Woodrow’s Journal Entries-Northbound
By Woodrow the Wood Duck

February l9:
 Today we are leaving our winter pond in North Carolina and heading back north to our beautiful pond in Tenafly, NJ. Even though we make this trip twice every year I am eager to get back and see all my friends.  I prefer this migration to the one during fall because it takes less time. My cousins have set the course and we are about to take off.

February 2l:
 BRRRRRR. . we just landed in a resting spot near a very large body of water. I can’t even see the other side. On our way North their was a strong wind and we had to go off our normal route. I have never been anywhere that looks like this place, I think we are lost.. . . .

After talking with some of the locals we think we know where we are. We landed at a place call ISLAND BEACH STATE PARK. From what a Willet named Walter told me we are way off course on a narrow barrier island that is about 10 miles long and separates the Atlantic Ocean from a place called Barnegat Bay. Walter said that this park is actually one of NJ's last “significant remnants of a barrier island ecosystem that once existed along most of the coast and is also one of the few remaining undeveloped barrier beaches on the North Atlantic coast.” Walter said that if we were going to stay here for a bit we needed to keep an eye out for some dangerous birds. He told me that the state’s largest osprey colonies are found here, as well as peregrine falcons, and he even said their were a few Snowy Owls still here around this time but that they were about to leave. Gee, I wonder if people ever come here. . .If they do I would love to see some pictures.  Maybe they could bring me along I would love to visit this place when it’s warmer.

March 4:
We finally made it to our nesting pond located in Tenafly, NJ today. It was a long and hard trip. My wings really hurt, but, boy, am I glad to be home. The Mallards, Geese, Green Herons, and Red-winged Blackbirds have all returned too and are starting to clean up and make their nests.

March 28:
Well everything has been pretty normal up here, however, it does seem a little bit warmer this year. We have all had to be on the lookout for Bertha the giant Snapping Turtle, since she is still keeping a watchful eye over her pond. She eats ducklings! She already scared away the Geese. I am glad that I sleep in a box out of the water, I feel much safer up here.

April 16:
 Today Gregor Green Heron came over. He said that he had heard of a really great place near here that has spectacular views. It is a place called State Line Lookout — he told me that people go there in the winter with large flat sticks attached to their feet. “Skees” I think was what they call them. So we headed to this new place— Boy, was Gregor right— It is beautiful. While we were resting on a tree limb, a Goldfinch came by and told us we probably didn’t want to stay here too long. He told us he heard that when the leaves start to turn different colors there are larger birds who fly through the area and they would probably like Gregor and me for lunch. I told him we were just visiting for the day but thanked him for warning us. I certainly don’t want to be any body else's lunch (or dinner or breakfast for that matter). Gee, I wonder what the bigger birds are and if they ever come near my home in Tenafly. Maybe someone could bring me with them so that I would be safe or they could take some pictures and send them to me . . .I sure would love to know.

May 27: Today my new cousins participated in their first Jump Day.  It was the first time they jumped from the nest box into the water with my aunt, who was a little nervous at first because a Raccoon had been spotted in the area.  I have never seen a Raccoon up close but I have heard some very scary stories about them. Luckily the Raccoon did not show up today and now I have eight new cousins.

June 18: I went over to Gregor’s nesting sight today and he took me closer to the water to show me something that had upset him. There, in the water, was a pile of empty plastic bottles. We know that people like to come here but we really wish they would put all their garbage somewhere else.

Later I overheard some people discussing how they were going to clean up our home.  I swam over to Gregor’s to tell him about it and how I thought it was great that people were going to come and clean up their mess. Gregor was very happy to hear about it especially when I told him that I heard them say they were going to get a group of humans to come and help clean up the area every month. I think they called it “Volunteeer Dayz.”

We decided that this would be a good time to go on a summer vacation. Gregor mentioned another place he had heard about from a woodpecker. The place was called High Point State Park and it sounded like the perfect spot for a short vacation.

July:
We left today for our trip and even though the weather was really gross we still made it to our vacation pond before dark. From what I could see this place was beautiful. We met Gregor’s woodpecker friend and we told him about the garbage that the people had left back home. The woodpecker said that people come here all the time as well but they do some pretty silly things.  I guess people come here in the winter a lot because this place gets a lot of snow. The woodpecker was telling us that people here wear Skees (those large flat sticks attached to their feet).  He also told us that they will sometimes put shoes on with these hard skinny pieces attached when the water freezes. These “skats” make people able to slide on the frozen water.

I know I won’t be here when it snows but I sure would like to see what these “skats” look like. I wonder if I could ever try to “Skat” or if a person would ever do these silly things at my home pond in Tenafly?

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