Finback Whales

Yesterday, I was in Ocean City, New Jersey for a meeting regarding the rain garden I'm designing for the intermediate school.  I actually spent the preceding weekend there with friends, as there's nothing better than a wintry weekend at the beach in front of the fire.    Yesterday morning, I finally mobilized to go for a long run.  While normally I run along the boardwalk, I feared the damp rainy weather would make the boards too slick, so I opted for running north along through the salt marshes north of town and to the neighboring town beyond (I took a photo on the way, and will post on an actual plant tomorrow or Wednesday). 

It's probably just as well I avoided the boardwalk, as I would have only had my iPhone when encountering this:

This is a fin or finback whale, which washed upon the shore of Ocean City, New Jersey early yesterday morning.  I heard the news at my rain garden meeting and quickly went to see the whale myself when the meeting concluded.  

Authorities from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center identified the species and estimate that this animal measures approximately forty to forty five feet long.  That makes it an juvenile, as mature fin whales reach lengths of seventy feet, making them the second longest whales and the sixth largest living animal in the world (after other whales, of course).  Their narrow bodies account for their discrepant rankings in length and size, it also is why some refer to them as 'greyhounds of the sea' -- they are incredibly agile and fast. 

Unfortunately, this whale washed to the shore dead, which anyone could surmise the instant they got of their car a few blocks away.  The smell hung in the air, and yesterday's heavy fog almost seemed like tangible evidence of the odor. A similar whale was sighted a week earlier in New York harbor; it's likely that the whale was struck by a ship in the harbor, died and slowly drifted with the currents until it ended up in Ocean City. Fin whales are endangered.  Like many others of their relatives, the fin whale was heavily hunted during the 20th Century.  Wikipedia cites that between 1904 and 1979, 750,000 species existed in the southern hemisphere alone.  Today the total fin whale population is closer to 15,000.  Though the International Whaling Commission bans the hunting of fin whales, Japan, Iceland and Greenlanders continue to hunt the species. 

Despite the odor, I'm pretty sure every year-round resident of Ocean City (and perhaps others from further away) made it to the beach at one point yesterday, in order to see the whale.  Parents brought their children, excited for them to see such a large living thing.  Of course, some kids (like the boy two photos up) are more interested in playing with the sand -- some people are just never impressed. By the way, that cop in the foreground, on the right, yea... he's totally yelling at me to get off the jetty.

I thought it was literally awesome to see such a large animal, particularly now that I know it was barely over half its mature size.  We all learn that the ocean is inhabited by strange, massive animals and certainly that's why there is no shortage of wonderful organizations to preserve our ocean ecologies, but to really witness, with my own eyes, physical proof of such a massive mammal is moving.

I've already linked to a few organizations that make it their mission to protect whales and or the ocean, but let's not forgot Save the Whales - even if the pins aren't as popular!

Peach Watch Continues...

Back in late March, I took some photos of a peach orchard in southern New Jersey and decided to watch the orchard over the next few months, culminating in a harvest of delicious peaches.  In early May, the tiny baby peaches were evident.

Yesterday, I drove by the orchard again, and took a few pics.  At first glance, I was worried the somewhat larger peaches I saw in late May had been harvested, but no worries. 

 

They are ripening steadily, increasing in size and even developing a peachy color.  

 

Peach Update

In late March, I posted on Prunus persica or the peach tree as I began watching the orchard I pass on my way to the beach develop fruit.  By early May, the peaches had begun to form, though they were very small. 

This weekend I passed the plants again and the peaches have been developing steadily. 

It's fun to track a specific plant in "real time" and truly appreciate what goes into getting a simple piece of fruit.  More so, you can appreciate the financial risks involved for the farmers.

Baby Peaches

A little over a month ago, I posted about the peach tree, Prunus persica.   I had prepared to take photos of the trees in flower and then of the fruits themselves develop.

But alas, it's been a really busy spring and I missed the flowers!

Instead I can share these pics, taken yesterday, of small peach fruits developing in the place of the spent flowers.  I'll try to catch them again as the fruits get larger.

Prunus persica

My family has been going to the Ocean City, New Jersey for the beach since I was a little kid, living in South Jersey myself.  My mother's family has been going to this town since the 1950's so it has a pretty dear place in our hearts.  Given my own childhood of moving every three years, I'm especially fond of it, since I have memories of being there when I was three years old up until now, when I'm ___ years old!

Whenever we make the drive from the DC area, we pass through a lot of farmland, on Route 40, between the shore itself and the Delaware River Memorial Bridge.  It's beautiful country and always reminds me more of the midwest than a place that's geographically a few hours' drive from DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Most times, I'm making the drive by myself and feel too rushed to stop and snap pictures, but my mom and I were in the car together this last time and we began "Peachtree watch, Spring 11."  Or something.

This orchard is just budding up and I'll post pictures of the trees' progress in the weeks to come.  Even in winter it's beautiful.  The silver hue of the old bark sparkles in a gray winter January landscape and the new growth is, well, peachy colored.

The genus itself, Prunus should sound familiar.  Just last Sunday I posted on a far more recognizable species of Prunus - the cherry tree.  Also known as Prunus x. yedoensis, Prunus serrulata, etc.

Indeed, cherries are more popular for ornamental purposes whereas peaches are mainly grown for producing fruit.  The species name, persica literally means "peach" in Latin.  It was believed the plant was from Persia (Iran) but now we know that it is originally native to China but its origin became confused on its trip to Europe via the Silk Road.

Now then, as a former resident of Athens, Georgia, I will not contest the quality of Georgia or South Carolina peaches.  I get it.  But Jersey peaches are damn good.  And of course ecologically, who doesn't want to buy local?  The geology of the region lends itself to good produce (ergo the "Garden State") - low flat land with sandy soil and a high water table (typical for the Atlantic Coastal Plain) makes for good farming.  

In fact, my family loves Jersey produce so much, we play a terrible game.  Go to the farmer's stand and pick one thing.  What do you get?  For me, it's an easy game until I get down to the final three: tomatoes, blueberries and peaches.  All delicious.   

 

Though peaches do make the best pies. 

Strange Art

Yesterday, I was heading back to DC after a weekend in NYC and southern New Jersey.  I was giving my mom a lift back to DC as well and we had to stop to take pictures of this funny little sculpture.

I think it's part bunny, part Max from Where the Wild Things Are.  In any case, it's a strange surprise to encounter on a relatively quiet rural road in south Jersey.

Wilson Hall, Monmouth University...And Annie

Last Friday, I went to a conference at Monmouth University.  The topic was Building a Sustainable Future For New Jersey’s Coastal and Ocean Economy and was sponsored by the Jersey Shore Partnership and Monmouth's Urban Coast Institute.  Various presenters spoke about their research, whether it was about offshore windmills, fisheries or the impacts of climate change on the coastal environment and a panel discussion followed.

It was a great conference, but I'm actually not blogging about those topics today.  You see, the conference was held in Monmouth's historic Wilson Hall.  Upon entering the building, I swear I was hit with a sense of deja vu.  Of course, that could have also been plain awe at the majesty of the building.  It's an unassuming enough structure from the outside, much like other buildings on a college campus.  But the atrium space was beautiful.

Commenting on the building to a companion, I was told this building was used for filming the movie version of Annie.  That explains why it was so familiar.  In 1981, shortly before my family moved to Kuala Lumpur, my dad took me to see the stage production in Philly.  It was probably - at that point - the most exciting night of my relatively short life.  For years afterwards, while we endured long car trips to distant vacation spots on the Malay peninsula, my family had to endure repeated playings of the original broadway soundtrack.

I was bitterly disappointed when the film came out.  I mean, I was pretty young, but I remember being indignant (!!) at the liberties they took with the original story and changes they made to the songlist.  Still, it could be watched on VHS, again repeatedly, so I made due with what I had and watched the movie often enough.

In any event, recently my family was discussing the musical and we played the soundtrack.  It was hilarious to see my brother, now a grown man, remember lyrics to songs he hadn't heard since 1981.  Some things just get imprinted on your brain, I suppose.

Tilework in the ladies' room - note the mosque design with minarets topped with crescent moons.

In any case, it was a delight to see Wilson Hall.  It's called such because Woodrow Wilson stayed there in 1916 during his campaign. It was designed by Horace Trumbauer of Philadelphia, who also employed Julian Abele on the project, who was the first professional African-American architect.  Abele also worked on another building that's fairly iconic in the movie world: the Philadelphia Museum of Art.   If that previous link isn't enough youtube on your Monday morning, here's the scene in Annie where she first visits Wilson Hall (or Daddy Warbucks' home).

Clematis paniculata

I have a fond spot in my heart for Clematis paniculata, or sweet autumn clematis, since it was one of the very first plants I learned in my ornamental plants class at Virginia Tech, way back in 1993.  

It's a lovely fall-blooming perennial vine, which is somewhat unnoticeable until this time of year. 

Below, it is growing near the boardwalk in Southern New Jersey. 

 

I have blogged about Clematis before, though those species were crosses of Clematis x jackmanii.   As you can see the flowers below are far different.  They are smaller, with strappier petals and only occur in shades of white. 

 

There's some debate as to whether this plant is invasive or not (some simply call it "vigorous").  I haven't seen this invade woodlands or pop up along highways but inevitably I will start to see that now that I've posted this.  What about you?  Any chance you've seen this plant where it shouldn't be?