RTY Photography Blog

I took a trip down to Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ. On the way home, my friend Scott O’Donnell took me to a couple of abandoned boats on the Toms River. The one boat has been leaking fuel oil in the river for months. Scott originally photographed it back in January on the frozen river. The Coast Guard and EPA were notified months ago. A boom has been placed around the boat, but the fuel has spread over a large area. I’m not sure if any other action was taken besides the boom.

Abandoned Navy Tug

The Leaking Boat

Cattus Island in Toms River is only a couple of miles from my home. It’s a great place to find egrets, herons, ospreys, and if you get lucky a hawk.

Snowy Egret

Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk

Sharon and I spent a few days in Lititz, Pennsylvania. It’s known as “America’s Coolest Small Town”. The Speedwell Forge B&B we stayed at was built in 1760. It also has a wolf sanctuary on the the property with 43 wolves.

On Monday I hiked out to the bird blind near the Barnegat Bay at Island Beach State Park. The ospreys were very active and put on quite a show. This one dive-bombed past the nest of another pair. The couple were not happy and let him know. The fly-by that followed gave me a chance to photograph him in flight. The bottom two shots show the resident ospreys at this nest.

A flock of American Goldfinches has been cleaning out my feeders. The goldfinch is the state bird of New Jersey. The males get brighter as the spring moves on. These little guys always make me smile.

I spent the day at Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge and Island Beach State Park. No snowy owls at either, but plenty of wildlife.

The Snowy Owl was definitely on the hunt this night. He was on the move and I couldn’t catch up with him. The one shot is from an extreme distance and into the sun. A few seconds after the shot, he was gone over the dunes towards the bay. But, I always seem to run into the fox. This one came off the dunes and took a stroll down the beach. He also was moving too fast for me to get a decent shot. It’s always cool to see a fox on the beach. Many times they will try to steal the fisherman’s catch or his bait.

Snowy Owls, ospreys, and a raccoon … that’s a pretty good day. The ospreys have returned and were busy with their nest. One stopped to have dinner (a flounder) and gave me the opportunity to take an image away from the nest. While I was shooting the osprey, the raccoon just strolled in front of the camera. A couple of snowy owls are still around at the southern end of Island Beach. They should be heading back to the arctic any day.