Silent Sunday – Sleeping In
24 Sunday Jan 2021
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in24 Sunday Jan 2021
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in23 Saturday Jan 2021
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inHooded 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.
He kept diving for food, small fish, crustaceans, mollusks, although I did not see him with any in his bill.
It happened to be windy that day, and when he came up strong wind gusts played freely with his crest.
Finally, the wind subsided a little, and he regained his normal looks.
22 Friday Jan 2021
Posted Photography
inLast 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.
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.
17 Sunday Jan 2021
Posted Photography
inBuffleheads 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.
The male gave a signal and all three of them decided to take off, giving me a unique opportunity to capture them in flight.
10 Sunday Jan 2021
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in06 Wednesday Jan 2021
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inTags
01 Friday Jan 2021
Posted EBF Refuge, Photography
in25 Friday Dec 2020
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inI 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.
19 Saturday Dec 2020
Posted Photography
inPrinceton University Lewis Center for the Arts was completed in 2017. Since that time, I have been meaning to go there and photograph it, but because it was so close to home, guess what, it took me three years to finally do it. The following photos show what it looked like in early afternoon last Sunday.
Lewis Center for the Arts: Administrative Building and Music Building on the right. In the Music Building you can see some individual practice rooms that are suspended and acoustically isolated from one another.
I did not go inside any of the buildings which were built with esoteric materials including 21-million-year-old Lecce Stone from Italy. I would have liked to see how geothermal wells have been used to heat and cool the complex, but maybe another time. This new art center took $330 million dollar to build, including costs associated with relocating the Dinky train station and a WaWa convenience store pictured below.
06 Sunday Dec 2020
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in05 Saturday Dec 2020
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inThis 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.
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.
Toward the end of Wildlife Drive one tree still had its leaves on.
02 Wednesday Dec 2020
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in29 Sunday Nov 2020
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inSnow 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.
There was a group of about ten Snow Geese flying in apparent perfect formation.
But, somehow something happened.
25 Wednesday Nov 2020
Posted Photography
inI took the following pictures a while ago but did not post them. Today I just saw the following post from Cathy and decided this would be a good time to do so: https://wordsandherbs.wordpress.com/2020/11/25/a-week-of-flowers-day-four-25th-november-2020/
23 Monday Nov 2020
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in22 Sunday Nov 2020
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inAll 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.
18 Wednesday Nov 2020
Posted Photography
inTags
This is a close-up of a Star Magnolia in our backyard. I took the photo in March of this year. As the Covid-19 pandemic was starting and lockdowns were imposed, I just could not feel like posting the image then.
This is my response to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge at:
16 Monday Nov 2020
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in14 Saturday Nov 2020
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in08 Sunday Nov 2020
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in07 Saturday Nov 2020
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inAt 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.
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.
04 Wednesday Nov 2020
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in02 Monday Nov 2020
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inYesterday 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.
Two other cars stopped by and it finally had enough of the photography sessions.
31 Saturday Oct 2020
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inTags
31 Saturday Oct 2020
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inTags
Last night was the last of three nights during which the Moon and planet Mars appeared close together in the night sky. The first two nights (October 28 and 29) were cloudy and rainy, but last night around 9 PM the full moon and Mars were clearly visible.
The red planet, however, was too far to the side for my lens to photograph it together with the Moon. It was reddish and of course not as bright as our Moon. I tried to take some shots, but I could not get a fix on it.
Mars will remain bright until the end of 2020 and I will try to get a better picture with a tripod next time.
25 Sunday Oct 2020
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in24 Saturday Oct 2020
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in18 Sunday Oct 2020
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in17 Saturday Oct 2020
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inI took the following photos of Ruddy Turnstones in January of this year near the Barnegat Lighthouse, but only now have I found the time to post them here.
Several groups of these birds were congregating on rocks covered with seaweed. Some slept, others were starting to look for food, but none cared the least about a photographer getting right above them. The early sun was shining bright, making it appear as if I was using a flash.
11 Sunday Oct 2020
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in08 Thursday Oct 2020
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inTags
Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, european starling, photography, postaday, red-winged blackbird
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.
Finally, a European Starling perched above the reeds, on a road sign.
06 Tuesday Oct 2020
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in04 Sunday Oct 2020
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in29 Tuesday Sep 2020
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in26 Saturday Sep 2020
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inA 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.
Seven minutes later, it was still on the same rock, staring into emptiness.
23 Wednesday Sep 2020
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in20 Sunday Sep 2020
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inTags
double-crested cormorant, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, laughing gull, photography, postaday
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.
Another Cormorant was so happy to have caught a fish that it danced around in the water.
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.
The Laughing Gull snatched the fish and left the young Cormorant clamoring for its lost meal.
18 Friday Sep 2020
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inTags
On January 1st of this year, I went on a photo trip to the shore of Long Beach Island, NJ. As I was driving, at 7:24 AM a colorful sun rose to the East. I stopped by the side of the road to photograph it.
The sun was a fiery yellow and red, and I found the resulting pictures somewhat disappointing and did not want to post them.
Today I think perhaps nature was trying to let me know that turmoil was coming in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic was about to spread throughout the world and affect millions of people.
17 Thursday Sep 2020
Posted Photography
inTags
crappie, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Lawrenceville, lens artists photo challenge, Lens-Artists, lesser yellow legs, negative space, photography, postaday
For the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 114: Negative Space, here are two images I shot recently. The first one is from 12 days ago.
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.
13 Sunday Sep 2020
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inAs 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.