Winter is Coming

 And that means Snowy Owls.

This is the view of one such owl this past Sunday, at Island Beach State Park.

We arrived knowing that owls were there. Yes "owls" plural. This is looking like another irruption year, much like the winter of 2013/14.

And while we only saw this one bird, the day prior there were reports of four (!) seen together at the park.

A bird of the far north, they are not sure what to make of people, and thus will, should one keep a respectful distance, pose quite nicely. As this one did while dozens of photographers shot away.

You can see from these shots that I had time to move around, shooting from various angles. The first as we initially spotted the bird, to be sure I got a shot. The latter two to get better light. I was not the only one. And through it all the bird just sat on the hill occasionally swiveling its head to look at us.

🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉

These are magnificent creatures, and I'm glad I, along with Patty and our friends Bernie and Doreen, were able to see one. And where we were, the viewers were all at the aforementioned "respectable distance". Unfortunately, to often there seems to be that "a--hole photographer" that puts getting the shot above respect for the bird. And it is believed that the reason these birds are here is because there is not enough food up north. So they are far form home and hungry. And the last thing they need to be hassled by birders and photographers.

So if you are fortunate enough to be in an area where you can see these owls, by all means do so. But please consider the well being of the bird and watch from a distance.

Happy owling!

T207

My friend Rosanne put the word out a week ago, the Tundra Swans had arrived. And the watch for T207 was on.

T207 is the tag number of an individual Tundra Swan that has been returning to Whitesbog and vicinity since 2008. You can read more about her here, here, and here.

As you can see (?) we spotted T207 today.

Maybe now you can see? Look at the base of the neck of the middle bird in the image above (as always, click on any image to bigafy it). The collar band has the code "T207" on it.

She was banded in 2006 in Alaska. And makes the trip here each winter.

Simply amazing.

Yard Critter of the Week - Deer Tick

The Deer Tick, aka Black-legged Tick.

A tiny bit of pure evil.

I found this one crawling on me this month. It just doesn't get cold enough long enough soon enough to kill them.

These are the primary vector of lyme disease. Yep, pure evil

This one I found on our cat Max the week prior. It is full of blood. And perhaps missing some of its mouth parts from how I pulled it off (I thought it was just something caught in his fur when I yanked it).

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

One of the drawbacks of living out here in the Pinelands, we regularly find ticks on us after working in the yard or when we go hiking. Standard precautions include pants in socks and a coating of bug spray with DEET. But we still find them.

And after you find one your skin crawls the rest of the day.

Excuse me while I go scratch ...

🕷  🕷  🕷  🕷  🕷

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Frosty

I mentioned that our yard was frost covered this morning.

A brief excursion out on our deck, taking our cat Max out to put him on his leash, resulted in the images below.

Max did not seem to mind the cold (he has a built in fur coat after all).

Enjoy.

Perhaps tomorrow or Sunday morning I'll get up early and shoot the frost with a macro.

Or I'll just stay in my warm bed and sleep in. We'll see.

Not Quite the Bumpus Hounds ...

... but a Thanksgiving disaster none the less.

A stuffing explosion.

The glass casserole dish, which we had used many a time in the oven itself, couldn't handle the heat from the stove top. Glass shrapnel was all over the kitchen floor, and strewn throughout the stuffing.

No stuffing could be saved.

Very sad.

🦃😢🦃😢🦃😢🦃😢🦃

(1) The Bumpus Hounds, of Christmas Story fame, ate the Christmas and not the Thanksgiving turkey dinner.

(2) There was more stuffing in the turkey. So all was not lost. And it was very yummy.

Sparkles

It was cold last night and  when we awoke the world out our windows was covered in frost. Eventually that frost melted. And the resultant drops on the covers of our patio furniture looked like this.

All sparkly.

It was Patty who first noticed them. And knowing my interested in such things, quickly alerted me. It was no doubt the sparkling colors which caught her attention. Dew drop colors, frustratingly difficult, for me anyway, to take good pictures of. But I continue to try. And got a few that were "blog worthy" as I like to call them.

The colors arise like those in a prism or rainbow, the differing wavelengths, corresponding to different colors, refract at different angles. Physics in a dew drop. I noticed some other interesting optical effects as well.

Diffraction Grating. The shot above was from inside the house, the others, all outside on the deck. And when shooting from inside it was through a screen, which forms a two way diffraction grating, (up-down, left-right), resulting in rainbow crosses (click any image to bigafy it).

Dew Bow? I'm not sure if this is an actual bow, or if it is an artifact of the curvature of the cover. Interesting nevertheless (at least to me).

Lens. I'm not sure what caused the initial drop in the center to consume those around it and grow larger, perhaps I pressed there when moving about the chair looking for shots.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

I'm still trying for that 'perfect' sparkle shot, either of dew drops or ice crystals. Good thing I now longer need to use film!

Keep looking down!

Feeding Time

I mentioned the Flying Squirrels come as soon was we put the peanut butter out.

They've become habituated to our presence, so much so that they will eat out of our hands.

Our friend Barb should have put peanut butter on both hands, as there is a squirrel on each trunk.

They do like their peanut butter. Click the link and watch the upper right as another one flies in.

🐶🐱🐭🐸🐹🐰🦊

So why? Why do we feed the critters in our yard? Why pay for food for animals that could easily find their own? And why risk injury and disease by feeding them directly? And why do we feed some critters and not others? Why is it ok for bunnies to eat our plants, but not deer or voles? Why do we get annoyed when squirrels eat our bird food?

For me, I simply enjoy watching them. And of course, taking pictures. And given that we Americans spend over three billion dollars on bird food a year, I'm clearly not alone at this.

Helen Macdonald has some ideas as well. I stumbled across her piece while wandering the web, which is what got me thinking about this.

What do you think?