Jeannette and I have just returned from a week in New Jersey. Heading there for a wedding, we decided to make this into a little bit of a vacation. However, as usual, I crammed far to many things into too short of a visit. But, we had a great trip, seeing some good friends, dear family, and good birds. However, after each visit to New Jersey, I become successively happier to see that “Maine: The Way Life Should Be” sign upon our return. Cliché or not, I think it’s true, and we commented about this as we finally made it across the Piscataqua River. But, once again, our vacation came to an abrupt end when we got to our driveway. This time, 8-10 inches were piled high, and partially frozen, on top of the bed of 2-3 inches of ice that had built up before we left. Is this REALLY the way life should be?

Anyway, as I mentioned, we packed a bunch of things, birding and non, into our week. In addition to daily walks at various local park, we had three more lengthy birding outings.

The first, on Wednesday (2/27) was a chase of the Barnacle Goose that has been overwintering in Hunterdon County, in west-central NJ. We spent about 5 hours searching various farm fields and ponds, all to no avail. We checked all three of the big area reservoirs, but not only did we not find the Barnacle Goose, we only saw a few hundred scattered Canadas! 3 to 4,000 Snow Geese were amassing on Merrill Creek Reservoir (even that was fairly low for the area), which was quite a show nonetheless, as the whole flock was being eyed by a female Bald Eagle from her nest. The best bird of the day was a fairly-rare-inland Red-necked Grebe that we found on Round Valley Reservoir, along with a flock of 123 American Coots.

While few people who have not spent any real time in Jersey (Newark Airport and the NJ Turnpike don’t count!) would place that above photo in the state, it’s only fair – in the name of truly fair and balanced (unlike a certain faux news network) reporting – to then also share the following shots, snapped from the train as we headed into New York City on Thursday.

That evening, after enjoying dinner with friends in New Brunswick, my good friend Mark joined us to take in the Rutgers Women's Basketball Game verses DePaul. Although we had not planned it this way, we ended up seeing a historic win for RU, as coach C. Vivian Stringer became only the 3rd Woman, and 8th NCAA Division I basketball coach to win 800 games.

So, on Thursday, as I mentioned, Jeannette and I headed into NYC. Once in the city, we enjoyed an afternoon with friends as we wandered around Times Square and Rockefeller Center. Unfortunately, it was one of the coldest days of the winter in the City, so we felt all-too-at-home.

Times Square:

Rockefeller Center:

Toys-R-Us:

One of our friends works at NASDAQ, so we had a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on there, which I found incredibly interesting. We also witnessed the closing bell, which was rung this day by Oscar Del La Hoya. But, the real highlight was dinner at Mesa Grill. Jeannette and I have wanted to eat here for a very long time, as Bobby Flay is our favorite chef. And, it did not disappoint. In fact, for the first time since I have known her, the food was so good that my friend Beth was speechless!

(By the way, I had the pan-roasted leg of venison with crushed ancho-blackberry chili sauce and a chorizo-goat cheese tamale with thyme butter and a side of smoked collared greens - and Beth had the same, see above. It was really, really, good, but Jeannette’s cornmeal crusted chili relleno with acorn squash, sage, goat cheese with a fig-cascabel chili sauce was unbelievable!)

After missing our train, and having to spend an extra hour in Penn Station, Jeannette and I hardly got an early start to our Friday outing, to the Pine Barrens. The first stop was the fascinating and unique Pygmy Pine Forest, a large area where the Pitch Pines and Blackjack Oaks that dominate the area barely reach your head! A combination of wind, poor and dry soil, and possibly other factors result in a habitat very similar to the spruce krummholz of Maine’s mountain tops.

Then, we headed over to Whitesbog, an area of cranberry bogs (New Jersey is third in cranberry production, following only Wisconsin and Massachusetts) and parkland. The area is known for its staging Tundra Swans (and its summer-time Gull-billed Terns), which peak in March, as hundreds will gather before departing north. Well, either they haven’t arrived yet, or they have already departed, as not a single swan was to be found! Only 5 Hooded Mergansers joined a few Mallards and American Black Ducks here today.

The wedding was Friday night, which obviously meant limited birding on Saturday, but a walk at Manasquan Reservoir did produce the local pair of Bald Eagles and 30-40 Common Mergansers.

Sunday was our final day in the state, and we had thought about sleeping in an leisurely working our way home. But, after the near-complete-failure of our first two birding adventures (no Barnacle Goose or Tundra Swans), I felt I needed to leave on a high note, so we headed over to one of my very favorite places to bird – and one of my original “patches” – Sandy Hook. Three great rarities – two of them that would be state birds – have been present, and rarely does a visit to Sandy Hook not produce something of interest.

While a Western Grebe (one of the aforementioned potential state birds) had not been seen in a few days, we spent an hour or so scouring the shoreline, just in case. But, when we decided to move on, we stopped at the oft-productive Spermaceti Cove, which today -as it has been for a while now – hosting a massive aggregation on 10,000 to 15,000 Greater Scaup!

We sifted through a large portion of the birds for other species mixed in – we were hoping to find a Tufted Duck in particular- but all we were able to tease out of the masses were some (8++) Lesser Scaup, most of which were identified as small groups would fly from one end of the cove to the other, allowing the wing-stripes – and the smaller size of the Lessers – to be readily apparent.

It was hard to pull ourselves away from the spectacle, but when we did, we were once again duly rewarded. A Townsend’s Solitaire has been present here for over 80 days now, and our second pass through its favorite area produced excellent views.

Townsend’s Solitaire is a tremendous bird in NJ, but I actually saw another long-staying bird some 10 or so years ago. My hope for a state bird was now down to one familiar friend – a Bohemian Waxwing (or two) that has been wandering around the Hook with Cedar Waxwings for over a month. We ran into some friends – and some new acquaintances – as we searched high and low for our quarry. Leaving the area of the boy scout camp, Jeannette and I followed Pete and Sandra as we drove around in order to check some favored areas. Finally, a flock of waxwings passed overhead, and I spotted one larger bird with them, that didn’t seem dark enough to be an European Starling. But, as I slammed on the brakes, I lost sight of the bird.

We turned around, heading back in the directions of the flock, and streams of Cedar Waxwings, European Starlings, and some American Robins began to pass overhead, but we were soon shooed off the side of the road by a Park Ranger. The birds seemed to be heading back towards the Boy Scout Camp, so birders rendezvoused there, and we decided to play the waiting game, hoping the flock would pass overhead. I began to think how silly it was that we were spending hours – and we had wanted to begin our long drive over an hour ago – looking for a bird that we see so many of at home. But, that’s the thrills – and the agony – of state listing.

We were contemplating giving up, but then I heard the distinctive low, rattle-trill of the BoWax, and we all looked up to see a large, gray waxwing with rufous undertail coverts passing overhead. NJ Bird # 331 for me, and with our success – I credit our day’s good luck to the Pork Roll, egg, and cheese on a bagel that we both had for breakfast – we said our goodbyes and heading on the road to get one last meal of “real” pizza.

We tallied 18 Red-tailed Hawks between Sandy Hook and the Massachusetts border (when the sun was setting), but arriving around 8:30pm, we decided to put off that aforementioned driveway debacle until this morning. Since that took well over two hours to be deemed “mostly passable,” my birding was limited to the drive to the store. However, passing the crabapple trees of the Pine Tree Academy on Pownal Road as I do every morning, I was welcomed home by a flock of 175-200 (yup, you guessed it!) Bohemian Waxwings – just as an exclamation point to the occasional silliness of things like state listing. And, just – I think – to poke fun at me, among the flock was a single Cedar Waxwings (and two Pine Grosbeaks). Yes, indeed, this is the way life should be!