Don Torino's latest column is about reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving. Here's the beginning:

"My love of Thanksgiving has much less to do with Pilgrims and much more to do with giving thanks to the many wild places we are fortunate enough to enjoy here in New Jersey.

"For me Thanksgiving always started out spending a few hours in the morning enjoying nature before sitting down to dinner."

And another sample: "Watching a Red-tail soaring over the trees or a Chickadee caching a sunflower seed in your backyard Oak tree, connecting with nature on this wonderful day reminds us that there is something bigger than ourselves out there, and that we need to give thanks for many things in nature that we sometimes take for granted." Amen.

The link is here. (A nice pic by Mike Malzone, too.)

Lake Appert was mostly frozen this a.m., with Wood Ducks, Green-winged Teal, two Black Ducks and a Mallard in or near the one small patch of open water.

Did not see any Am. Wigeons or Northern Shovelers or the Redhead, but maybe when the lake thaws... (Not too optimistic.)

That baby Snapping Turtle I found near the Celery Farm the other week got me to thinking about other Snapping Turtles I have seen there.

My favorite, in a perverse way, is a shot of a baby Snapping Turtle about to be eaten by a young Red-shouldered Hawk.Snapping Turtles are notorious predators, so it was kind of cool to see one as prey. (You live by the sword, you die by the sword.)

Here are a few others, including the shot below of a small Snapping Turtle that I put on the back of a huge snapping turtlle for size comparison:

http://celeryfarm.net/2014/06/baby-snapping-turtle-on-the-move.html

http://celeryfarm.net/2012/03/worlds-biggest-snapping-turtle.html

http://celeryfarm.net/2015/09/snapping-turtle-refuses-to-stay-on-trail.html

Ron Shields found the American Bittern in the pennywort (?) to the right of the Osprey Platform. Best seen from Pirie-Mayhood Tower but did see him from the Warden's Watch.

Did not see the Redhead...

I know that folks from as far away as out of state have been to the Celery Farm to see our rare Redhead.

Question for all: How far did you travel to see the Redhead?

The person who traveled the farthest wins a signed copy of the book about the Celery Farm, "In the Presence of Nature," by Jerry Barrack, Doug Goodell and yours truly. Foreword is by some guy named Sibley. 

This might go into an article for a local newspaper, so please help out!

E-mail me (Jim W.) at celeryfarm (at) gmail.com