RTY Photography Blog

My friend, Bob Cannon and I travelled to Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge to look for the Snowy Owl. The fist time around the dirt road, we came up empty. We decided to take one more shot and drove around a second time. The snowy flew right past the car and put on quite a show. It was hunting and kept hovering in place for several seconds at a time. Eventually, the snowy landed on the snow and ice in the distance. My hands were numb even with the gloves on in the bitter cold. The light only lasted for a short time, but the sunset over Atlantic City was pretty spectacular.

Stopped by Island Beach on the way.

A quick walk on the beach in Island Beach State Park yesterday. There wasn’t much light left and I didn’t find the Snowy Owl. But, I did find a fox and a crazy sunset over the Barnegat Bay.

Even when you don’t see the Snowy Owl, Island Beach State Park is still a pretty awesome park to explore. No Snowy Owl for me today, but a fox was waiting at my car when I returned. I never get tired of meeting the fox. They are such gentle, beautiful animals. It was too dark to take any shots of the fox, so we just sat down together and hung out for a while.

Tracks of a man and a fox.

Happy 2014 to everyone. Have a great year … Ray & Sharon.  Thanks to Amber LaFrance for the photo.

My buddy Marco Crupi (Nada Mas Photography) and myself started out heading to the Barnegat Bay to photograph the sunset. A couple of hours later we had photographed a fox, a snowy owl, and finally the sunset. It was a pretty exciting day down at Island Beach State Park. The weather was quite mild walking down the beach looking for the snowy, but as the sun went down, it became windy and bitter cold on the way back. When we finally got to the bay in South Seaside Park, my hands and face were frozen. Still a pretty awesome day thanks to a red fox, an owl, and mother nature.

Where’s Waldo?

After a few weeks with no luck, I was able to locate the Snowy Owl at Island Beach State Park again. On the way home. I stopped at the Barnegat Bay for sunset.

I headed back to the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ in search of the Snowy Owl. I had been there twice with no luck. Today I got lucky, not only did I see the Snowy, but also a Peregrine Falcon and several herons.

Snowy Owls in New Jersey are a rarity. But, this year several sightings have been reported along the Jersey Shore. Sandy Hook, Island Beach State Park, and Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville are a few of the locations. On Monday morning, I headed to Forsythe to try to find one. I did locate two Snowy Owls there, but they where too far away to photograph. On my way home I decided to give Island Beach a shot. I was trekking through the sand heading to the inlet about two miles away where it was last spotted. Along the way I just happened to look over my right shoulder and sitting on a dune directly in the sunlight was the shadow of the Snowy Owl. I couldn’t believe how lucky I got. The rest was magic for me.  These moments in nature don’t come very often.

Several different species of ducks spend the winter on the estuary out back. The hooded mergansers with their white heads are the most prominent. They are very cautious and tough to photograph. The mallards, which stay all year round, are the most fun to watch especially once the water freezes.

A couple of shots of the Officers’ Quarters at Sandy Hook, NJ. Most of the brick buildings were built between 1905-1909. The buildings fell into disrepair and remain vacant today.