Miniature Horses

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miniature horse, photography, postaday, Woodstown NJ

Today, on a drive through South Jersey, we stopped by a farm in Woodstown, NJ where miniature horses were grazing. The horses’ owner soon arrived with bales of hay and placed them near where I was standing so that the horses wouldn’t be too far for me to photograph.

The horses were the cutest ones I had ever seen, especially two newborn babies. These miniature horses are sometimes used as therapy animals, or they are shown at country fairs to let small children have a look at animals closer to their sizes than normal horses. The horses I saw were about 3 ft tall, as you can tell from the photo below as they stood near a pickup truck.

Feeding time for miniature horses.

Miniature horse in Woodstown, NJ.

Mini stallions food fight.

Baby horse and mother.

Baby horse and mother.

Close up of baby horse.

Mini stallion.

Miniature horse checking out photographer.

Miniature stallion walking by pickup truck.

Breaking Branch

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Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

Last Sunday, as I watched the Night Herons at the Ocean City Welcome Center, I kept hearing loud noises as if someone was breaking branches. It turned out that it was the herons themselves. As you can see from the photo below, these herons have very sturdy, thick bills.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

In fact, they are known as crab eaters, eating whole crabs by crushing them with their bills before swallowing them. With larger crabs, they grab them with their bill and then shake them violently to break them up into smaller pieces. Their bills are like those steel crab crackers that they have at restaurants that serve crabs.

A the start of breeding season, the herons have to build nests where the females will lay their eggs. They go around their neighborhood and use their bills to break dead branches and bring the pieces back to their nests.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron: “We need more branches.”

Heron seized branch with bill.

Heron jumping up and down to break branch.

Got one!

Back to nest with broken branch.

Depositing branch at nest.

Wordless Wednesday: Look at their Eyes

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downy woodpecker, photography, postaday, sparrow, tufted titmouse, yellow-croned night heron

Sparrow.

Downy Woodpecker.

Seagull.

Sparrow.

Tufted Titmouse.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Tulip Tuesday

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photography, postaday, tulips

Anyone driving past the tulips grown at the entrance of a local prep school in my town would be dazzled by their colors and brilliance. In my case, I had to make an U-turn, drove through the gate, parked in someone’s driveway, and spent a delightful time taking the following pictures.

Yellow Tulips.

Yellow Tulip.

Yellow and red Tulip.

Red Tulip.

Close up of yellow Tulip.

Dogwood

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dogwood, photography, postaday

Of all Spring flowers, the flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) has to be near or at the top because of its stunning grace and beauty. The tree, even without flowers, is handsome with its layered branches. When flowers appear in the month of April, they are a sight to behold. After work today, I stopped at two different locations in our town to photograph flowers of pink and red Dogwoods. Their colors and forms go well together and I found it rather easy to point, compose and take as many shots as I wanted.

Pink Dogwood.

Pink Dogwood.

Pink Dogwood.

Red Dogwood.

Mid Spring Flowers

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azalea, dogwood, magnolia, photography, postaday

Early Spring was brutal, and even today, in mid spring, it still feels cold enough to warrant a jacket when I went outside to take pictures. Many flowers were blooming, with a wide range of colors, from the most intense to the truly delicate.

Azalea Hino Crimson.

Another Azalea, but I don’t remember its name.

Jane Magnolia. Its first batch of flowers were destroyed by frost but there are just as many flowers in the second batch. It will continue blooming through the summer.

Cherry blossoms. This kind is named Shogetsu, or Blushing Bride.

The following pictures are from the same Dogwood tree that grows in the woods at the back of our house.

White Dogwood.

White Dogwood.

White Dogwood.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, rookery, yellow-crowned night heron

The Welcome Center in Ocean City, NJ is right next to a rookery with many kinds of birds, including Yellow-crowned Night Herons. These herons are active during daylight hours, in contrast to the Black-crowned Night Heron that are nocturnal. The herons arrived a little over two weeks ago, but within a week they had been busy courting, choosing their partners, and building nests. I took the following photos last Sunday.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron standing next to a nest, thinking about what else could be added to it.

As a female Yellow-crowned Night Heron works on her nest, a male approaches.

“Move over, I want to help!”

He tried to impress her with a display of feathers.

At another nest, a male Yellow-crowned Night Heron brought a branch to add to the nest.

Meanwhile the Black-crowned Night Herons were starting to wake up.

Black-crowned Night Heron. “Those yellow-crowned cousins sure make a lot of noise!”

Black-crowned Night Heron:”Yeah, what’s all the fuss about?”

Frilly Snowy Egret

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Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, snowy egret

In a band of about several dozens of Snowy Egrets mixed with Great Egrets, some were showing beautiful frilly feathers under the morning sun. At first I thought perhaps the wind was messing up their feathers, but if so, many if not all of them would have displayed those frilly plumes. Or was it breeding hormones acting up on some and not on others? Or were they trying to attract potential mates? I will let you decide.

Snowy Egrets, with the one in the middle especially frilly.

Snowy Egret parading on a natural fashion runway?

Snowy Egret.

Wordless Wednesday: Flight

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Bomaby Hook National Wildlife Refuge, canada geese, common tern, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great egret, photography, postaday, snowy egret

Northern Shovelers at Edwin B Sorsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Canada Geese at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.

Common Tern at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Snowy Egrets at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Great Egret at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Mating Fight

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canada geese, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

Yesterday, near the beginning of Wildlife Drive at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, I saw Canada Geese and Snowy Egrets sharing a small area of the pond. I stopped for a few minutes to take pictures of the egrets.

Suddenly a cacophony of honking and water splashing rose up. I turned my camera in the geese direction and shot the following photos. What happened was that a gander was trying to invade the turf of another who had a female goose by his side. If you don’t like violence, don’t look at the following shots.

Male Canada Goose charging his rival!

Two ganders fighting while female looked on.

Male defender bent his neck backward to stab his attacker.

At this point attacker retreated.

Hard bumping!

Turning around to chase attacker.

Go away, you @#%!*!

Shoo!

Go away! Go!

When calm returned, he escorted her out of the area.

Honey, you come with me now, you hear?

Meanwhile the other gander put up some face-saving moves.

Showing off his pecs: I’ll get her next time!

Then he had to cool off his hot face.

Dipping his face to cool off.

What do you know? I almost got her, almost!

Song Sparrow

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Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, song sparrow

This morning, I saw a Song Sparrow perched on the top branch of a bush near the Ocean City Welcome Center.

“You want me to sing?”

“Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I’ve got a wonderful feeling,
Everything’s going my way.”

“So how do you like it?”

Egrets Fishing

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Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great egret, photography, postaday, snowy egret

Snowy Egrets are probably among the best egrets at catching fish. Here’s a series of photos I took at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge last week when there were many of them, together with Great Egrets, flying around and fishing.

Snowy Egret landing.

Snowy Egret jabbing at water.

Caught one!

Great Egret landing.

The Great Egrets were not so successful at finding fish. At least I did not see any of them catching anything while the Snowy Egrets were plucking fish now and then out of the same pond.

Three Kinds of Flowers

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asian pear, bleeding hearts, cherry blossoms, photography, postaday

The cold at the beginning of this month killed many of our flowers. Ninety percent of the Magnolias are now crumpled brown. At least half of the Bleeding Hearts are wilting, and I thought they were cold resistant! This afternoon, right after coming home, I grabbed my camera and walked around to find flowers to photograph. The three kinds of flowers shown below were surprisingly alive and full of energy

Asian Pear flowers.

Cherry blossoms.

Bleeding Hearts. These grew closer to the house foundation and survived the several freezes we had.

 

Common Grackles

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grackle, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday

Grackles are almost cartoonish birds because of their dark colors and yellow, seemingly malevolent eyes. They are everywhere, especially at places where they can forage for food. They eat everything from corn to worms. Sometimes they fly together in giant flocks which can inflict severe damage on corn fields. Three weeks ago, I saw a band of them at the Ocean City Welcome Center in New Jersey and shot the following photos.

Common Grackle on top of a street lamp.

Same Grackle flying away.

Another flying shot of same Grackle.

Young Common Grackle on tree branches.

Wordless Wednesday: Just Photos with Captions

Tags

bleeding hearts, creeping phlox, daffodils, hyacinths, photography, postaday, sayen park botanical garden

Bleeding Hearts.

Creeping Phlox.

Hyacinth.

Daffodil.

Daffodils.

Hyacinths.

More Spring Flowers

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daffodil, photography, postaday, sayen park botanical garden, tulip

Passing by Sayen Park Botanical Garden today, I had to stop. After an hour of wandering around, I came back with the following shots of more spring flowers.

Daffodils, of course.

Virginia Bluebells. Thank you Nick and Jerry for identifying these flowers.

Red Tulip.

Pond reflection.

Double-crested Cormorant

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double-crested cormorant, photography, postaday

If you wonder why these birds are called Double-crested Cormorants, look at the following photo taken at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Double-crested Cormorant. Look at those blue eyes and crests!

The two crests that the bird sports are only visible during breeding season, which is right now. Once breeding season is over, it will revert back to looking like the young Cormorant below, although adults would be much darker in color.

Young Double-crested Cormorant.

Black-crowned Night Heron

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday

Black-crowned Night Herons winter in Mexico and further South, coming North to breed when Spring comes. I was told by a fellow photographer that they migrate to Ocean City, NJ, about 20 miles South of Edwin B Forsythe  National Wildlife Refuge where I usually go.

This morning I went to the Ocean City Welcome Center which opened 3 years ago and is becoming famous for its population of Black-crowned Night Heron. It had snowed the day before, but they were there, about two dozens of them, most perched on tree branches. They were half asleep since they are normally only active at night. I had never seen them until today, so these are my first shots of this kind of heron.

Black-crowned Night Heron at Ocean City Welcome Center. Note snow on the ground.

Black-crowned Night Heron at Ocean City Welcome Center.

Black-crowned Night Heron at ocean City Welcome Center.

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron at Ocean City Welcome Center.

Daffodils: Part 3

Tags

daffodils, photography, postaday, sayen park botanical garden

Last in this series, at least until next Spring! Enjoy and have a nice weekend.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodils: Part 2

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crocuses, daffodils, photography, postaday, sayen park botanical garden

As I write this, we are in for a weekend of rain turning to snow, or maybe the other way around. So I look at my flower photos to remind myself that Spring was here, just a few days ago. The Daffodils and Crocuses jointly made the announcement, didn’t they?

Daffodils from our garden.

Daffodils at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodils at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Another harbinger of Spring: Crocuses at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodils: Part 1

Tags

daffodils, photography, postaday, sayen park botanical garden

The Sayen Park Botanical Garden in Hamilton Square, NJ, has an estimated 250,000 bulbs, not all of them Daffodils, but quite a few nevertheless, and more than most of us can imagine. I used to think of Daffodils as yellow trumpet flowers, like King Alfred, but now I know there are more than 2,600 different kinds of these flowers in many colors and shapes.  Sayen doesn’t have them all, yet, but those that it does have are beauties, as my photos below and in the next few days will show.

Daffodils at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodil at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Daffodils at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

You may wonder what the park looks like, so here’s a shot of a part of it.

Gazebo at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Hellebores

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hellebores, photography, postaday, sayen park botanical garden

Hellebores are very early Spring flowers, and some even claim that they bloom right through Winter snow. A few years ago, I grew some but they turned out to have greenish looking flowers which came up in February. They were not too appealing, so when they died I replaced them with Milkweed to help Monarch butterflies.

Recently, at the Sayen Park Botanical Garden, I took pictures of several reddish purple Hellebores, standing proud amid other flowers like Daffodils or Hyacinths.

Hellebores.

Hellebore.

Hellebore.

Hellebores.

Marsh Marigolds

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marsh marigolds, photography, postaday, sayen house and gardens, sayen park botanical garden

As feared, frost killed our Magnolia flowers, and all that’s left are their brownish remains that the wind is continually trying to dislodge from their branches. Yesterday, in search of Spring flowers and colors I went to Sayen Park Botanical Garden in Hamilton Square, not far from our house. It covers an area of 30 acres, with all kinds of flowers, including a quarter of a million bulbs! But before getting to the bulbs, my eyes were drawn to the intense yellow color of Marsh Marigolds, a plant that thrives near water.

Marsh Marigolds at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Marsh Marigolds at Sayen Park Botanical Garden.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Landscape

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landscape, photography, postaday, stony brook, weekly photo challenge

Here’s the link for this week’s photo challenge: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/landscape/

Stony Brook is a small river about 3 miles North of our house. It meanders around the area before ending up as a tributary of the Millstone River, one of the major rivers of New Jersey. After living nearby for almost 30 years, I thought it was time to go there and take some photos for this week’s challenge.

Pedestrian bridge over Stony Brook

Reflections on Stony Brook.

There was’t much water, but an ND filter created unusual flow patterns.

Finally a shot of one of the tiny yellow wildflowers growing along the banks.

Wildflower on Stony Brook bank.