Mother Nature kicked my ass again last night

   

Very common Black Bellied Plovers
were where the Godwit should have been

   Eric Church has a song called "Jack Daniels kicked my ass again last night". I can't help change the lyrics to the title of this blog. I am on a terrible slump when it comes to accomplishing anything I've tried outdoors over the last month.

   It all started about thirty days ago when I fished for albies. I didn't get any from either of my two shore trips. I went out on my friend Dick's boat and we blanked. I hooked one on my first trip while blind casting. Other than that, from shore, I never made a cast near an albie.

  About ten days ago a Sora had been seen at the Cumberland Monastery for a few days. When I had a chance to go see it I went. While someone saw it the day I went at the crack of dawn, I along with four other birders did not see it from 8-11:30 am. Sora along with the Connecticut Warbler (below) are two of the six species I have seen in New England that I do not have a photo of. Every other of my 348 species except for those six I have at least an awful documentation photo. 

   Since it has been so nice out, I've been taking trips to the Cape Cod Canal. Most of my fishing has been half-hearted at best. Some nights Laurie and I would walk the Canal after dark looking for mammals in the woods and fish in the water. Other days I've brought my bike down and rode it. The few times I've seen fish, they have been in the middle out of range of everyone except Ron Arra. Even if my attempts were half hearted I am amazed I have not run into fish nor saw any caught with as many times as I've been there.

Last Wednesday, I was supposed to go to Block Island with my two friends Claudia and Joe. The weather forecast Monday looked good so Claudia reserved a spot on the ferry for her car. Tuesday they predicted a small craft advisory. We checked all night Tuesday and when we got up Wednesday morning to see if the ferry was cancelled. It wasn't so we all made the hour drive from different places (Norton, MA, Seekonk, MA and Coventry, RI). We met at 7:20 am for the 8:30 ferry so Claudia could get her car on the ferry. At 7:25 it was announced that ferry's were cancelled for the day. 

 

I did see a Coyote while stalking the
CT Warbler

   We made the best of it and birded all morning. I had fun with them. After we got lunch, I went back north to Lincoln where there had been a Connecticut Warbler. It had been seen that morning. Connecticut's are one of the hardest species in America to see. They are really rare and they HATE being seen. They hide in deep underbrush. When they move, they prefer to walk than to fly so they stay well hidden. I spent almost three hours looking for the bird right where it had been seen but it never came out. Luckily my buddy Tim came to look for it so we spent about half that time together.

  I had Friday Oct 3 off from work and wasn't sure what I'd do. I figured I'd probably go striper fishing. When I woke up, there were reports of a  Bar Tailed Godwit in Plymouth. This is a European bird. It almost certainly got pulled from home by the northeast winds caused by the two offshore hurricanes. A Bar Tailed Godwit would be a lifer so I went for it. I drove to Plymouth and rode my bike up the long narrow beach as far as I could and hoofed it the rest of the way. Long story short, I was the first person to miss it. It hangs around at high tide but once the tide dropped it went out to an offshore sandbar until the next high tide (which would have been at dark). People saw the Godwit on Saturday but I worked.

    I had Sunday off also. I never get weekend days off anymore so I was excited to spend the day with Laurie. I wanted the day to be epic. The weather was perfect. I wanted to drive to NH and hike Mt. Cardigan in the Lakes Region but Laurie didn't want to. So the best I could come up with was to go seining and see if we could see some tropical fish.

   We got up early just in case someone reported the Bar Tailed Godwit early. We drove by the exit to Plymouth but it wasn't reported. So we drove to the Cape Cod Canal where we took a walk while I carried my rod and made a few casts. Nothing was going on, I never saw a bird or a fish. After we left the Canal we went to Market Basket to get a couple things for a picnic. We drove all the way to Newport and had a picnic at a trout pond. We had burgers and they came out great. This pond has Western Mosquitofish. As you can probably tell by the name they are not native to the northeast. I've seen them before but when I caught one in the net, it was a lifer for Laurie (not that she cares about lifers)

   

Pompano

   After we left the trout pond we drove to Third Beach to seine. Laurie was cranky because she really didn't want to but we were there and she never came up with an alternative. We seined the beach and the rocks but found only one tropical fish species. We caught three Pompano. These were another lifer for Laurie but I'd seen them multiple times. We got some photos and let them go.  We didn't get anymore tropicals or for that matter anything but Silversides and two baby Cunner. 

   It was really nice out and after we seined the beach Laurie actually swam in the ocean for a half hour (Oct 5!). This put her in a great mood since she loves to swim and relaxes her muscles. Since it was still early and we had time to kill before the Patriots game we took a forty minute detour on our way home and went back to the Railroad Bridge at the Cape Cod Canal. No one was fishing and I never saw anything including bait. We enjoyed our last ice cream of the season and went home. 

   I had been trying to document all of the fun stuff I'd done this year. This is why when I had free time I'd sometimes write three or four blogposts in the same day. Other than this post, it should be obvious why I have only written once since Sept 17. Nothing I have done has been productive. I really need Mother Nature to stop kicking my ass!

   

 

I got to pet a Dog

 It's ridiculous, I had never caught a Smooth Dogfish. Considering that I used eels for five years in my hardcore striper days, it is amazing that I never hooked up with a big Dogfish. This year I actively tried to catch one a few times. I used small eel chunks over the summer. A few nights ago I went night fishing with my friend Adam with squid. I looked on helplessly as Adam caught four Dogfish and all I got was a small Black Sea Bass.

   It really is weird that I have actually caught a real shark before I've caught a Dogfish. As I wrote in July, when we went shark fishing, Adam let me reel in one of his Dogfish. Pathetic.

   Finally, last Friday I caught a Smooth Dogfish. Same deal, I went with Adam. We fished squid at night. Within thirty seconds of my first cast I hooked a Dogfish. It wasn't a monster, maybe two feet and a couple of pounds. They are cute as hell, and I love the rough feeling of shark skin.

     

A Musk Turtle but not much else

 

Musk Turtle

   I had Saturday off from work. After a morning commitment I went to Trustom Pond looking for snakes. I ran into many of my friends that were there that saw two Philadelphia Vireos. Laurie and I tagged along with Allison O'Conner and a new guy named Chris and we ran into one of the Vireos along with Blue Headed and Red Eyed Vireos. 

   My real intention was to find a Green Snake. Allison came across one the day before. We looked everywhere but didn't see any. I also thought it was a good idea to walk through the four foot tall grass to flip rocks to look for other snake species. On a perfect 75 degree day I am amazed I did not find a single snake.

   Back at the parking lot Allison pointed out tick nymphs on all of our clothes. Smaller than a grain of sand they were barely visible. Everyone but myself stayed on the mowed trail but they were still covered in these tiny nymphs. Allison had a lint roller and we all took turns rubbing it against us to get them off. Because of walking through the tall grass I had them all the way up on my shirt. I was especially careful to do my best at getting them off.

   The past two years I had gotten what I thought were chiggers under my skin from Trustom in September. The bites lasted well into the winter and were itchy the entire time. I now realize that the bites were most likely these tick nymphs. To make a long story short, I still got about twenty welts on my skin from behind my ankle up to a few on my butt cheek.  I felt like it was my own stupidity from waling in the tall grass but Sue, who was much more careful than myself also has multiple bites. So word of caution, Trustom is dangerous in late summer and getting tiny tick nymphs on you is inevitable

Snapping Turtle and a few Painted

  After Trustom, Laurie and I went to Wakefield for a picnic. We love a spot near the water. The cool thing about this spot is that it has Eastern Musk Turtles. I usually (but not always) see one. Saturday we had three species. We had the ever present Painted Turtles, we did have one Musk, but there was also a smallish Snapping Turtle sun bathing. 

  We watched the turtles for a long time. Eastern Musk Turtles can climb. We watched one come out of the water and climb up a branch until it was almost three feet above the water. It had to climb right over a very agitated Painted Turtle to do so. It was really interesting to watch. 

  Later in the day we drove down the Cape Cod Canal where we did a three to four mile walk after dark looking for mammals. We didn't see anything other than two rabbits. Also of note, we did not see anyone fishing (on a Saturday night) from the Sagamore Bridge to the Fish Pier at Scussett Beach (no one on the pier either). 

   So all in all, I was surprised by the lack of snakes in the afternoon and the mammals at night. Still, it beat being at work. 

Below is a series of photos of the Eastern Musk Turtle climbing over the Painted Turtle then over a sizable cutting on the branch before finally resting three feet above the water. 

Little Lies, Sweet Little Lies

  In this summer of tribute bands, Laurie and I went to see the Fleetwood Mac tribute band Little Lies. They were playing at a club called The Met in Pawtucket. We had originally tried to see them at a free outdoor concert in Onset in July. There were so many people and cars we could not find a parking place. We tried for an hour before eventually giving up. As we were looking for parking, we could see the band playing in the park. There were a couple thousand people watching the free show. They played at the Easton Library a week later but I had to work that night.

  

   Frustrated that I missed two free shows we sucked it up and bought tickets to see them at The Met in Pawtucket. Tickets were $20 in advance and $25 at the door. I bought them in advance and requested the night off from work. Unlike the Onset concert, there was barely a hundred people in the club, maybe less. We walked in twenty minutes before show time and got a table to sit at. I bought a beer and we sat down.

   Little Lies was awesome. They had three singers each with voices much like Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and Christine McVee. They had four other band members. They sounded great. They played almost three hours with a break in the middle. They played every Fleetwood Mac song that would be on a greatest hits album. They also played a couple of deeper cuts that I did not know. 

   Really, every song was a highlight. They nailed them all. "You Make Lovin' Fun", "Landslide", "Silver Spring", Rhiannon", "gold Dust Woman", and "Go Your Own Way" were just some of the many songs they sang. 

Little Lies is a New England based band so if you like Fleetwood Mac songs it would worth your time to check and see if they are playing near you anytime soon. Link to their website below.

https://www.littleliestribute.com/schedule

Seining 2025 Part 2

 Tuesday i went seining with my friend Carlos Pedro. Carlos always picks up a new hobby every summer after the birds of spring have migrated. He has had summers where he identified a hundred species of dragonflies. Another year, he learned the safe mushrooms to eat so he was always out "mushrooming" while walking through the woods. 

   This year he has been trying to identify species of fish. He has been asking me to go seining all summer but our schedules (mine really, he is retired) have made it difficult. I went a couple weeks ago with Carlos and Sue Palmer. I found time to go seining again this Tuesday. This time it was just with Carlos.

  We hit the beach at 9 am and seined for two and a half hours. We didn't get a lot of species but he ended up getting three lifers. I didn't get any lifers but it is always fun to see tropical fish. 

   All of the photos below are from Carlos's iPhone. I held the fish and the tank while he took the photos. 

   The first lifer Carlos got was the Florida Pompano below

We ended up catching a ton of baby Menhaden. They go by many name: Bunker, when they are small they are called Peanut Bunker, and Pogy

Another lifer for Carlos was Kingfish. Usually we catch a lot at this beach but on this trip we only caught four

My favorite fish of the day was a large Atlantic Needlefish. It was roughly ten or eleven inches long. I did not realize how sharp their teeth are but they are like saws. 

A Redneck Woman at the Woodstock Fair

    Last Saturday, Laurie went to the Woodstock Fair in Woodstock, CT. This fair is actually the oldest continuously running fair in the country. A couple months ago I did a blogpost with many of the fairs that happen during the summer and fall. I wrote the post after going to the Barnstable County Fair. I hadn't gone to any of the other fairs since, however, Gretchen Wilson was playing Saturday night at Woodstock so I requested a day off from work. 

   County fairs are set up the same. There is a midway and food vendors. There are usually barns with farm animals and contests for the best farm produce. So in comparing the Barnstable Fair to the Woodstock Fair, I'd say the Woodstock Fair was way better. There were row after row of food vendors. Not only was there typical fair food but there was exotic food like Thai, Greek, and things like Strombolis. I bought some egg rolls that contained mac and cheese, another that had desert chocolate in it. I got Thai food for supper. Laurie bought a delicious milk shake. We could have gotten the typical dough boys or cotton candy but figured why not try something new.

   The Woodstock Fair had a lot of animals to look at. There was entire barn with rabbits, another with sheep, and another with cows. We saw a bunch of pigs including little piglets nursing off of their mother. Very cute. After the small amount of livestock at Barnstable, I was glad to see so many animals at the fair. 

   As for the entertainment, Gretchen was awesome. She went on at 8 pm and played about an hour and ten minutes. She started with "I'm here for the party". Her voice was still awesome at fifty two years old. She played her hits and a few covers. She played "Simple Man" by Skynyrd."  Her encore was "Redneck Woman"  and "Her Strut" by Bob Seger as he last song. For a free concert, it kicked ass. 

 

Google Images

    There are so many fairs within driving distance, that it makes since to go to ones that have a free show of someone I want to see. The reason I went to Barnstable was to see the oldies group The Buckinghams. We chose Saturday to see Gretchen in Woodstock. Sunday Uncle Cracker was playing the Woodstock Fair and honestly, I'd have taken the drive and paid the fifteen dollar admission if I didn't have to work. I don't think  I'm going to make it to anymore fairs this year because of my work schedule and other days I have to tke off for events. But I am glad I got to see the Redneck woman again.  

A great day finding herps

    I went herping this morning. Despite not finding my intended target, Red Bellied Snake, I still had a really good day. The first place I went was for the snake. Instead of finding it, I came across a mouse under a rock. This was the first time I have flipped a rock and found a mouse. I looked at the mouse and let it crawl into the brush before putting the rock down. I was afraid I'd crush it. 

   A little while later down the path I came across a small Eastern Milk Snake. Though it was small, it was feisty. It bit me the entire time I was holding it. It was a pretty little snake. After a few photos I put it back. 

After I left that area, I went to a small pond that usually has Northern Water Snakes. It took a few minutes but I found one. I didn't have my big lens. The best I could do is get this photo as it swam by.

Next I went to my favorite herping spot. I've seen Fowler's Toads, Black Racers, Pickerel Frogs and many other species. The sun was bright so I knew snakes and toads would be unlikely, but I'd probably see Pickerel Frogs. I caught three of them including one of the biggest I've seen.

Thinking my herping was over, Laurie and I went to the 

Cape Cod Canal for a picnic supper. After supper we looked for animals with a spotlight. It was a surprise to say the least, to see a Fowler's Toad out in the open. 

Fowler's Toad and below