Three in Fifteen

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge, juvenile blue heron, photography, postaday

Last weekend, at the Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge, when I first saw this juvenile blue heron, it had just caught a fish and was going back to the bank of the marshes to eat it.

Juvenile blue heron with fish caught in bill

By the time it turned around, the fish was gone, swallowed in its entirety. The heron preened itself smugly, then bent forward as if seeing some other meal swimming by.

Juvenile blue heron

Nothing! The bird walked away to another spot, near two humans who were also fishing with their poles and lines, and a small boat.

Juvenile blue heron walking away

It was low tide, and water was rushing out of the marshes into the ocean.

Water rushing out of the marshes at low tide

Once every few minutes, I could hear fish jumping into the air and falling back into the receding water.

Suddenly the heron dove in head first.

Juvenile blue heron diving after fish

and came up with nothing! It did not give up though and resolutely struck a pose.

Juvenile blue heron ready to strike

Soon enough, it caught another one.

Caught another one!

During the 15 minutes I spent observing and photographing it, this heron caught three fishes. The two humans caught zero during that same time.

 

Dried Flowers

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge, milk thistle, photography, postaday

I took the following photos of dried milk thistle by the side of Wildlife Drive at the Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge.

Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle

Egg-Beaters

Tags

cranberry harvest, egg beater, photography, postaday

This week is probably the last week for this year’s cranberry harvest season. Last Saturday, as we drove by some bogs, I saw cranberries being harvested by what are called egg-beater machines, guided from behind by humans. This is how it has been done ever since the wet method for harvesting cranberries began half a century ago.

Cranberry egg-beaters

Here’s a closer look.

Egg beater

In comparison, some companies have built bigger egg-beater machines that can cover a width of as much as 30 ft. On such a machine, the operator sits on a seat and does not have to wade in the shallow water, except to entangle vines caught in the reels of the beaters. Over the past few years, these machines have also been equipped with GPS devices, which allows the operator to see on the screen the straight line paths that he needs to steer by in order to cover the entirety of a bog.

Wider egg-beater machine

Cranberry bog

Weekly Photo Challenge: Cover Art

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cranberry harvest, photography, postaday, sluice gate, weekly photo challenge

I took the following photo today, but it would have been a nice cover art for my post on Cranberry Harvest 2014 from two weeks ago. It is a sluice gate that is used to control the water level in each cranberry field.

Cranberry bog sluice gate

This is my entry for http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/cover-art/

A Rare Sighting

Tags

bittern, Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

Yesterday, several excited birders at the Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge pointed out a rare bird to me. It was an American Bittern , a type of heron that is well camouflaged and difficult to see, even when you stood close to it. It was a first sighting for me, and I didn’t waste any time taking the following photos.

American Bittern

As I walked closer to the bittern, I managed to take this shot as it lunged after something.

American Bittern Lunging After Prey

However, it didn’t catch what it wanted, and looked somewhat disconsolate, probably blaming the heavens for the missed catch.

American Bittern

 

 

Gray Catbird

Tags

gray catbird, photography, postaday

Three weeks ago, at the Abbott Marshlands, as I was taking pictures of the swans, a gray bird followed me around, emitting a strange sound, perhaps because I was invading its territory. After several attempts, I was finally able to take the following photo. I think it was a Gray Catbird, but I am not sure. If you can identify this bird correctly, please tell me what it is, and I will gladly update this post.

Gray Catbird

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Vibrant Colors II

Tags

cranberries, fall, photo challenge, photography, postaday, vibrant colors

This weekend I tried to capture the many colors of fall, from tree leaves to cranberries. I was surprised at their vibrancy and thought I should submit another entry to Cee’s challenge.

Fall scene near our house

Classic fall colors

For this last photo, I went back to cranberry bogs near Chatsworth, NJ. No one was working on Sunday, and the cranberries floated on the water, rocking up and down as a cool breeze blew.

Cranberries

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/10/14/cees-fun-foto-challenge-vibrant-colors/

Taking Off

Tags

airplane, egret, photography, postaday

Egrets are so graceful in flight, but they can look awkward when they begin their ascent, just like lumbering passenger airplanes. I took the following photos of egrets taking off last week at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge near Philadelphia Airport.

Egret taking off. Pas de trois?

Egrets taking off

Just across the interstate, airplanes were also taking off every few minutes.

Passenger jet taking off

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Vibrant Colors

Tags

challenge, cranberries, photography, postaday, vibrant colors

For this challenge, I submit the following photos taken a few days ago of the cranberry harvest in South Jersey:

Ripe cranberries

Cranberry bog

Cranberries being harvested

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/10/14/cees-fun-foto-challenge-vibrant-colors/

Cranberry Harvest 2014

Tags

cranberry bog, cranberry harvest, photography, postaday

I tried to go watch this year’s cranberry harvest operations twice this weekend. Yesterday was a total flop. It rained hard, I got lost and arrived one hour late, and the harvest tour would not let anyone get off the bus for safety reason.

Today was different. The sun was out, and I drove to the Pine Barrens to find cranberry fields. Here’s how one looked prior to being flooded with water.

Cranberry field

A closer look at the ripe berries:

Cranberries

This was a flooded field as a harvesting machine plucked berries from the vines to let them float to the surface.

Cranberries being harvested

Slowly but surely cranberries covered the water surface.

Cranberries floating

Cranberries under a fine blue sky

Harvest machine

The machine operator, Herbert Armstrong, who is also a foreman for the Lee Brothers company, let me take pictures freely and even gave me a CD of photos of cranberry operations.

Harvester operator Herbert Armstrong

As he left at the end of the day, Herb was holding a GPS which he used to keep track of where his machine went in each field, so as not to miss any area.

Lesser Yellowlegs

Tags

john heinz wildlife refuge, lesser yellowlegs, photography, postaday

There were many Lesser Yellowlegs at the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge. This is a bird with long yellow legs, and it is named Lesser Yellowlegs because it is smaller than the Greater Yellowlegs.

These birds were not shy of humans and continued their foraging for food even when I came close to them.

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

You may wonder how I know the names of these birds. I don’t, and I am not a “birder”. However, there are usually birders around at places like the refuge. They are very kind and helpful, and never hesitate to tell me the names of the birds and answer my naive questions. At times, they even lend me their binoculars or spotting scopes as they point out the locations of some distant birds. Birders are great people!

Young Great Blue Heron

Tags

john heinz wildlife refuge, photography, postaday, tricolored heron

This past Wednesday, I went to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, located opposite Philadelphia International Airport, on the other side of Interstate 95. This is a relatively new and small but very friendly refuge, teeming with many birds and animals, as well as with humans who live nearby and come to jog or just to stroll along the well-kept trails.

There, one of the birds I saw for the first time was a young great blue, very skillful at looking for fish,

Young great blue heron

and catching them:

Great blue heron heron catching a fish

Marsh Flowers, Bees, and Eastern Phoebe

Tags

bee, eastern phoebe, photography, postaday, salt marsh aster

There are not many wildflowers left at this time of the year. Gone are the wild sweet pea and cardinal flowers, leaving not even a trace of their former selves. This morning I searched hard for other flowers and happened on these salt marsh asters which looked rather pedestrian until I came for a closer look and saw bees busy at work on them. These flowers are quite small, as you can tell from their size in comparison to the bees.

Salt marsh asters and bees

Salt marsh asters and bee

The blue background you see in the above photo is Spring Lake at the Abbott Marshlands. The following shot is of an Eastern Phoebe, I think. It was flying back and forth in front of me as I hiked around the lake. At one point, it stopped on a tree branch and gave me enough time to get this shot.

Eastern Phoebe at Spring Lake

Cygnet

Tags

cygnet, mute swan, photography, postaday

In a previous post, I wrote that a pair of mute swans at the Abbott Marshlands had a cygnet that I could not find. Today I found it.

Cygnet with parents and sleeping Canada geese

The cygnet is as large as its parents, although its feathers are grayish and not yet white. Its bill is still pale, and it does not have a bill knob yet. However, it is just as graceful.

Cygnet and parent swans

Mother swan to father swan: “Don’t you think our daughter looks very pretty?” Father swan responded: “You betcha!”

 

 

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: The Color Blue

Tags

blue, blue heron, cormorant, photo challenge, postaday

Late, but nevertheless this is my entry for Cee’s challenge.

I saw this Blue Heron looking a little bit envious of a cormorant who had just come up for air after diving in the water, with a fish firmly held in its bill:

Blue Heron: what’s up cormorant?

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/09/23/cees-fun-foto-challenge-the-color-blue/