According to the dictionary, a pose is “a sustained posture, especially one assumed for artistic effect”. The second part of the definition does not apply to birds. Most birds fly, and they do so gracefully as their bodies have to conform to the demands of aerodynamics. At rest, they become more compact and assume natural poses to observe their surroundings, or to preserve heat when necessary.
Great Egret.Laughing Gull.Snowy Egret.Grackle.Tern after catching a fish.Tern losing fish?
In one more week, summer will be ending. Some birds have already left the refuge but many remain as warm temperatures still prevail and food is abundant in the marshes. Here are some more shots of the Great Blue Heron shown in monochrome yesterday.
Great Blue Heron.Great Blue Heron landing.
Great and Snowy Egrets, including juveniles born this year are everywhere around the refuge.
Two Great Egrets looking for fish.
A Snowy Egret bristled in warning as a juvenile landed close to it.
Two Snowy Egrets.The intruder left.Still not happy.
There was a new bird for me. It was quite far away, but I think it was a Tricolored Heron.
Tricolored Heron on the right, Great Egret on the left.
While scanning the marshes, I saw a brilliant, shiny red spot in the middle of the milkweed. Mating season should be over by now, but two Ladybugs did not get the memo.
Summer is the season for beautiful butterflies that flutter around plants and flowers, their colors and appearance letting us know that the outdoors are where we belong. I photographed the following butterflies at two different spots not far from home.
Cabbage White Butterfly at the Mapleton Preserve in Kingston, NJ.Small Skipper at Sayen Gardens in Hamilton, NJ.Silver Spotted Skipper at the Mapleton Preserve in Kingston, NJ .Eastern Black Swallowtail at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.
A small turtle (less than 5 in or 10 cm) was crossing the road as I drove by.
Eastern Mud Turtle at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
Last Saturday was a very breezy and cold day, with wind chill temperatures below freezing. It was also low tide when the refuge did not offer its best views.
Part of Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge at low tide.
Most birds were sheltering from the wind and cold, although many Canada Geese were strolling around, showing off this year’s offspring. The Goslings were busy foraging and tasting food.
Gosling 2021.
The Osprey nests were empty at first sight and, for a moment, I thought they had flown to warmer places. However, when looking again, I could see part of a head peeking out from one nest. A female Osprey was chirping, her head clearly visible as she scanned the sky for her mate. I decided to stop and wait, but kept my window closed because of the strong wind.
Suddenly I saw the male Osprey flying in with a fish in his talons. By the time I got the window rolled down and my camera out he was already landing on the female bird.
Male Osprey landing on female Osprey.
The next photos show the Osprey mating rituals which lasted less than a minute.
Male Osprey jumping off female Osprey.Male Osprey landing on female, again.Male Osprey on top of female. Meanwhile she was probably beginning to eat the fish he had brought.Male Osprey, business finished.
He landed a short distance away, watching her for a few minutes before flying off again, perhaps to find for more fish for her.
Last week the refuge conducted controlled burning of areas around the marshes to get rid of some invasive plants. That cleared quite a few of the bushes while leaving blackened spots where green shoots have already managed to come up. Hopefully they are not those pesky weeds that were supposed to burn.
There was a male Red-winged Blackbird singing gleefully in a reedy area. I tried to follow it for a few minutes as it switched spots before finally finding a suitable perch and belted its song, spreading and puffing its feathers to impress potential mates.
The colorful Northern Shovelers are one of the more common ducks throughout the world. During the winter at the refuge, there are at least several hundreds of them foraging for food in the marshes with their typically long bills (2.5 inches or 6.35 cm).
In the US, during duck hunting season, an average of 700,000 Northern Shovelers are brought down each year! Yet, they are not on the endangered species list. Here are some recent photos of them at the refuge.
A young squirrel was looking hungrily at our squirrel-proof birdfeeder.
Young squirrel.
“Please, I will only take one!”
At the refuge, a Turkey Vulture was flying in the clear blue sky.
Turkey Vulture.
After a while, it landed not too far away and I drove there to shoot many photos of it. It is not the best looking bird but it is probably the best scavenger, cleaning up the countryside of road kills and dead animals that it sees or smells from high above.
Hooded Mergansers, especially males with their fan-shaped crest, look dashing in the waters of the refuge. A few days ago, one of them was swimming by himself among several ducks.
Male Hooded Merganser.
He kept diving for food, small fish, crustaceans, mollusks, although I did not see him with any in his bill.
Male Hooded Merganser diving.
It happened to be windy that day, and when he came up strong wind gusts played freely with his crest.
Hooded Merganser.
Hooded Merganser.
Hooded Merganser.
Hooded Merganser.
Finally, the wind subsided a little, and he regained his normal looks.
Last December 21st I went out at night to photograph the conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, and the moon. There were too many clouds for that, but after a few minutes the clouds cleared just enough to allow me this last photo for the year.
Moon on December 21, 2020.
Three days ago, I went out on a sunny day to the refuge for my first shoot of 2021 to be greeted by this sandpiper.
Buffleheads are the smallest diving ducks in North America, often seen at the refuge in late fall and winter. In early December of 2020 I saw one male and two female Buffleheads there.
Buffleheads, male in between two females.
The male gave a signal and all three of them decided to take off, giving me a unique opportunity to capture them in flight.
I took the following photos on October 1st, 2019 but did not post them as I temporarily stopped blogging to concentrate on finishing my second book. Now, more than a year later, here they are. A large group of Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets (with the black bills) was taking off at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Never had I seen so many flying together.
This week has been rainy with only one sunny day in the middle. I drove to the refuge and by the time I arrived the sun was out but the clouds were many. The Great Blue Heron that used to stand by a sluice gate was now standing by the water.
Sunning Great Blue Heron.
There was a flash of white among the dried reeds. A Great Egret took off as soon as it saw me, but I managed to take a few shots of it flying away.
Great Egret taking off.
Great Egret in flight.
Great Egret in flight.
Toward the end of Wildlife Drive one tree still had its leaves on.
Autumn scene at Edwin B. Fosrsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
Snow Geese fly south in the Fall, and a week ago some passed by the refuge. There were only a few hundred of them, not as many as during Spring migration.
Snow Geese flying south.
Snow Geese, a closer look.
There was a group of about ten Snow Geese flying in apparent perfect formation.
Snow Geese flying in perfect formation.
But, somehow something happened.
Note one head pointing downward. “Oops, I dropped my lunch.”
All this time I have shown you the birds and animals at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Yesterday, I shot the following photos so you can see what the refuge actually looks like at least in the fall when the green has given way to brown and sepia. The same juvenile Bald Eagle from last week was also there, ruling over the fall landscape.
Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Dabbling ducks in the distance.
At the end of my drive through the refuge today, I saw a Painted Turtle ahead, in the middle of the road! I got out and took these two photos.
Painted Turtle.
Painted Turtle.
After that I moved the turtle gently to the side of the road. Still, it withdrew inside its shell as soon as I touched it.
Painted Turtles are small creatures and have been around for 15 million years. Today was very warm, 76 °F or 24 °C, which may explain why this turtle came out and tried to cross the road. When it gets colder, they will go into deep hibernation.
Yesterday was cloudy and cool, ending up with heavy rain. Only a few people showed up at the refuge while the birds were even more scarce. I got some lucky shots of a juvenile Bald Eagle before it flew away from its perch. It is probably between two and three years old.
Juvenile Bald Eagle.
Juvenile Bald Eagle.
Juvenile Bald Eagle.
Two other cars stopped by and it finally had enough of the photography sessions.
Juvenile Bald Eagle. Atlantic City in the background.
Starting in late summer, when you drive on Wildlife Drive, flocks of birds often fly in and out of both sides of the road in front of you. There could be hundreds of them, and they are mostly Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, and sparrows, sometimes mixed together. The moment you stop your car to look closer, the birds land and disappear in the dried reed and grasses. Last week I stopped long enough to find them and take some photos.
Dried reed. Deceiving, right? The birds were there.
Male Red-winged Blackbird.
Female Red-winged Blackbird.
Female Red-winged Blackbird eating a fruit.
Male Red-winged Blackbird.
Male Red-winged Blackbird.
Finally, a European Starling perched above the reeds, on a road sign.
A new sluice gate has recently been built on Wildlife Drive at the refuge to channel ocean water into and out of Vogt Pool North. As I drove by a few days ago, a Great Blue Heron was standing guard at the gate and would not budge even as I parked no more than 20 ft (6 m) away from it. There was plenty of morning sunlight and the conditions were perfect for photography.
Great Blue Heron at sluice gate.
Great Blue Heron ignoring photographer.
Seven minutes later, it was still on the same rock, staring into emptiness.
Yesterday, when I arrived at the Brigantine unit of the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge the tide was high and ocean water was pouring into the salt marshes, bringing with it fish and other sea creatures to feed the Egrets, Double-crested Cormorants, Seagulls, and various smaller birds. Some juvenile Cormorants were having a feast and kept diving into the churning water and coming up with fish in their hooked bills.
Cormorant holding fish in its bill.
Another Cormorant was so happy to have caught a fish that it danced around in the water.
Juvenile Cormorant with fish.
Suddenly, it dropped the fish and dove in the water to retrieve it. However, many Laughing Gulls were hovering in the air, and one quickly swooped down.
Laughing Seagull diving after fish.
The Laughing Gull snatched the fish and left the young Cormorant clamoring for its lost meal.
Laughing Seagull flying away with fish despite Cormorant’s protests.
Lesser Yellow Legs at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
The second one is from yesterday at Colonial Lake In Lawrenceville, NJ when a fisherman caught a fish with the name of Crappie! He threw it back as soon as I finished taking the photo.
As temperatures dropped, a good number of birds have left the refuge. Some non-breeding Forster’s Terns remain, displaying their skills at diving and plucking food out of the water. I finally managed to photograph one of them in a successful dive.
Yesterday, conditions were almost ideal for photography. The refuge was dry, the sun was shining bright, and an ocean breeze was cool if at times gusty. I had just stepped out when a Great Egret flew toward me. I barely had enough time to lean against the car and bring my camera up to shoot. This was likely the closest I ever came to a Great Egret in flight.
