Brant at Sandy Hook, New Jersey

Today I drove to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, which is the long spit of land on the south side of the opening to New York harbor. I'm sure this is probably the slowest birding time of the year there, but it was still well-worth the two-hour drive to get there. These Brant drinking from a puddle at historic Fort Hancock were handsome and entertaining, but a female Baltimore Oriole and this Eastern Phoebe were much more surprising on December 3.