Belted Kingfisher and Others

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belted kingfisher, mallard, postaday, song sparrow

A lady photographer told me five years ago that there was a Belted Kingfisher at Colonial Lake near our house in New Jersey. She even told me that it usually came out at 1 PM to start looking for food. It’s only yesterday, five years later that I was finally able to photograph it a few minutes after 1 PM, from about 200 ft away.

Female Belted Kingfisher with punk crest.

Next time I will try to come closer and hopefully get a better shot, but she may be too skittish.

Meanwhile a Song Sparrow, partially hidden in a tree, was singing beautifully.

Song Sparrow.

Song Sparrow: “Did you like my song?”

And two Painted Turtles had just finished their rowing exercises.

Painted Turtles.

Finally, a female Mallard with mixed genes was practicing her Karate kick.

Female Mallard.

Early Spring Flowers

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christmas cactus, hellebore, milkweed, postaday, reticulata iris, star magnolia

Christmas Cactus.

Hellebore.

Star Magnolia.

Reticulata Iris.

Remnants of Milkweed flowers from last year.

Village Teacher – Free Download – March 14-18

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free Kindle download, postaday, village teacher

My first book Village Teacher is available for free Kindle download for five days on Amazon from Monday March 14 to Friday March 18, 2022. If you want to download it, click on the above link to go to Amazon. Even if you don’t have Kindle Unlimited the price will be displayed as “$0.00 to buy”.

Following is a review of Village Teacher posted by Per, a reader, in 2013:

“This engrossing historical novel is set in the days of the French colonization of Vietnam. The background historical detail appears meticulous and it is interesting reading this book for that reason alone, however there is much more here than that. This is a tale of the travails and loves of the main character during a period of turmoil.

The characters in this story are very well developed and complex and the events that intertwine them are seamlessly presented so that the story flows well. There are numerous characters who appear in a sequential manner and their side stories add to the whole of the story but do not detract from it.

I enjoyed this book for the fascinating historical and cultural perspectives as well as the dramatic fictional story. There is a definite element of suspense and about halfway through the book It became a real page turner and I could not put it down until the end.”

Sunday Images

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barnegat lighthouse state park, northern pintail, postaday, Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Following are some photos of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a couple of Northern Pintails I took on different days about two weeks ago Near Barnegat Lighthouse.

Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Northern Pintails, male in foreground.

Domineering and Stealing

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barnegat lighthouse state park, great black-backed gull, herring gull, postaday

The Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world. It has a domineering attitude and does not shy from harassing other birds to steal their food. I saw an example of this two weeks ago while photographing near the Barnegat Lighthouse. A Great Black-backed Gull swooped in and landed right next to a Herring Gull. It quickly took away whatever the Herring Gull was eating.

Great Black-backed Gull in background, Herring Gull in front.

The Herring Gull protested to no avail.

The Great Black-backed Gull proceeded to consume the juicy piece of food (fish, shrimp, or crab) as the Herring Gull protested.

“Gobble, gobble …” – “Hey, it’s mine!”

“Done, bye!”

The thief then flew away, unconcerned, happy.

Red-breasted Merganser

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barnegat lighthouse state park, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, postaday, red-breasted merganser

Red-breasted Mergansers are fairly common in the winter along the coast of New Jersey. In the past two weeks, I took their photos at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge and also near the Barnegat Lighthouse on two different occasions.

Female Red-breasted Merganser looking for fish.

Female Red-breasted Merganser and no fish.

Female Red-breasted Merganser with fish.

According to All About Birds, a Red-breasted Merganser has to eat 15 to 20 fish per day, requiring it to dive under water for 250 to 300 times a day! The Red-breasted Merganser population in North America is stable and has been estimated at 500,000 in 2017.

Female Red-breasted Merganser.

Two males and one female Red-breasted Mergansers.

Female Red-breasted Merganser.