Monday, April 20, 2009

The Great Swamp

Another jane & Barbie Adventure

The Great Swamp is located in Morris County
N.J. only 26 miles W. of Manhattan's Times Square. Established in 1960. It consists of over 7000 acres of varied habitats.




We visited the boardwalk part of the swamp.









A refuge for over 244 species of birds.. . turtles
fish, frogs, snakes and a wide variety of


wildflowers and plants call the Great Swamp
'Home"

We spent a whole day there and saw quite a variety of birds and other wildlife.











The day was a perfect combination of sun and clouds with a slight breeze to cool us.




Let's get to the sightings!!






A great many Red winged Blackbirds were giving us
their best voice and putting on a show.

Thanks to Barbie's good eye we saw Mrs.
RW Blackbird eating on the reeds at the edge of the water
(click for closer look)
talk about camoflauge


A Canadian goose makes a nest on the grassy turf in the
middle of the water

Two male and one female Wood ducks, and a Canadian goose
A perfect Mallard Reflection

What better place to find a Swamp Sparrow singing
his little song



An Eastern Phoebe



Does anyone know what this cute little bird is? I'm guessing
Wood Peewee

Blue -gray gnatcatcher


My very first sighting of a Female Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker.


Palm Warbler was happily flitting about


Some happy yellow flowers emerging

This must be a great nesting place... a female mallard
sleeps in her hideaway

Northern water snake... nice markings on it's stomach

As we walked across the wooden boardwalk many of these
snakes were curled up sunning below us

Turtles.....

Painted Turtles


Snapping Turtles



This one looked prehistoric slowly moving through the
water...

Bull frog..


Next post you will see a series of photos of the
cutest little bird we found in the swamp.


To God be The Glory ~~ Great Things He Hath Done

6 comments:

Peggy said...

Looks like you have seen a bunch! Can't wait for the cutest swamp bird!

Unknown said...

Hi, this is my first visit to your blog- I love the fact that you enjoy a visit to the swamp. I adore swamps- especially the Okefenokee Swamp in South Georgia- their is so much vegetation there- the air feels so fresh to the lungs- it is a shame that so many folks regard swamps so negatively. By the way, the pretty yellow lily that you have a photograph of is a Trout Lily. Which is a coincidence as I am currently writing an article on it for my nature blog. I will probably add the article on Friday. I came across your blog via a link from the "My Bird Tales" blog. I love your enthusiasm and you had some great captures in the swamp!

NCmountainwoman said...

What a great post! I loved all the photographs.

Tina said...

Wow, you guys really hit the jackpot of Mama nature!! Such a great variety of pictures!!
Loved the pic of the female red-wing, clicked to see it bigger and she really is quite hidden..
I had taken a pic of this bird while in Ohio but didn't know what it was..
Wood ducks..getting to be my fav..and how nice to see those awesome painted turtles!
Great post!!

Shelley said...

This was an amazing post! Loved seeing all that water fowl nesting!I would've loved to have taken this walk w/ you. Beautiful photos!

Marsha said...

What beauty you found there and the mallard reflection shots are just fantastic. My favorite of this series.

I don't know if I could have handled seeing all those snakes though.

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