Into the Woods

On a Friday these are the woods behind my house in different seasons. .  They go on for millions of acres as it is part of the NJ Pine Barrens.  The bay is to the left and the woods are honeycombed with clear sandy bottomed creeks.

As always you can click on the photos to see them full sized.
Here they are posing for their portrait in Winter  with a dusting of snow....

There is that lovely silver sky that only comes in deep winter!

Deep and thick. Home to some interesting animals. Silvery skies peeking through.

What kind of animals you ask? Deer, possum, racoon, fox, the occasional black bear, bob cats, beavers, otters, mink, ground hogs (wood chuck), voles, moles, all manner of birds, coyotes.  Actually there have been mountain lions (Puma, cougar, panther) photographed in NJ by a state trooper in his back yard.

And here  they are in Summer...

In Summer they are green and thick.     The fake alligator keeps herons/egrets out of the pond.   His name is Alex Gator, Ally for short.

Barkley Dragonfly visited me every single time I came on the porch. He enjoyed staring at me. Bad photo but, it is what it is my friends.

And in the autumn the woods are ablaze with color:

Woods are mostly swamp maples, scrub oak, holly, cedar, pine,  white and pink Rugusa (beach roses), beach plum trees. etc.