's record of 46 home runs with the Nationals in 2006. (See the Washington Nationals page; scroll down a bit.)

Nats & Red Sox make big trade

Speaking of the Red Sox, the Nationals traded their blossoming 3rd-baseman slugger Curtis Mead for left-hand pitcher Connelly Early, who is currently on the Injured List. It's a very logical move, since the Nationals are so overloaded with sluggers as it is. They desperately need reliable pitchers, both starters and relievers. Curtis Mead had been DFA'd by the Chicago White Sox in late March, and since the Nats picked him up Mead has done everything possible to prove his value as a major league player. He was a popular player, one of the few Australians in the major leagues, and he'll be remembered fondly in Washington. Best wishes in Bean Town, Curtis!

[This is the new general manager Paul Taboni's first big transaction during a baseball season, and most analysts are impressed with what he has done thus far. As the trade deadline approaches, 2026 postseason dreams will clash with the cold, hard front-office reality of building a team that can contend for a world championship for years to come.]

Nats draft Chris Hacopian

I was watching the early phase of the 2026 MLB Draft two Saturdays ago, and just missed seeing the Nationals announce their pick for the #11 slot: Chris Hacopian, a second baseman who was born in Montgomery County, Maryland. (Just like James Wood!?) Hacopian went to Texas A & M, used to go to see games in Nationals Park, and is very enthusiastic about his future team.

More stadium page updates!

I devoted the weekend and part of today to bringing the stadium pages for the northwestern and Rocky Mountain states up to date. That means making the data tables consistent in content and format, and including composite photos of stadiums where available, as well as composite photos of cities in the case of stadiums that are either in MLB use or are still standing (such as Oakland and Montreal). I also included Cashman Field in Las Vegas, which will become a full-fledged MLB city less than two years hence.

Of the cities shown on the U.S. map that I posted last week, I have not yet visited four of them: Sacramento, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Tampa-St. Petersburg. I passed through Sacramento on an Amtrak train at night, but didn't really see anything. And of the 26 cities that I have visited (including four "twin" metropolitan areas), I didn't take any downtown photos in either Atlanta or Phoenix.

Re-scanned photo: Kingdome!

As mentioned on Friday, I am trying various techniques in scanning old photos and slides, and sometimes a second or third effort yields much better results. A good example would be this photo of the Kingdome, which I took while a friend and I were exploring the Olympic National Park and the city of Seattle in 1987. The image from the first scanner I used had very poor color balance and intensity, and no amount of digital tweaking could improve it much. But this image has decent color balance as well as details in the stadium and nearby buildings. Success!

The Kingdome in Seattle, July 1987. Roll your mouse over the image to see a panorama that includes the downtown skyline. Somehow I tweaked the red, green, and blue light settings just right to get a rich, nicely balanced image, but for the life of me, I haven't been able to do it again. The tiny image below, probably derived from a scan of a printed photo rather than the original slide, was formerly shown on the Kingdome page. Pathetic, huh?

July 29, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Peru 2026: The Fujimori political dynasty is reborn

Yesterday marked the 205th anniversary of Peru's independence from Spain (1821), and every five years on this date a new president is inaugurated. This time, Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori (who died in 2024), took the oath of office. Today she was the central focus of the series of parades through the streets of downtown Lima. She won a run-off election in late June by a very narrow margin over left-wing Roberto Sanchez, and it took several days for the vote count to be certified. There were grumblings about irregularities, but apparently the result has been widely acknowledged as legitimate.

Keiko Fujimori's victory mainly reflects the growing concern in Peru with crime and street violence. Most recent presidents of Peru have been left-wing, and in some cases fearful of offending the poorer classes from which crime is spawned. She pledged to restore order, which was probably the biggest accomplishment of her father a generation ago. When Alberto Fujimori was president (from 1990 until 2000), his conservative populist party was called "Cambio 90," or "Change 90," referring to the year of his first presidential campaign. The Fujimorist political movement became rebranded as "Popular Force" as his daughter repeatedly ran for president, falling short in her first three attempts before finally succeeding.

Although Keiko Fujimori has insisted that she has learned the lessons of her father's mistakes (indulging in corrupt practices and abusing human rights), much remains to be seen. For Peru's business sector, she is no doubt preferable to the alternative offered by Roberto Sanchez. Peru overcame terrible economic stagnation and chaos from the 1980s that was to a large extent the result of a left-wing populist president (Alan Garcia) embarking on reckless projects without serious financial analysis. Thanks to Fujimori's stabilization policies in the 1990s, Peru embarked on a spectacular period of economic growth that has greatly modernized the country. Can Keiko Fujimori restore those "golden years"? In any event, the Peru page has been updated (for the first time in several years!) with chronology items and a few photos. (NOTE: I have begun updating some of the other country pages as well, concentrating first on the ones I have traveled to.)

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas (March 2004); Chorrillos, the seaside area southeast of Lima; Palace of Government in Lima; a residential neighborhood in Ventanilla Alta, north of Lima. (February 2017)

Impeached Peruvian presidents

As noted by the Washington Post on July 3, Keiko Fujimori will be the tenth Peruvian president to serve in the past ten years (including some who served briefly on a "provisional" basis), a period of extraordinary tumult that tested the country's institutions to the limit. Here is a brief summary of the challenges to executive authority from the legislative branch:

• 2018: Congress removed Pres. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is removed by Congress on corruption charges, replaced by Martin Vizcarra, as a consequence of the Odebrecht scandal.
• Nov. 2020: Congress removed Pres. Martin Vizcarra after he ordered a drastic curfew in Apr. due to covid-19. Replaced by Manuel Merino and then Sagasti. In Nov. 2025 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on corruption charges related to the Odebrecht case.
• 2022: Congress removed Pres. Jose Pedro Castillo (left wing) in Dec., after he tried to dissolve Congress, replaced by Dina Boluarte.
• Oct. 2025: Congress removed Pres. Dina Boluarte (left wing) to prevent her from assuming dictatorial power, replaced by Jose Jeri.
• Feb. 2026: Congress removed Pres. Jose Jeri, apparently out of partisan distrust, replaced by Jose Balcazar.

While there was some justification for some of these removals, the sheer number (five within the space of nine years) was an indication that the balance of power between the three branches of government in Peru was out of whack. In the United States, we have had four occasions when the president was impeached by the House, but only once (in 1866, against Andrew Johnson) was the Senate's vote to convict even close. When the U.S. Constitution was drafted, it was understood that dividing the legislative branch into two chambers would keep its powers in check. Accordingly, of the 50 states, only one (Nebraska) has a unicameral legislature.

When the current constitution was drafted in 1993, in the aftermath of a political and economic catastrophe that left the existence of the Peruvian state in question, it was decided to eliminate the Senate, and have all legislative functions be exercised by a one-chamber Congress. After the inherent flaw in such a unicameral system became obvious, Peruvians recently agreed on the need to restore the "upper chamber" -- the Senate. This was carried out earlier this month, and Keiko Fujimori's party will have (in conjunction with parliamentary allies) a majority in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

Interior of the Peruvian Congress, now known once again by its former name: the Chamber of Deputies. (Feb. 28, 2017)

Interior of the Peruvian Senate, which had been closed for 34 years but was recently restored by a constitutional amendment. (Feb. 28, 2017)

Another curious aspect of Peru's political system is that they have TWO vice presidents. The extra backup position came in very handy during the past ten years when the president was being replaced so often!

NOTE: This is my first blog post about Latin America in many years. I intend to resume occasional blog commentaries about politics in Latin America, after I finish updating the rest of the Latin America country pages.

July 31, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Nationals' postseason chances are in jeopardy

As the MLB trade deadline on Monday, August 3 approaches, decisions about possible trades are having a vital impact on the Washington Nationals' postseason prospects, and vice versa. The Nats were having a pretty good month overall, but lost their last three games of July: 5-2 to Toronto on Wednesday, 5-4 to the Braves at Truist Park yesterday, and 6-2 to the Braves this evening.

Starting pitcher Foster Griffin, upon whose shoulder's the Nats' hopes rest to a large degree, had a rare bad outing in this evening's game. Still, it was close until the 6th inning, and for the second night in a row the Nats had runners on 2nd and 3rd with less than two outs, and then failed to score. That's just inexcusable. Just like the night before, the Braves immediately capitalized on the Nats failure to execute by staging a big rally: Michael Harris hit a 3-run homer, and then the Braves got one more across the plate. The solo home runs by C.J. Abrams (4th inning) and Andres Chaparro (9th inning) were merely symbolic. The Nationals did, however, set a team record for homers in one month (50) in July, leading the majors in that category for the season (164) as well as in RBIs (573), slugging percentage (.446), and stolen bases (123). (Most of that sentence was copied from the Washington Nationals page, which has just been updated with statistics for the month of July.) The Nats' record for July was 11-13, and they are now 10 1/2 games behind the Braves in the NL East, slipping back into 4th place behind the Miami Marlins. I try to be optimistic, but it's not looking good...

MORE stadium page updates!!

Yesterday and today I finished updating all the pages for past and present MLB stadiums in the southwestern states: California and Arizona, with the exception of Sutter Health Park in Sacramento. (I did Nevada a few days ago.) It was exhausting work, but I'm pleased that the pages look much cleaner and more consistent than before. One of those page updates, Candlestick Park, may be of particular interest because of the new composite photo displayed on it...

Photos of Candlestick Park taken July 6, 1961, courtesy of Mr. Vernon Hofer.

I have now created such composite photos for 28 of the current 30 MLB stadiums, excluding Sutter Health Park and Globe Life Field. Some of them (such as the one displayed above) are based on photos submitted to me by fans, and I have been very careful to credit them properly. Not all of them are yet publicly accessible, however, because only the revised stadium pages display them. I need to make a few changes to the five stadium pages for Missouri, perhaps one or two stadiums in Texas, and then Georgia (Atlanta) and Florida are all that I have left to do as far as page formatting. THEN I can get back to the FINAL PHASE OF DIAGRAM REVISIONS!!!

Coming soon: Field of Dreams!

As the month of August gets underway, I should mention that I intend to post a new diagram for the Field of Dreams page, since a new stadium is being built there for the game between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies just two weeks from today! (I mentioned that in my blog post on June 26.) See MLB.com.

So when am I going to do diagrams of London Stadium or Gocheok Sky Dome? Good question! (Maybe after I pay an in-person visit...)