Sunday Odds and Ends

Tags

avocet, cormorant, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

As a side effect of hurricane Philippe, we are being drenched with rain today, and I am staying home. Here are a few shots taken over the past several weeks that did not fit into any previous post.

Cormorants. They were moving fast in the water as evidenced by the wake they created.

Another group of Cormorants taking off.

Squirrel eating a walnut from our trees.

American Avocet.

American Avocet.

I am guessing the following two birds are immature Yellow-crowned Night Herons. October has been warm this year, and these two had not yet migrated South.

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

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Flying and Diving Aces

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Forster's Tern, photography, postaday

Once the fog had completely dissipated, Forster’s Terns came out and again earned their reputation as ace flyers and divers. I had my camera set to capture them at 1/3000 sec, but even that was barely enough to freeze their motion in mid air, especially during their almost vertical dives.

Forster’s Tern.

Forster’s Tern.

Forster’s Tern.

Forster’s Tern.

Forster’s Tern diving into water.

Forster’s Tern pulling out of dive.

Finally I was able to catch one of these birds with a fish it had just caught.

Forster’s Tern with fish.

Spider Webs

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, spider web

There were literally thousands of spider webs along both sides of Wildlife Drive, and the dew made them scintillate under the rising sun. Here are two: one with the classic  shape; the other, seen from the side, is more unusual. I did not see any spider. Maybe they were still in their warm hideouts.

Spider web.

Spider web.

The Conductor

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, nute swan, photography, postday

The light kept getting better at the refuge. Sunlight became more abundant, inundating the pond and the birds floating on it. One swan was particularly exuberant, showing characteristics of an orchestra conductor.

Mute Swan, conducting?

Mute Swan, conducting?

Mute Swan, conducting?

Mute Swan, conducting?

Mute Swan, conducting?

Mute Swan, conducting?

Mute Swan, conducting?

Mute Swan, done conducting?

Mute Swan: “Done!”

Beauty and the Fog

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, mute swan, photography, postaday

It was very foggy yesterday. On my way to Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge I could see no more than 100 ft (30 m) ahead, and twice almost ran into deer crosssing the road! When I arrived at the refuge, the usual scenery looked very iffy in the thick fog, but I was not about to go back after a two-hour drive.

Pond in fog.

Slowly the fog lifted, and after half an hour, sunlight fell on beautiful swans and other birds swimming in the sweet water pond. The swans were probably the same I photographed last week, but they had lost their juvenile colors and were all white. They had been preening and looked much cleaner than last week.

Mute Swans.

Mute Swan with Canada Geese in the background.

The following photos show a Mute Swan flapping its wings after it had finished preening and taken a dip in the water.

Mute Swan.

Mute Swan.

Mute Swan.

Mute Swan.

Mute Swan.

New and Familiar

Tags

cormorant, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, european starling, great egret, photography, postaday

Last week, at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, I saw for the first time an American Avocet standing among other familiar birds. In fact I did not know what it was until I got home, saw a strange bird in the photo and looked it up.

American Avocet, on the right, and Mallards.

Great Egret.

The following photo is unusually wide so that all the Cormorants in that one spot can be seen.

Cormorants drying their feathers.

Finally, many smaller birds were flying around: Grackles, European Starlings, and Red-winged Blackbirds. I did not get a good shot of the Red-winged Blackbirds, although they appeared to be leading packs of small birds around the marshes.

Grackles.

European Starling.

Great Egret.

Swans

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, mute swan, photography, postaday, preening

Last week Mute Swans were preening and foraging for food at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Again, I was able to come close to take the following photos. By the way, when you see white feathers floating on the water, they were a by-product of the swans’ preening.

Juvenile Mute Swans.

Mute Swans. The one on the left is an adult, with one leg tucked under its wings.

Adult Mute Swan.

Juvenile Mute Swan.

Adult Mute Swan.

Juvenile Mute Swans preening.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

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

Great Egret.

Great Egret.

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Tags

Black-crowned Night Heron, edwin b forstythe national wildlife refuge, photography, postaday

The American Bittern is a medium-sized heron that is supposed to be elusive, even secretive. Yesterday I thought I saw one, but Observer, see comment below, pointed out that this is not an American Bittern, but a Black-crowned Night-Heron, probably a juvenile one. It was standing out in the open on a wooden beam by the side of Wildlife Drive at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Maybe it was relatively early in the morning, as it allowed me to come within 20 ft (6 m) of it to take these up-close pictures. It stood still in one pose, so the dozen shots I took are almost all identical.

Black-crowned Night-Heron.

Close up of Black-crowned Night-Heron head.

Jackie: an Update

Tags

golden retriever, jackie, photography, postaday

I brought Jackie home in July of last year.

Jackie, the puppy.

Now she’s a fully grown Golden Retriever, still a bundle to handle, but improving as time goes by.

Jackie, the Golden Retriever.

Fall Foliage

Tags

fall colors, john heinz national wildlife refuge, photography, postaday

I took this photo in the fall of 2014 at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. Because of the lack of rain this past several weeks, forecasters are saying that fall colors this year will not be as colorful and bright, and will not last very long.

Autumn Leaves.

Flowers After the Rain

Tags

black-eyed susan, cosmos, photography, postaday, zinnia

After several dry weeks, rain has been falling over the past few days in our area, reviving grass and pushing flowers for more blooms. The latter, despite the fact we are already in autumn, still managed to put on dazzling colors and forms.

Black-eyed Susan.

Cosmos.

Zinnia.

Cosmos.

Zinnias.

Cosmos.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

photography, postaday, spider, wordless wednesday, zinnias

Zinnias and Spider.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Pedestrian

Tags

pedestrian, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The link for the challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/pedestrian/

I took this photo in Viet Nam last year, and the sight of a pedestrian mother with her child climbing over the divider and crossing a street filled with cars has stayed with me ever since.

Sài Gòn traffic scene: Mother and child crossing a street after climbing over divider.

Kites and Kids

Tags

kite, long beach island international kite festival, photography, postaday

A main event of the Long Beach Island International Kite Festival was the dropping of candy from a kite onto the sand for kids to gather. When the time came, parents, grandparents, and kids lined up in anticipation.

Lining up for candy.

They could not make the kite work, so volunteers scattered the candy by hand in front of the crowd. When the signal was given the kids rushed forward.

Kids rushing toward dropped candy.

Running to candy.

Running to candy.

Collecting candy.

Running to candy.

Collecting candy.

Meanwhile, the kites kept flying high above everyone.

Kites at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kites at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kites at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kite Festival

Tags

kite, long beach island international kite festival, photography, postaday

The Long Beach Island International Kite Festival is being held over four days this weekend in Ship Bottom, NJ. I went there today to look for colorful kites and there were quite a few. This is the sight that greeted me once I climbed over the dunes and looked down on the beach.

Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kites now come in fancy shapes and sizes, unlike those I made as a kid, out of two bamboo sticks and some translucent paper glued to them.

Kites at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kites at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kite at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kite at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kite at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kites resting at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kite at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kite at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Kite at Long Beach Island International Kite Festival.

Have a Nice Weekend

Tags

great egret, photography, postaday

Great Egret: “Have a Nice Weekend!”

One More Cosmos Post

Tags

cosmos, photography, postaday

This morning I went back to the organic farm near home to take more photos of Cosmos flowers. The weather is getting definitely cooler, and frost will soon kill every plant, so this may be the last Cosmos for this year. Dew was still hanging on to the flowers, but that only added to their beauty.

Heirloom Cosmos. Like lace.

Heirloom Cosmos.

Heirloom Cosmos.

Heirloom Cosmos.

Meanwhile, back home our Cosmos flowers had a burst of blooming, sending up about a dozen flowers.

Homegrown Cosmos.

Homegrown Cosmos.