The Sandy Hook Christmas Seals

 I know them as the The Sandy Hook Christmas Seals. 

For as long as I can remember, 

like clockwork, every Christmas Day the Harbor Seals appeared at Sandy Hook.

This article has some great information about seals that have been rescued, rehabilitated  

and then returned to the wild.

A large group, maybe 50 or so, return to the area to rest on the jetties.

This article has some interesting information about the seals.

It was another cloudy day, when the sun is out, the water is a beautiful blue.

I used the zoom on my camera, but did not crop any of these pictures.

When the zoom on my camera is fully extended it read 2000mm.

Sharing today's images with Eileen at 

Viewing Nature With Eileen 

for Saturday Critters

Sandy Hook, NJ

We recently drove to Sandy Hook to see the Harbor Seals that have been calling the area home since Christmas.

Fort Hancock at Sandy Hook is a former United States Army Fort, 

and is now a National Historic Landmark. 

So the bonus was to see and photograph the seals, and to explore and photograph this former Army Base.

This site was selected for the base to protect and defend the coastline here and the New York City Harbor.

The Base was once bustling with service members and their families who lived here.

A few of the buildings have been restored, most have not.

A contractor was hired and some effort was put into restoring some of the buildings and homes.

But there was such a debate over whether the homes should be sold or rented,

I'm not really sure where things ended up!!

Most of the chimneys have these huge osprey nests.

Battery Potter

with a bonus deer, they were everywhere.

We have not seen many sunny days, these pictures would have been much better had the sun been out,

and the sky been blue.

But the weather was great otherwise, it was warm and it was not raining.

I have been here before and this is a really cool place to visit and take pictures.

I will show you the seals tomorrow!