Thursday, October 31, 2019
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Big Rain Before the Munich Phil.
10-29-19 SHORT HILLS: We had 3.1 inches of rain during the big storm this week. The sump pump was running for the first time in months. Last night we got another 0.1 inch. Everything is soaked this morning.
We were at NJPAC on Sunday afternoon along with half an auditorium’s worth of folks to hear the Munich Philharmonic. It seemed like a better idea than watching the Giants or Jets struggle and lose.
The orchestra opened with Mendelssohn’s Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and then played Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Behzod Abduraimov on piano. He is another twenty-something pianist, an Uzbek, who got a standing O from the sparse crowd and rewarded us with an encore. After intermission, they played Symphony No.5 by Shostakovich. Valery Gergiev conducts the orchestra.
Saturday night we had dinner at Leeza and Roger’s place in NYC with Lynn and Bill, kudos to the hosts.
Red is beginning, there's enough for everyone.
NJPAC stage and the Munich Philharmonic.
We were at NJPAC on Sunday afternoon along with half an auditorium’s worth of folks to hear the Munich Philharmonic. It seemed like a better idea than watching the Giants or Jets struggle and lose.
The orchestra opened with Mendelssohn’s Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and then played Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Behzod Abduraimov on piano. He is another twenty-something pianist, an Uzbek, who got a standing O from the sparse crowd and rewarded us with an encore. After intermission, they played Symphony No.5 by Shostakovich. Valery Gergiev conducts the orchestra.
Saturday night we had dinner at Leeza and Roger’s place in NYC with Lynn and Bill, kudos to the hosts.
Red is beginning, there's enough for everyone.
NJPAC stage and the Munich Philharmonic.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Cape May Cruise.
10-25-19 SHORT HILLS: We’re back, and I have edited the pix. The camera and I were working like a well-oiled machine on our second day. We had a morning boat trip on the Osprey around the bay and salt marshes. Captain Bob provided binocs, guide books and commentary and knew just where to go for the birds. We saw herons, egrets, brants, an osprey, hawks, cormorants, shore birds, waders, a loon, kingfishers, gulls, terns, vultures. The boat dock was a few minutes from the Mission Inn where we had had a great breakfast.
After the cruise we hit the land sites again before heading north on the GSP. It was a great two days of birding. I don’t think I saw anybody new, but it was nice to see a bunch of old friends. If we go back in the spring, we may catch the birds in breeding plumage, now they are all in non-breeding mode.
There are still lots of flowers in bloom and several monarch butterflies flitting around, as well as sulfurs and a buckeye.
Double crested cormorant, one of three cormorant species that we saw.
Great blue heron showing pretty pink thighs. It's not often that we see herons facing us, usually we get the profile view.
American oyster catchers on a sand bar at low tide.
Tricolor heron, in profile, hanging out with the egrets.
Greater yellow legs. Now how did it get that name?
Black bellied plovers in non-breeding outfits.
Belted kingfisher. This guy was the only one that posed long enough for a picture.
Surf scoters.
Back at the ponds on land, a Canada goose.
Savannah sparrow, I think, they're hard to tell from song sparrows.
Yellow-rumped warbler.
After the cruise we hit the land sites again before heading north on the GSP. It was a great two days of birding. I don’t think I saw anybody new, but it was nice to see a bunch of old friends. If we go back in the spring, we may catch the birds in breeding plumage, now they are all in non-breeding mode.
There are still lots of flowers in bloom and several monarch butterflies flitting around, as well as sulfurs and a buckeye.
Double crested cormorant, one of three cormorant species that we saw.
Great blue heron showing pretty pink thighs. It's not often that we see herons facing us, usually we get the profile view.
American oyster catchers on a sand bar at low tide.
Tricolor heron, in profile, hanging out with the egrets.
Greater yellow legs. Now how did it get that name?
Black bellied plovers in non-breeding outfits.
Belted kingfisher. This guy was the only one that posed long enough for a picture.
Surf scoters.
Back at the ponds on land, a Canada goose.
Savannah sparrow, I think, they're hard to tell from song sparrows.
Yellow-rumped warbler.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Cape May, New Jersey.
10-22-19 CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY: We drove south on the GSP in heavy rain until we passed the exit for Long Beach Island. As we passed Atlantic City, it was only a drizzle, and when we reached Ocean City, the rain had stopped. Cape May, exit zero, was almost dry, but densely overcast.
We took a quick peek at the ocean, gentle surf, and headed downtown for lunch. After crab and lobster rolls, we drove to our first birding site at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge on Sunset Blvd.
There are gravel trails around beach ponds and through typical beach vegetation, small trees, blueberry bushes, sumac, and viewing platforms and blinds. There were lots of birds on the water, mallards and Canada geese, some swans. Raptors were circling above, including a bald eagle, and many small birds darting around in the brush. I mis-set the camera, and a lot of pix were over exposed and worthless, but some videos came out nicely.
We went on to Higbee beach, a more primitive site with sand trails, but saw only sand crabs and pretty Delaware Bay shore line, so we headed to the Cape May Light House observation area, a state park. There were many swans, an eagle, mallards, a snowy egret and I got a nice pic of a northern mockingbird. Audubon staff were on duty to help with ID's.
Be late afternoon it was time to check in at the Mission Inn, our B & B, before dinner at Peter Shields Inn and then back to the room for World Series Game One.
Northen mockingbird.
Many mallards, in the water feeding and resting on land.
Sand crab scurrying across the trail.
We took a quick peek at the ocean, gentle surf, and headed downtown for lunch. After crab and lobster rolls, we drove to our first birding site at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge on Sunset Blvd.
There are gravel trails around beach ponds and through typical beach vegetation, small trees, blueberry bushes, sumac, and viewing platforms and blinds. There were lots of birds on the water, mallards and Canada geese, some swans. Raptors were circling above, including a bald eagle, and many small birds darting around in the brush. I mis-set the camera, and a lot of pix were over exposed and worthless, but some videos came out nicely.
We went on to Higbee beach, a more primitive site with sand trails, but saw only sand crabs and pretty Delaware Bay shore line, so we headed to the Cape May Light House observation area, a state park. There were many swans, an eagle, mallards, a snowy egret and I got a nice pic of a northern mockingbird. Audubon staff were on duty to help with ID's.
Be late afternoon it was time to check in at the Mission Inn, our B & B, before dinner at Peter Shields Inn and then back to the room for World Series Game One.
Northen mockingbird.
Many mallards, in the water feeding and resting on land.
Sand crab scurrying across the trail.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Burning Bush Color.
10-21-19 SHORT HILLS: We got another 0.5 inches of rain yesterday, maybe the drought is over. Tomorrow we are off to Cape May at the southern tip of NJ. It’s like a thumb sticking out into Delaware Bay and is famous as an R and R spot for migrating birds on their way south now, and on their way north in the spring. There are many acres of wetland and bayshore. Full report to follow.
I did a couple hours of picking up broken branches and picking them off the shrubs after the recent storms. Witch-hazel is just opening here. but already opened in VT. The late bloomers open up earlier there than here, the opposite of the early season bloomers that open here first.
New blooms: witch-hazel.
Nice early color on burning bushes.
I did a couple hours of picking up broken branches and picking them off the shrubs after the recent storms. Witch-hazel is just opening here. but already opened in VT. The late bloomers open up earlier there than here, the opposite of the early season bloomers that open here first.
New blooms: witch-hazel.
Nice early color on burning bushes.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Bach and Mendelssohn.
10-19-19 SHORT HILLS: We had a nice rainstorm midweek with 2.2 inches of precip and a lot of wind that blew a bunch of small branches out of the trees. Otherwise the weather has been seasonal and dry.
We were at Carnegie Hall for a concert on Thursday by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Bernard Labadie conducting. They played Mendelssohn and Bach. There were two Bach Keyboard Concertos, BWV 1052 and 1056. The pianist was Beatrice Rana, a 26 year old Italian, who has been performing since age 9. She got so much applause that she gave us an encore piece.
The Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony closed the concert and the Hebrides Overture opened it. Dinner before the concert was at Trattoria Dell’Arte across the street from Carnegie. We were pleased with the meal as much as the concert.
Beatrice Rana after playing Bach Keyboard Concertos getting a big round of applause.
Carnegie Hall as beautiful as always.
The orchestra members wander in.
In Vermont, the ramps for the bridge to be built across the waterless stream. The white 2x4's are place holders and will be replaced with pressure treated wood.
Pride Rock will work out for easy boat access.
We were at Carnegie Hall for a concert on Thursday by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Bernard Labadie conducting. They played Mendelssohn and Bach. There were two Bach Keyboard Concertos, BWV 1052 and 1056. The pianist was Beatrice Rana, a 26 year old Italian, who has been performing since age 9. She got so much applause that she gave us an encore piece.
The Mendelssohn Scottish Symphony closed the concert and the Hebrides Overture opened it. Dinner before the concert was at Trattoria Dell’Arte across the street from Carnegie. We were pleased with the meal as much as the concert.
Beatrice Rana after playing Bach Keyboard Concertos getting a big round of applause.
Carnegie Hall as beautiful as always.
The orchestra members wander in.
In Vermont, the ramps for the bridge to be built across the waterless stream. The white 2x4's are place holders and will be replaced with pressure treated wood.
Pride Rock will work out for easy boat access.
Friday, October 18, 2019
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