This is the time of year when New Jersey Audubon has someone stationed on the Hawk Watch Platform at Cape May Lighthouse State Park every day, counting the passing hawks. It is a long-standing research project, and the scientific community uses the data from this site, and others like it in Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin and many other states, to assess the health of the environment as it is reflected in the numbers and distribution of migrating hawks. Besides…what could be more fun than standing on a open platform all day counting hundreds, sometimes multiple hundreds, of hawks of a dozen species coming over? The official counter is rarely alone…and on weekends there can be an actual crush on the platform…and it s a big platform.

I can also be a beautiful place to be, looking out over the marsh and Lighthouse Pond, north up the coast of New Jersey. And on a day with weather, it can be spectacular. While I was there yesterday, the first cold front of the year was passing, piling up the sky with massive clouds, and shadowing the windy landscape. Drama!

Samsung Smart Camera WB800F in Rich Tone mode. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.