by Gregg Obst on May 28, 2010
in Photos
Evelyn was tired. Knitting mittens for 7,000 tadpoles took a lot out of her this Spring but she knew they would soon grow up or be eaten by predators and she would finally have time to herself. She was a good housewife to Bob and she always kept a clean lilly pad or at least she tried. See, Bob was kind and generous when sharing his flies but he didn’t like eating the fly eyes himself. So, as a result, the lilly pad was always covered with Bob’s piles of discarded fly eyes. When the neighbors would drop in, they would always announce their presence with the same tiresome joke “Hi Bob and Evelyn. Eye see you’ve been snacking”.
It was all beginning to wear on her. She wanted more. She wanted independence. She wanted time to her self. She always meant to go back and finish that Grisham novel and when she left William and Marry she was just four credits away from completing her bachelor’s degree. But keeping up with Bob was a full time job and she knew better than to dream such selfish dreams. A marriage is a partnership and she would see this one through to the end. Fly eyes and all.
For more information on Green Frogs, visit this page.
Shot in the backyard pond at my parent’s house. They have tons of frogs and toads and now a resident pair of Mallard Ducks.
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by Gregg Obst on May 23, 2010
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Everyone in town knew Bob was an S.O.B.. Bob took great pride in ruling the Lilli pads as an S.O.B. Bob didn’t sit in a boat, playing a banjo and singing songs about rainbows because…. Bob was an S,O,B, Even his wife Evelyn knew he was an S.O.B. She stayed with him because though he was mean, he also possessed a hidden talent. You see, Bob was an S.O.B. with a magic tongue. He could catch two flies at a time with that thing and for all his other faults, he never forgot to share his flies with Evelyn. The moral of the story is there is someone for everyone and sometimes you just need to look past the tough exterior to see the big heart inside.
For more information on Green Frogs, visit this page.
Shot in the backyard pond at my parent’s house. They have tons of frogs and toads and now a resident pair of Mallard Ducks.
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by Gregg Obst on May 18, 2010
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A Red Fox Kit (young Fox) emerges from the forest shadow and walks out onto the wildlife drive at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Smyrna, DE on Saturday afternoon. One of four Fox encounters I had during the day. These young ones have almost no fear of humans at all, which is seldom a good thing to see in a wild animal.
For more information on Foxes, visit this page.
For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.
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by Gregg Obst on May 17, 2010
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Mother Bald Eagle tears off bits of fish and feeds it to her young Eaglet. She has two chicks in the nest. The other chick was further back and would pop it’s head up for a share of fish every so often. At this early age, the eaglets are totally reliant on Mother and Father for their nutritional needs.
Sometimes karma works in your favor. When I arrived at this spot in the Delaware Water Gap area of N.E. Pennsylvania, I sat my tripod down, made my settings on the camera based upon past visits to this nest and within 15 seconds (literally), the Mother Eagle flew in with a fish for the kids. Sometimes you wait all weekend for that sort of thing to happen and sometimes you wait 15 seconds. After feeding the kids, Mom hopped up on a branch which was obscured by evergreen leaves and the kids sank low in the nest. The Father was out and about and I never did see him while I was there. This is the same nest where I took this shot from last season. Mom had two chicks last year just like this season.
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on May 16, 2010
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A Red Fox Kit walks the rotting catfish that the Mother Fox brought him, back to the den to share with the other Kits. I watched as the Mother Fox carried this enormous rotting catfish all the way down the wildlife drive around Raymond Pool. She would go for a hundred feet then sit the catfish down and pant for a little bit, then pick it up again and walk it another hundred feet. As she approached my car she sat the catfish down and made a soft call and within seconds, this kit came out of the grass and the catfish was exchanged. Off the kit ran with the catfish back to the den. The Mother turned back around and headed back to where she came on the search for more food. I feel unbelievably privileged to see family interactions in the wild like this. It’s good to see the Foxes finding their own food as opposed to relying on handouts and baiting from unscrupulous photographers as in past seasons. I’ll also never complain about getting a slightly overcooked fish fillet at Long John Silvers after seeing the fish these foxes end up having to eat.
For more information on Foxes, visit this page.
For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.
UPDATE: Apparently this shot hit the front page of Explorer for a brief time. That’s a first for me. WooHoo !
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by Gregg Obst on May 16, 2010
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I saw this Snapping Turtle on several different laps of the Raymond Pool loop at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday. When I took this photo, he was on the move heading up road against traffic, oblivious to the one way signs. With his massive size and prehistoric looks, he reminded me of the 1960s era Japanese monster movie creatureGamera. I feared for toy train and miniature city layouts nearby.
For more information on Snapping Turtles, visit this page.
For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site athttp://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.
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by Gregg Obst on May 2, 2010
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The breeding pair of Mute Swans at the larger of the two ponds at Spring Ridge in Missing, PA had two Cygnets (baby swans) this season. Last season Louis (the Mother) had two eggs but only one of them hatched. This year she laid two eggs and both were successful. Mom kept the two Cygnets close to her on the opposite side of the pond while Peter (the Father) kept a careful eye on me, swimming back and forth right in front of me making sure I was no threat to his Wife and kids. After two hours of waiting, Louis finally convinced the kids it was time for a swim and I was able to get some descent shots of them.
Things were getting a little windy and it was beginning to rain off and on. I’ll have to go back later this week and see if I can get some better reflections on calmer water.
For more information about Mute Swans, visit this page at the Cornell Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on May 1, 2010
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Eight Mallard Ducklings take a swim in the pond at the Fleetwood Park. I’m hoping that there are more ducklings in the area since only three hens were hanging around and there is normally a steady population of around 28 hens at the park. At this point in the year, the drakes are very aggressive and don’t seem to want to let go of the fact that mating season has passed. This drives away a lot of the hens and their offspring until mid-May when everything seems to settle down again.
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by Gregg Obst on April 27, 2010
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The Male Osprey arrives back at the nest with building materials to help patch the nest and line it in preparation for his mate to lay her eggs for the season. Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ on Saturday 4-10-2010. I haven’t had much luck with the weather and my days off coinciding this Spring so far. I had wished to have at least a half a dozen more visits to the refuge under my belt by this time of the season. Weather is one of those things we can never quite control.
For more information on the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at www.fws.gov/northeast/forsythe/.
For more information on Osprey, visit the Cornell Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on April 13, 2010
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by Gregg Obst on April 8, 2010
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by Gregg Obst on April 3, 2010
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This is the Osprey couple from the last nest on the 8 mile wildlife drive at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ Saturday 4-3-2010. It was a very weird weather day at the refuge. It was 54 degrees with a steady wind of about 15 mph but there was a dense fog that enveloped different parts of the refuge during different parts of the day. At one point, you couldn’t even see the back stretch from the front stretch the fog was so dense. The light was abysmal. But the Ospreys didn’t need good light for what they were up to. It is that part of the season after all. This couple produced two chicks last year so it will be interesting to see how they do this season.
For more information on the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at www.fws.gov/northeast/forsythe/.
For more information on Osprey, visit the Cornell Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on March 25, 2010
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Father Osprey arrives back at the nest on the Manasquan Reservoir in Howell, NJ back on 4-18-2009. Mother Osprey was waiting quite a while for his return and had a few questions as to why he was not bringing her back a nice tasty fish.
Thanks to SkeletalMess (aka Jerry Jones) for use of the following textures that I blended into the background to give it a moody feeling. Jerry just posted a great tutorial on applying textures as layers that you might want to check out.
The Haunting 11-08-09 TOTD # 101
Mold
Chaos 2
StormClouds TOTD # 124
For more information on the Manasquan Resevoir, visit their web site at this web site.
For more information on Osprey, visit the Cornell Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on January 29, 2010
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A Great Egret takes short repositioning flight over Raymond Pool at the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge outside of Smyrna, Delaware back on 7-18-2009. When they have too much competition for fish in one area they will often fly a hundred feet or so and start fishing again. When you get a couple hundred Egrets in the same water body, it often takes on the look of an strange ballet or sorts.
For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.
For more information on Great Egrets, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
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by Gregg Obst on January 25, 2010
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