It’s my fault, I admit. The snow, I mean. Two years in a row I lamented my lack of good snowy photographs to use for Christmas cards, and those years were marked by a decided lack of snowfall. Be careful what you wish for! This year Mother Nature had the last laugh. We’ve had just about 60 inches of snow, when the winter norm averages 22”. And March can still bring some big storms, so we may not be done yet.

I’m done, though. I loved the snow in January and early February, but I have all the snow photos I need, thank you very much. Enough already! I’ve had it with hiking on slippery, ankle-turning ice.

So the last three weekends I have escaped to the southeast, once to the Pine Barrens, twice to the Jersey Shore. No white stuff, and lots of ducks. I love ducks. They’re so colorful and varied, and they are always doing interesting things. In the winter, places like Barnegat Light and Avalon draw sea and bay ducks in droves. Great places to duck out of the snow.

Above and below are perhaps the most gorgeous of ducks, male Harlequins. Lots of birders take the adventurous trek atop the Barnegat Light jetty just to admire these beauties.

I have a soft spot for Long-tailed Ducks. They have such endearing expressions.

Males are comfortable enough with their masculinity to sport pink on their bills. Females stick to earth tones.

The Scoters are new birds for me this year. They tend to hang out farther off-shore, so they’re not as easy to photograph. Here’s a large raft of Black Scoters in Avalon, above, with a few Long-tailed Ducks and gulls amongst them. Black Scoter, male, below.

This fellow with the colorful proboscis is a male Surf Scoter. My first life bird of the day.

This is a Common Loon, transitioning into breeding plumage.

Female Red-breasted Merganser at Barnegat Light, above and below.

Purple Sandpiper on the rocks at Avalon.

I don’t usually take photos of gulls, unless they’re flying or doing something really interesting. Gulls pose identification problems, and usually I’m seeing the same species over and over. This particular gull flew past in West Cape May, and I’m glad I took the shot. When I got home, I realized I had something different – Bonaparte’s Gull, a life bird for me. It was my second lifer that day.

In popular birding places, you often run into other birders who are happy to share news of interesting birds. Two guys I met in Avalon suggested I go to Stone Harbor Point to look for the Smith’s Longspur that had been seen there. “Just look for a big group of people; that’s where it will be.” Sure enough, out in the grassy meadow between beach and bay was a group of people with binoculars and scopes, chasing a cryptically colored, sparrow-sized bird around. I never would have found it, much less identified it, by myself. Lifer #3 for the day.Smith’s Longspurs hang out in the middle of the country, and are quite rare in the East, which is why so many people wanted to see it. I’m sure this poor bird was wondering if he’d ever get a break from the crowds to eat in peace.

I also heard from two different people of another unusual sighting, a Ross’s Goose in a field behind some homes in Cape May Point. Sure enough, there it was. A great way to end a day of birding at the Shore.

In the last week or two, the weather has warmed enough that the foot-thick snow pack has all but disappeared. My crocuses are blooming, the first rays of sunny gold heralding the inevitability of spring.

The Bald Eagles at Heinz Refuge are incubating eggs. Geese have been migrating north for some time. Soon these winter ducks will take off for their breeding grounds to bring new life into the world. Flowers and trees will bloom, and baby animals will be born.

It won’t be long before spring is off to a flying start!