More on Flowers and Bird Watching
in New Jersey, Page 1 of 2
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White water lily (睡蓮) on Lake Lefferts, north of Route-516 bridge in Matawan, New Jersey
Pink water lily (睡蓮) on Lake Lefferts, north of Route-516 bridge in Matawan, New Jersey
Many water lily (睡蓮) on Lake Lefferts, north of Route-516 bridge in Matawan, New Jersey
An egret catching fish on Lake Lefferts in Matawan
More water lily on Lake Lefferts as seen from Lakeside Recreation Area in Matawan

Map: Click here to see MapQuest Map showing Lakeside Recreation Area in Matawan
In the evening of July 6, 2008, we joined the crowd to watch firework on Lake Lefferts. We were near the
Lakeside Park at about 30 Ravine Drive in Matawan, New Jersey. I set the shutter speed of my camera to
long exposure time of 1 second. I was sitting on a lawn chair and used a monopod to stabilize my camera for
such long exposure time even though my camera has Image Stabilizer. With 1-second of exposure time, the
camera captured multiple bursts of firework.

Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location for watching firework
Another egret catching fish in Lake Lefferts
More water lily on Lake Lefferts
By late afternoon at about 4 PM, the water lily flowers all close up and go to sleep at night. Therefore, the
Chinese name for water lily is "sleeping" lily (睡蓮).
A dragonfly among the water lily in Lake Lefferts.

The autumn foliage on Lake Lefferts is also very beautiful as shown on my Travelogue web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Autumn_Foliage.html
On the afternoon of July 6, 2008 before the firework in Matawan, we went to Sandy Hook National
Recreational Area in New Jersey and saw several fish hawks (ospreys) on several nests. We went back to
Sandy Hook again on July 15, 2009 and saw more ospreys on nests as shown on these few photos. This
particular one is on the top of the chimney of the big house near (west of) the junction of Crispin Rd. and
Rockaway Rd. in northern part of Sandy Hook.

Map: Click here to see Google Map showing the house near junction of Crispin Rd and Rockaway Rd
This parent osprey was flying away immediately after it flew in and delivered a fish to the nest for the young
ospreys to eat.
請到我的懷裡來！豬籠草，致命的誘惑。

On July 14, 2008, we went to Webb’s Mill Bog in the Pine Barren in south-central New Jersey to see three
kinds of carnivorous, insect-eating plants. The acidic bog in the Pine Barren is poor in nutrients. These
carnivorous plants catch and digest insects to supplement their nutritional needs.

The first kind is red-colored pitcher plant which is shown in the lower middle of this picture. It traps prey in a
rolled leaf that contains a pool of digestive enzymes or bacteria at the bottom to digest the captured insects.
They probably have certain scent to attract insects. Their waxy wall inside the 'pitcher" prevents the fallen
insects from escaping.

The second kind is red-colored sundew as shown on the upper left corner of this picture. The sundew is
covered with a series of short hairs, referred to as tentacles, each hold a glad that produces the dew which is
a small ball of very thick and sticky liquid. When an insect touches this sticky liquid, it tries to get out by
squirming, but that only makes matters worse, since many little hairs/tentacles start moving together in order
to stick more of the liquid to the bug to keep it from escaping. In some cases the entire leaf will wrap around
the insect. The glands of the tentacles then secrete acids and enzymes which dissolve the insect. The glands
then reabsorb the nutrient rich fluid.
Location: Webb’s Mill Bog is on east side of County Route 539 about 6.2 miles north of the Junction of County
Route 539 and State Route 72 in south central New Jersey. It is in Greenwood Wildlife Management Area
(WMA). There is a large sign of Greenwood WMA on west side of County Route 539. The trail head is on
opposite (east) side about 50 feet south of this sign of Greenwood WMA. From this trail head, go through
about 50 feet of short trail into Webb's Mill Bog. The nearest town is Chatsworth. The trail head and the
narrow trail may be covered by the over-grown blueberry plants on both sides such that the trail head and the
short and narrow trail may become almost invisible from County Route 539.
A board walk loop for visitors to enjoy watching various kinds of plants including at least 3 different kinds of
carnivorous, insect-eating plants plus animals, birds and other creatures in Webb's Mill Bog.
Sign of Greenwood Wildlife Management Area on west side of County Route 539
In addition to the red-colored pitcher plants, this picture shows another kind of sundews which are yellow,
vertical and long with many short horizontal tentacles (thread leaves).

It looks like that at least one insect has already been trapped and wrapped in the lower middle of this picture.
Another view of a pitcher plant on the left side of this picture plus several long and vertical sundews.
My previous experience with ospreys in action catching fish are described in my Travelogue web page at:

http://www.shltrip.com/Ospreys_in_Action.html
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