Great Swamp and Raptor Trust Trip in New Jersey...

On Sunday, my friend Don Riepe and I took a group of about 16 people to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and the renowned Raptor Trust in Morris County, New Jersey. Our first stop was at the Raptor Trust, which was an opportunity for the group to get close ups of many birds that one would not normally get close looks at. Many in the group had first time looks at many of the Owls, my favorite was the Great Gray, though it saddened me to see it caged. A nice treat for the participants was the Barn and Eastern Screech Owls that were brought out and displayed for all to see. After the Raptor trust, we visited the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and walked the boardwalk, here we looked for birds and amphibians; we saw Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Eastern Bluebird, Yellow Warbler, water snakes, green frog, painted turtle, spotted turtle and snapping turtle. After the boardwalk, we decided to visit the "Friends of Great Swamp" bookstore, this is a neat little bookstore operated by volunteers and many of us were happy to make donations. By then, many in the group looked tired due to the heat, as it was a very hot day. Though we had designs on visiting another location named the "Overlook", we just drove by and did not even bother to get out. We called it a day sometime around 4:00 pm and headed back into the city.