Greetings from the Jersey Shore

This summer has been somewhat different than the ordinary, at least for me. I spent the first six weeks of my summer break recovering from extremely invasive surgery (during which portions of twelve of my ribs were cut!). So, needless to say, I knew I was in for a relatively subdued list of summertime activities.

However, I started work in July at Wells Mills County Park, where I’ve volunteered and worked every summer since 2004. It is a beautiful, 900 acre slice of the unique New Jersey Pine Barrens ecosystem. The park serves as a passive recreation site, where people are encouraged to enjoy themselves hiking, canoeing, and birdwatching without impacting the natural beauty of the area. The park has to be one of my favorite places in the world. I consider myself very lucky to be paid to enjoy myself in a beautiful natural area for eight hours a day. I spent my time at work this summer renting canoes, illustrating songbirds in watercolor for a display, drawing ink sketches of waterfowl for the park’s Decoy and Gunning Show literature, and eating wild blueberries. Time well spent, in my opinion!Just the other day I went down to the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge where

I was actually working that day s a tour guide on a birdwatching van trip with a fellow coworker and bird nut. We spent about five hours birding on a fantastic stretch of tidal salt marsh with a view of the Atlantic City skyline in the distance. In total, we catalogued 58 different species of birds, including: terns, gulls, plovers, sandpipers, herons, Black Skimmers, Clapper Rails, Glossy Ibises, and an extremely rare (and frankly unheard of) juvenile Roseate Spoonbill. We got some good looks at the AC Utilities Authority’s five windmills, too.

Recently, some friends and I took a day trip to Cape May to spend some time walking along the streets and seaside promenade looking at the local gingerbread Victorian homes – in full costume! It was about ninety degrees that day, and there we were, in full length Victorian-style dresses and suits, posing for pictures and ducking into shops to soak up the air conditioning. Needless to say, we decided to spend a few hours at the beach afterword to cool off!

I had a great summer, but I am very excited to return to Richmond!