Cormorant Island

Thank you to everyone who responded to my question last week about when you catch up on blog reading - your answers were very helpful to me!  Oh, and thank you to everyone who caught my faux pas in posting to the wrong blog, who were kind enough not to ridicule me too mercilessly...

I'll save the new post I referenced there for tomorrow, however.  I'll be very interested in knowing how many of you actually relate to what I'll be talking about...

This past weekend, Samantha and I drove up to New Jersey to visit my family.  My father and I went out on a photo-taking expedition yesterday morning, just the two of us.  We've been wanting to do this for quite some time, but finally managed to pull it off.  As I arrived to his house completely unprepared for spending any time outside (flip flops and sleeveless shirts are not conducive to tromping around in marshes or tall grasslands in the company of nasty little biting things such as deer flies, chiggers, ticks, etc.), he took pity on me and lent me one of his long-sleeved shirts, a pair of tall, bright blue sports socks to pull up over the bottom of my pant legs, and a pair of his gargantuan sneakers, tied tightly to keep me from walking out of them.  I made quite the fashion statement.

We stopped to photograph anything that caught our eyes, with the exception of occupied houses, no matter how quaint or historic, lest we be mistaken for peeping toms.  In search of a local lighthouse, we came around a corner and were astonished, I mean really, truly blown away, by the sight of an island literally covered with hundreds of cormorants and egrets.  I wish I could describe the sound, as their calls echoed through the marsh.  Surreal.  My dad got much better photos with his amazing telephoto lens, but below are a couple of my own.  I suspect I may have been a bird watcher in a previous life.  I've always been fascinated and excited by seeing different types of birds in the wild.  After we left this spot we discovered an osprey's nest, disturbing a family of the beautiful and elegant raptors who were obviously not happy about our presence.  I'd never seen one so close, and was surprised by how much like eagles these birds of prey look.   

By the way, if you're wondering where Samantha was while we were out for the nearly 4-hour odyssey, she stayed at the house with Memom.  Here's a snippet of my phone call to check in on her...

ring ring...

Samantha (answering the phone by herself!):  Hi, Mommy!

Me:  Hi, sweetheart!  What'cha doin'?

Samantha (sounding pretty damn cheery):  Making cookies with Memom! 

Yep.  And playing hide and seek with Memom and the dog (who happens to be the love of Sammi's life), building a fort, playing shop with the toy cash register, playing doctor, having a snack...  That kid lives a seriously busy life. 

 

Osprey on its nest

Osprey, from my dad's amazing lens

Stylin...