31 Sunday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
The other day, when I arrived at the refuge a flock of several hundred birds flew up into the sky as if they were starting to migrate. They did not look like Canada Geese, and could have been Lesser Yellowlegs starting their migration to warmer places. Please let me know if you can identify them as another kind of bird.
30 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
24 Sunday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
Two Great Egrets were fighting at the refuge. I have seen them do that before, with most “fights” lasting a few seconds. The following lasted almost a minute, over several bouts in succession until everything quieted down. Were they competing for territory, or for some female egret?
22 Friday Oct 2021
Posted in The Siege of An Loc
Adria Carmichael is the author of the highly addictive Juche series of dystopian novels set in the totalitarian nation of Choson, a very realistic fictional portrayal of North Korea. She has completed the first three books, which are currently available on Amazon, and is working on the fourth in the series.
Following is Adria’s review, posted on Goodreads, of my second novel “The Siege of An Lộc”:
Having grown up with movies and TV series about the war in Vietnam from a US perspective, it was truly enlightening to read a book on this topic from another perspective, written by a South Vietnamese native who himself had to flee to America when his country was invaded by the north.
The book is part love story in the midst of a devastating war, and part history book with detailed accounts of the two-month long siege of the small, but strategically important city of An Loc. For me, it was the stories about the people fighting for their lives and freedom that captivated my interest, and I have to admit that I skimmed though some of the lengthier descriptions of military events that were not directly connected to the main story. The characters were fantastic though, and I followed their struggles and development with great interest.
Love was at the heart of the story, and I liked that the book kept me rooting for the sweet but fragile romance between the protagonists Trung and Ly that started so innocently in a restaurant in Saigon and then continued down into the muddy trenches of An Loc under the constant enemy bombardment that gradually turned the city into dusty piles of rubble.
Another aspect that fascinated me was the contrast between the self-image of the northern army and the view of the people of the south. While the north portrayed themselves as “liberators” coming to the south to free their brothers and sisters from the evil puppet regime that was holding them in its clutches, the South Vietnamese saw them as nothing other than an invading army whose only interest was to subjugate them, and not minding to kill hundreds of thousands of people in the process. The contrast became abundantly clear when the author let us follow North Vietnamese soldiers who entered An Loc expecting to be met by cheering masses of people greeting their liberators with flowers and praise, but found nothing but petrified people fleeing for their lives at the sight of them. Very well portrayed.
At the very end of the book (and this is not a spoiler for this story) I must admit I was very surprised by a sentence saying that the protagonists will face even greater hardships three years later… and then the book ended. This statement made me incredibly curious and made me to wonder if there is a sequel on the horizon.
22 Friday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
While I was photographing egrets at the refuge, a hawk flew down and landed no more than 20 ft (6 m) from me. I adjusted my camera and got the following shot.
It did not stay long and I only got three shots before it flew away. The other two shots don’t show the hawk’s face.
21 Thursday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
Tags
By itself in the shadows, a Snowy Egret was quietly fishing and being very successful at it.
20 Wednesday Oct 2021
Posted in cranberries, Photography
Following are some photos I took today of cranberries being harvested in southern New Jersey. The harvest starts in October and usually lasts until the beginning of November.
First the cranberry fields are flooded with water. Then the ripe cranberries are separated from their plants with the use of machines called “egg beaters”. The berries, which have four air sacks, inside float on the water and are corralled as shown below.
While driving toward the town of Chatsworth, the center of New Jersey cranberry industry, I noticed some bright red colors beyond the pine trees lining the highway.
Coming closer to the red areas, I saw a lot of cranberries on the ground.
They may be cranberries discarded by the Ocean Spray processing plant, but I have no way of confirming that. In past years, when a season brought in too many cranberries, growers are legally allowed by the Capper-Volstead Act to dump part of their crops to keep cranberry prices stable.
18 Monday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
Tags
boat-tailed grackle, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great egret, greater yellow legs, postaday, snow goose, song sparrow
Following are some scenes from the refuge that I photographed last Friday.
17 Sunday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
16 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
Fishing by humans is not allowed at the refuge. But the birds are free to fish since it is sometimes their best way to obtain what they need to survive. The Great Egret shown below is an excellent practitioner of fishing. Yesterday, I watched from beginning to end as it plucked a fish out of the marshes.
11 Monday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
Tags
Big Eyes Butterfly., black swallowtail, Common Buckeye, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, postaday, snowy egret
Here are some not yet published photos of butterflies and a young Snowy Egret I took in September at the refuge.
09 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in Photography
Tags
We have had a warm beginning for fall, and it feels more like late summer. Some flowers and foliage plants are enjoying it and are thriving beautifully.
03 Sunday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
The French have a great expression for sleeping in: “faire la grasse matinée”, literally do a fat morning. The Yellow-crowned Night Heron, a night hunter and feeder, practiced it when I met him.
02 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in Music
Tags
Something different for this Saturday: a beautiful rendition of “Serenade”, a song by Schubert arranged by Liszt for piano. The pianist is Dora Deliyska, a Bulgarian concert pianist living in Vienna, Austria.
01 Friday Oct 2021
Posted in EBF Refuge, Photography
A male Grackle led a noisy band of Grackles to a small island in the marshes. After they landed, he posted himself on the highest branch and called out to them.
neihtn 