A Wildlife Drive and an Elephant on the Beach
Winter activities at the Jersey Shore
While I did go on a bike ride in the snow in sub-freezing temperatures last week, sometimes you just wanna stay in a nice warm car. Which is what makes the Wildlife Drive of Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge a perfect delight for all seasons, but particularly in winter once the temperatures drop.
Did you know that Canadian Geese curl up like cats for warmth? I saw them. Other sea birds, such as great blue herons, buffleheads, northern pintails, mallards, snow geese, mute swans, turkey vultures, gulls, crows, mergansers, and black ducks were less finicky about the cold, and were feeding in the water, soaring in the air, or pecking through the muck.
I brought the good camera, but forgot my good field glasses, so I only had my monocular for spotting and identifying them. I think my next big purchase will be a good spotting scope and a tripod. The Sony RX10-IV continues to impress me. I’m still learning, and my bufflehead photos have the whites blown out, but I’m happy to recognize the birds at all.
The first bird I saw was a great blue heron, one of my favorites. It wasn’t shy, and I was able to get good pictures as it hunted and pecked in the reeds. It struck once, but I didn’t see what it ate. It also flew ahead of my car, and I managed to pull over and get a shot of it in flight.
Next, I saw northern pintails and what I think is a female common merganser. I didn’t see the male mergansers; I would spot female red-breasted mergansers later, and same, no males. The pintails were a mated pair, but I didn’t get a good shot of the male’s head above water. The red-breasted mergansers were far across a lake at 600mm zoom, but they are so striking that I’ll share the bad photo, anyway.
The next flock were shy, but I think they are northern shovelers. It’s tough with all their beaks in the water! If I’d had a better pair of glasses I would have watched them longer to identify them. Then I spotted a few buffleheads diving, and waited for them to bob back up. Nearby, a crow was picking through the muck. At a viewing area, I watched turkey vultures soar in the harsh winds for a while. I can watch them all day. On the way out, a small lake yielded more buffleheads and those mergansers. The snow geese and swans were too far to photograph well, but were nice to see.
This refuge is just under an hour away in Galloway, not far from my haunts, Batsto and the Lower Bank Tavern, so I may drop in more often to peek at the birds. There is a $4 fee to enter, but they offer an annual pass. Tempting.
Not too far from here is a famous gray lady of the Jersey Shore, Lucy the Elephant. Built as a tourist attraction in Margate in 1881, she remains a beautiful spectacle and viewing platorm for looking out to the sea. You can also look out her prodigious butt, if you are so inclined. Originally called the “Elephant Bazaar” and designed after a male Asian elephant, she was dubbed “Lucy” by a future owner, and the name stuck. Does that make her New Jersey’s biggest drag queen? She does fly the pride flag…
On the way home, I passed the Hubcap Pyramid, which isn’t quite as impressive as a sixty-five-foot-tall elephant, but remains a smile-inducing landmark.
Here’s a short video of me taking the Wildlife drive, interspersed with bird photos:
I love these photos! Ducks have the funniest little heads.
Enjoying your bird photography, but the old roadside attractions snag my attention every time, thanks!