Fall or Winter?

Well folks on the east coast are a little confused right now about which season we are in. Is it Fall or Winter?

Last weekend I planned Fall Festivus for myself and some friends from work. What is Fall Festivus you ask? Well it was a weekend packed full of all the fun things to do in the fall. On Saturday we went apple and pumpkin picking followed by a delicious dinner at the Long Valley Pub and Brewery. They have the most delicious Pumpkin beer! After we were throughly stuffed we went to Schaefer's Farm for 45 minutes of sheer terror. It started with a hair raising hayride that dropped you off in the middle of the woods for a treacherous trek which lead to massacre maize and lastly you had to make your way through the carnival of chaos. It was actually decently scary and in between our screams their were fits of laughter. On Sunday we did a hike up High Point Mountain to see all the glorious fall colors. It was a beautiful sunny day and the blue sky nicely contrasted all the red, orange, and yellow leaves.

The weather this weekend however was a bit of a shock when I woke up on Saturday to find a winter wonderland with snowflakes rapidly falling from the sky. The Nor'easter that was predicted indeed arrived and we got about 5-6inches of snow and temps were in the 20's at night. Brrr!!!! While most people threw the covers back over their heads I was actually excited for the snow and went running out to play in it. Turns out Kona loves the snow and he loves chasing and catching snowballs even more. After our morning romp it was time to start getting ready for the big Rutgers football game. Rutgers vs. West Virginia, in the middle of a snow storm! Call me crazy but yes I went and stood in the snow cheering on Rutgers until I couldn't stand their terrible playing any longer and left right before the game ended. It was a great game until the second half and then it all fell apart. By the time Sunday came the snow had stopped and most of it was starting to melt. The storm left behind a lot of down power lines and many broken trees but it was pretty for a little while.

Kona

As some of you may know I am now a dog owner. I found Kona as a courtesy post on petfinder and drove down to North Carolina the first weekend of April to get him. Since then Kona and I have been nearly inseparable! He is absolutely fantastic and I can take him anywhere. Including on my trip to Alaska (next post I write)!

Birds Birds Birds!

This post is for all my fellow bird nerds. One of the great aspects of my job is all the travel I get to do and all the birds I get to see in the process.

Antarctica: From October 2009-February 2010 I was living at Palmer Station Antarctica and this past year Novemeber 2010 to January 2011, I was on a two month cruise along the west coast of Antarctica. 

Adelie Penguins: Most of these pictures were taken at the Adelie Penguin colony at Torgerson Island. 

Chinstrap Penguins

Quite the treat! We found an Emperor penguin down by Charcot Island. Typically Emperor's are not seen that far North.

Gentoo Penguins. Last pic is a mom and two chicks at Port Lockroy Antarctica.

Antarctic Sheathbill adult and a rare sighting of a chick!

Antarctic Tern

Shag

Giant Petrol

Skua, these guys are pretty intense. There are superb hunters and often prey on penguin eggs and newborn penguin chicks. They are also quite aggressive towards humans.

Chile: At the end of my first season in Antarctica our cruise ended in Punta Arenas, Chile where I was able to go to a Magellanic Penguin colony. It was absolutely amazing to see penguins wandering around in a field with rabbits hopping about. Not quite what comes to mind when you think of penguins.

I also saw a Southern Caracara, not the best pictures through the dirty bus windows.

New Zealand: This year after Antarctica at the end of January I had the pleasure of spending some time on the South Island of New Zealand. I rented a camper van and spent 10 days driving all over and tried to document all the birds I saw. The first was a Quail family while I was hiking in Abel Tasman.

Weka aka the island chicken and her chick.

Black Swans

Oystercatchers

Yellow-Eyed Penguin. This was very cool towards the end of my trip I found out about a lighthouse on the coast that had setup a small bird blind. The Yellow-Eyed Penguin is considered the worlds rarest penguin and spends most of it time at sea feeding. Your best chances of trying to see them are around dusk when they return home.