29 Sunday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography
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For this first post of the new lunar year (Year of the Rooster), here are three colorful photos of some favorite flowers encountered during our visit to Hội An, Việt Nam last November. The last two photos appeared on this blog before. This time, I reprocessed them to enhance the beauty of the flowers even more.
Hibiscus along a street in Hội An.
White Orchids at a homestay in Hội An.
White and purple Orchids at homestay in Hội An.
27 Friday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography
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According to the moon calendar, tomorrow is the first day of the Lunar New Year, too often incorrectly called Chinese New Year. Chinese astrology assigns the Rooster as the Zodiac animal of this new year. The following photo is from last Spring, showing a rooster proudly leading a pack of three hens in an open field in South Jersey.
Rooster and hens.
Happy New Lunar Year to all my friends here at WordPress. May it bring you many blessings and all that you wish for.
25 Wednesday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography
For those of us who long for a sunny day this January, here’s a photo taken on a sunny day last summer of a Russian Orthodox church in Jackson, NJ. I had taken pictures of it two years earlier, but on that day it looked so pretty I knew I had to stop!
St Vladimir Memorial Church, Jackson, NJ.
21 Saturday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography
For this rainy and bland weekend, I offer three colorful photos taken over the past two weeks.
Blue Jay waiting for me to go away so it can get to the roasted peanuts.
A handsome House Finch.
Red-breasted Merganser near Barnegat Lighthouse.
20 Friday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge
This Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge is at the following URL:
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/graceful/
The following series of photos shows Common Terns doing graceful acrobatics to find food at the Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge.
Common Terns fishing.
Common Tern fishing.
Common Tern missed catching a fish.
Common Tern, a fraction of a second after missing a fish.
19 Thursday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography
Somehow the following photo reminded me of the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who became famous 47 years ago when the book by the same name was an instant best-seller in 1970. Do people still read it now?
Ring-billed Gull flying near Barnegat Lighthouse.
14 Saturday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography
The Downy Woodpecker is a bird that we often see in our backyard, competing with other small birds for sunflower seeds form the bird feeder. It does not eat peanuts, perhaps because those are too big for their beak. In the spring and summer, it can be heard drumming against wood, whether on trees or on our house trims!
Today one of them, a male, lingered among the magnolia branches for a minute or so, allowing me to capture it in the following photos.
Downy Woodpecker.
Downy Woodpecker.
Downy Woodpecker “Make sure you get my red patch, ok?”
Downy Woodpecker.
Downy Woodpecker.
09 Monday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography
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Saturday was a cold and snowy day. Only one inch of snow was forecasted, but it kept snowing most of the day and in the end we got at least 3 inches. The poor birds sheltered among our magnolia branches, but only because they know I usually stock our feeder with sunflower seeds to the brim.
Junco.
Tufted Titmouse.
After it stopped snowing, as a special treat, I put out a tray of roasted peanuts to provide them with some energy food. Within a few minutes, Blue Jays appeared and swooped down to literally gorge themselves.
Blue Jay: “Hmm, maybe I can stuff all of these in my mouth!?”
Blue Jay: “If you must insist, I will try…”
Blue Jay, after at least four peanuts down its throat.
08 Sunday Jan 2017
Posted in barnegat, EBF Refuge, Photography
Tags
barnegat lighthouse, common loon, long-tailed duck, mallard, photograpy, postaday, red-breasted merganser
A week ago at the Barnegat Lighthouse, many people came to walk along the beach, as it was sunny and the wind was bearable, especially if one wore a good winter jacket or coat.
Barnegat Lighthouse on January 1st, 2017.
Along the jetty, but away from the swift currents that Harlequin ducks preferred, there were three other kinds of ducks or waterbirds swimming and diving calmly for food.
Common Loon, a large waterbird in its non-breeding colors.
Long-tailed Duck. This kind of duck can deep dive up to 200 ft (60 m). This one was just looking around and enjoying the sun.
Red-breasted Mergansers, a rather large duck compared to the well-coiffed Hooded Mergansers that I photographed last year.
Earlier in the day, I saw a pair of Mallards dabbling for food at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge which has been practically closed due to road repairs for at least half a year now.
A pair of Mallards. They don’t dive and just dabble for food near the surface of the water.
07 Saturday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography
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Upon seeing a gull fly by at Barnegat, I instinctively raised my camera and took a shot. Later, when I looked at the following photo, at first I couldn’t figure out what that roundish object was. Finally it dawned on me that it was a clam that a juvenile Ring-billed Gull had just dropped after it had fished it out of the ocean.
Juvenile gull dropping a clam.
04 Wednesday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge
The link for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Dark and Light is: https://ceenphotography.com/2017/01/03/cees-fun-foto-challenge-dark-and-light/
and here’s my interpretation of it.
Bird or duck footprints on sand at Barnegat Lighthouse jetty.
01 Sunday Jan 2017
Posted in Photography
Today, the first day of 2017, I went to the Barnegat Lighthouse jetty to find Harlequin ducks. For years, they have chosen that place as their favorite Winter playground because the current is swift along the jetty rocks, and also because there must be a lot of mollusks and crustaceans for them to eat.
Today the sun was finally shining bright after a long string of gloomy days. The Harlequin were out in force, at least a dozen of them, swimming, diving, and the males trying to pair off with several females. They were so busy that they did not mind several photographers hovering nearby taking their pictures. I was able to come quite close to them without scaring them away.
Male Harlequin at Barnegat Lighthouse jetty.
Male Harlequin.
Male Harlequins.
Male Harlequin beginning dive for food.
Two male Harlequins diving.
Harlequins. The female is the second duck from the right.
Male Harlequins deciding on which female to court. The two females are at right of picture.
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