Chomp Chomp

This little muskrat was not concerned about our presence.  He continued happily eating away while we took his picture. 

New Jersey Flowers

More photos from Thursday's Cape May trip, more specifically these are from Higbee Beach WMA.  This is my last week of job training so hopefully I'll have a regular schedule next week.  And hopefully that will mean more time to do my real work- you know...wandering around and making stuff.

African Cichlids

My favorite tank at Adventure Aquarium was this one.  It not only held all these amazing cichlids but also two hippos.

Adventure Aquarium

Another day off from school means another trip some place cool.  This time we drove over to Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ.  We had a great time looking at fish, hippos, and whatnot.

New Jersey Wildflowers

Belleplain State Forest

Sometimes Matt persuades me to do things that are difficult to do while holding a camera.  I said difficult, nothing is impossible.  Matt insisted that he wanted to ride a bike which I agreed to do under the condition that our terrain was utterly flat.  Not even a speed bump.  Belleplain State Forrest seemed like the perfect choice.  So while Olivia was off riding roller coasters with trombones and colorguard flags we headed out for a bike ride.

Songbird Trail

This awesome Great Horned Owl could be why I wasn't seeing any songbirds on the Songbird Trail.  The trail is part of the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge and pretty much ended right after I saw the owl.  It was my second stop on an all day birding trip I took to New Jersey on Thursday.  Anyway I only got these two shots of the owl.  He heard me take the first one and gave me that look before flying off. 

Work For It

More osprey photos from Saturday's boat ride.  Note that he drops about half his load on approach but his lady seems happy enough with the offering.

Osprey

We saw some amazing osprey on Saturday's trip to Cape May.  Check out the variety in the nests!!

Laughing Gulls

Saturday I went on a great Skimmer Boat ride with the Heinz Photo Group.  The weather was perfect!!  Here we got nice and close to a pair of Laughing Gulls, one of whom was intent on mating, the other...not so much.  

Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Waves

Yesterday we drove into New Jersey to check out a new beach. Island Beach State Park turned out to be a great location. I think we can thank trop-icane Emily (not sure the actual status) for some great waves!


They kept rolling in!


The kids were all out to play.


We were a little surprised to discover the water was pretty cold. Somewhere I'd seen that the water temps at the shore were in the 80's. Nope.


But that didn't stop Matt and Olivia from doing their thing. The smudge to the left of Matt is Olivia body surfing.

Dinner

I was taking photos of the rocks at Ocean City, NJ when I caught this action.

Ocean City