April & May 2019

fine being defined by it… but if you’re expecting
a pocket vest and Tilley hat, you’re going to be
disappointed.
Do you feel lucky having a job that you
presumably love — getting to indulge in your
passions? On the worst days, it’s work; and on
the best days it’s a dream. I get to work with
fantastic people who all believe in the mission
we are committed to. You don’t do this work to
get rich, you do it because of a fire inside you. I
made a decision a long time ago that I wouldn’t
work my butt off for two weeks of vacation, but
rather find something that I love where it feels
like I’m on vacation at work.
What are your daily/weekly rituals around
here? I try and get out and take a walk at one of
the many great birding locations in Cape May
several times a week. The Nature Conservancy’s
South Cape May Meadows Preserve, Cape
May Point State Park, Higbee Beach and the
Rea Farm are my go-to birding spots. We often
go with our friends and their kids for long walks
into Davey’s Lake, where you can feel like you’re
miles away from civilization when you’re only
a 20-minute walk to the parking lot on Sunset
Boulevard.
My weekly ritual is going in to Sunset
Liquors to see the wonderful people there…
and while I’m there, scout out the newest double
IPA or imperial stout. When I’m on top of it,
I attend Mark Jacopec’s Island Man’s Yoga class
at his house, which is followed by beer, because
that’s apparently how you get men to do yoga
(I’m not complaining).
Favorite places to eat, drink, get coffee?
There are so many wonderful places to eat and
drink in Cape May! Obviously, I love Exit Zero
Filling Station, now super-sized with a bar! The
Kraken Wings are my jam, and all the curries
are delicious. I love the burgers, especially that
one that should not exist but does. The WTF?
Burger… I forgot the name, but it has the lobster
on it. [Editor’s Note: It’s the Cray Cray.] Yeah,
that should be illegal, but until it is, I’ll be eating
it. I LOVE El Pueblo for tacos. That dude is
killing it over there [in North Cape May]. Anything
Lucas Manteca touches…The Red Store,
Quahogs, the Taco Shop. Beach Plum Farm for
the breakfast-and-birding combo — the place is
amazing and keeps getting better.
What are your favorite places to visit in
the US? I love going back to Miami, especially
down to the Florida Keys. If I had to live somewhere
else, it would probably be there. I love
New Orleans for the music and culture, and the
Gulf Coast for the birding, so NOLA for the
Jazz and Heritage Festival is the perfect storm
of music, food and birds — that’s the last weekend
in April and the first weekend in May, which
is also peak for trans-Gulf migration of birds
coming up from the Yucatan. I love the desert
southwest, Chiricahua Mountains of SE Arizona,
the Bay Area of California, Alaska, and the Oregon
coast. There are so many places out west
that I haven’t visited yet, including the Grand
Canyon! I’ve got a pretty long to-do list.
Describe your perfect day in Cape May. It
happens every fall. A cold front comes through,
bringing moderate-to-strong NW winds. That
night migration-ready birds from the eastern
Great Lakes to eastern Canada rise up after
sunset and head south, drifted east on the
winds. Just after midnight I pop my head out
and can hear the faint seeps and chips of thousands,
or tens-of-thousands, of songbirds high
overhead. I look at the radar and see the telltale
signal of birds migrating overhead and vectoring
to the coast. I sleep for a few hours, wake before
sunrise, get dressed and head to Higbee Beach
for the official Morning Flight Songbird Count.
As the eastern sky warms, the pace of passage
picks up and soon we’re engulfed in a stream of
warblers, orioles, woodpeckers and cedar waxwings.
Bobolinks high overhead give their telltale
call even if they’re too high to see at first.
Ruby-crowned Kinglets, little caffeinated birds
that they are, flit and flick through the vegetaexit
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