Davidson Woods

March 26, 2009 – South Mountain, PA
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 15, 1970
The temperature is 46 degrees F. and it is raining lightly. Not the same as south Florida. Still, spring is coming, and the birds and vegetation reflect it. A pair of fox sparrows appeared in our back yard yesterday. I spotted one on my way to the compost barrel, and tried to dismiss it as a song sparrow. Looking more closely I thought the size and profile suggested fox sparrow. I set down the bucket, retreated to the house, and soon stepped onto the porch with my binoculars. The bird was not to be seen.

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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTThe temperature is 46 degrees F. and it is raining lightly.  Not the same as south Florida.  Still, spring is coming, and the birds and vegetation reflect it.  A pair of fox sparrows appeared in our back yard yesterday.  I spotted one on my way to the compost barrel, and tried to dismiss it as a song sparrow.  Looking more closely I thought the size and profile suggested fox sparrow.  I set down the bucket, retreated to the house, and soon stepped onto the porch with my binoculars.  The bird was not to be seen.  I waited a couple of minutes and noticed a couple of birds scratching at the ground on the far side of the sand mound.  “Scratching?” I thought,  “That is a good sign for a fox sparrow.”  I focused the glasses to see a brilliantly plumaged taiga fox sparrow.  These birds are chestnut-brown above with rusty-red tails and gray-and-white-splotched faces.  They have bold arrowhead-shaped spots on their breasts and flanks.  The Eastern race, the taiga sparrow, nests in the far north and typically winters in the deep south north of south Florida.  The bird graces Pennsylvania in the late fall and again in the spring during its migration.  We had last seen fox sparrows in November during a birding expedition to Delaware, so this was a year-bird.  The pair kindly stayed for a couple of hours and was still in the yard when Anne returned from a shopping expedition.  We were able to admire the birds together. Robins, Carolina wrens, and tufted titmice are announcing spring with their territorial songs.  These residents were largely silent through the winter.  Phoebes returned this week from their southern haunts, and one has set up territory around our house.  He is singing too.  Assuming he catches the fancy of a lady, a nest will appear under the eaves next month. We will be gone by then.  Anne is working at Cherokee in April and May, and we will be departing on or about April 3rd. We will be lodging in our motorhome.  The temperature at Cherokee runs about ten degrees warmer than here.  We hope that spring comes soon or we will be chilly in Cherokee!  We will be there for the “greening-up-the-mountain festival when all are invited to watch the fresh foliage creep up the slopes of the high mountains that surround the valleys.  The process takes a couple of weeks.  Our stay here has been pleasant, and we visited Chuck’s parents and sister and our children.  We also maintained our house and prepared the motorhome and auto for our next expedition. After Cherokee, we plan to hike for a few weeks in Tennessee and Virginia on the AT and then head to the Midwest.  We imagine church bells ringing in Chicago.   
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Tough Bully
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 15, 1970
Pursue this essay for the sake of curiosity. I write it in part because I am in south Florida, and in part because of the resources now available on the World Wide Web. Mostly I write it to express wonder about the creation. Nature really is an antidote to boredom, but only if one chooses to look a bit more closely and always questions the conventional wisdom. Of this world we know but a little, and much of what we know is wrong. Still, it is all there in front of us. We may not have the genius of Darwin, but we can still have insights into the mechanics
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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTPursue this essay for the sake of curiosity.  I write it in part because I am in south Florida, and in part because of the resources now available on the World Wide Web.  Mostly I write it to express wonder about the creation.  Nature really is an antidote to boredom, but only if one chooses to look a bit more closely and always questions the conventional wisdom.  Of this world we know but a little, and much of what we know is wrong.  Still, it is all there in front of us.  We may not have the genius of Darwin, but we can still have insights into the mechanics of the world if we look carefully and with wonder.  Even if we don’t, we may enjoy watching the creation in action.  Walking yesterday afternoon with friends through a neighborhood in Bonita Springs, Florida, we had much to enjoy.  A cold front was pushing through and producing lines of grumpy clouds and the occasional shower.  The atmosphere was dynamic and at times it ruffled our hair and sprinkled rain on us.  Development has recently altered the landscape here, but the slough was left in marsh and swamp.  Small flocks of ibis and egret fished there among the houses.  Away from the slough, two-year-old plantings within the condominium community have become well established.  I noticed that some effort had been made to utilize native plants, and these are doing especially well.  Among them were some small tough-looking trees planted in a line along the road.  With small leaves and stiff-looking twigs, the branches scarcely swayed in the wind.  It could have passed for live oak, but I knew it wasn’t and closer examination found that its leaves were smaller than those of the oak and wider at the end away from the stem.  The twigs were armed with spiky thorns.  I guessed it was a bumelia and broke off a small sprig to take home.  There, checking my Golden Field Guide, Trees of North America, I identified it as tough bumelia, Bumelia tenax.   A tropical and semi-tropical species, its range extends up the Florida peninsula and reaches the South Carolina coastal plain.   It is a fine, if bushy, tree.  I had met it before in the hammocks of south Florida but somewhat forgotten it. Tough bumelia is one of about fifty species of evergreen or semi-evergreen trees and shrubs with small simple leaves that grow in south Florida and create an identification challenge for the field botanist.  I grew up in south Florida and am still overwhelmed at times by all of these small-leaved trees that crowd the hardwood hammocks of the Everglades and Florida Keys.  The trees are easiest to approach in winter when they are not surrounded by arthropods that bite, sting, or simply crawl over you.  Also in the winter one also does not sweat so much when struggling through the dense hammocks.  But, in winter, these trees are unlikely to be in flower or in fruit, and without these additional organs to provide clues, the species are most difficult to identify.  Now, I had already again identified this species and I had observed that it is now cultivated and grows well on the arid banks along the roadway.  Good to know.  I was curious to learn what other information is now available on the web.  Going there, the first thing I learned was that it has a new name.  Blame the taxonomists!  Good arguments can be made, I’m sure, but we old-timers are saddened that we no longer know the names of old friends.  The common names, bumelia or tough bumelia still hold, but the scientific name is now Sideroxylon tenax.  It seems there has been a marriage of sorts between the genera Sideroxylon and Bumelia, and most bumelias took the name of Sideroxylon.   Sideroxylon (iron-wood), an oxymoron, probably refers to the wood of another species, but this species does have firm wood that is difficult to work.  Given its small size, it has seldom been used for lumber except for fence posts.  The genus includes the false mastic, a much larger tree also found in the United States only in south and central Florida that is of more value.  The genus is in the sapote or sapodilla family.  This largely tropical group has as its most famous member the tree sapodilla, the source of chicle for chewing gum.  A native of southern Mexico, sapodilla is rarely grown as an ornamental tree in Florida.  Tenax means gripping, stubborn, or firm and certainly describes this tree well in many respects. Another name that I did not know is tough bully.  This is probably more an English than American name, but also seems appropriate, perhaps more so now that bumelia is no longer applicable scientifically.  A short article I found on the web (source:  the journal The Palmetto) mentions that its tough branches have a pattern “that shows character.”  Another name that I do remember is tough buckthorn.  Today in the nursery trade it is sometimes called silver buckthorn.  I can’t find the origin or meaning of bumelia.  This may be partly because it is no longer a valid genus name for this group of tough berry producing shrubs and shrubby trees.  Before tough bully was domesticated it ran wild in the south Florida hammocks and still does so in what is left of them.  It needs to be tough to live there.   It is armed with thorns, bears a viscous sap, and has leaves that are fuzzy and probably somewhat toxic.  These attributes are necessary for survival in the tropical jungle.  The tree produces small clusters of relatively inconspicuous flowers and small plum-like edible fruits.  Neither make it particularly attractive to man, but both are useful if not essential to various insects and other animals that find home in south Florida.  Few if any of its relations with other organisms are known.  Having little economic importance, it remains largely outside the sphere of influence of man.  Still, now being used in horticulture, it provides some wildlife habitat in the relatively sterile condominium communities that have sprung up all over south Florida.  People may enjoy its structure and find curiosity in seeing that its leaves bear light rusty color fuzz underneath.  A rare passerby may sample its sweet if small fruit.  More likely, a passing naturalist will recognize the tree and smile knowing that here is a plant that has survived in a fashion the massive removal of native vegetation from south Florida.  He may consider it a puzzle to identify and reconsider its status in the modern world.  Mostly he or she will be blessed by its presence.  Drafted March 1, 2009 Completed March 17, 2009  
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February 25, 2009 – Ft. Myers
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 15, 1970
I am pleased to provide this update from the Woods Clan Southern outpost in southwest Florida. Today Anne and Chuck are at the Davidson Condo with Mom and Dad Woods. Three Woods brothers, Rob, Mark, and Joe are at the Estero Island Beach Club time-share. Of course it is never that simple. At this moment Dad is at the beach with Mark while Rob and Joe are off to a “spring training” Red Socks game. Mom went with Anne to a small recorder gig. I (Chuck) am at the condo to do some chores in peace.

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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTI am pleased to provide this update from the Woods Clan Southern outpost in southwest Florida.  Today Anne and Chuck are at the Davidson Condo with Mom and Dad Woods.  Three Woods brothers, Rob, Mark, and Joe are at the Estero Island Beach Club time-share.  Of course it is never that simple.  At this moment Dad is at the beach with Mark while Rob and Joe are off to a “spring training” Red Socks game.  Mom went with Anne to a small recorder gig.  I (Chuck) am at the condo to do some chores in peace. Yesterday Anne and Chuck took Mark to the Big Cypress/Fahkahatchee secton of the Tamiami Trail to enjoy the scenery there.  Mark had asked about native royal palms, and Chuck told him the place to the see the biggest ones was in the Fahkahatchee strand.  Mark thought he might like to see that and we made a loop through the western Everglades stopping at Big Cypress Bend (which we had visited with the Gallops a week ago), the new Kirby Storter boardwalk trail in the Big Cypress, and a "tramway" within the Fahkahatchee strand itself where the old royal palms pierce the sky. A large section of sawgrass prairie south of the Tamiami Trail was burned in the last month and now an enormous lovely lime green lawn covers the flats between the hammocks and strands there.  In places this refreshed prairie extends to the horizon. Spring is arriving fast now, and whereas last week only a few of the cypress were leafing out, now the forest too is a gracious shade of green.  Last week we could not find a snake, only lizards, for James, but yesterday we enjoyed close looks of an Everglades rat snake and a Florida brown water snake.  Numerous gators too were lumbering about the marshland.  The birds were becoming more active as well, and we were able to show Mark some ten kinds of wood warblers.  Anne has agreed to work at the Cherokee Hospital in April and May, so we have to get home to mobilize the motorhome and to prepare for more time away from home.  That brings to the forefront outstanding chores here.  Mom and Dad want to socialize with “the boys,” so this week’s activities focus on them.  Still, we are already starting to gather our gear and complete small projects at the condo.  Chuck still has to finish taxes.  Hopefully the outstanding 1099’s will come in this week’s mail.  Once the Woods brothers leave we will finish up chores here.  We should leave by the middle of next week and return to the still wintery northlands.  
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Just updated the web site again
MarkD submitted on January 15, 1970
The image assist function is not working at the moment so I have temporarily substituted a different function that will allow images to be uploaded to blog pages.

Let me know if you run into any problems.
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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTThe image assist function is not working at the moment so I have temporarily substituted a different function that will allow images to be uploaded to blog pages. Let me know if you run into any problems.  
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February 4, 2009 – Lee County Florida
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 15, 1970
It is a fine afternoon here in southwest Florida. Anne is out playing recorder with other players she found in the neighborhood. Mom and Dad are napping. Outside are brilliant sunshine and a strong wind. The temperature is 60 degrees F. A “reinforcing” front passed through this morning as Anne and I traipsed about Sanibel Island. At dawn the sky was clear though a shimmer of orange played out around the rising sun. At eight a.m.
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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTIt is a fine afternoon here in southwest Florida. Anne is out playing recorder with other players she found in the neighborhood. Mom and Dad are napping. Outside are brilliant sunshine and a strong wind. The temperature is 60 degrees F. A “reinforcing” front passed through this morning as Anne and I traipsed about Sanibel Island. At dawn the sky was clear though a shimmer of orange played out around the rising sun. At eight a.m. the sky was in turmoil with bands of dark gray clouds reaching across the sky. The wind became fresh from the north and dark waves formed on San Carlos Bay. By nine-thirty the sky was clear again but strong pressure increased the wind. Now the flow of air continues; the pond in the middle of Heritage Cove sparkles and the spray from the fountain sweeps to the shore. A freeze is forecast for tonight, but, this close to the coast, we may be spared the worst of it. The produce farms to the east are bracing for a kill, and citrus may be ruined as well. That is too bad, but as Ms. Rawlings noted in her book, Cross Creek, the dirty little secret is that central and north Florida really do get cold at times. I frankly am surprised to see so many tomatoes being grown in winter this far north of Miami. Sadly, with regard to weather people have very short memories. When I was a youth in Miami, the consensus was that hurricanes were a thing of the past. They were, and now they are a thing of the present and future. Freezes destroyed the central Florida citrus groves in the 70’s. The orchards turned into housing developments. In the 90’s winter vegetable farming moved back in as the weather moderated. The industry may move back out again if we have a few more winters like this. Frankly, this is not even a harsh winter for Florida, and it remains a winter haven as more temperate regions of the country truly experience a hard winter. Notice that I posted today’s notes from Lee County, not Fort Myers. Florida is very different from Pennsylvania in that most of Florida lacks municipal government. This residence is probably ten miles from the City of Fort Myers. The only local government, with the exception of the condominium association, is the county. Fort Myers is strictly a regional designation for this location. Use of Lee County does not particularly thrill me either as I am not a great fan of the Robert E. Lee for whom it is named. Growing up in Florida, I learned to respect its historic leaders, but I could never thrill to the Confederacy. Those who defend it as representing the spirit of the people against Northern hegemony forget that in many parts of the South the majority of the people were at the time enslaved. The saw of Sherman cutting across the Georgia put an end to that business, thank goodness, but “Southern thinking” was still strong when I arrived in Florida as a small boy. I remember being shushed away from a brown-painted water fountain in a grocery store. “What was that about?” I asked my Mom. She whispered, “that fountain is for colored people.” I couldn’t believe it. I was still young and dumb, but I knew that was stupid. There remained other much bigger stupidities. I am reminded that shortly after Mr. Lee led his army to disaster at Gettysburg – which happens to be the regional designation for our current homestead - a national cemetery was established there to provide for proper burial of troops who died in the battle. The President was in attendance and spoke a few words, wondering specifically if a nation dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal” could long endure. In the 1960’s this President’s birthday was still scarcely celebrated in La Florida. I regret that I never joined a sit-in, but I was far too young to take so large a step. Along the Gold Coast - the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale coastal area - there was little argument with the demands for equal rights. I never saw a protest there. The saying went that South Florida was south of Dixie. In central Florida the story was very different. I wondered how anyone could argue that equality was not a Constitutional requirement? Mr. Lincoln wondered too, I suppose. In the 1960’s People continued to argue and federal troops were again needed to enforce that pesky Constitution. Today, after the pendulum swung too far and “reverse discrimination” became sanctioned by law, it is hard to imagine “separate but equal.” Note: Special rights, quotas, and the like, seemed a good idea originally “to remedy past discrimination.” Sadly these perks have persisted too long, as do so many government programs. Our new President could take the bull by the horns and end them, but he may not want to grab that bull just yet. I digress. Anne and I went to Sanibel this morning to look for birds. There is a bridge to the island now. In the 1960’s I went there by ferry. The island was, of course, nicer then. Some things don’t improve with time. We went first to a marsh looking at first light for rails, but the marsh was dry and none were cackling. We did find our first yellowthroat of the year and enjoyed a one-mile walk around the water. Then we drove to the tin-can lighthouse, parked, and began a walk down the beach. Already the wind was picking up. We had been advised to walk west, but since the light is at the west most point of the island, the direction was a bit ambiguous. I assumed we should be on the outside on the so-called high energy beach. We were looking for snowy plover, a tiny bird, and one of our favorites. We couldn’t find it last year, and did not want to miss our chance this year. We found it for the first time on Sanibel near Bowman’s Beach several years ago, but found none there last winter. We have found several of this species on the south end of Estero Island, but access to that beach is difficult as public parking is virtually non-existent. We planned to hike after it on Lover’s Key, but hearing a report of seven pairs along a mile of beach on Sanibel decided to go after it there. Sanibel is close, six dollars buys the toll across the bridge, and another two dollars gets us two hours parking at the lighthouse. These are small investments for such a prize. The snowy plover is a tiny prize. The color of dry white sand, at rest it is scarcely apparent, resembling a bump of sand with a stick-like bill. Upright it stalks the beach ghostlike on slender black legs, seizing flies and sandhoppers among the seaweed along the high-tide mark. Similar to the piping plover of the Atlantic coast, the snowy plover inhabits Gulf Coast beaches and salt flats in the far west. Possibly Florida’s rarest bird, it is seriously threatened by coastal development and beach traffic. We joined the stream of beachwalkers and beachcombers covering the sand even on this unsettled morning. Our course took us slightly higher up the beach than the paths of many of the others. Walking in parallel I followed the high-tide strand and Anne walked a few meters farther up the beach to my right. We scanned ahead both the wet and dry parts of the beach with binoculars looking for any lumps of sand with stick-like bills. We had walked almost a mile seeing none when a bit of sand moved in front of Chuck and ran out a few feet to the edge of the sea. Chuck stopped and called to Anne who was walking on. Both saw the bird and moved together to near the waves allowing the bird to zig-zag past other walkers and return to the weed strand. We soon found two more among a flock of nearby sanderlings and watched them for several minutes. A young woman walking by stopped and asked if we had seen snowy plovers. Chuck pointed one out. She said, “wonderful.” A part-time resident she was probably the only one of the hundreds of people passing by who was even aware of this treasure. In the coming weeks some of the seven pairs of plovers will attempt to establish nesting locations there in the sand. Volunteers will try to spot them, drive stakes into the ground, and run a tape around about a ten by ten foot section of this popular beach. With a lot of luck the birds will remain undisturbed there for a few weeks and hatch out two or three tiny chicks that will join in the quest for beach arthropods. With an estimated population of three hundred, the snowy plover is the most threatened bird in Florida. This morning for a brief period we were blessed to see a few of these powder-puffs scooting about among the people and their dogs moving up and down the beach. We turned and walked back to the parking lot not knowing when we might again see this bird. I doubt it will survive another decade on this beach. I hope I am wrong. 
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A Wild Goose Chase – January 7, 2008
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 15, 1970
After one finds some six hundred kinds of birds in the continental United States and Canada, seeing another usually entails some kind of adventure. On the morning of January 1, 2009, Anne and Chuck found a barnacle goose on the millpond on the south branch of the Raritan River in Califon, New Jersey. In recent decades one or more birds of this species, probably from Greenland, have appeared somewhere in eastern North America during the late fall of the year. Barnacle geese typically migrate east and south across the British Isles to reach wintering grounds in southern Europe and north
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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTAfter one finds some six hundred kinds of birds in the continental United States and Canada, seeing another usually entails some kind of adventure. On the morning of January 1, 2009, Anne and Chuck found a barnacle goose on the millpond on the south branch of the Raritan River in Califon, New Jersey. In recent decades one or more birds of this species, probably from Greenland, have appeared somewhere in eastern North America during the late fall of the year. Barnacle geese typically migrate east and south across the British Isles to reach wintering grounds in southern Europe and northern Africa. Canada geese from Greenland congregate at the same time to begin their migration southwest across Newfoundland toward points in the Canada Maritime Provinces and United States eastern seaboard. Apparently a few barnacle geese elect to join flocks of this species and so arrive here. Last winter a barnacle goose appeared in Califon, a rural town in central New Jersey, and stayed much of the winter. In November of 2009 a barnacle goose again appeared among the large flock of Canada geese that roosts in the millpond there. Someone observed this bird and reported it on the New Jersey bird alert. Chuck noticed the report as we planned a visit our daughter in New York City in the middle of December. We plotted a course through Califon as we drove to New York and arrived at mid-day. We found many Canada geese but no barnacle goose. This was not too surprising because the reports on the Internet suggested that the bird feeds elsewhere during much of the day. While disappointing not to find it, we were now acquainted with its roost and planned to return two days later on our return trip to look again. That day came and we delayed our departure too long. We arrived at Califon just after five p.m. and well after sunset. We struggled to see geese in the semi-darkness and glimpsed hundreds, but saw only a fraction of the flock and could not find a goose with a white face. Frustrated we gave up and went home. Chuck was mad with himself for letting the opportunity slip away. We had no more trips to New Jersey planned this winter. Our plans changed. We chose to celebrate the New Year with Chuck’s parents and sister in Princeton. Arriving there in the afternoon of New Year’s Eve we thought of this bird. Chuck checked to find that it had last been reported on Christmas Day. He suggested a pre-dawn departure. We wanted to be sure to arrive before the goose went to breakfast. The forecast called for a breeze and a temperature of 20 degrees F at dawn. The forecast was correct. We had not packed our extreme birding clothing and hoped for a view of the bird from the car. That was not to be. We slipped out of Chuck’s sister’s condominium at six a.m. and found very light traffic. Arriving at Califon, we crossed the metal bridge and turned onto the river road. Some eight hundred geese sat on the mostly frozen millpond. Many of the geese were sleeping, seemingly affixed to or at least nested into the ice. Those that were awake steamily exhaled as they walked and swam amphibiously across the slushy surface. The barnacle goose is markedly different from Canada goose, but both are grayish with a black neck. The barnacle goose has a white face. The Canada goose has a white patch on the throat and back of the face. The barnacle goose has a black breast, but the breasts of many of the sleeping birds were hidden by their compatriots. We soon realized that we would have to get out of the car to look for the target bird. We warmed our hands at the heat vents before venturing forth. The dam was at our left. The pool extended about two hundred yards upstream passing under the highway bridge. We walked to the dam and started back checking each bird with binoculars. The active birds were easy to identify. The sleeping birds were much tougher. They were covered with frost and most had their heads tucked into their wings. Arriving back at the car we noticed another birder on the opposite side of the creek. Cold, we got into the car and turned it on to warm up again. After a few minutes we resumed our tour. We crossed the bridge and reached the other birder. He said that he was a resident of Princeton and that this was his fifth visit in search of the goose. He had not found it yet. We continued our walk and eventually reached the dam on this opposite side of the millpond before returning again to the car to warm our aching extremities. The other birder drove up and told us he was going to look for the barnacle goose at some lakes where it had been reported as feeding. We wished him well. After warming a bit, Chuck suggested going upstream of the bridge. On our last visit we had found a park there and the stream and ball fields had been infested with geese. So, we drove and parked there. Anne said she was too cold to go out. Chuck found another hundred or so geese there, but no barnacle goose. He did record several “year birds” including eastern bluebird. This was a pleasant way to start the New Year, but his hands, feet, and face were frigid when he returned to the auto. There was a bit of discussion. Chuck suggested stopping at Round Valley Lake before going home. We would find a several more kinds of birds and perhaps some geese there. Perhaps even the goose. Anne agreed, but said she wanted a coffee and bathroom stop along the way. Chuck agreed. Pulling out he followed the river back to the bridge. There he intoned that they should check the millpond one more time. This time, he said, we would not get out of the car but motor slowly along the River Road. There was no traffic so this seemed safe. At every opening we scanned every goose. Now most of the flock was awake or awakening. At one stop Chuck found a goose facing away from us that looked slightly different. The bird was still resting and its head was stooped forward. The sides of the head were not visible, but Chuck thought he could see some white in front of the eye at the top of the head. Anne could not. Still we stayed. After a few minutes the bird raised its head and turned slightly. Chuck saw the white face and Anne the black breast. We had found our bird. Chuck, looking up, saw that we were back at the church drive, and he quickly turned the car into a parking space. Now we exited the car with new warmth. We walked to the river’s edge. Hundreds of geese honked and moved across the millpond. The barnacle goose was active too and displayed its fine form and pattern. A handsome bird, it now seemed strikingly distinct from its associate Canada geese. We, standing, watched it for about ten minutes and then a few more after returning to the car and its warmth. Anne snapped a couple of photographs for the record. Chuck was ecstatic. Now he was ready to find her a coffee shop. The wild goose chase was over.
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January 3, 2009 - South Mountain
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 15, 1970
The holiday season has ended and we will be off to Florida tomorrow if the possible ice storm leaves us alone. We have returned from Princeton where we celebrated the holiday with Mom & Dad and Laurie Strehl. We arrived New Year's Eve after dropping our children off at the Princeton Junction train station. They preferred to spend the evening with friends in the Big Apple. We had enjoyed their company from Christmas Eve. Chuck and Elley built a new base for her snake cage and all enjoyed a wintery South Mountain.
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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTThe holiday season has ended and we will be off to Florida tomorrow if the possible ice storm leaves us alone. We have returned from Princeton where we celebrated the holiday with Mom & Dad and Laurie Strehl. We arrived New Year's Eve after dropping our children off at the Princeton Junction train station. They preferred to spend the evening with friends in the Big Apple. We had enjoyed their company from Christmas Eve. Chuck and Elley built a new base for her snake cage and all enjoyed a wintery South Mountain. We plan a first stop in Florida at St. Augustine with friends and should arrive to Mom and Dad Woods on Wednesday. We are taking only our auto and are packing frugally. The motor home is in dry dock until we make plans for the spring. Started our "birding year" well on the first. Dawn found us on the banks of the Raritan River at Califon, N.J. There in an almost frozen mill pond we found some eight hundred Canada geese. Many were sleeping. Others honked as we walked suspiciously along the shore. We could see their breaths mist in the 30 degree air. A breeze chilled us severely. We were not really dressed for this. We continued to seek views and found only another birder on the opposite shore studying us through his glasses. In a bit we crossed a bridge and joined him. He had not found what we were looking for either. He said this was his fifth visit. We said it was our third. He was a resident of Princeton, an hour away. We had stopped going to NYC a few weeks ago and then arrived at dusk coming home. This was our last chance. We had retired a bit early on New Year's Eve in Princeton in the hope of making an early visit here before returning with Chuck's parents to Pennsylvania. Now, after closely examining hundreds of geese we had failed to find a slightly smaller grayer goose with a black neck and breast and a white face. This banacle goose, and probably many of the Canada geese wintering in this rural New Jersey town, was probably from Greenland. For whatever reason it elected to keep company with the Canada geese, which migrate west, instead of with its compatriots which flew east to Britain and south. Anne retreated to the car first, but Chuck too, a bit dispirited, followed to warm up. He decided to move upstream to a park where we had found geese on our last visit. Anne said it was too cold. She would wait. He succeeded in finding a few more hundred Canada geese and also made a good start on the Year 2009 bird list. Bluebirds, sparrows, finches and a pair of crows were feeding. Still, there was no barnacle goose. Warming again in the car we discussed options. Anne wanted a coffee stop. Chuck suggested they visit the Round Valley Reservoir to see what birds were active there before returning to Princeton. Anne agreed to this if there was a coffee stop first. Pulling away, Chuck said he wanted to make one more pass at the mill pond. Rather than parking, we rolled slowly and stopping along the river road. At one pause Chuck inquired of Anne if she could see the bird in the back at the middle of an opening between two trees. He asked if it might have a white forehead. This was tough to tell because the head was tucked foreward and away from us. She couldn't tell, and we watched for a bit. The bird raised its head slightly and turned. Anne said she saw a black breast. Chuck said he saw the white face. He pulled the car around into a parking lot next to a church and we left the car to admire a waking barnacle goose. It is a splendid gray striped goose with a black stocking front and a white face with a black line through the eye. A very special bird to see in the United States except in a cage. We feasted on it until cold again drove us back to the car. We glanced at the special goose one more time through the windshield before heading to the coffee shop and on to Round Valley. There we saw several more "year birds" including three loons. We found three more birders there who welcomed our report of the goose. One told us that the bird was now officially "countable" according to the New Jersey rare bird committee. So be it. Chuck marked it in our list with "L" for life bird. What a happy way to welcome the New Year and end a wild goose chase.
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December 18, 2008 – South Mountain
Anne and Chuck submitted on January 15, 1970
We have not posted for some time, what being “at home” and all since mid-October. Still we have not been idle, and now planning a departure by the beginning of next month, I felt it was time to provide an update to our friends and family who review this site from time to time.
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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENTWe have not posted for some time, what being “at home” and all since mid-October. Still we have not been idle, and now planning a departure by the beginning of next month, I felt it was time to provide an update to our friends and family who review this site from time to time. We will celebrate our Christmas in our little log house. Anne had me slaughter a white pine this morning and I pulled it from our woodlot to living room where she is decorating it. The Strehl’s will meet here on Christmas Day. We will go to York on Christmas Eve where Chuck’s sister Laurie, our children, and Dad Strehl’s sister Bernie will join us to enjoy dinner with Mom and Dad Strehl. Sadly Mom Strehl was diagnosed with lung cancer in October, but thanks to one of those “evil drug companies” the disease has retreated and she is well.So is Dad, but foot pain has greatly reduced his mobility. Still, they have been blessed with another year. Since coming off the trail we have been working on home projects but also have enjoyed a few adventures. Anne attended a medical update in Philadelphia on the day that this great city was celebrating the Philly’s victory in the World Series. Before our departure, Chuck had become worried that we might be arriving during the games and watched the final minutes of the last game and the emotional after-play on television. He announced to Anne that the series was over. Only on Thursday, as we were driving to Cherry Hill, did we learn that the parade would be held on Friday, Halloween. As it happened, the event was fun and did not interfere with Anne as she arrived in town by train at dawn and left before the party was over. Chuck had considered spending the day in town, but decided to go to Brigantine (Forthythe) National Wildlife Refuge instead. He there found a Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow, a snow bunting, and a western kingbird as well as many migrating waterfowl. He had no regrets. Both returned to the home of friends David and Margaret who had planned a Halloween party that evening. We looked for birds along the Delaware coast during a three day visit in November visiting the hawk watch at Cape Henlopen and the Indian River inlet as the tide changed. Bonaparte’s gulls and great cormorants as well as many more migrants welcomed us. Thanksgiving found us in Princeton with his parents visiting Chuck’s sister. Our children joined us there. We stole off early on Saturday morning to make our almost annual pilgrimage to Barnegat Light where we welcomed purple sandpipers and harlequin ducks to their winter retreat. At home we continue to find (mostly used) furniture for our new home. A twenty-dollar workbench (home-made of real lumber) at the Salvation Army Store was our best find. Chuck built walls and had gravel delivered to create a driveway to our front door. He found a table saw at the second-hand store in Arendtsville for other projects. Sanding dust pollutes the house. >We’re very domestic, baking bread, granola, and cookies. If we stay here long, Chuck will brew beer. Anne works on a quilt for our daughter and plans to make wool rugs for our basement family room. Not hiking, we jog most mornings to stay in shape. We will join in the Gettysburg Audubon Christmas bird count this weekend. Anne’s parents are already in Ft. Myers. We plan to join them at least through the month of January and perhaps through much of the winter. We are likely to make visits back here to see our family in the Northeast. Our plans for next year remain indefinite. We anticipate spending much of the summer in the Midwest where two weddings are an excuse. We’ll probably spend time again in Cherokee, NC and hope to hike some of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. We have about 500 miles left to do. That will probably take a few years. The far west is calling, and we’re hoping to head that way probably by 2010. Still some California birds to add to our life lists.
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Congratulations to Tom
Patty submitted on January 15, 1970

Congrats to Tom on his selection as a SECTION 2, Div C, FIRST TEAM

> DEFENSIVE TACKLE SELECTION!! That is a great achievement, as there

> are a lot of great players. Once again, we are proud of Tom and his

> achievements. (And the great, loving home environment fostered by the

> entire Gallup family - which is a necessary ingredient to success) Way

> to go!!

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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENT Congrats to Tom on his selection as a SECTION 2, Div C, FIRST TEAM > DEFENSIVE TACKLE SELECTION!! That is a great achievement, as there > are a lot of great players. Once again, we are proud of Tom and his > achievements. (And the great, loving home environment fostered by the > entire Gallup family - which is a necessary ingredient to success) Way > to go!! 
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Hudson River Park
MarkD submitted on January 15, 1970
Those of you who joined us in welcoming the Navy Glee Club to NYC may remember the bicycle and running path in front of the pier for Intrepid. This is actually a major park that runs from mid town down to the tip on Manhattan on the west side. Each pier is a different project. The NY Times ran a story yesterday about the latest pier development in the park. I am attaching it in case you are interested.
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BLOG TITLEBLOG CONTENT Those of you who joined us in welcoming the Navy Glee Club to NYC may remember the bicycle and running path in front of the pier for Intrepid. This is actually a major park that runs from mid town down to the tip on Manhattan on the west side. Each pier is a different project. The NY Times ran a story yesterday about the latest pier development in the park. I am attaching it in case you are interested. 
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