Charlie Fineran’s Photo of the Week highlights an annual presentation he’s proud to be doing.
Every Summer I have the pleasure of making a Nature & Wildlife photo presentation, along with a Nature Walk, on behalf of Allamuchy Township’s Open Space Program, for the Allamuchy Township Elementary School’s, ‘SUMMER ENRICHMENT PROGRAM’ held at Mountain Villa School. This Summer 2021, the ‘Summer Enrichment Program’ was given a new name, which I think is quite appropriate, ‘CLOSING THE GAP’, celebrating the returning to some degree of normalcy after a year of Covid 19. The program is for children K thru 8th grade and this year runs through August 5th Monday -Thursday.
(NOTE: My presentation as Director Open Space, is a collaborate effort, including the Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission, Allamuchy Green Team – Sustainable Jersey and the Allamuchy Historical Society all working together and partnering with the Allamuchy Elementary School to assist in providing Fun, Educational and Recreational opportunities for our children!)
STORY BEHIND PHOTO OF THE WEEK:
Monday, July 19th checked my email and received an invitation from Kate Stiner, Science Teacher at Allamuchy Township Elementary School to make a photo presentation followed by a Nature Walk at this years Summer School Program. GREAT NEWS!! I knew they were having the Summer Sessions again, just not sure to what extent!! OK, I’m in, better check with Kate and get a date, time and TOPIC? Wonder if they have a special topic they want me to focus on?? I remember one year the topic was ‘Insects, Bugs and Other Crawly Things’ – Boy, did I have some fun photos for that presentation!! I also remember in 2019 did a presentation on ‘Celebrating 50th Year of Man on the Moon!!’ That was a special treat for the kids, The TV News was covering a lot of the activities and celebrations going on, AND, we showed and explained how Rutherfurd Hall was connected to those celebrations -SEE LINKS BELOW for those presentations!
Checked with Kate and decided to do a Wildlife Show!! I can also include wildlife photos taken on the property around the school, and relate to those as we do our Nature Walk!! We are all set, Thursday, July 22nd 10 a..m, I’ll get there early to set things up. Thursday morning arrived around 9:30 a.m. at Mountain Villa School, checked in and while waiting for Kate Stiner to take me up to the large resource room, had an opportunity to speak with our new School Superintendent Melissa Sabol. Advised of the program and mentioned I would like to use my program as in insidewarren.com story and use a couple of photos for that story!! She agreed!! OK, looks like I have our next Photo of the Week article!!
THE SLIDESHOW PRESENTATION:
Before we begin, WHAT A WONDERFUL SETTING!!!!!! Lets put things in perspective!! What a beautiful school and surrounding setting!! Mountain Villa School is located adjacent to beautiful Allamuchy Pond within Allamuchy Mountain State Park!! The school is literally attached to Historic Rutherfurd Hall!! As I reminded the students, you are very fortunate to have all this right at your school!! The school building itself is also special, designed to showcase the surrounding Natural and Historic Area along with having modern resource classrooms with wall to ceiling windows!!! Just look at the attached photos – A SPECIAL SETTING!!
Back to the slideshow. Created a Wildlife Photo Program, containing 77 photos, depicting both animals and birds from around our immediate area. Within the overall slideshow, had several series of photos, depicting ongoing activity. One example, watching a great blue Heron at a small pond by my home hunting. Showed the green algae coated pond, the heron poised on the bank, listening, trying to figure the location of a prey he can’t see, THEN WHAM, leaps into water and then comes out with a fish. This scenario repeated again with a second successful strike!! Another example, the Osprey’s fishing tactics, photo showing an Osprey hovering in the sky, looking down, waiting to careen talons first into the water, SPLASH, going completely under the water to grasp a fish. Those photos followed by the head popping up above water, then wings and then take off!! Ladies and Gentleman, this is a large bird with a six foot wingspan – entering the water with a big splash, coming out of water with a good size fish, (remember extra weight and not an aerodynamically friendly situation) it’s amazing they can get airborne!!
In the last series of photos, depicted the rescue and relocation of a fawn from under my vehicle which was also an insidewarren.com story! I included a photo of my Bird Chart, ‘What’s Your Wingspan’ which I used to show the size of many of these birds, that always generates some comments, as most people have seen these birds from afar, not realizing the actual, up close, and personal size!! Lastly, my game plan was to also include photos of wildlife taken by the school, Rutherfurd Hall and Allamuchy Pond, these photos would serve as proof that wildlife can live and visit at this site.
THE NATURE WALK:
Just prior to our walk, the groups went downstairs into the great room and had some snacks. We lost a few members who had other courses scheduled and we gained members from finished courses with some free time for our walk. Again refer to the photo of the great room, what a wonderful learning center!!
When doing our Nature walk around the site, it was quite amazing to see the number of signs of life these young students found along with small artifacts they found on their journey! Several times a child would call out and point to wildlife, a rabbit, various insects, birds overhead and birds not seen but HEARD!! It was also fun to point to a site and remind them that is where I took a photo of say a bear etc.!! GREAT JOB KIDS!!! It was also interesting and enjoyable to notice all the other outdoor activities available during our walk.
In closing, I would like to again thank Kate Stiner for inviting me and her staff helping me to share some Wildlife Photos during this ‘Closing The Gap’ Summer Program!! I would like to congratulate and acknowledge the hard work of all involved, remember folks, we have two schools, both staffs were involved creating a wonderful Summer experience of learning & fun!! The staff’s efforts have resulted in a wonderful diverse setting for these children, running the gamut from traditional educational courses, involving Science-Technology-Engineering-Math, also including reading specialists from Centenary University to out-right fun experiences, like boating, archery and outdoor skills! I believe everyone is doing an extremely important job in ‘CLOSING THE GAP’!!
CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN to Melissa Sabol – School Superintendent!!
Link to insidewarren.com article – https://www.insidewarren.com/photo-of-the-week-celebrating-the-lunar-landing-at-rutherfurd-hall/
Link to insidewarren.com article – https://www.insidewarren.com/charlie-finerans-pic-of-the-week-is-a-prayer/
Please visit my Flickr site for ‘Insects, Bugs and Other Crawly Things’ – https://www.flickr.com/photos/charliefineran/albums/72157671861516578
Enjoy Your Open Space
Charlie Fineran
Director Open Space, Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman
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