Downstream view of the Musconetcong River on a mid afternoon walkabout at Alumni Field Park in Hackettstown. What seemed to be a very quiet walk at the park with seemingly not much activity turned out to be another one of those outings where it just unfolds in front of you. Sometimes you just have to be open to your surroundings and be in the moment and the magic reveals itself.

I got off the trail at certain pointes and explored the forest and came upon some interesting finds…mushrooms, interesting fallen and rotted trees that from the trail seemed ordinary but unclose were amazing to the eye.

The park was filled with lots of gray squirrels-seemed like that was all I saw. In all the sightings of unexciting gray squirrels I did notice one that had just come from digging around in the mud-its face covered in the black goo and paws as well. This was something unique and different that I had never experienced with a gray squirrel. It is these unique moments that I seek out especially with the common we encounter on a daily basis are all around and seem “boring”.

While out and about be in the moment and let those unique moments present themselves to your eye. You will be amazed at what you will see.

It’s been a summer of light and dark for me on the trails and water. I’ve been paying more attention to how the light plays in the forest, on the water, and highlights the wildlife I come across. I’ve learned the depth of light and dark on our natural world. It creates drama, peace, exemplifies solitude in a dramatic way. I’ve really enjoyed this journey of light and dark as it stretches my eye to look and learn from the way light and dark play on our world.

Green herons are curios wading birds. They are one of my favorite birds-I have many-because they can be VERY elusive and I can go a long time without seeing one. When I do come across one I take each encounter as extremely special as I do not know the next time I will see one may be.

They have an incredible feather pattern and varied brilliant coloring from a rusty brownish color to fantastic greenish blues. I have still not figured out if the bright colored feathers are strictly male or both sexes display these bright colors. Regardless I am always drawn by the degrees of color I find in these birds.

What makes them one of my favorites to observe is their extreme stillness and patience when on the hunt. They can sit in one position ready with their chopstick like beak and plucking their catch from the water.

Egret with a frog.

As I was driving out of the park after my morning walkabout I spotted an egret. They do come into this area of New Jersey around now. This was the first sighting of the season for me so obviously I stopped, jumped out of my car and began shooting.

As I watched I noticed something was in its mouth…a frog. It began walking away from the road and down into the drained pond through the mud and shallow waters. It began to thrash its head toward the muddy bottom sending mud and water into the air. Lifting the frog up ,mud flinging everywhere, and then back down, the egret repeated this process several times. The frog immobilized the egret walked along the shallow waters edge to a nice quiet location where breakfast could be served.

It is these unexpected moments that drive me to continue to get out and see what I can see. It may be a day where after an hour on the trail or water I see nothing but back at the car an eastern blue bird lands on the tree right in front of my car with the sun and shadows hit it just right or a kingfisher lands on a tree limb right at the launch. It’s these moments that I freeze for ever and share with the world. I hope that they can motivate others to get out there and find their moments and maybe capture them and share.