A red fox at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge pounces on prey.
I headed off to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge this morning. I thought with the cool morning air and water still being warm there mist be some nice mist shots as the sun came up. If they were there, I didn’t find them.
A red fox at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.
I was driving down a small gravel road and saw a red fox in the road about 1/4 mile ahead of me. As I got closer, it went into the trees but I couldn’t see it anymore. I creeped away and saw it in my mirror, so I turned around and slowly drove back toward it. It didn’t mind me being there as long as I kept my distance, so I followed it for a while. It stopped a few times and I took pictures through my windshield. It stopped and looked at something in the grass. The fox hunched down and got ready to pounce and then it jumped through the air and landed on a vole. It brought the tasty breakfast back to the road, gobbled it down and then walked toward me as I shot more pictures through the windshield. The fox walked right past me on the road that is barely wide enough for two cars. It didn’t even look up to see what I was doing, it just went back to where I first saw it and headed back into the trees.
A great blue heron stalks prey in the grass of a pond at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey.
My favorite bird is the Great Blue Heron. They are pretty and they make me smile when they walk. They are pretty skittish, I haven’t found a way to sneak up on one, but if I see one working the shore of a pond, I know if I stay still, it may walk right in front of me. This morning I saw one sitting on a small log in a pond. I pulled my Jeep off the edge of the road and the bird stayed put. I sat there for over an hour taking pictures of the heron on the log and then walking through the grass. When it was in the reeds it would peek through while looking for some breakfast.
I took a walk with one of our dogs in Duke Island Park in Bridgewater, NJ, late this afternoon. As we pulled into the park, I saw there were tons of Canada geese in a field by the road. That isn’t uncommon around here so I didn’t pay much attention to them. As Zian and I were walking, the geese took flight with a lot of noise. They were in four or five flocks and circled around and all landed in a small pond with a lot of commotion. We were about done with our walk so I put the dog in the car and pulled out the camera. There were are 250 geese in the pond and I sat there for a while hoping they would all take off again at once so I could get one of those cool geese taking flight shots. They didn’t, but I enjoyed watching them floating and bitching at each other.
We were having a lovely dinner on the deck at my sister-in-law Penny’s house when she noticed a woodpecker pounding away on an apple. The bird pecked away about a quarter of the fruit without it falling off the tree. We couldn’t tell if he had a thing for apples or was after worms and bugs inside. Either way, the apple won’t become cider now.
Pigeons sit on a Main Street Somerville, NJ, building as the sun gets low in the sky.
I took a little stroll around downtown Somerville, NJ, this evening just before sunset. I like walking through alleys and see the back side of things, especially when the light is hitting everything at a low angle. I saw pigeons lined up on a roof, so I walked up the street to see if they would make a shot. The pigeons weren’t too exciting but I liked the way the light hit the yellow building as the pigeons sat on the edge of the roof.
Last night while I was watching the sun go down along the river, I noticed bugs hitting the water. The little circles they were making looked like rain drops hitting the river. So tonight I went to the Raritan River in Manville where I thought the setting sun would be shining on the water in hopes of photographing the bugs and circles. There were plenty of bugs and circles, but I couldn’t make a picture I liked. There were swallows there for the bugs too, but they wanted them for dinner. The swallows were making sharp turns as the strong sunlight illuminated their wings. I didn’t get the bug photo I wanted but came away happy with a bird shot.
Turkeys walk through a meadow in Woodstock, Vermont.
I was just thinking yesterday that I hadn’t photographed wild turkeys lately and I hadn’t seen any for a while. After a couple of morning thunderstorms, I went out searching for photos. Rain must bring out the turkeys because I saw five or six rafters of turkeys in fields. They were grazing in the fields, it looked like they were getting plenty of insects after the big rains.
Years ago somebody in New Jersey government realized that the open space in the state was getting sparse. So they created a special tax, bought land and call it Green Acres. The cool thing about Green Acres is that it is now public land and anyone can go there but most people don’t know it. About 15 years ago I found a Green Acres site of 170 acres that is home to Upper Raritan Watershed Association. They keep the former farm in great shape, keeping paths mowed and meadows clear. I did a lot of photography there and saw lots of wildlife. There are lots of deer, birds, fox and even a bobcat one February morning.
An Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly sucks nectar from a flower.
So today when I went there I went to a nice flower garden they have created. It is designed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. There were lots of butterflies, at least four different kinds. I took the normal pretty butterfly photos but then tried getting in real close with the macro lens to see what would happen. An Eastern tiger swallowtail landed on a flower and started sucking nectar.
Two trees reach for the sky at the Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, a part of NJ Audubon Society.
Today had to be one of the top five weather days of the year. Clear skies, low humidity and nice temperatures made for a perfect day. So I headed off to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and NJ Audubon’s Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Refuge. They are about five miles apart and only 15 minutes from my house. At the Audubon center, I walked one of their trails and saw two trees that had grown together and were tall and straight. They had grown together at the base but became more separated the higher they grew.
As I was leaving, the Audubon people showed me some bear bones. The bear was killed on a highway and they put the bear in the woods to get “cleaned” naturally. It only took two weeks for the coyotes, buzzards and bugs to get rid of the flesh. I wouldn’t have thought of using nature to clean the the meat and fun off of roadkill, but it was effective. It is good to know what to do with any dead bears I may have in the future. Now the bones are in a cardboard box.
Close up shot of a flower pedal.
I went over to the Great Swamp, which is pretty dry since we haven’t had much rain this summer. I did some macro work on wild flowers. I have to do more research to see what kind of flower it was, all I know it was pretty.
Two great white egrets in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey.
I spotted an egret, so I stopped the car and went back. There were three of them in the shallow water. One didn’t move and the other two walked around stalking food. They did a couple of spears, but I didn’t see them catch anything. After a burst of pictures, I noticed a black blob in my pictures. The shutter on my camera blew out. It is a pro camera that hasn’t had near enough actuations for the shutter to go out. Bummer.
After being back to work for a full week after being off for two weeks, it was good to escape to Vermont. The five-hour drive started sunny but turned to rain and drizzle about half way. The fog and clouds made for a nice shot near Bennington.
We traveled to Denali National Park on our bear search. On the way, we saw a pretty coyote sitting along the road. So, of course, we screeched to a halt and went back for some shots.
Fireweed grows everywhere in Alaska.
You can drive 12 miles into the park and then you have to take a converted school bus the 89 miles to the end of the road – unless you know somebody. Walter has a client doing road work past where the buses go. So we are going in with them tonight at 6 p.m. It is a four hour ride, then Walter will shoot some photos of them working for a couple of hours and then we’ll ride back out.
A gull sits on our car roof in Denali National Park, Alaska.
We drove the 12 mile route a couple times this afternoon. It was a rainy day so we decided not to do any hikes. We’re also saving energy since it will be a sleepless night. We are amazed at the number of gulls in Alaska. They are everywhere, including Denali which is hundreds of miles from any major body of water. At one of the pulling off spots on the 12-mile drive, a friendly gull lands on car roofs. It seems like it his gig, being cute for food. I’m sure it works way too much.
We started the day with a bonus: a bull moose first thing in the morning. That was the wildlife highlight of the day.
The Russian River in Copper Landing, Alaska.
We went to the Russian River and hiked 2.3 miles to a waterfall where we were told the salmon would be jumping the falls and probably bears would be catching them. The falls and the hike were beautiful but the critters weren’t around. We saw several salmon in pools but they weren’t jumping. And no bears.
Two immature gulls near Anchorage, Alaska.
We stopped at a marsh and photographed some ducks, wading birds and ever-present gulls. Our plan for the day involved over 300 to get north near Denali National Park. So we had about six hours of driving, which limits the shooting.
It’s 11:30 p.m. and the sun just set. We’ve been going since 5 a.m. and I need to get some sleep. Today started with a great horned owl, then we had waterfalls, majestic mountain ranges, eagles, crazy colored rivers, moose, Anchorage, glaciers, I got pecked on the head by an Artic Tern.
A swallow flies over clouds reflecting in the water.
Today was the summer solstice, the first day of summer, the longest day of the year, the most sunlight. As the sun was setting behind some light clouds, swallows were diving near the water of the South Branch of the Raritan River. I like the way the bird silhouetted against the clouds reflecting in the water.
A Common Merganser and her chicks on the Ottauquechee River in Woodstock, Vermont.
I was driving along the Ottauquechee River this afternoon just west of Woodstock, Vermont, when I saw a Common Merganser sitting on a rock with some chicks. The road was about 20 feet above the river and the bank was pretty much straight down. I found a place I could climb down with my big lens and monopod. I thought I was far enough away that I wouldn’t scare them but when I finally got to the river I saw them floating down the river away from me. I climbed back up the bank and drove downstream to see if I could find them again. There wasn’t any access to the river until I got to a trailer park, so I drove in and found a place I could get to the river. The merganser was right there with her chicks. She seemed pretty nervous and stayed on the other side of the river and hid under a boulder. I sat quietly and they finally relaxed and came out and swam down the river.
There is plenty of coverage of what's wrong with the world. I'm glad others are keeping an eye on things that could be better, but I want to show what is good around me.
About Loren
Loren Fisher has been a professional photographer for over 35 years. He has published books on Pope John Paul II and Branson, Missouri. He is completing his latest book on the 109 covered bridges of Vermont and is founder and editor of Somerville NJ news site SomervilleToday.com
Loren Fisher has been a professional photographer for over 35 years. He has published books on Pope John Paul II and Branson, Missouri. He is completing his latest book on the 109 covered bridges of Vermont and is founder and editor of 
