The 11th day of the seventh month of the year of the OP

The view from the top at Hereford Inlet New Jersey



Sailing south from the Inlet at Barnegat on the north end of LBI on the Ocean side, past the Absecon Lighthouse at Atlantic City, and then the inlets at the Egg Harbors, mariners would next encounter the Hereford Inlet. And of course find the the Hereford Inlet lighthouse. My lighthouse, or at least I think of it as my lighthouse.


Very few can reach the very top of the tower to see what you see in the two images at the top of this page, but I am privileged to have been granted that permission. The building on the left houses the NJ State Police and hopefully will be acquired by the lighthouse for a future complex to include a lifesaving station replica. The inlet is behind and to the right with the North Wildwood beaches straight out and to the right. The bottom image is of the light as seen from the water's edge. North Wildwood is a total family oriented resort and is a wonderful town.

http://www.herefordlighthouse.org/


I am there every year in October for the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge and have been adopted by the people who run the place and in turn have adopted them. You who have followed my writing here and elsewhere have witnessed my devotion to this place. It is a Victorian house with outstanding Victorian gardens

The 10th day of the 7th month of the year of the Op

A VIEW FROM THE TOP
BARNEGAT LIGHTHOUSE
LONGBEACH ISLAND, NJ

Having grown up in New Jersey, I should have been familiar with Long Beach Island but was more grounded with the Sandy Hook south to Seaside Heights area of the Jersey Beach. We lived in Westfield, NJ, a bedroom community to New York City where everybody commuted. We could be at the Jersey shore in a couple of hours during the week but about four on weekends due to traffic. When the parents went with us we went further south to areas like Long Beach Island, Avon, and Cape May which were more "respectful" places for adults way back then. I guess they were places where our parents just didn't have to deal with hoards of us out of control kids. At any rate, in high school I had no appreciation of lighthouses anyway.

Yesterday's blog gave thought to some of the images I have made from the climbs to and the tops of some of these old mariner's marks. This one at Barnegat Inlet is 165 feet above sea level and 215 steps to the top. The view along the way of the stairs is of an archetural delight not only of the stairs but of the walls, reminding yourself that these things were built in the 1800's well before the tools we use today. Some feat!

The light tower is interesting in that the light must be constructed to carry up to 19 miles on a clear night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnegat_Lighthouse

At the top the view is stupendous. The inlet of course and the beach. The atlantic and a good bit of the Intercoastal Waterway. Long Beach Island is to the south and Island Beach State and National Park area to the North. Shifting sand with heavy tides and currents make the inlet tricky. And prior to GPS the nearest coastal lighthouses were Absecon Lighthouse to the south and Sea Girt to the North. Of course, most of the northern end of Long Beach Island can be seen as well. Just remember back in the day when these things were lit with oil of some kind, the keepers had to carry that oil to the top. I just cannot imagine the strength involved in doing that kind of work, particularly after I am about half way up carrying only a camera.

The ninth day of the eighth month of the year of the OP

The Inside Straight

Lighthouses have been a favorite topic of mine since we made our first poster, "The Lighthouses of Maryland", back in 1991.

I guess they represent a degree of mystery and romance long gone in our maritime history. That distant blinking beacon on a dark and stormy night has a certain allure. The colors and contrasts of a rocky or sandy shore of the day mark are compelling. All of those sights were the way ancient mariners spelled relief.

I have visited about two thirds of the east coast lights and climbed most of them. Some are easy to climb and some are downright claustrophobic. And at the top of all are some kind of lighting mechanism. The lower photo is of a Fresnel lens, which belongs to the Hereford inlet lighthouse at North Wildwood, NJ.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_lens

http://www.herefordlighthouse.org/

The trip up those lights can be daunting at best. Be in shape because you will need the strength to make it up some of them. Cape Hatteras is 208 feet tall and continues to squeeze tighter and tighter and as you climb. So don't be afraid of tiny dark spaces. And it's windy when you get up there, so don't be afraid of heights. St. Augustine Lighthouse is Hatteras's sister light, and at only 108 feet high you might want to try that one first. Some of the house type lights are a bit easier to climb. The towers all have circular staircases like the one pictured here at Barnegat Light. Pretty, but still a good climb. All offer a dramatic views from the top but that's for another entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnegat_Lighthouse_State_Park

The eight day of the seventh month of the year of the OP

"The King of the Hill"

Ever play that game? Well, this is he!

A Snowy Egret in mating Plumage

By far my favorite of the long leg wading birds, the Snowy egret stands only two feet tall and weighs only 13 ounces but has a serious Napoleonic complex. This is the bird which was hunted during the 1920’s into practical extinction because of the demand for feathers used in ladies hats and boas. The Government stepped in and discontinued hunting rights and the bird is now a popular critter to watch in the shallow backwaters and tributaries. Small but feisty he will fight with anyone including his own mate. The comb on the top of the head is raised and wings spread as he attacks any intruder to his domain. They present a very agitated state when angry but are steadfast feeders. In just about all the images I have made of this bird, attitude is exuded both in body posture and facial presentations. Normally this bird is identified by its size, yellow feet, and yellow lores (area around the eye). During mating season the feet and lores turn a deep reddish orange on males and females.

The seventh day of the seventh month of the year of the OP

Bottle Nosed Dolphin, et al


The Dolphin is to the right.

A serious photographer should always have a camera with him or her at all times.

The time you don’t will be the dramatic Kodak moment guaranteed!

This image was made in 2008 off the beach at Rehoboth, DE. A school of Dolphin were feeding up and down the beach late in the afternoon and the life guards had cleared the water of all swimmers just to be safe. First time I have ever witnessed a school feeding so actively in close and it was a treat.

We had gone to the beach to see a sand sculpture contest which was held earlier in the day when a more dramatic event took place out in the water. The fellow in the kayak just could not help himself and had to join in the fun. The Terns were flying by as if nothing was happening but were looking for smaller fish to fry.

Another sixth day of the seventh month of the year of the OP

Great Egret Pair Nest Building

The male of the species brings a twig to a nest under construction. Both birds take part in the building of the nest but as in most life, the lady of the house has the last word on twig placement.

These two were found in April of 2006 at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, FL. Note the lores (that area around the eye) during the mating season take on a very green hue, almost a chartreuse color. Normally the lores are a dull yellow.

This is a tall and slender bird which offers the viewer some very graceful scenes particularly during the golden hours of early morning and late afternoon. These birds generally stand over three feet high but weigh two pounds……..all feathers. They can be found in most shallow waterways gently stalking prey. Their bills are long, sharp, and lethal. I have seen them from Maine to Florida generally in tributaries, small ponds, lakes and rivers. Concentrations can be found in the salt marshes and tidal flows all along the coast.

The sixth day of the seventh month of the year of the OP

TRANSLUCENT
A GREAT EGRET

I spent two weekends April of 2006 at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, Florida.

The place has been there for a hundred years and was originally a farm growing alligators for commercial use. Now it is a tourist destination and incidentally a rookery for dozens of long leg wading birds. So, the secret is out. Whenever you see a really close photograph in a magazine of a heron and it is tack sharp, chances are good the photographer made the image at the farm.

Guests at the rookery are actually feet away from nesting birds. I have even had an immature tri-colored or Louisiana Heron peck at the end of the lens as I leaned over the walkway railing.

The above image is one in which I guess you can say I was lucky again. Normally, a bird flying is back-lit by the sky and the exposure makes the subject into a silhouette. In this case the bird was not only sharp but the lighting was good. Placed in the left third of the frame and with little cropping the image is striking. During the months that these birds mate, usually in the spring, one can see Great Egrets such as this one along with Wood Storks, Cattle egret, Louisiana Herons, Little Blue Herons, and the irrepressible Snowy Egrets. Mating rituals, nesting rituals, nest building, mating, and young can all be witnessed.

That is not to say that there are many other things to see at the farm, but for the photographer this is a special place.

http://www.alligatorfarm.us/