Jan 23 Back to Barnegat

Saturday was beautiful and sunny. When I got to Barnegat the winds were brisk and the waves were huge, many of them going over the jetty. The female harlequin image shows how adept she is at riding the waves. The purple sandpiper image was taken in late afternoon light from the beach side of the jetty. All images were taken full frame, with a Nikkor 300mm f/4 and a 1.7 teleconverter.

Saturday Jan 16, Barnegat and Brigantine

Every visit is different. Barnegat Bay was calm in the morning. Initially the only signs of wildlife were three men who were snorkeling in the frigid water. The action was at the end of the jetty where long-tailed ducks were abundant and a few harlequin ducks hovered near the rocks. Though the afternoon was warmer, the wind arrived and so did the photographers and birders.

I ended the day at the Edwin B Forsythe NWR. Of note was a tundra swan and a brown headed swan, which I first thought must be a rare bird. On closer look it is probably an immature mute swan whose head and neck has been in the mud.

Photos include People on the Jetty, an Atlantic Brant, (showing the amazing colors of the water near the jetty), a Long-tailed Duck, a Bleating Gull, and the Brown-headed swan.

January 13, Dreaming of the Alabama Hills

The Alabama Hills in California are near Mt Whitney in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, not far from Death Valley. Please copy and paste the links to view the images mentioned in this blog.

Yesterday morning I was greeted with this wonderful tactile image of the Mobius Arch and Mt. Whitney by Stephen Shoff in Better Photo's Snap Shot Newsletter.

http://www.betterphoto.com/snapshots/archive.asp?snapNumber=455

Next I followed the link to the BP Perspectives gallery and was swept away with Kerry Drager's more graphic and colorful take on the same subject.

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.asp?photoID=50290

At night I stopped by the website of Alain Briot and found his marvelous and sensual B&W image titled Sierra Arch.

http://beautiful-landscape.com/Print-of-the-month-43.html

Dec 27 Barnegat Lighthouse State Park

Sunday at Barnegat Light, NJ
It was a glorious day, close to fifty degrees, gulls, peeps, loons, red-breasted merganser, and sea ducks were in abundance. Barnegat Light is known for its lighthouse and a mile long jetty. In the winter, the jetty is the best place to see harlequin and other sea ducks. In walking the jetty one needs to be careful every step of the way. Howard B. Eskin, an excellent photographer had a harrowing accident that he recounted:
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=651408
Since then, I stick to the sand, rather than the jetty. There is a concrete walkway up to the jetty, which can be very productive. The posted images were taken from both the walkway and the sand.