Favorite moments

Looking back at last week's Cape May adventure, there are a few special moments that are still jumping into my head:



My first Taylor pork roll...it's a Jersey thing. Laura-The-Local was unable to tell me exactly where the meat comes from, but I tried it anyway...with Laura's recommendation of "salt, pepper, ketchup". She says it's to hide the taste of the meat. Well, then. Why have meat at all?
It was good, by the way. In a preschooler-taste sort of way. Kathi would have loved it. (she has a taste for food similar to a 4 year old)

Lynne, Delia and I went to Sunset Beach to look for Cape May "Diamonds", aka tumbled, clear quartz stones. Sunset Beach is unique in that it faces Delaware Bay and doesn't get the high fierce waves that the other beaches do, presumably.

If my knees could have taken it, I would still be there, digging through the rocks.

We were also on the lookout for all the critters I had found the day before (hermit crabs, etc.)
I still don't have a name for these guys:





This shrimpy-crabby-thing was too cute. So I ate him.

And really, any time I get to spend with Delia is a good time.

I'm very proud of the way she has hit the ground running, kicking a** and taking names. This is her new ride. Suh-weet.

I was thoroughly impressed that Lynne found a stuffed turkey vulture. I think she named it Earl.

Had to do the "bird presentation" pose with the thing...with Delia and Jay helping (love the bunny ears)

That stupid black snake kept us riveted...since there weren't any birds to watch.
In this pic, Jay has just nudged the snake to get its gander up...and Jay looks as if he is about to break into a RiverDance.



(If you are wondering why I am linking the BirdJam website repeatedly...well, Jay informed us that he has a set up with Google (that anyone can get, if they really really want to) that tells them when anyone is linking to BirdJam. Ever Googled your blog? It's amazing where it can pop up. So whenever I mention Jay...or BirdJam...or iPods...or whatever...it's gonna get back to him.

Hi, Jay!!!!! Just holding up my end of the bargain!
(I am so kidding. There was no trading of "goods".)


One of the memories that keeps bubbling to the surface...

I can't believe I am posting this.

At the C-View on Saturday, we all got together to bond, eat and drink. I had made a pledge that I would get a corporate sponsor for my blog and bought a low-cut shirt just for that purpose. It would be my "Sponsorship Shirt".
Since my "girls" are out there enough to knock over nearby lamps, I thought it would be easy. But either everyone was too drunk or my shirt wasn't cut low enough, because I got zero sponsorships.
But I found a new way to use the boobage (must have been the Amaretto Sours talking).

Kathi had brought buckeyes for everyone, perhaps to increase the OSU mojo (nothing says "I care" like a gift of poisonous nut) and my cleavage was a perfect resting place for MY buckeye.


(Self-Edit...Due to the uncomfortable squirming of my husband, I have edited this photo...but I couldn't just take it all the way off the post. It's too funny)
And contrary to others' claims, I did NOT try to crack it.

Oh, yeah....BIRDS.

Well, yeah...we did more than just drop F Bombs all weekend. There was actually some birding going on.
My travel agent found us the sweetest lodging...a condo overlooking a marsh (complete with smell of decaying vegatation). Mornings were especially fabulous, with fallouts rummaging the phragmites right below the back deck.
Ever seen a yellow-rumped warbler from above? I hadn't.



Kathi was good enough to point out a lifer for me...a juvenile black-crowned night heron:


The Saturday morning banding demo produced a very angry male Cooper's Hawk:

...being held by a fellow blogger:

That's John from A DC Birding Blog. A very quiet but well-spoken guy. I really pay attention to banding demos and other people discussing raptors. I might pick up some new info.


On the eco-boat trip, I got more lifers:

Brant. A very cute little sea goose. They were hard to miss....like only about 100 of them floating on their own raft of goose-ness.


Fish crow...another lifer.

This one's for my father-in-law, Swami, because he seems to have no idea what a loon looks like:

A common loon. Not a lifer, but the best look I have had yet. Every time I look at this photo, I think, "...and a one...and a two..."

A sight you don't see every day....a peregrine falcon sitting on an osprey nest:

That was a highlight of the boat trip...then we got more PEFA:

Two of them sitting on a water tower.

I had been bitching and whining about "I wanna see oystercatchers!" at the bar the night before, and Beth-The-Lurker (Hi, Beth! Now you have to comment!) said I should see some on the boat trip.
We didn't see one....we saw two dozen.

A weirdly fascinating bird. A huge straight reddish-orange bill and crazy yellow/orange eyes. Click HERE for a good view of one.

All in all, I got 66 bird species at Cape May with five lifers:
American Oystercatcher
Black-crowned Night Heron
American Black-bellied Plover
Brant
Fish Crow

Not bad for only birding about 20 percent of the trip.
: )
Tomorrow, a post about my oldest child and her seventh birthday!

We try to be good birders...but just can't help ourselves.

What's that smell? (The Official New Jersey State Motto)

There are many things I have learned over the past weekend:



1. A Subaru is capable of holding 27, 567 of Kathi's bags.
(For the record, I had one suitcase and one beading bag. The rest of this hot mess belongs to Kathi.)



2. Birders have very strange mating rituals.


3. Bird Bloggers will take a picture of anything....including you taking a picture of them.




4. Bird Bloggers will point at imaginary birds if you point your camera at them.




5. There are people out there who will be thrilled to see a Black Vulture and do the Life Bird Dance because of it.


6. There is a company out there who makes Turkey Vulture stuffed animals.
(Three guesses as to who bought this...thing.)



7. Juvenile Black Skimmers will idly play with sticks.


8. It's fun to watch a Minnesotan dip her toes in the Atlantic for the first time.
(Yes, she is saying, "Brrrrrrr!")


>Friends are beautiful.


10. Bar tabs can be very large in New Jersey.

11. If you say the word "groupies" while on an Owl Walk, it will sound like "Herpes" and everyone in the group will stop in their tracks immediately.

12. Southern New Jersey smells weird. Laura says it's all the marshes, but I have to wonder.

Preparing for the Garden State

Things you didn’t know about NJ (well, Laura probably knows most of this)


The first organized baseball game was played in Hoboken, NJ in 1846.

New Jersey’s State House is the second oldest still in use. (Maryland has the oldest.)

New Jersey was known as the "Pathway of the Revolution." Over 100 battles were fought on New Jersey soil.

New Jersey has more horses per square mile than any other state. And more race horses than Kentucky. (REALLY?)

The properties in the United States version of the board game Monopoly are named after the streets of Atlantic City.

New Jersey is one of only two states (along with Oregon) where self-service filling of gasoline is prohibited. (Check out that link to my own introduction to that stooopid rule)

The first professional basketball game was played in Trenton, NJ in 1896.

New Jersey has 127 miles of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.

New Jersey is home to more than 9,800 farms covering 790,000 acres of farmland.

North Jersey is the car-theft capital of the country, with more cars stolen in Newark than any other city. (Lynne, get in your rental car and drive HELL BENT FOR LEATHER.)

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are in New Jersey (Did I sleep through that history class? I thought they were in New York)

The longest boardwalk in the world is in Atlantic City.

Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

New Jersey has a spoon museum with over 5, 400 spoons from almost all the states. (Wow. can we go see THAT?)

It's illegal to sell cabbage on Sunday in New Jersey. (Oh, come on! Are you kidding me???)

Look out, New Jersey. Bits of Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Ohio are coming your way!

(Delia and Laura, October 2007, Cape May, NJ)
PS....How's this for a good sign? Kathi and I are driving across the world to reach New Jersey on my blog's THIRD birthday.

Not what I thought..and exactly what I thought

It was in a cemetery. Hanging out with Canada Geese....
(Now is the time of year to actually study flocks of Canada's...you might get a nice surprise, like a Cackling Goose or Snow Goose)

I parked in the cemetery and took lots of pictures.
The new car hasn't been filled with all of my field guides yet, so I had to wait until I got home to check on this bird.


I was hoping it was a Greater White-Fronted Goose.

Sibley says it is a Canada Goose X Greater White-Fronted Goose hybrid.
Dammit.
I don't remember the page number...look up "Greater White-Fronted Goose". There are some hybrid illustrations.

Still a cute bird. A nice blend of the two species...a white chin strap, but pink/orange feet. Basically the same body structure, but a really thick neck.
Is this a big deal? Or are they very common? Is this worth noting to anyone?

At home, the first Northern migrant showed up today:
(I had sworn off sparrow ID's, but now that I know juvenile chipping sparrows, I can be sure of a few things)
A young white-crowned sparrow was kick-scratching in the mulch, and I looked at it long and hard before deciding what it was:

Why is it a white-crowned? Pink/orange bill, dark eyeline, pale cheeks, no central breast spot, brown stripes on the head, white wing bars, and the same size as a House Sparrow (thanks again to Sibley). I don't know if I have ever seen a first year WCSP. Maybe I just blurred over them, thinking they were HOSP.