Scoter suite and a bonus duck

On a recent trip to Barnegat, New Jersey, we were fortunate to see all three types of scoters, plus plenty of other sea ducks. The scoters, as a group, are a really unusual-looking set of birds. One of the people we were with said that since we'd seen all three types, it made the "suite."

The surf scoter is probably the oddest of all of them, with an oversized bill and dots of contrasting colors on its head. But even the plain plumage of the black scoter comes with a big orange, oddly shaped bill. These two scoters are in the above picture, and that's about as close as they came in to the jetty's rocks. A friendly white-winged scoter, though, sidled right up and posed for a group of photographers, most of them shooting with cameras and lenses right out of what my Dad would have. The ice blue eye was really striking when seen this closely.

And here's the bonus, a long-tailed duck drake. You can just make out the two extra-long tail feathers in the photo. One of my favorite birds of the day!

New Jersey Birds

I'm trying to break out of winter blogging hibernation, and birds seem like a good way to do it. Last weekend, we went to Barnegat Lighthouse in New Jersey. There's a jetty almost a mile long that stabilizes the northern end of Long Beach Island. You can see it here. For all intents and purposes, this area appears to be a duck magnet:

Ok, ok, this isn't a duck, its a dunlin. Shorebirds seem to like Barnegat just fine, too. The ducks are coming right up - below is a group of six or so Harlequin ducks.

These guys have spectacular plumage. I saw a harlequin duck back in 2005 - I turned around, and there it was, and then it was gone. We got much better looks at them this time. In fact, none of the birds seemed at all concerned about human presence, making for some nice photographic opportunities. I'll post some more soon, maybe :)

SPS: Jersey Birds

I will get back to my NYC pictures in the next post, but I figure some New Jersey parks are the next best thing, especially for a Super Park Saturday. Birds were the theme of this last weekend. We camped in the Pinelands, and went to sleep both nights to the sound of whippoorwills. On Saturday, we went to Island Beach State Park, where there are several beaches for swimming, and a trail that leads to a small bird blind on the bay side of the island.

While in the blind, we thought we saw a Canada goose. But closer inspection revealed what I think is a brant. I have no idea what he's doing in New Jersey at this time of year; the information I read says that brants winter in the area but are not year-round residents. This guy missed the memo, I guess, because I'm not sure what other type of bird he could be.

The blind also enabled us to watch a snowy egret stalking along the edges of the water. Later in the day, we visited Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, which has an 8-mile scenic drive through a vast expanse of wetlands and tidal marshes. Here, we saw a flock of black skimmers:

Skimmers feed by flying low along the water, dipping their lower jaw into the surf, and scooping up dinner. I haven't seen a skimmer since an evening in Alabama, when Sandy and I were on our Great Southern Roadtrip of 2005 :)

Also at Forsythe, we saw a Mama swan and three cygnets (I had to look up the word for baby swans) :) These are mute swans, which are an Old World species introduced as decorative birds for parks and farm ponds. But of course some have escaped and live and reproduce in the wild.

Reflections & Patterns at Double Trouble

My previous post gave some general information on Double Trouble State Park in New Jersey. Here's a few of the more "artistic" shots I got at Double Trouble.

The surface water in the Pinelands is usually a dark, clear, brown due to staining from the tannin in the pine needles on the ground. It is usually very pure water, but it has an odd color. The dark water is excellent for capturing reflections, like the one above.

It looked like the park was planning on adding new sign posts to its trail system. These were lined up along one side of a maintenance shed.

The bogs were also partially frozen. I liked how the ice broke up the reflection of the pines on the water's side.

This is a close-up. Flowing water was welling up between gaps in the thin ice, as the wind pushed small waves toward the frozen end of the bog.

Double Trouble in New Jersey

No, I didn't get into any trouble :) We visited Double Trouble State Park last weekend. Double Trouble is in the Pinelands area of New Jersey. The Pinelands are very different from the heavy industry and thousands of homes that most people think of when they think "Jersey." Double Trouble is the name of a very small town that is now deserted, but was once devoted to mining, then lumbering, then cranberrying. Several bogs still exist and are harvested by the State.

A small group of mallards was enjoying the shallow water of the bog. The reddish vegetation is cranberry plants.


This is the view looking from the cranberry packing shed down across three bogs:


And here is a close up of the plants themselves. You can still see a few berries hanging around.

We learned that the cranberry plants are grown in bogs that are flooded in the fall, which eases the harvest because the berries float to the top. The water is kept in the bogs through winter to protect the plants from frost. These bogs are still worked more as a cultural aspect of the state park, but large commercial growers have bogs in the area, too. As you drive through the Pinelands, you can see large collections of these bogs, interspersed with lots of pines, and large fields of blueberries. I need to come back to this area during harvest time!

Meat Eater

An interesting plant we found in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. I believe it's a type of sun dew, where the "dew" is a sticky substance that catches insects, which the plant then digests. Sort of like a Venus Flytrap. This little guy was tiny. The picture is taken with a setting on my camera that I call "Superflower" because macro mode is indicated by a flower symbol with an 'S' inside and it reminds me of the Superman symbol.

Happy Father's Day!

For all fathers out there, and especially my own, an eight musket salute!


And don't forget the cannon!



*All celebrations courtesy of Valley Forge National Historic Park volunteer reenactors. Thanks, guys!

And the Prize Goes to ...

I'm not as puzzling as I thought - I have two correct answers already on my "Figure This Out" post.

I was in Sequoia National Park, inside a long-ago fallen sequoia, focusing on a much smaller tree outside. The flash lit up the mossy interior of the log, making for the unusual shot. A plaque near the log explained that, throughout its history, it had been used as a shelter, a stable, and a tavern - it was that big! This picture was taken looking down through the length of the fallen log in question. Please ignore the random tourist in the shot :)



For correctly guessing the location of the shot, our winners receive a trip to .... beautiful Atlantic City!!!

Our first stop is for a bit of history:

Absecon Lighthouse is one of the few remaining historic structures in Atlantic City. This is taken looking at the top of the light from the steps of the front porch.

Now, on to some glitz and glam:

Of course Atlantic City is best known today for its splashy casinos. The Taj Mahal certainly was dedicated to its Indian theme, inside and out. The cashier at the Absecon Lighthouse told us that one of the oldest casinos, "The Sands," would soon be demolished to make way for a brand new and even larger casino.

And finally, a stop for some sustenance:

This neon lady is offering up a steaming bowl of "pho." Pho is a Vietnamese soup that comes in a bunch of varieties, depending on the type of meat you order. But all pho seems to have rice noodles, bean sprouts, and fresh herbs/hot peppers/limes to add in once served. We had lunch here - delicious! This was one of the most filling bowls of soup I've ever had!

Hope you had fun ;)