myNJ
Little Foxes
One of life's sweet surprises - after coming up fairly empty on a recent visit to the Great Swamp, I was greeted by these curious fox kits as I was preparing to go home - a reminder never to put your camera away until you are really done and gone. New Vernon, NJ - 2014 www.buckingham-nature-photography.com
Bear on the Old Mine Rd.
The Old Mine Road is one of the oldest roads in the United States, meandering through rural Sussex County along the Delaware River. The black bear is New Jersey's largest mammal, and the forests along the Old Mine Road are prime habitat. I was in a field yesterday looking for orioles. I found one, but I also found this. For the record, after the photo op, the bear nonchalantly turned back into the woods. (To my friends at New Jersey Audubon, this is the bear Pete Bacinski referred to in this message today.)
http://www.buckingham-nature-photography.com
Simple Joy
You leave the house before you are really awake. You are in meetings all day. Before it gets dark, you make it home. You sit on your back porch. And a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak makes your day.
Walkill Bue
On the Wallkill River in late July, all Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets in numbers that were staggering to me - some reported more than 70 herons in the refuge, which borders New York between Sussex and Orange Counties.
Dalliance
I like to wander - to find birds and wildflowers in the state I call home. But sometimes you have to stay in the actual place you call home - in your own back yard - and let nature come to you.
My Gull (Camnats)
Hanging around Thompson's Beach on Labor Day weekend. Me, looking for good birds out in the marsh. The herring gull: wizened, fearless and looking as if it had seen it all, became my friend while I searched for osprey and eagles over the better part of an afternoon.
Hey There!
Late afternoon at Turkey Point on the Delaware Bayshore. My habit there is to drive as far as my car will take me and scan the vast marshes from the observation tower. There's usually a lot of action, especially late in the day, but most of it isn't close. But the marches often reward you on the way in or out - and I was rewarded when a Great Egret made its presence known as I was leaving.
Cute Coot
I spent hours the other day chasing ducks and other water birds all over northern New Jersey's lakes. Maybe it was the cold weather - most of the lakeshores were icy -and the beautiful buffleheads and mergansers were all out in the middle, where only a brave kayaker would go. Just when I was about to leave, this lone little coot swam over my way to forage on some greens. It wasn't shy at all and didn't mind me sitting down with my camera... easily the highlight of my day.
Snow and Sand
In New Jersey we have been blessed with visits from Snowy Owls this winter with sightings in both the northern and southern parts of the state. This one was basking n the afternoon sun at the shore recently - to protect the birds I won't say exactly where (until, of course, they have moved on).
jersey birdsnew jerseysnowy owlowl
From Owls
Dunlin in Winter
The poor Dunlin, solitary on the cold New Jersey shore. Gone are the vibrant reddish colors of spring and summer, it now wears the drab cloak of the long winter, chilly as the water it stands in.
