There are many gulls sitting on these rocks at the Asbury Park beach. But you will see at the end of the post, the humans out number the gulls.
One lone gull (is he a gull? See this list of sea birds) flies away from his friends. This one appears brown.
A brown gull flies by the active waves. Crafty Green Poet writes: “the brown bird is probably a young gull, most species of gull have I think three years in brown plumage (slightly different each of the years) before they take on adult plumage” – thank you!
A few brave souls sit on the rocks at the beach. My kids both went dunking into the freezing May waters. I just put in my toe. My husband relaxed on the beach – too cold for him.
This photo should give you an idea of how crowded it was on the beach. And economically, this is good news. Asbury Park was very depressed in the past thirty years. My husband grew up in this area, and he saw the decline. About one hundred years ago, it was quite a fashionable place. People may no longer walk in fancy dresses and suits, but the new restaurants and shops are upscale. I hope the gulls don’t mind.
Pictured in the crowded beach photo are the Asbury Park Theatre (see it in my Asbury post from last year) and the Berkeley Carteret Hotel.
There is a path at the edge of Highland Park by the Edison border that leads to my children’s school. On one side are houses, but on the other side of the path are lots of brush and trees and weeds and who knows what else. The brook runs alongside all this woodsy brush.
Anyone able to identify these large leafy plants growing on the path?
I spotted a robin! There’s something green in the robin’s mouth: a worm, catepillar or a leaf?
These two wet tulips are relaying the weather we have in New Jersey today.
The pink petals of my neighbor’s dogwood are showing off.
Yesterday I spotted this robin in a tree. Do you think he spotted me?
Today in the gray I saw two birds in a tree – the left bottom one is a robin. Can’t make out the right one – he’s so far off! Michelle suspects the one on the right is a “she” robin – the males have the brighter breast. Mating season?
We still have a bunny rabbit living in our backyard.
I saw one then two then three deer in a neighbor’s backyard. I approached them with my camera, and they backed into this corner. Then two hopped the fence. The last one stayed behind and nibbled an evergreen bush. New Jersey is getting so developed the deer are living everywhere, or so it seems.
This rabbit seems to be living in our backyard. I saw him twice yesterday.
My neighbor’s magnolia tree has started to blossom. You can see the buds of the magnolia on this post. The yellow background in this photo is from the forsythia.
I decided to give my magnolia blossom a blue background.
This is the sky early Monday morning at the bottom of Stratton Mountain in Vermont. At the top, it was about -30°F – frigid, frost-bite weather.
Here you can see some of the Stratton Mountain condos.
In the top photo, do you see the large, black bird swooping by? The bird (is it a hawk?) swooped and swooped all around, but I only managed to capture him in that one photo before he flew away. I wonder why this bird chose to stay in cold Vermont?
For more Nature Notes, visit Rambling Woods. For more Sky Watch photos:
Our street early in the morning, January 12
And in New Jersey we have: snow! What a surprise (not). I decided to travel around the world via blogs and see what the weather is like elsewhere.
I planted portulaca (also called moss rose) from seed late this year (late means June), so I only got a few blossoms. Here is one that was still alive in October. These flowers are delicate, open only in late morning and die when it starts to get cold. Sometimes they reseed – hopes for next summer.
Yesterday it rained and then it poured and then it drizzled. During one of the drizzles, I spotted a cardinal pecking away at my compost. I ran to get my camera, and when I came back, it was in this small tree.
Almost as soon as I saw it, the cardinal flapped away.
In contrast to all the rain we got on the East Coast, Israel has been having a very dry, dry spell. Here’s a photo from our 2008 trip to the Dead Sea:
One would think, the closer you get to a tree the more sharply one can see the beautiful foliage. Last week I discovered that when I got close to a beautifully red, yellow and orange leafed maple, the leaves that were against the blue sky already looked damaged and faded, while the ones closer to the trunk were still vibrant, colorful and youthful.
Close to the tree trunk, the colors range from yellow to bright red.
Further from the base of the tree, the leaves are darker and browned at the edges.
Since Michelle invited the animals to her Thanksgiving feast, I am inviting the few flowers left in my yard: the chrysanthemum, the marigolds, white alyssum, rudbeckia and petunias.
I am happy the marigolds have been able to withstand some of the frosty nights we have experienced. A few rudbeckia are trying to bloom in late November.
Most of my mum flowers have browned, but a few stragglers bloomed late and decorate my yard.
My kale experiment is going well. The kale I planted in August from seed is gracefully adorning my front yard. The kale in the back, however, seems to be a Thanksgiving feast for some animals, as it is nibbled away.
It was a beautiful fall day last week when we visited the East Brunswick Butterfly Park. It is off Ryder’s Lane; one can park at the neighboring Oak Tree Park that has a lovely playground for children.
We didn’t see a lot of butterflies, but the autumn foliage was enough to keep our interest.
Yellows and reds are dominant in the landscape at this time of year.
Milkweed! With an aphid. My husband said, look at that bug, and I was proud to be able to identify the milkweed aphid.
Wish I knew the name of this pretty yellow wild flower.
The last two purple blossoms of the year stood out on this butterfly bush.
Sedum turns to such a lovely muted shade of red in autumn.
The path in the butterfly park swings off to a path into the woods. However, one is never far from a busy road or highway when going on hikes in New Jersey. One can hear and see traffic of Ryders Lane.
Can you guess which animal kept our interest for a while in the woods? Can you see him?
