Further Adventures in Nature...

When Stephen suggested that we go to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, my first thought was "ugh--why would I want to go to a swamp in New Jersey???" He prevailed, however, and we set off Saturday morning for Morris County.

I was stunned--the swamp and area surrounding it reminded me so much of the salt marsh areas of the North Shore! (Except that the Great Swamp is 25 miles inland, and so far away from either salt or cooling ocean breezes...). We stayed on the managed, boardwalk trails and practiced walking quietly so we wouldn't scare away any creatures...we saw one frog (that looked exactly like a leaf!), many tadpoles, three different kinds of turtles (indluding a bog turtle), two different kinds of snakes (two water snakes and one unidentified brownish snake with an ivory colored chin, about the size of a garter snake), and the following birds:

Yellow warbler
Brown-headed cowbird
Cardinal
Red-winged blackbird (lots)
Phoebe
Turkey vulture
Eastern Blubird

The bluebird was the most exciting sighting because Stephen had just been saying that he'd wanted to see one for years and never had. Next think you know, we sighted one sitting on top of a nest box in an open field. :)

We don't have any photos of birds, but we do have some of the paths and plants:


Path at Great Swamp...photo by Stephen Howe.


Unidentified flowering shrub at Great Swamp...photo by Stephen Howe.


Creative nesting space in a bird blind...photo by Stephen Howe


Creature along a woodland trail at Great Swamp...photo by Stephen Howe.