Photo Of The Day: June 28, 2008

You may have heard of our local area's latest claim to fame. It's been on ABC-TV, Fox, The Washington Post, and even WHO-TV in Des Moines. But The Associated Press stated it as well as anyone, so I'll just quote from their release: "The latest visitors to the New Jersey shore are doing what many tourists do: splashing around in the waves with the kids and feasting on seafood. Between 12 to 14 dolphins — including at least three calves — have been frolicking in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers for the past two weeks, the likely result of a wrong turn inland following schools of bait fish. The dolphins have been drawing crowds along the banks of both rivers, not to mention a flotilla of boats and kayaks. Wildlife officials and volunteers worry that the dolphins could be injured or killed by heavy boat traffic in the narrow waterways, particularly with July Fourth approaching. They're working on a plan to coax the dolphins out to the open waters of Sandy Hook Bay and then the ocean. The group is leading efforts to try to get the dolphins out of the river. If [thunderstorms] don't chase the dolphins away, a team of about 40 animal rescue and environmental officials from as far away as North Carolina and Massachusetts will try to shoo them out of the river next week." So yesterday I went out to look and sure enough, there they were. Here's a composite of four shots. The top left shot is a bit blurry, but it was the only one I got that showed Flipper's face. I have to laugh at the fact that these dolphins only about a mile from my house were more prominent than any I saw during my entire Miami shoot last month. For more pictures of the ocean and animals, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.