photoartflightFlying Brant Ducks with Atlantic City Skyline
Posted on February 26, 2019
As I was photographing clouds along the Wildlife Drive at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division, this group of Brant Ducks took off. I thought it looked interesting as they flew over this little jetty of land in the water’s edge. Then they banked and flew farther to the right and over the Atlantic City Skyline you could see in the distance. The sky was constantly changing depending on which direction you were looking at. The cloud cover went from heavily overcast and ominous looking to blue sky with nice feathery clouds. But it did make for a wide variety of cloudscapes in one outing.
Olympus OMD-1, 14-140mm lens @ 48mm
Immature Bald Eagle At Brigantine
Posted on February 23, 2019
While we were photographing Ducks & Geese in the water along the Wildlife Drive at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division, we noticed this large dark bird along the far shoreline that had just landed. I thought it might be an Immature Bald Eagle because of the large size and dark coloring. I shot quite a few series of this bird as it flew short distances along the far shoreline and it kept moving farther & farther down the shoreline, landing multiple times along the way. When I got a chance to work on my files I remembered this series and started to work on the Raw files. I was using a Canon 400mm DO f/4 lens with a Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter so for that distance away the bird was extremely small in the frame. First I opened the Canon R raw files as 54MP, instead of the standard 30MP. I did this to get a little more pixels to work with since the Eagle was so small in the file and bumping up the faux pixels when opening in Camera Raw sometimes still retains more detail. This helps to get an image somewhat usable with a little more pixels, be it they are faux pixels. These are extreme (Very Extreme) crops so the quality is not great, but it is fun to see it was an Immature Bald Eagle with what looked like a Duck in its talons. It made its way up the shoreline, stopping multiple times for a snack on the way. We were on the Wildlife Drive (so we were quite far away) and these are just a few images from the series as it was working its way down the far shoreline.
Eagle taking off after a wave of Canada Geese flew over the Eagle
Immature Bald Eagle with Atlantic City Skyline across the water
Sleeping Mute Swans At Brigantine
Posted on February 21, 2019
When we first got to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division in Oceanville, NJ, it was an overcast day and very early in the am. On the first leg of the Wildlife Drive, by Gull Pond, I found these sleeping Swans. I was photographing them and then they started to move around giving me a few more options for photos. Then I heard a piercing rattle and knew it was a Belted Kingfisher. It landed a few trees away from me, but I was able to get a few images, even though it was not large in the frame and had poor light before it flew on. I wish it had been a little sunnier, but I got what I could. All images here were with a Canon R, 400mm f/4 DO lens with a Series III 1.4X teleconverter.
Great Blue Herons At Brigantine
Posted on February 20, 2019
While I was photographing Landscapes & Cloudscapes along the Wildlife Drive at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, I noticed this Great Blue Heron behind some of the grasses along the Wildlife Drive. I got a few shots through the grasses and then the two Herons lower down in the water flew off. I got a few more shots as they flew away from me. I was surprised that during the day we saw quite a few Great Blue Herons throughout the Refuge. Usually most do not hang around in the cold weather but there were quite a few throughout the Refuge.
Canon R, 400mm f/4 DO lens, 1.4x series III teleconverter
Brigantine Early Morning Landscape
Posted on February 19, 2019
We went to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division to see what we could find to photograph. In the early morning the clouds were amazing and made for interesting photo opportunities. It started out with darker looking somber clouds then brightened up as the morning went on. The featured image was shot @ 12mm on a Canon Camera. The series of clouds over the Wildlife Drive below were shot with a m43 format camera @14mm. When doing panoramas with wide angle lenses on a m43 format camera you need to overlap your images for the panorama a lot more. It is better to have more to choose from than not have enough. It seems if you have too few frames you tend to get some strange distortions (at least using Photoshop to assemble) in the blending of the images.
12mm Clouds & Sun image along Wildlife Drive with Atlantic City on the horizon in the distance.
9 image (Horizontal) panorama, 14mm, (28mm Full Frame FOV) m43 Olympus
6 vertical image panorama, @14mm m43 Olympus
2 image panorama, 14mm m43 Olympus
7 vertical image horizontal panorama, 14mm, m43 Olympus
Multi-image panorama with dark clouds earlier in the am, 14mm, m43 Olympus
Clouds over Wildlife Drive, Single image, 14mm m43 Olympus
Sunset At Brigantine
Posted on December 18, 2018
A colorful sunset at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ. Image taken with a 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm along the Wildlife Drive.
Closer view of sunset color in water & ice @ 105mm
Closer Sunset Colors On Ice @ 400mm
Colorful Ice & Water At Sunset – 400mm
Bald Eagle on Snag with Red-winged Blackbirds in Background.
Black Skimmers FlyBy
Posted on September 6, 2018
A group of Black Skimmers flying by, heading to another area at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville NJ. They were working an area farther out in the water when they changed direction and flew by me. They are fun to photograph when they go back and forth fishing an area, with their lower mandible streaking through the water. But this small group was just moving on to fish further out.
Great Egrets Roosting In Trees
Posted on September 2, 2018
Along the Wildlife Drive in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, there is a group of trees at one of the bends in the drive that seems to attract a variety of Herons along with Egrets. You can usually see Black-Crowned Night-Herons, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and occasionally Yellow-crowned Night-Herons & Cattle Egrets. This series are with the Great Egrets.
Black Skimmer Misses A Meal
Posted on August 31, 2018
We were photographing Black Skimmers at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. This one was working an area, going back and forth, but did not seem to have much luck catching a meal.
Wider view of above cropped image, 400mm, with 1.4x teleconverter.
Young Black-Crowned Night Heron
Posted on July 26, 2018
When we were at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge I noticed this young Black-crowned Night-Heron along the Wildlife Drive. There are a few areas along the drive that seem to be a popular spot for them to usually be there to get a few photos. They are also one of my favorite birds to photograph, especially when they are searching for a meal. 
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