recent highlights

An unnamed Barred Owl spreads his wings and shows the alternating dark and light patterns underneath during a presentation by the Wildlife Center of Virginia at the Danville Science Center on Thursday, March 5. Quinn Robinson, an environmental educator from the center, also brought an opossum and a kestrel for the presentation.

Primarily, animals, weather and athletes have been most of Traci's subjects lately, such as these:

A bluebird perches on an offshoot of a tree trunk in Dan Daniels Park near the Riverwalk Trail, where several hundred blue bird boxes have been placed to encourage bluebirds to repopulate the area.

Christian Clifton catches his breath as he pulls himself out of the snow after sledding in Ballou Park on Monday, March 2.

A Holstein calf peers at the camera from inside its pen at Vanderhyde Dairy Farm in Chatham, VA.

Female Holstein cows fill rows stretching into the distance inside one of the barns at the Vanderhyde Dairy Farm.

A cow looks through tubes where milk is transported as it rides through a carousel for milking at Vanderhyde Dairy Farm.

Shaquille Ward, a sophomore at Gretna High School, does a herkie jump during practice in the driver's education class room at the high school before a game.

Prior to a game against Dan River High School, Marco Witcher applies chap stick at Gretna High School on Friday, Feb. 6. Witcher and Ward are technically members of the cheerleading squad as mascots, but next year, they will be official members of the squad with uniforms. Gretna is the only school in Pittsylvania county an the surrounding area that has included male cheerleaders on the squad, and both Witcher and Ward intend to continue cheering throughout high school and, they hope, at college.

Kamryn Shelton, 7, comes through a tube on a piece of playground equipment and is seen through revolving Tic-Tac-Toe pieces at Coates Recreational Center on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 26. Many children and families took advantage of the warm weather and took to the parks around town to play.

Red bud blooms are seen on a row of trees on Memorial Drive as spring begins to appear around town.

Members of the Dan River High School basketball team celebrate as they take the court after their semi-final Group A Division 2 game against Madison County High School in Richmond on Thursday, March 12.

and then...


The Dan River High School basketball team shows their disappointment in the locker room following their loss to Radford High School in the championship game on Saturday, March 14.