Here’s a lovely snowy egret with gold feet on display and plumes blowing in the wind. It’s in a great fishing spot near the outflow from a water gate at one of the ponds at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, New Jersey. It’s a spot worth defending, apparently, and any unwary egret […]
Tag: New Jersey
Milk Snake
I saw this milk snake, Lampropeltis triangulum, being moved from a dangerous parking lot into the woods at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in northern New Jersey last year around this time.
Turtle Day
A turtle haiku from Kobayashi Issa, 1825 – “short summer night – in the field turtles cavort”. May 23rd was World Turtle Day, a day for celebrating turtles and tortoises. To raise awareness of them and to help protect their disappearing habitats, I am reposting photos from all the blogs I’ve written about turtles. This […]
Chipping Sparrow
I just spent a week in the pine lands of southern New Jersey. Chipping sparrows there started singing at dawn and kept on until the sun set. I saw dozens of them. This one was gathering material for a nest.
Ruddy Turnstone
I see ruddy turnstones in the nicest places — ocean beaches, mud flats, jetties, rocky shores, and boat docks. There are usually a few of them around New York and New Jersey in winter. I saw these in Cape May, New Jersey. They can be found wintering on the coasts of five other continents, too: […]
Hooded Mergansers
Birdwatchers call them “hoodies.” I saw this pair and lots more of them at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, New Jersey, on the day after Thanksgiving. The little ducks are about 20 inches long, have a wingspan of about two feet, and weigh between one and two pounds. They are found […]