Cicadas

   

There are some things that I really want to do in life that I will be disappointed if I never get to do them. Then there are things you hope you can do but don't really give much thought to. Last year when the south was being invaded by seventeen year Cicadas I have to admit I was jealous. I wanted to experience thousands of those insects. While I think my life would still be complete without seeing a mass of Cicadas it was still something I hoped to experience.

   I was told while at BioBlitz that there was an invasion of Cicadas at the Midway Recreation Area on the Cape Cod Canal. The person that told me about them said they may be there another week or so. I didn't want to waste this opportunity to see Cicadas. I had Wednesday off from work and went down after it warmed up a little.

   I was not disappointed. There were tons of Cicadas. As soon as I opened my car door I could hear the constant buzzing. I saw a few while driving into the picnic area and I knew I had a shot at getting a few photos. For the next two and a half hours I listened to what I can describe as the ultimate white noise. I could have fallen asleep to the relaxing sound of Cicadas. I did hear some individual Cicadas. If you can hear an individual they actually sound like they are saying "pharaoh".  I heard a few and sure enough that is what they sound like. 

   Basically, I spent two and a half hours doing a Cicada photo shoot while listening to the relaxing sounds they make. Plenty of photos below.

These holes are from Cicadas that emerged from 
the ground. It is amazing to me that they have lived 
underground for the last seventeen years

These are the shells from Cicadas. Once they molt
these shells get discarded 

I have to admit, that
it feels like they bite when 
I let them stay on my skin

BioBlitz 2025

 

   Every year the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS) has a twenty four hour event called BioBlitz. This event is at a different location in Rhode Island each year. The goal is to see how many species can be seen in the twenty four hour period. The Rhode Island BioBlitz is the oldest actively running BioBlitz in the world. This is my third year I have attended. This year's event was held at the Steere Hill property of the Glocster Land Trust 

    BioBlitz happens in early June, or at least it has since I started attending. The twenty four hours start at 2 pm Friday and ends at 2 pm on Saturday. There are teams for every life form imaginable. When you sign up, you can join three teams. I always join the fish, herp, and mammal teams. There are teams for mosses, insects, fungi, trees, mollusks, etc... Most of the team leaders are experts in the field. Many of them are PhDs with years of field work. As far as I can tell there is at least one team for each family of living things in Rhode Island. 

    I choose the fish, herps, and mammals selfishly for lifers. I'm always on the lookout for seeing lifer vertebrates and being around true experts is one way to make sure you don't miss anything. This year I was asked to be the fish team leader. I am assuming that the regular leader couldn't make it this year. I declined the official title but with all of the time I spent trying and failing to find fish, I did in fact become the defacto leader of the broken up fish team.

The woman taking the photo is Kira Stillwell.
She is the main organizer of BioBlitz. The large
tent is Science Central.

   Before I go on, the schedule for the twenty four hours goes something like this. People can register after noon. It is a good idea to set up camp before the horn blows to officially start at 2 pm. Many people that stay both days camp overnight. When you register you sign a liability and a waiver that you will be photographed throughout the event. The horn blows at 2 pm to officially start BioBlitz. Between 2-6 pm go out and look for species. At 6 pm food is served. This year it was a BBQ buffet that was very good. After dinner most people go out again. For example, I went out and checked my minnow traps and rebaited them.

   After dark there is still plenty to do. One guy set up a bat detector and had a large group of people listen to his presentation and look for bats. Down the trail, a couple of sheets with lights on them were set up for moths to land on. These sheets are out all night. I also went on a night walk with Dan Berard and a couple birders from my club Chris and Su. Dan has a thermal imaging scope so he scanned for mammals in the woods. We saw a mouse in a pine tree. I had set up a mammal trap next to my tent. When I got back from the moths/walk I had a White Footed Mouse that I let go.

White Footed Mouse 
Photo by Su

   I didn't get much sleep and was off again before 6 am. I checked my minnow traps which had tadpoles but no fish

IO Moth 
Photo by Allison O'Connor 

. After I got back, I spent most of the day with the herp team. We went to vernal pools and small intermittent creeks. My friend Rick Rego found a Two Lined and a Four Toed Salamander. We spent hours looking for Ring Necked Snake but didn't find them.

    My birding and seining friend Allison O'Conner was with me most of the day. We had our tents twenty feet apart. She went with me to set up my minnow traps and was a key member of the herp team.

Spotted Salamander 
Photo by Allison O'Connor 

   While most vertebrate IDs are in the field, much of the work happens at Science Central. Science Central is a large tent where there are microscopes, tables, and other scientific equipment. After registration, it is where many species are brought back to be identified. Some species of fungi and plants can only be identified under a microscope. Something I found out was there are about twenty species of fireflies in Rhode Island. Most are so similar most can only be positively identified by dissecting the male genitalia!!!

Four Toed Salamander 

Two Lined Salamander 

   It is impossible to see everything going on in a twenty four hour period. There is so many interesting things to see. I stick with my vertebrate teams because I keep track of my lifers. However, you are bound to learn from someone. When I was pulling in my minnow traps, a recent college graduate was dipnetting to find Caddisfly larvae. He was explaining the life history to us. Also, everyone is so mellow. It doesn't matter what team you signed up for, you can join anyone in the field or ask questions at Science Central. Being on a team is a start, but I'm sure if I wanted to hang out with the people looking for mushrooms all day, they would have been happy to have one more team member.

My little corner of the tent area

   For me this year, I didn't get any lifers which is probably because I've seen about all of the herps, birds, and  mammals that are not rodents in RI. Having so little water obviously hurt our chances of finding fish. I still had a ton of fun. I had dinner with my favorite people there (Rick, Allison, and Danielle Stebbins). The moths put on an incredible show as did fireflies. We had two very good salamanders. The cute little mouse in the pine tree was pretty dam adorable.

    I had planned on leaving before the closing horn at 2 pm. I really had planned to be home at noon, but looking for Ring Necked Snake and then packing my tent meant that I left at 1 pm. Though I wasn't there, after the horn blows at 2 pm, teams tally up their species and submit them.

    While Comic Con may be the ultimate geek fest, for sure BioBlitz is the ultimate nerd gathering in RI. Everyone is so smart. BioBlitzers are so willing to learn and share information. If you ever really want to learn about nature or even one small branch of it, I highly recommend signing up to the RINHS and going to BioBlitz 2026. Throughout the year the RINHS has other events and presentations. However, there is no question that BioBlitz is the Super Bowl 

Post Script-  This was an extremely long post, but the truth is it is only part of the twenty four hours. I could have written a post just as long about the bat identification equipment or just about what goes on at Science Central. This was about as short as I could keep it.

Many of the photos used above and below are not mine. Thanks to Allison and Su for sending them to me. Info on RI BioBlitz below. 

https://rinhs.org/events/ri-bioblitz/

Rick Rego herp team leader 
and a frog

The herp team looking at a salamander 

Eastern Box Turtle 

   

Spotted Salamander larva

Tadpoles from my minnow trap

A New Hampshire Retreat

 

Someday I'll get a selfie face right

   I spent the last two and a half days in New Hampshire. The main dish was going to be smallmouth with a side of birding and a back up of trout. The plan was to drive up after work on Tuesday night. Lack of motivation, the thought of a warm bed, and then a terrible restless night's sleep meant I didn't get to my first lake until 12:30 pm Wednesday. 

   I fished one of the smaller lakes in the Lakes Region. It was just off of exit 23 so the ride wasn't bad. Despite the bright sun, I caught a fish on my second cast. I caught another five minutes later. Both fish were caught on topwater and I thought I was in for a hell of a day. 

   That last sentence wasn't a prelude to an awful day. I did end up catching nine fish but I didn't smoke them like the beginning of the trip would suggest. The only thing I could get fish to hit was a topwater spook. They wouldn't touch anything else ( except for one little bass that ate a grub). I found it frustrating that they would only hit topwater. I knew the bigger fish would be on a different pattern. I really went on this trip in the hopes of catching a big one. I wanted a four pounder or bigger. Spoiler that didn't happen. 

   I tried fishing grubs, Ned Rigs, and jerkbaits. I hit points and rocky flats but they only wanted topwater. My biggest fish was decent. It was over seventeen inches. I didn't weigh it but roughly three pounds.

 

Brook Trout

 After fishing for five hours I drove north to the mountains. On my way through Franconia Notch I stopped at Echo Lake. I caught one trout and had three others hit in an hour. All my hits were on a a casting bubble and a fly. Another guy limited out on Powerbait. After fishing I went further north and found a campsite.

   Another terrible night sleep despite a nice campsite. I don't think I fell asleep until 3 am. I know it was well past 2 am for sure. Lying there, I was pissed I knew that once I fell asleep I'd be horizontal most of the morning if not into the afternoon. For better or worse, Least Flycatchers had other plans. Sometime around 5 am they woke me up with their loud singing that did not stop. So I dragged my ass out of bed and went birding at Pondicherry. I was really hoping to see a bear which was my whole reason to get up near dawn. Mother Nature and her children of mosquitoes made Pondicherry borderline unbearable. Any pause in my gate and I'd be swarmed by the mosquitoes that were following me.

 

White Lady Slippers

 Because of the biting pests, I left Pondicherry an hour soon than I had planned in my time budget. I went fishing at Moore Reservoir and was at the water before 10 am. The wind was picking up and I thought better of putting the canoe in the water. Last year near this boat ramp I caught ten Smallmouth from shore so I figured my chances were decent I'd still catch fish. I was mostly wrong. I got two small fish and one Rock Bass. I did catch the Rock Bass on a Ned Rig which was fun. I went back to camp about noon and took a four hour nap.

 

 It is amazing how much you can do in a day when you get up at 5 am. I'd already birded five miles, fished almost two hours and took  a four hour nap. When I woke up I still had almost five hours of daylight. I made myself a lunch and ate it in the car. From there, I went trout fishing again. The lake was windy and it took me a whie to find the fish. I almost gave up after half an hour but figure I had nothing better to do, So I kept searching for fish. Eventually I found some and caught five on a casting bubble/ tan Hare's Ear before calling it a day. I went back to camp and got a more normal night's sleep.

Rock Bass caught on Uncle Ned

   I did get up early on Friday to enjoy my last hours in New Hampshire. My plan was to fish five or six hours then get home before the afternoon traffic started. I researched the smaller lakes in the region before bed the night before but decided to fish the same lake as Wednesday. After breaking camp and an hour drive I was fishing by 7 am. I had to be careful because I knew my trolling motor battery was low on energy so I didn't go too far from the ramp. 

 

  I worked a cove hard fishing every boulder and boat dock picking up a couple fish including my biggest fish of the day, roughly sixteen inches. I caught it on a Ned Rig. The fish were more active this morning than Wednesday and I caught other fish on a spook and jerkbaits. I had three hits on a point and caught two of them. However, after 10:30 am despite some cloud cover I stopped catching fish. If I'd have known that my fifth fish would be my last, I'd have left. But I tried all kinds of lures at different depths and bottom with different bottom structure. I gave up at 12:30 and headed home.

  All in all it was a fun but not extremely memorable trip to the Granite State. I caught fish everywhere I went but never got big numbers. I had hoped for a trophy Smallmouth but never hooked a giant.Most of the ones I caught were quality fish between 12-16 inches with the three pounder. The woods were tough due to the mosquitoes but it isn't a bad Black Fly year. Choke it up to another chapter of many to New Hampshire.

Totals-   14 Smallmouth,  6 Trout

              Good Birds heard- Canada, Chestnut Sided, and Magnolia Warblers

                                   seen- Alder and Least Flycatcher, Bald Eagle flyby while fishing, Loons checked me out at every lake I was at getting too close and I had to wait for them to pass to cast. 

              No mammals to mention

              One frog at Pondicherry with weird coloration that could have been a Mink Frog but it jumped in the water before I could get a photo so I will never know.