The "Stone Harbor's Wetlands Institute" Story

The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor as shown on their
Facebook page.  Click on photographs to enlarge them.

It was an ordinary day.  Visiting the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, New Jersey.  It was back in 1992 that my wife Carol and myself, along with my parents, made our first visit to the Institute.  Enjoyed our visit so much that we bought one the the prints offered for sale that year for their Wings and Water Festival.  

One of the many poster hanging in our Wings & Water bedroom. 

Over the years since then we have purchased about a dozen other prints to help their Institute as well as to decorate one of the bedrooms in our house which we now call our Wings & Water Room.  My trip today is to see once again the wonderful job that this non-profit organization, which was started in 1969, does to help protect the wetlands and its wildlife in Stone Harbor.  

Panorama showing some of the Wetlands.

The Wetlands Institute sits on 6,000 acres of protected wetlands which you must drive through as you cross from the mainland to the Seven Mile Island which is shared by the towns of Avalon and Stone Harbor.  The staff at the Institute is amazing!  

A few of the waterfowl visiting the Wetlands.

When I arrived I paid for my ticket and sat in on a short film telling of the Institute and the wetlands before our guide took the dozen or so guests on a walking tour of the wetlands.  We got to examine many of the plants and foliage and learn how each affects the environment of the wetlands.  

One of many metal enclosures placed over areas
where Diamondback turtle eggs were located.
This helps keep predators from eating the eggs.

As we walked we saw small bright blue metal labels at various locations along the trail.  We were told they were locations where female Diamondback turtles had laid eggs.  They were marked so when they begin to hatch the staff can gather them before they are eaten by other rodents or birds.  They are kept at the Institute until they are large enough to be released into the wetlands.  We walked the metal walkways that cover the wetlands as our guide talked about the birds we could see and the other wildlife that might me in the wetlands under and around us. A few of the birds that call the wetlands home are mute swans, American black ducks, snowy egrets, Canadian geese, red-wing blackbirds and swamp sparrows.  

A small crab that our guide picked up to show us.

We stopped at one point and our guide picked up a crab to show the size of the one claw it had.  The claw was half the weight of the crab.  As we looked out over the expansive wetlands we were told that the majority of all the wildlife, from fish to crustaceans, in this area will begin its life in these wetlands.  Interesting trip and well worth the time for anyone wanting to experience the wetlands.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The only Monarch butterfly I saw.  Migration starts in a few weeks at the Wetlands.

A small Diamondback turtle in their research center.   

An octopus in the research center.

One final photo before I departed.