Eastern Bluebird

Tags

Eastern Bluebird, house finch, photography, postaday

The Eastern Bluebird couple is well established near the birdhouse they have adopted for this year. The one they used last year remains empty at the moment, until some other bird moves in. The male still comes to our bay window once in a while to peck at his mirror rival! Otherwise, it is a slow wait until the eggs are hatched and incubation begins.

Male and female Eastern Bluebirds in front of their birdhouse.

Of the two, the male seems to be very active defending their space.

Male Eastern Bluebird standing guard on roof of birdhouse.

Male Eastern Bluebird running toward intruders.

Male Eastern Bluebird: “Shoo!”

Male Eastern Bluebird: “Go away!”

The intruders are other birds that perch on the magnolia branch waiting their turn at the bird feeder. Some are quite handsome, like this House Finch below.

Male House Finch.

Butterfly Magnolia and Bluebirds

Tags

Eastern Bluebird, photography, postaday

The Eastern Bluebird couple have returned and are busy rebuilding their nest inside a birdhouse that I cleaned up a few weeks ago. It stands right next to a small magnolia tree with yellow flowers.

Butterfly Magnolias.

Female Eastern Bluebird with pine needles. She’s the one building the nest.

He stands guard while she’s inside the birdhouse.

Male Eastern Bluebird spreading his wings.

Male Eastern Bluebird.

I took these photos through our bay window only about four feet from the birdhouse. The male Bluebird kept coming to the window ledge and knocking on the glass with its beak throughout the day. I wonder if that was because he saw his reflection and thought he had a rival!

Signs of Spring

Tags

bluebird, clivia, downy woodpecker, house finch, photography, postaday, red-bllied woodpecker

Today WordPress is forcing me to use their new editor instead of their “classic” editor. Let’s hope this post turns out all right.

Clivia in bloom.

Male Bluebird.

Female Downy Woodpecker.

Male Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Male House Finch.

Nailing It and More Crocuses

Tags

crocus, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, ring-billed gull

With the prospect of watching gymnasts at the forthcoming Summer Olympics, I thought that this Ring-billed Gull nailed it.

Nailing It!

Here are some more photos of Crocuses I took yesterday.

Crocuses in the afternoon.

White crocuses.

Heat Wave Crocuses

Tags

crocus, photography, postaday

Yesterday our local temperature climbed to 80°F (26.67°C), the highest ever recorded for March 26th. Any snow still on the ground has already melted a few days earlier, and the crocus flowers wasted no time in coming up and bearing vibrant flowers. Here are some shots of those at the front of our driveway.

Crocuses.

Crocus.

Crocus.

Crocuses.

Crocuses.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

american black duck, carolina wren, northern mockingbird, northern pintail, photography, postaday

Northern Pintail.

Carolina Wren.

American Black Duck.

American Black Duck.

Northern Mockingbird.

Red-winged Blackbird

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, red-winged blackbird

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.

Male Red-winged Blackbird singing.

Male Red-winged Blackbird looking around.

Male Red-winged Blackbird started singing again.

Fortissimo! It also looked twice as large.

Winding down after song.

Back to normal, almost.

 

Cape May Lighthouse

Tags

bunker, cape may lighthouse, mute swan, northern mockingbird, photography, postaday

Tuesday I went to the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge to find it closed because they were conducting controlled burns of invasive plants along the marsh edges. Rather than going home, I drove one more hour to get to the Cape May Lighthouse at the southern tip of New Jersey.

Cape May Lighthouse.

I walked down to the beach and saw a strange bunker, a World War II relic slowly being reclaimed by the ocean.

World War II bunker.

The bunker was used to defend against a possible German invasion! It had four 155 mm artillery pieces which had never been fired and were removed many years ago.

World War II bunker as seen from lighthouse.

Wood pilings in ruin.

Nearby there were several small ponds where swans and various ducks were swimming and feeding.

Mute Swan.

Sparrows and one Northern Mockingbird kept flying around me as if wanting their pictures taken.

Northern Mockingbird.

Northern Mockingbird.

Northern Mockingbird eating a berry.

There were several bushes of holly laden with gloriously red berries.

Holly berries.

Holly berries.

Northern Shovelers

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Northern Shoveler, photography, postaday

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.

Northern Shovelers.

Northern Shovelers.

Northern Shovelers.

Male Northern Shoveler.

Male Northern Shoveler in flight.

Young Squirrel

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, squirrel, turkey vulture

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.

Turkey Vulture.

Turkey Vulture.

February Thaw

Tags

photography, postaday, snow melt

In the last few days, temperatures have managed to climb into the thirties and low forties, causing snow to melt everywhere around us. I was watching a birdhouse in our backyard and saw droplets of water from the snow on the roof make their way to the ground.

Snow melt.

Snow melt.

Snow melt.

The Siege of An Lộc – New Review by Meta

Tags

books, postaday, The Siege of An Loc

The war between North and South Vietnam.

All I ever had known about it that it was a very unpopular war as far as the USA was concerned.

This book tells us how the People of South Vietnam fought to keep their country free from the Communists in North Vietnam.

It looks to me that South Vietnam governed their country with respect of their people who did not want to fall under the Communist regime of North Vietnam.

They fought valiantly and courageously with the help of the Americans and succeeded until the U.S withdrew from it all and left them to fall in the hands of the Communists who received all the help they needed from Russia and China.

It broke my heart to read how it ended.

The Author is very knowledgeable about the various battles and regiments involved with the Siege of An Loc.

It is so well written it kept me spellbound.

I am recommending this book whole heartedly.

The above review was written by Meta on 20-Feb-2021 at Goodreads.com: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55120699-the-siege-of-an-l-c?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=NjAvvL3zm3&rank=1

Village Teacher – New Review

Tags

books, postaday, village teacher

Bonnie Reads and Writes

Village Teacher by Neihtn, who also writes as Nguyen Trong Hien, is a well-written novel set in Vietnam in the late 19th or early 20th century while Vietnam was under French colonization. Teacher Tâm has traveled to the Imperial City of Hue to take the national examinations, challenging tests that help the country choose its leaders. He meets Giang, the daughter of a powerful Frenchman and a wealthy Vietnamese woman. The teacher becomes the student as Giang begins teaching him to write Vietnamese in Romanized script without using the Chinese characters. Outside forces begin to intervene in Tâm’s life in many ways, and the reader is taken on a journey through Vietnamese history, language, and customs as the Village Teacher and those who love him fight for his life and his rights.

This is such a beautiful historical love story. The author is an expert in Vietnamese history and I…

View original post 266 more words

Is Spring Coming?

Tags

bleeding hearts, bluebird, great blue heron, photography, postaday

As I write this, snow is falling steadily outside, with as much as 9 inches (about 23 cm) expected, and another snowstorm is forecasted for this weekend.

Recently, I saw the following Bluebird at the refuge. It came back too early and looked disappointed at the cold and bleakness of winter.

Bluebird.

Nearby, a Great Blue Heron who did not migrate offered some advice.

Great Blue Heron: “Hang in there, kid! Spring will be here before you know it!”

Bleeding Hearts from Spring 2010.

Snow Fall

Tags

photography, postaday, snow

Snow started falling Sunday afternoon, then all day Monday, and this morning, Tuesday. Our area received 13 inches (33 cm) in all, not a record but still a lot. I went out to take the following photos as everything looked so beautiful covered in white.

Our snow covered deck.

This hibiscus bush looked so colorful just five months ago.

The woods in the back of our property.

Branch from a white pine tree.

Conifers heavy with snow.

Village Teacher – New Review

Tags

book review, postaday, village teacher

My first novel, Village Teacher, is still available and was reviewed on Amazon in November of last year. I did not see the review until now, so without further ado, here it is:

“Catrinel Tromp
A superb, wonderfully-written novel
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2020

A beautifully written, cogent, and well-developed narrative that begs for a sequel! It combines wonderful details about Vietnam — especially atmospheric and informative for those readers who are not as familiar with its history or geography — with suspenseful action and a moving, overarching love story. Such a smoothly flowing and engrossing read! Highly recommended.”

Silent Sunday – Sleeping In

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, northern pintail, photography, postaday

Northern Pintails.

Hooded Merganser – Bad Hair Day

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, hooded merganser, photography, postaday

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.

Hooded Merganser.

Last and First

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, moon, photography, postaday, sandpiper

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.

Sandpiper, January 19, 2021.

Buffleheads

Tags

bufflehead, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

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.

Buffleheads in flight.

Buffleheads in flight.

Buffleheads in flight.

Buffleheads in flight.

Silent Sunday

Tags

common tern, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

Common Tern.

Common Tern.

Common Tern.

Common Tern.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

american flag, photography, postaday

American flag.

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Tags

bald eagle, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

Following are unpublished photos of a juvenile Bald Eagle I took on October 1st, 2019. It was cruising over the marshes hunting for fish.

Juvenile Bald Eagle.

Juvenile Bald Eagle.

Juvenile Bald Eagle.

Juvenile Bald Eagle.

Happy New Year to everyone of you!

Flying Egrets

Tags

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

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.

Flying Egrets.

Flying Egrets.

Flying Egrets.

Flying Egrets.

Lewis Center for the Arts

Tags

Lewis Center for the Arts, photography, postaday

Princeton 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: Wallace Dance Building and Theater.

Lewis Center for the Arts: Wallace Dance Building.

Lewis Center for the Arts: Administrative Building.

Lewis Center for the Arts: Administrative Building.

Lewis Center for the Arts: inner plaza.

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.

Lewis Center for the Arts: side of Theater Building.

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.

Dinky train station and Wawa store.

Silent Sunday

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, european starling, photography, postaday

Starlings standing in Osprey nest: “No evidence whatsoever that we stole this nest!”

On One Sunny Day

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great blue heron, great egret, photography, postaday

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.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

christmas cactus, photography, postaday, wordless wednesday

Christmas Cactus.

Snow Geese Migration

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, snow geese

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.”

A Week of Flowers Day Four 25th November 2020

Tags

allium, cosmos, goldenrod, hibiscus, perilla, photography, plantain, postaday

I 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/

End of summer Cosmos.

End of summer Cosmos.

Two bees and goldenrod.

Summer scene with hibiscus, purple perilla, flowering plantain, and dried allium.

Northern Shovelers

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Northern Shoveler, photography, postaday

Overheard a pair of Northern Shovelers foraging for food:

Female Northern Shoveler in foreground: “Uh-oh dear, we forgot to wear our Covid masks!”

EBF National Wildlife Refuge

Tags

bald eagle, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

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.

Juvenile Bald Eagle.

Cee’s Flower Of The Day Challenge

Tags

photography, postaday, star magnolia

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:

https://ceenphotography.com/20

Star Magnolia.

Monochrome Monday

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, lesser yellow legs, photography, postaday

Two monochrome views of a Lesser Yellow Legs at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge on November 7, 2020.

Lesser Yellow Legs.

Lesser Yellow Legs.

The Eyes Have It!

Tags

american avocet, common grackle, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, european starling, great blue heron, mute swan, photography, postaday

Some different interpretations of “The Eyes Have It”:

American Avocet.

Common Grackle.

Great Blue Heron.

European Starling.

Mute Swan.

Silent Sunday

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, lesser yellow legs, photography, postaday

Lesser Yellow Legs.

Lesser Yellow Legs.

Lesser Yellow Legs.

Lesser Yellow Legs.

Painted Turtle

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, painted turtle, photography, postaday

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.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Northern Shoveler, photography, postaday

Northern Shovelers.

Northern Shovelers.

Northern Shoveler.

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Tags

bald eagle, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

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.

Spooky

Tags

halloween, photography, postaday, spooky

Two contributions to a spooky Halloween:

Abandoned house in southern New Jersey.

Abandoned car at the entrance to Great Basin National Park in Nevada.