baby robins, snakes (ick), butterflies, swans and more

this guy seems to have moved into an area in my back yard that i refer to has "flower island". and it is more likely a she than a he because we've had snakes in there before and they like to have their babies there. I have to tell you that it is a big deal for me to have taken a picture of a snake and then post it on my blog. even the thought of the photo on my camera card gives me the heebie jeebies. (trust me, i will be erasing it right after this). but i am trying to get past my utter disgust for snakes. this one is harmless; although i will not appreciate tons of baby snakes slithering around while i am trying to water.... blachhhh. my lack of enthusiasm for snakes comes from when i was younger, in 8th grade, and i had a paper route. i would be out very early in the morning delivering papers. it would be so quiet and peaceful out in the country with the birds chirping, cows in the meadow, dogs barking. i'm busy daydreaming and then wham out of nowhere, a snake would slither in front of my bike and scare the crap out of me! it happened on many occasion too.

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we are surrounded by many little lake areas, so last night as we were driving home from the beach, we came across this swan and 3 babies. we fed them the rest of our bread.

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here are the latest pictures of the baby robins. they are getting bigger. whenever i walk under the arbor i can see their heads beeboppin about as i look up. i think they hear me and think that it is their momma come to feed them.

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i noticed this guy while i was just outside watering. he was quite hard to pin down for a photo. the second shot is kind of cool. as i was just taking the shot of him, he flew away and you can see a wisp of him leaving.

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so tonight i have been recruited to man the bird area that i visited yesterday. there were a couple of delayed firework displays for several townships here, so they are having them tonight and tomorrow night. the beach towns set off fireworks from their boardwalks, so after the incident on the 4th, there will be people there to keep an eye out for any idiot who thinks its fun to set off firecrackers next to an endangered bird colony. then next week i will be receiving training to become a "monitor". i will learn all about the birds (who will be there until August) and then i will monitor their activities, take notes, etc. sounds fun to me.

Endangered Least Tern shore birds

Photographers! Interested in a rare opportunity to photograph an indigenous endangered species right here in Belmar? The only surviving* Least Tern nesting colony in Monmouth is located on the beach between the Shark River inlet and the Belmar Fishing Club. This is an amazingly successful colony with well over 300 adults present, approximately 175 nests and now after they started hatching on June 12, well over 200 chicks.

this was an email i got this morning from my friend, Mary Ellen, who knew i would love this - so off i went! parking wasn't too bad there today, so i pumped some quarters into the slot and headed to see the birds. the "least tern", has set up a nesting colony right behind this building (the Belmar fishing club). it has been blocked off surrounding their colony. i walked along the perimeter and took some photos. the email also said "be prepared to be divebombed and wear a hat". i didn't receive any divebombs, but i did wear my hat. they were indeed very fun to watch. i noticed someone else closer to the beach side taking photos, so i headed over there to say hi and chat. she turned out to be Nancy Smith and she is a "monitor" of the colony. she's been taking photos of them for several weeks and keeping track of their activities. she told me they are really fun to watch at sunset as the babies get ready for bed. they burrow into the sand all the while as their mom chatters to them. she told me that one chick wasn't making his bed as he was suppose to and that the mom seem to be telling him, "to settle down and go to bed" - so he did. she also told me that on the 4th of July, people were down there shooting off fireworks. luckily she was driving by and saw them, so she turned around and found the offenders and called the police. it was an intoxicated adult (a local too) and some teenagers. he said he was aware of the birds (but guess he didn't care?) the fireworks totally disrupted the colony and now what Nancy is seeing is momma birds flying in with fish and not being able to find their babies. apparently there is going to be a court case. i guess next year, we will have to stand out there and monitor for idiots who show up with their (illegal in this state) fireworks. I have a feeling i will be seeing more of Nancy as she's really into getting out into nature and taking pictures like i enjoy doing. she has some kayaks (or a boat, can't remember) and i asked if she'd like some company. some of Nancy's pictures can be found here at Shark River Coalition.

getting out in the world around me

Sometimes i tend to get a little isolated here. Tucker requires a lot of care and attention - which i lovingly do as his mother. it is my life and there is no 2 ways around it. and it isn't so much the constant care that wears me down, but the grief of what happened to him and us. at times it can be crippling. sometimes my husband and i like to compare our lives to the movie "Ground hog day" where the same day happens over and over again. honestly though, the only time i really feel stressed with my role as a caregiver is when tucker isn't feeling well and that is simply because i fear for him. i wonder will this be the illness that takes him from me? things like that. it's hard. So what do i do? i create. i make things and drown out my sadness with art. my husband, who i love dearly, finds other non -healthy ways to cope. this also isolates me from him. but it is what it is. we all cope differently.

so that being said, i made myself get out of the house today. dillon is in the Poconos with his girlfriend and family, tucker had caregiver help for most of the day and tonight and my husband was over at his mom's house working on some projects for her. so i decided i would pretend that i was on vacation. i would eat what i wanted, do what i wanted and pretend that i had not a care in the world. I made a wonderful lunch of hummus, cucumbers, red onions and pita bread. i finished another page in my "gatherings" book, i went to ACMoore to get some craft plywood to make a gift, then i took a nap. in the early evening i went to see the progress on the backyard projects at my MIL, Janet's, house. after chatting with Janet for awhile, i left and headed over to Manasquan beach, in particular, the dog beach. the dog beach is the only place i know of locally to find sea glass. there is no drift wood to be found and i don't know why. how come driftwood doesn't drift onto the beaches around here? weird. alas, upon arrival at the dog beach, it is high tide. there will not be much glass to be found today as it tends to get buried under all the rocks. low tide is the best time to find it. we find a lot of blue sea glass here, which is rare. even rarer is when we find red pieces. when dillon was younger, we use to hunt for blue pieces telling ourselves we could not leave until we found one more blue piece each. it always worked.

i decided to walk the beach anyway. it is fun to watch all the doggies get excited to chase balls into the water, run after each other; barking and getting sandy. i always walk to the way back where there is a bend and it gets quite marshy. i like to think of this as my secret place. it can be kind of gritty, so most people don't go back there. guess they think it is gross. but i love to go there because you can see the most fabulous birds. and i wasn't disappointed. i got to see 3 egrets, 2 black crown night heron, a darling sandpiper, some purple martins, a momma duck and her ducklings and some funky bird that i don't know the name of. this little bird kept hovering over the marsh pools. he'd wait and wait as he flapped his wings and then dive into the water for whatever it was he saw. he made a huge splash for such a little bird. i'll try to identify him later in my NJ shore bird book.

after awhile i figured i'd better start my way back. i decided to take some photos of things that had been left behind on the beach (besides garbage!) so here are some of the things i found that had been forgotten:

tomorrow morning i plan on getting up and heading over to the Manasquan Reservoir to take more pictures over there. it is a really beautiful area and i haven't been over there in years. tonight for dinner i plan on having a bowl of lucky charms or trix. now how's that for a vacation?