Getting done work early one perfect sunny summer day, I decided to take the back road home . That road takes me through the cranberry bogs that are behind my neighborhood . As I was passing through craning my neck in every direction to see what I could see,I spotted a Heron just chilling at the edge of one of the bogs. It was such a perfect afternoon I decided to take a chance to hurry home for BowD and my camera, hoping that maybe the bird would still be there when I got back. If not BowD needed a walk anyway, and there is so much to see in and around the bogs.
I have to say I was not trespassing, cranberry bogs are private property , but I have permission to walk around this one, and most of the photos were taken from the road.
For most people that drive by or through the bogs they see the obvious , depending what time of year , they see large squares filled with water, or vegetation , or the red of the berries ripening . The bogs support so much more life than just the berries. I find it all so amazing to see.
When BowD and I got back to the bogs the Heron was still there, right where I had left him. I was so excited to see the bird just chillin on the edge of the bog, so excited to as I watched him spread his wings and fly away before I even got the car turned off. That day was a lucky day for me because to my left in one of the other bogs was a heron, and an Egret . The Egret also flew away almost before the car was even in park, and the Heron well he sat for minute, just long enough to tease me and then off he flew as well.
I decided to just look around and see what I could see while I walked BowD. I was putzing, playing with insects, and giving flowering weeds their close up, when out of the corner of my eye I spot this guy just hanging out on a drainage box right near the walk way between the bogs. I just started snapping away and very slowly walking towards him, he let me get pretty close before giving a sound that truly did sound like disgust and flying off.
Off but not away. He just went a little deeper into another bog. BowD and I walked past and I took a few more shots, but then we moved on, not wanting to upset him more than we already had.
The flowering weeds are so pretty, sometimes mysterious, sometimes coy, and then there are the flamboyant ones that all but scream look at me.
Even some of the weeds that don't flower can catch your attention with just how unique they are.
Judging by the amount of bugs on a good many of the flowers I am going to say they aren't just pretty but they are a tasty bit of food too.
Even fruit other than cranberries grow around the bog. It is no wonder there is an abundance of birds and wild life living around the bogs.
I followed a herd (?) of deer that came running across the bogs while I was getting back in the car, giving up on the Herons and Egrets coming back. Man are they fast, before I could blink they were all but gone. I managed to snap a shot of the young ones tail as it ran back into the brush,
Then getting out of my car I was able to snap a quick shot off of the protector.
This one waited for the younger one, and then stood there making sure I wasn't going to follow.
There are so many different types of bugs in the bogs, but on this day the dragon flies were putting on a show. They flew, flitted, and danced on the water and sometimes they would sit still just long enough for me to take their pictures.
BowD, this was his first outing with the camera. He did pretty good, and I got my pictures even with him tugging on the leash a little here and there. The big old Heron didn't interest him at all, so walking up on the bird to get pictures wasn't hard at all, what he didn't like was when I left him in the car. ( running with the AC on ) I thought it would be easier for me to walk up on things, but he just kept barking scaring all my subjects away.
PS, those are streak marks from cleaning the windows and not doing it well at all.
I hope you enjoyed the peek into New Jersey cranberry bogs, and all the beauty they hold.
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