Category Archives: Nature Photography

IMPERIAL BEACH, CA — Patch reader and local photographer Paul Gallegos captured this photo of a paddle boarder watching the waves at Imperial Beach.

Thanks for sharing!

If you have an awesome picture of nature, breathtaking scenery, kids caught being kids, a pet doing something funny or something unusual you happen to catch with your camera, we’d love to feature it on Patch.

We’re looking for high-resolution, horizontal images that reflect the beauty that is San Diego County, and that show off your unique talents.

Send your photos to [email protected]. Be sure to include photo credit information, when and where the shot was taken, and any other details about what was going on.

RAMONA, CA — Patch reader Cheryl Johnson captured this photo of ring-necked doves during a walk at Dos Picos County Park in Ramona.

“Doves are monogamous and mate for life,” she said. “These two were especially sweet on each other!”

Thanks for sharing!

If you have an awesome picture of nature, breathtaking scenery, kids caught being kids, a pet doing something funny or something unusual you happen to catch with your camera, we’d love to feature it on Patch.

We’re looking for high-resolution, horizontal images that reflect the beauty that is San Diego County, and that show off your unique talents.

Send your photos to [email protected]. Be sure to include photo credit information, when and where the shot was taken, and any other details about what was going on.

A body has been found along a Maryland nature trail amid the search for a 37-year-old mother of five who went missing Saturday, authorities said.

The remains were found by a passerby on Sunday afternoon along the Ma and Pa Trail in the town of Bel Air in Maryland hours after investigators launched a massive search to locate Rachel Morin, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.

RELATED: California’s “Mom-In-The-Box” Cold Case Solved After Nearly a Decade

Authorities are awaiting to confirm the identify of the body found, pending an autopsy. A positive identification has not been released by the medical examiner as of Monday morning, nor has a cause and manner of death been determined yet, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office told Oxygen.com.

Officials are currently treating the case as a homicide investigation.

Morin vanished on Saturday, a day before the body was found, when she entered the nature trail around 6 p.m. to exercise, police said. Her family and her boyfriend reported Morin missing after she didn’t return home. Search efforts for Morin had been described as “very active” at the time her remains were found, according to Fox News. 

Rachel Morin Photo: Rachel Morin/Facebook

“The investigation went from a missing persons investigation to a homicide investigation,” Hartford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said at a press conference on Sunday.

“We understand that this is going to cause a lot of concern,” Gahler added. “We ask everyone to use good judgment on the trail — and not just on the trail but in everyday life — but always be aware of your surroundings.” 

RELATED: Husband Arrested After Wife’s Remains Found in Suitcases along Florida Beach

On Sunday morning, Morin’s car was located by law enforcement at the Williams St. entrance to the nature trail in Bel Air. The vehicle is currently being processed by forensic experts. The trail is currently closed to accommodate investigative efforts but is expected to reopen in the coming days.

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No arrests have been made in the case, the sheriff’s office told Oxygen.com, nor has a suspect been named.

Following the grisly discovery, Morin’s boyfriend, Richard Tobin, denounced his girlfriend’s murder on social media and denied any involvement in her death. Days earlier, he’d announced their relationship on social media.

“I love Rachel, I would never do anything to her, let the family and I grieve,” Tobin wrote Sunday in the comments section of his earlier August 1 post announcing the pair were in a relationship. “Yes I have a past but I also have 15 months clean and have changed as a person. Please.”

RELATED: Police Identify Jane Doe Found Near Gilgo Four as 34-Year-Old Sex Worker

Tobin has a number of past arrests on charges including criminal second-degree assault, malicious destruction of property, resisting arrest, drug possession, intoxication, and violating restraining orders, court records obtained by Oxygen.com show. 

Morin was described by authorities as standing five-feet and two inches, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She weighed approximately 107 pounds and was wearing a blue or black tank top, a black sports bra, black spandex shorts and grey sneakers at the time of her disappearance. She is the mother to five children, according to People.

Anyone with additional information pertaining to the case is urged to contact the Harford County Sheriff’s Office at 410-836-5430.

Good afternoon on Monday, Aug. 7.

We’re going to start today’s newsletter with a weather alert. The National Weather Service says Beaufort County is in for another round of storms Monday from about 6 p.m. until about midnight. Wind gusts reaching up to 58 mph and frequent lightning are in the forecast. Please drive carefully if you have to be out in the storm.

Here’s the rest of today’s top news:

1. A burned vehicle containing human remains was found over the weekend in the woods in the Burton community. The deceased person had not been identified as of noon Monday, but an autopsy was planned. Reporter Evan McKenna shares what we know so far.

2. In additional tragic news, a four-vehicle crash on U.S. 278 at Buckwalter Parkway on Sunday evening killed a motorcyclist and sent two drivers to the hospital with injuries. The name of the deceased motorcyclist was not released because the family had not been notified. The highway was closed for several hours.

3. Five restaurants in Beaufort County were cited with “B” grades in July health inspections. All in all, SC DHEC conducted 145 inspections of food-related businesses. How did your favorite fare? Check out this table that lists July’s grades.

4. Tripadvisor released its list of the top 10 attractions on Hilton Head for 2023, and it includes some of the places you might expect, such as Coligny Beach and Shelter Cove. However, the biggest surprises might be what didn’t make the top 10. At least one reader has asked: What about the lighthouse?

Headlines you might have missed over the weekend:

Photo finish

Nicki Francis took this photo on Burkes Beach on Hilton Head Island during the Aug. 1 Supermoon.

I have received some wonderful photos lately. Please keep sending them, and I’ll share one every weekday here. Email [email protected], and include your name and where you took the shot. Submitting a photo gives The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette permission to publish it.

If you’d like to receive this free newsletter via email every afternoon, sign up at islandpacket.com/newsletters.

Thank you for reading!

Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, is now a city of 1.6 million, the fifth most populous in the United States. It sprang to life over 150 years ago with the arrival of the pioneers, who built irrigation canals to make the land fertile.

Despite its location in the Sonoran Desert – which stretches across the U.S. southwest and into northern Mexico – Phoenix has become a favorite place for retirees, attracted by year-round sun and its ochre mountain backdrop.

For those who can afford it, there is air conditioning. A Major League Baseball game is played early in the afternoon at Chase Field, where a retractable roof and air conditioning keeps the stadium a cool 64.5F (18°C).

But for the homeless population of Phoenix, there is no such respite.

Berks Nature, The Nature Place, unveiled Berks County’s latest StoryWalk on Aug. 1.

The grand reveal event recognized the partnership between Berks County public libraries and Berks Nature and celebrated the addition of another bilingual StoryWalk in the county.

Prior to the reveal, Stephanie Williams, interim administrator for Berks County Public Libraries, welcomed guests at The Rookery rooftop deck as she and Berks Nature President Kimberly Murphy offered remarks.

Among those present were Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of Education Susan Banks and Heather Sharpe, director of the Bureau of Library Development, Office of Commonwealth Libraries.

Williams noted that while StoryWalks have been used around the nation since their creation in 2007 by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vt., these storybook displays only debuted in Berks County beginning in 2020.

Today, eight permanent and seasonal library StoryWalks reside within the county, with recent additions added to the Muhlenberg Rail Trail and now Berks Nature.

Guests were asked to walk down the path to the first sign post, where six excited children from the Berks Nature preschool waited to assist with the unveiling of the StoryWalk. On the count of three, the children pulled the covering from the sign post, revealing the cover page of the story.

Following the official unveiling, event officials invited guests to walk the trail and read “The Last Tree” by María Quintana Silva (author) and Silvia Álvarez (illustrator), with translation by Jon Brokenbrow.

“We’re excited to finally reveal the product of this successful partnership,” Williams said. “Our hope is that individuals and families who visit the beautiful grounds of the Nature Place will enjoy the stories presented at the StoryWalk.  As the seasons change, visitors can come back and read new stories, as the StoryWalk will be updated quarterly.”

Berks Nature staff offered tours along the StoryWalk path as children darted from post to post, reading the story pages while burning off some excess energy.

Just as other StoryWalks in Berks County and across the country aim to accomplish, the StoryWalk at Berks Nature blends physical activity with the joy of reading and love of the outdoors.

The StoryWalk will remain open to visitors from dawn to dusk to enjoy at their leisure in the park. Visitors are encouraged to plan their visit when The Nature Place is open, Tuesday–Saturday. 10 a.m.-3 p.m., to enjoy the offerings of the free public nature center. The Nature Place at Angelica Park is located at 575 St. Bernardine St., Reading.

Additional information about library StoryWalks in Berks County is available at www.berkslibraries.org/storywalks.

Good afternoon on Friday, Aug. 4.

People who know things about the weather say we have to thank the rain for lowering our temperatures slightly. I guess I’ll try to be thankful and curl up with a book instead of trying to work in my yard on these rainy afternoons.

Here’s today’s top news:

1. Two new fast casual restaurant chains — Surcheros Fresh Mex and Chicken Salad Chick — are coming to Beaufort Station, the $60 million shopping center that’s now under construction at Parris Island Gateway and Robert Smalls Parkway. Find out when they’re scheduled to open in this update from reporter Karl Puckett.

2. Beaufort County Schools’ book review committees voted this week to ban a fourth book from library shelves: “Forever for a Year” by B.T. Gottfried. Reporter Mary Dimitrov, who has been covering the fight over banning books, explains what the committees found inappropriate about this novel.

3. Nearly 30 years after a dead woman’s body was found in a drainage ditch along a Yemassee road, police identified her as Maria Telles-Gonzalez, a resident of Kissimmee, Florida. Now, investigators have released new information about their search for “Carlos” — a former close friend of Gonzalez — who could be crucial in finding out who killed her and why.

4. Southern Living magazine released a list of 13 restaurants it recommends on Hilton Head, some newer and some landmark establishments. (We’re going to try to let it slide that two of them aren’t actually on the island.) If you feel like you’re stuck in a rut when deciding where to dine out, maybe put these in a hat, draw one and let fate make your choice. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them.

5. In his latest column, Rabbi Brad Bloom of Hilton Head shares that, when we see thousands of Israeli protesters marching in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv on the news, we may not be seeing the whole picture. There are many different kinds of Jews, secular and religious. Will this political chaos divide them more or lead to a compromise and greater unity?

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Photo finish

Randy Grundleger shared this photo of a dragonfly in Sun City’s butterfly garden.

I have received some wonderful photos lately. Please keep sending them, and I’ll share one every weekday here. Email [email protected], and include your name and where you took the shot. Submitting a photo gives The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette permission to publish it.

Be sure to check islandpacket.com for the latest news through the weekend.

Thank you for reading!

The National Audubon Society has named this year’s winners of its bird photography contest. One of the winners is Sandra Rothenberg, from Warren, Pennsylvania. WPSU reporter Sydney Roach talked with her to learn more about the picture of a yellow Baltimore Oriole that won the prize for best photo of a female bird.

LISTEN to their conversation

Sydney Roach: Help me set the scene here for how you got this picture. Before taking the shot, you say you went out to your bird blind — that’s an outdoor wooden structure with windows — so you could see the birds and take pictures. And you set out some food and nest-building materials for any birds passing through. Then what?

Sandra Rothenberg: Yeah. She came in very briefly. She flew in. And generally when female Orioles come in, if they’re building their nest, they will take one tiny little strand of horsehair and usually then they go and have a bite of orange. Or they’ll have a sip of nectar or a bit of grape jelly and often they forget they have the horsehair and leave it there.

But in this instance, the female Oriole just swooped in and took this large clump of horsehair and with a little bit of twine mixed in and flew off immediately. She didn’t pause or she wasn’t distracted by the food. She was completely directed in her pursuit of this clump of horsehair and off she flew.

I kept my finger on the shutter, hoping to capture images as she flew off, but it just happened so fast that I only got the one image of her. But it looked, as she flew it just looked like this wonderful diaphanous veil, enveloping her. And it was so unique. It was something I had never seen before. So I was very much struck by the image and kind of entranced by it also.

National Audubon Society

Sydney Roach: How did you get the picture? Did you already have the camera set up? Like, were you already watching her?

Sandra Rothenber: During the month of May, I just become obsessed with the magic that happens in May. I spend as much time as I can outdoors and witness the kaleidoscope of colors emerging as the Earth shrugs off her winter sepia and white hues, those dull tones and observe the burgeoning display of their verdure, the explosion of blossoms.

So I spend about five or 10 hours every day in May outside. I’m standing in my blind with my camera and lens. In this case, it was a 200 to 600 millimeter lens. Usually I use the 600, but I’m kind of glad I was able to go a little bit wider for her, and I’m just so pulled in by the beauty as I stand there. It’s kind of an opportunity to release any thoughts that you’ve been caught up with about political or environmental or family or whatever you’re worrying about or thinking about and just be swept up into the beauty of nature.

For me, it’s kind of like my cathedral, I’d say, where I feel more actively awake and aware and just really present to all my physical experiences. My feet standing on the ground, and the solidity of the camera, just waiting for the next bird to come in or whatever comes in. Sometimes it’s not a bird. Sometimes it might be a woodchuck or a tiny eft that marches in on its path.

Sydney Roach: How did you get started with bird photography?

Sandra Rothenberg: I got started with bird photography, or photography in general, from the time I was a child. My first camera was a Brownie camera. I was probably eight or nine. I was just really loving it. I developed my own. It was black and white that I liked, to begin with. And I developed some of my own images and mostly nature, but I did photograph people back then. And then life went on and I became a psychotherapist and a yoga teacher and didn’t really have the time to devote to photography.

But now that I’m retired I have all the time in the world. So there’s a lot to love about photography and just being in nature. For me it’s also that awareness of the passage of time. All creatures, all flora are ephemeral. Each instant becomes precious. And with a photograph you’re capturing one infinitesimal facet of a moment and as you look at that photograph, after I’ve taken the image and I go home to my computer or come into the house to my computer and import it, you see so much more.

First, you see that gestalt, the integrity and wholeness of the image. And then you begin to see more and more. With the image that you’re referring [to] it’s the Baltimore Oriole female. I hadn’t noticed in that second when I took the image, her intense gaze. She just looks so focused and determined. Well, I’m projecting onto her, but that’s how she appears to me. And just the weight of her body on the branch, you can see a little bit of dipping in the branch.

Sydney Roach: I really like just how much of the horsehairs are coming off of her. Like, it’s a pretty big amount. It’s like taking up the whole branch in that picture.

Sandra Rothenberg: Yes, and it appears very solid but in reality, it weighs nothing. I mean, those little horsehairs are just kind of weightless so they just floated around her. I thought they were so beautiful. [I’ve gotten] lots of attention since my image has been in the magazine and online. I’ve received numerous calls and numerous people wanting to purchase images.

Sydney Roach: How do you feel about all that attention?

Sandra Rothenberg: I feel curious about it. I mean, of course, I’m honored to have my image in the magazine, and I’m always hoping with my images of nature to promote other people to get out there and open their eyes.

Sometimes I see so many people hiking with their cell phones. Of course, I have mine, but I do keep it tucked in my back pocket. There’s so much to see and so much to hear and so much to feel. Just the air touching your skin. And how your body, your trapezius muscle maybe, relaxes in the back of your neck and shoulders with the sun on your back. And just feeling your feet on the earth.

I love the sensual aspects of being outside and just again, I know I already mentioned it, but the wonder and awe at the beauty of the sunset, the beauty of a flower. Or even a tiny mosquito if you see it on your arm. My sister often holds up her arm to look at it as we’re walking and watches it closely. Just feeling that connection to other creatures that we share the Earth with and hopefully it will instill a love of nature and people will want to do something to protect our mother Earth.

Sydney Roach: Sandra Rothenberg, thank you for talking with us.

Sandra Rothenberg: Well, thank you so very much.