Posted on January 16, 2017 in Birds, Nature, Winter
The Ring-billed gull is one of the most common gulls in New Jersey. They not only frequent the beaches, but also parking lots and shopping malls inland … wherever they can find a tidbit of food and some water. I’m a huge fan of gulls. My family went to the beach in New Jersey every summer when I was little. For me, there were three indications that we were “almost there”. One was the first sighting of a gull, the second was the cloud formations as we neared the ocean, and the third was noticing that the soil was sandy. On this cold January day, what could be better than dreaming of warm days with the gulls at the shore? (This image from Cape May, NJ – December 2016)
Posted on January 12, 2017 in Birds, Wildlife
Meet Benson. He is a gorgeous bald eagle that I “met” at a presentation by Bill Streeter of the Delaware Valley Raptor Center, Milford, Pa.. This beautiful creature was shot and rescued from the water by a brave man named “Benson”, thus the eagle was named after him. Benson is unable to be returned to the wild due to his injuries but he is helping to educate as part of Bill Streeter’s presentation with live birds of prey.
Posted on January 10, 2017 in Birds, Wildlife, Winter
As you may know, I enjoy watching the live video cams of nesting bald eagles as they nurture their babies. One of my goals this year is to photograph more wildlife, especially birds and bald eagles. I shot this image over the weekend as a bald eagle flew overhead in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I love seeing them soar, barely flapping their wings. They are so elegant and majestic. (Note – the sky in the original image was practically white so I added a background texture for interest.)
Posted on December 30, 2016 in Animals, Birds, Cats, Pet Photography
Me, Gabriel and 75,000 others are currently watching the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam live feed – here’s the link –http://www.dickpritchettrealestate.com/eagle-feed.html – and hoping to see the babies hatch. Mom, “Harriet”, and dad, “M15” (short for male 2015) are busy taking turns sitting on the two eggs in their nest. One egg has a “pip”, which is the first break in the shell and that happened yesterday. It is so interesting to watch how mom and dad rearrange the eggs and warm them in preparation for hatching.
Posted on December 17, 2016 in Birds, Nature, Wildlife
I was driving in Lancaster, Pa. and saw a flash of white flying above a nearby cemetery. My initial thought was to wonder if it could be a snowy owl. I had my camera gear in the car and pulled into the cemetery to try and get a better look. Turns out it was not one, but two red tail hawks. They were beautiful! These were shot with my 70-200 mm lens plus a 1.4 extender. I like the photo below where you get a view from the front of one and the other hawk is facing the opposite direction which lets us see the beautiful tail and coloring.
