79 Newts

  
   Laurie and I went camping the last two days. She had suggested that we go to America's Stonehenge in southern New Hampshire sometime. I had never been there so thought "what the hell, why not?" I didn't love the idea of driving up to New Hampshire for just a day so we did what we usually do... we figured out other things to do in the area. We went to three places in two days then came home to a nap and went to a concert Wednesday night. All of these things will get their own blog post. 

 We started our trip on Thursday driving to a Mass Audubon sanctuary called Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary. This is a large property covering over a thousand acres. I had always wanted to go there but the long drive (without piggybacking other activities) kept me away. There are twelve miles of trails and although we didn't plan on doing them all, we did plan on hitting every beaver pond, meadow and any other highlight.

   Being named for a large meadow, we hoped to see many butterflies. It was cloudy and windy when we got there so we knew that it would be unlikely that we saw many. There was a chance of rain, but it was low enough that we risked the trip. We did see two new species of butterflies for the year. We saw Canadian Tiger Swallowtail which is a large yellow butterfly. The other was a smaller Pearl Crescent, while small, its wing patterns are really introcate. I've seen many Swallowtails but the Crescent was a species I'd probably seen but never identified.

   While we were out on our first trail it started to rain. We were a mile from the car at a beaver pond. The woods kept us mostly dry but it made us turn around and head for the car. As we got back to the car the rain stopped and we decided to make our lunch. After lunch, since it had not rained for half an hour we went to another trail through  a pasture to a quartz boulder. This was a round trip of 1.2 miles through the meadow and a hemlock forest. 

 

 When we got to the quartz boulder Laurie noticed two bright orange "salamanders" on it. They were so still they looked like little plastic kids toys. I finally realized they were the Red Eft phase of Red Spotted Newts (also known as Eastern Newts). These newts have a strange life cycle. Like many amphibians  they are born in the water. After a few months they come out of the water and live on land for the next two to three years. This is the Red Eft phase, though they are a bright orange. After a couple of years they go back to the water as adults were they cn live another decade. 

   After seeing the first two, Laurie and I continued down the loop trail. We noticed a couple more of the newts right on the trail. Then we saw more and more. I was keeping track but at one point Laurie said she ws happy to say that she saw "twenty-plus" Well that was an understatement because the rain had made the entire population come out from under hiding. They were everywhere. As the title says, we saw seventy nine. I'm sure I'd never seen seventy nine newts in my life never mind in one day. We saw them from the boulder all the way up until we reached the meadow again. This was a distance of about three quarters of a mile. Because of the rain and likely more of it, I did not bring my camera. I took about fifty photos with my phone camera, none of which are totally clear.

Moving three off the trail
so they don't get stepped on.

   We walked around the meadow for a short time looking for the Pearl Crescent butterfly. After which, I went back into the woods with my big camera to get some photos I'd be confident in. I hustled out to the same trail that we had seen them. It hadn't rained in over an hour and all of the newts were gone! I did not see even one. I couldn't believe it they all went back into hiding. Laurie and I truly had a case of "right place/right time.

   All in all, the newts were obviously the highlight but even without them Wachustt Meadow is worth a visit. 

Pearl Crescent

   

Crane Management Area

Baltimore Checkerspot

  The day after going to the WWII Museum, Laurie went to Crane Wildlife Management Area in Falmouth. It was already our second or third time there this year. We went looking for wildlife but mostly butterflies. My hopes were not high because it was very windy. It turned out that it didn't matter, butterflies were everywhere. 

    We walked for hours and probably covered over five miles. Crane is a giant meadow/field. Because of this, it has different bird species than are found in the forested state. Eastern Kingbirds, Orchard Orioles, and Grasshopper Sparrows are common nesters. Grasshopper Sparrows, especially, are very rare nesting birds in Mass/RI. Blue Grosbeakes also nest at Crane. It is the only known place in Massachusetts where this southern species nests. Until this year, I had never seen one there. However, this year, I have seen them the last two times I was there (sorry, no photos)

   When we opened up our car doors in the parking lot we were disappointed by the wind but it was over an hour drive so we planned to mke the best of it. Even without butterflies, we weren't going to be disappointed. huge parts of the field are covered by acres of a wildflower meadow. Countless species of wildflowers in many colors were everywhere. 

   Crane is a known spot for a species called Baltimore Checkerspot. We went to Crane a few years ago to see them. It had been a couple of years since we went back to see them. Checkerspots are a very beautiful butterfly. We hadn't seen any during our previous adventures there so we thought it was either a bad year for them or we had mussed their season. During our visit we ended up seeing a few. The first one that we found resulted in some fist bumping and high fives. I got some half way decent but not spectacular photos. 

 

Grasshopper Sparrow

 We didn't see any herps at all but did find many other species of butterflies. While walking around we saw two other species of butterflies that were lifers for us. The first was an Edward's Hairstreak. Hairstreaks are a family of small butterflies that look very similar. I am a novice when it comes to identifying butterflies so luckily there are useful online guides the most important is the app Seek. Seek told me that my little Hairstreak was an Edward's. 

   The other species that was new for us was a Common Buckeye. It was near the end of our walk and sitting right out in the dirt path so we looked at it for a very long time. I took all of the photos that I wanted nd we moved on.

   While most of this post has been about butterflies, Crane is just a beautiful place anyway. As I said, wildflowers are everywhere. Living in the Northeast, it is almost astonishing to be walking in a field this large. We could see the car from the edge of the woods on the other side of the field and we were at least a mile away.

Edward's Hairstreak on Butterfly Milkweed

   We saw a dozen Grasshopper Sparrows. Many were perched up on small shrubs singing. We had a Blue Grosbeak and Orchard Orioles. There were many other birds and it was nice to see a thriving mini-ecosystem.  We had a great time. Walking at Crane on this date was one of the highlights of my summer.  

Common Buckeye

Beautiful Wildflowers

World War II Museum, Wakefield, RI

 

Audie Murphy, the most
decorated soldier of WWII
played himself in the movie
about him. This is his"uniform"
he wore in the movie

   On the rainy Tuesday, Laurie and I went to the World War II Museum in Wakefield, RI. In a word...AWESOME! I've been to a lot of museums including all of the Smithsonions. I can tell you that if you love history, this small museum is one of the best. 

   Obviously, the museum has artifacts from WWII. There are multiple small rooms absolutely crammed with stuff. They have so much  memoribilia that it is almost piled on the floor up to the ceiling. When I go to a museum, I usually end up seeing a couple of things that really stick with me. For example, I was blown away at the Museum of Fine Art when I came across stones from the Temple of Athena in Athens. 

  At this small museum, my jaw was on the floor almost the entire time. I could not believe that there was so much history in this place. There were artifacts from the US soldiers, Germans including Nazi propoganda, Russians, and even stuff from the Japanese/ Chinese theater of the war. On top of all of that, there were costumes from John Wayne, Lee Marvin (The Dirty Dozen) and others from Hollywood war movies.

   Nazi's are the worst people as a group to ever live. The horrors they caused is worse than disgusting, it is tragic. So when I tell you that there was a lot of Nazi stuff, I am not glorifying it, Numbers do not tell the story. Knowing the statistics about how many people died in concentration camps, work camps, and battles will still never allow us to understand the suffering. Seeing items from Hitler and other leaders of the Nazis is a strange feeling. Being that close to pure evil is unnatural. Knowing that Herman Goering's DNA could still be on his nightshirt or that Heinrich Himmler (leader of the SS) actually touched a piece of paper that he signed eighty years ago is a strange feeling that I can't explain.

   The cost of admission is ten dollars. We took the tour lead by a volunteer. The tour lasts almost two hours and I am glad we took it. Even the tour leader can only scratch the surface of how much stuff is in the museum, but he pointed out so many things we never would have noticed on our own. As I said, some of this stuff is right on the floor because they have so much of it. 

   The one thing that got me a emotional was a striped uniform that the prisinors in concentration camps had to wear. It is rigtht out in the open on a manikin and we were allowed to touch it. I was thinking about what this poor person had to go through. I do not know their story, but even in a best case scenario that they lived, how much death did  (he?) see? How much did he starve? What family members died or were never seen again? I thought all of this when I touched the uniform. I knew that just on the inside of that materiel a man lived in constant fear, hunger, and surrounded by death. I got a little choked up.

   There is no doubt that we will go back. We will probably go again in the winter. I won't take the tour again, since I see no need to  make the volunteer talk to us for two hours again. We will take our time and walk around and see if we can notice things we did not see before. Below are some of the highlights that I could not believe were in the collection. One last reminder, even though I took photos of Nazi items...facism is very bad and Nazi's were/are evil.

   One more last thought before you look at the photos below, I'm glad all of this stuff is saved and we can all learn from it. As Doctor Indiana Jones said many times "that belongs in a museum"

  Below is actual volcanic sand from the island of Iwo Jima

Dinnerware owned by Hitler

The costume John Wayne wore in the movie "The Sands of Iwo Jima"

Coat worn by Lee Marvin in "The Dirty Dozen"

A plate owned by Eva Braun, Hitler's girlfriend. 

Notice the initials

Many German Lugers

I was allowed to touch the shoulder of this prison uniform 

from a concentration camp. It was the saddest item at the museum

A book signed by Admiral Chester Nimitz 

Naval Commander of the Pacific fleet during the war 

Below is the shovel that Hitler used to break ground in

the creation of the Autobahn

A photo of him holding it

Jewish/ Cocentration Camp prison uniform 

I figure you don't need an explanation for this one

Not a lot of love between General Patton (left) and 

Bernard Montgomery (back to us)

Herman Goering's Nightshirt.

Head of the German Luftwaffe and Hitler's 

second in command

Coral and rock from the island of 

Peleliu a costly, forgotten, and mostly pointless battle fought in the Pacific.

It is highlighted in the Hanks/Speilberg series "The Pacific"

John F. Kennedy's beneficiary form in case of death.

His signiture is on it. He left all of his assets to his father

A section of the U.S.S. Arizon sunk at Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941 

Dog

 

  For the most part, on my days off Laurie and I have been in fields looking for snakes and butterflies. We have quickly learned that seeing a butterfly is much easier than either catching it or photographing it for an ID. As for snakes, we have not seen many except I finally saw my first Black Racer of the year on Friday.

   Fishing... I went twice last week. Once in my canoe in a weedy lake filled with bass and pickerel and the other at a reservoir that can only be fished from shore. Both days were horrible. I caught two small bass on the weedy lake. The second day, I couldn't even get a bluegill or perch to bite the tail of a grub. Lets put it this way... I jokingly told my boss I was going to transfer to the Gifts Department because I could no longer in good conscience give "expert" advice to fishermen. Luckily, he refused my transfer.

 

 Laurie and I wanted to check for Baltimore Checkerspot butterflies in Falmouth. We had seen them around June 20 a few years ago. We couldn't go on Sunday because it rained all day. So we went Wednesday. The plan was to look for the butterflies and then let me go shark fishing for a couple hours since we were only fifteen minutes away. We saw a couple butterflies including a possible Checkerspot but it was moving fast and I left my camera at home so we didn't count it.

   We tried for sharks from dark until 10:40. I didn't catch any real sharks but I did have three runs. The first run I think was a Dogfish but it dropped the bait. The second run was hard and quick and I do think it may have been a shark but it also dropped the dead eel. The third fish I did manage to hook. It was a Dogfish about two and a half to three feet long. I was having uncontrollable shivering from the cold ocean breeze and did not bring a sweatshirt so it was time to go after the one fish. I can't even say I'm sad I didn't catcha shark. A fifteen minute walk back to the car after getting wet head to toe pulling a shark out of the water would have been awful.  

Uncle Ned

   

   When I fish for Smallmouth Bass one of my go to lures has always been a grub on a one eighth ounce jighead. I've been using this lure for years. I keep the colors simple and have used Green Pumpkin and the light purple made by Mister Twister. For the last couple decades, I have only fished for Smallmouth a few times a year. Most of the time was spent fishing for stripers (then finding birds) so I really did not attempt to learn new techniques. 

   Since I hadn't really concentrated on freshwater bass for two decades, I actually had to learn about new ways to catch them when I got hired at Bass Pro. Different ways to catch bass had been invented (or become popular) while I was fishing the surf. So at night after work, I would do a lot of research. Besides learning about these new lures, I'd spend time reading product reviews on rods, reels, and rain gear.

   If I didn't have a good excuse (stripers, albies, and birds) I'd be embarrassed to admit I had to learn about Ned Rigs. A Ned Rig is a soft plastic bait on a jighead. It differs from my go to grub on a jighead in two ways. First is the jig itself. A typical round ball jighead will lie flat on the bottom when at rest. A Ned head is top heavy and will stand up when dropped to the bottom. You can already tell that this will appeal to a fish. Since the plastic will not be lying flat on the bottom, instead swaying in the current it would be very enticing for a fish that sees it.

   Secondly, while anything the right size can be put on a jighead such as a grub, shad body, crawfish, fluke...etc, the most common Ned soft plastic has almost no motion. The most popular soft plastics for bait on a Ned head look like half of a straight tail worm such as a Senko. For whatever reason, three inch straight tail worms are the most popular plastics for Ned Rigs by far. Most companies make them from Yum to Bass Pro Shops. The come in many different colors.

 

 Laat year while smallie fishing in New Hampshire I caught my first fish on a Ned Rig. Ironically, my fist fish was a Rock Bass but I did catch a number of Smallmouth. I knew this was something I wanted to get good at so I bought twenty packages of Ned baits from different companies in different colors. Some are even made of different material. While many feel like traditional plastic worms, some brands such as Z man make them with elastic in them. These baits can be stretched like an elastic and are extremely tough.  You can catch dozens of fish on one bait and you are probably going to get it caught on the bottom long before you would have needed to change the plastic. 

   As for the jighead, I decided not to use lead. Since lead is illegal in Mass, NH, and Maine, I figured I may as well start with tungsten from the beginning. Ned heads are expensive anyway (as opposed to traditional round heads) so the extra cost of the tungsten wasn't very much more.

    I bought my heads from a company called Nako. They specialize in non-lead products. I had ordered from them before so I knew that they have a 20% off sale near Christmas along with free shipping over fifty dollars. So, like I did at work with the bodies, I bought a bunch of packages last December. I bought all sizes from one tenth to one quarter ounce. However, if I could only buy one size it would be the one eighth ounce with a 2/0 hook. You can choose the hook size on most weights. I wish I would have bought less of other sizes and more of that size. Despite having ten or so Nako packs in different sizes, I'll probably order more of that one size again in December.

   This year when I did my annual smallmouth trip, I used Ned rigs. I made a point to fish them instead of the traditional grub on a round head. The truth is, I don't know if I caught anymore fish with Ned jigs than I would have with the grubs, but I figured that learning something new was a good idea. At the very least, it was fun getting hits on something I really never used much before.

  I bought Ned plastics from many different companies. Bass Pro made an elastic plastic that for some reason they discontinued. When I realized this, I bought all of them up that we had left in the store. So I got colors of black/blue, Pb&J, brown/orange, and an off white. I bought the Z man green pumpkin and the Yoga Pants. I bought some of the Rapala Ned BLT and the Missile baits Ned Bomb. 

   Obviously, I did not try all of these brands and colors while fishing for a couple of days. However, of the ones that I used my favorite is the Missile Ned Bomb in the Goby color. Ned Bombs are not shaped like the others. Instead of being a half a plastic worm the end is shaped like a beaver tail. So it sways a little in the water. I felt as though this little bit of movement would entice fish. And again, do I know if I caught more fish with this than I would have if I stuck with the Rapala BLT in brown/ orange ( looks a lot like crawfish color)? I don't know. But I do know confidence is key when fishing. and I was confident in this bait. 

   

Rock Bass on a Ned

One thing that surprised me is how many actual hook ups I got with the bait. I missed very few fish that struck  the bait. I can assume it is because of the bait standing on its end. If I fish hits it, the hook is already in its mouth. There were plenty of times that I didn't feel the hit and when I tightened the line, I had a fish on. This is typical of Ned rigs because you will hook fish on the drop or as soon as it hits the bottom. 

  Despite having twenty packs of various Neds, I bought four more packs of the Missile Bait in the Goby color when I got home (with an employee discount and gift cards). Will I ever use all twenty packs of baits sitting in a shoe box...no. Will someone get use out of them when I die someday? I hope so.

   You may be asking why they are named Ned Rig? Why Uncle Ned? Well, the inventor of Ned Rigs actually was a guy named Ned Kehde. He was a midwestern fisherman and he invented this finesse type of fishing in the early 2000's. So, I think we can all call this guy our Uncle Ned (a term first used by my old boss Marc at work). It is a fun, very successful way to catch fish

Herps and Butterflies

 

  Over the last few days Laurie and I have been out looking for herps and butterflies. I usually get really bad seasonal depression in June. When May migration is over I go into a funk that takes me some time to get out of. The crash after the high of May is hard for me to overcome. The past few years I actually planned vacations in June so I'd have something to look forward to. This strategy worked to a T. However, Laurie and I are planning a long trip to Florida in October so I don't want to use any vacation time.

   On my days off, we have been spending time looking for snakes, turtles, and butterflies. Besides looking at the ground to find snakes, we've been bringing a butterfly net to try to capture some butterflies for easier identification. This time in the field has really been fun and I have not been seasonally depressed. 

   Laurie has really been into this hands on nature viewing. Neither of us are any kind of butterfly expert so we have been taking a field guide with us.

   In terms of herping, we have had quality over quantity. Over the course of my life I had seen a total of three Eastern Box Turtles in New England. Of the three, two of them were at BioBlitz where hundreds of eyes would look at the ground. However, over the course of the last three days I have seen two additional Eastern Box Turtles. Laurie found both of them while we were out hiking for herps. Thanks to her keen eye I have some fantastic photos

Below is the first one that she found. Many pictures and more text below it.

Of the seven species of butterflies that we identified the last few days this is the best photo. The species below is a Red Spotted Purple

  Today's Eastern Box Turtle was at a different location. It did not move when we saw it. We did wait for it to move into tall grass out of the view of possible poachers.

Pelagic Boat Trip

    Despite saying a couple years ago that I had retired from pelagic boat trips I keep finding reasons to go on one. Last year, I went on one because I still needed a species of Shearwater that had been split from another species (Scopolis).

   This year when a pelagic was being planned I asked Laurie if she wanted to go. My logic is that she had never been on a dedicated pelagic and she loves boats. Last year, when I went, I saw hundreds of dolphins. I was hoping this trip would have dolphins and whales to make Laurie happy. 

   The purpose of these trips is actually to see birds. Thirty or so birders charter one of the whale watch boats of the Francis Fleet. You really can't see any of the Shearwaters or Jaegers from shore so taking a trip out to see them is the only way to count them for the year. As many of you know, Laurie is not a birder so she was hoping to see whales.

   The birding was pretty good. We got four species of Shearwaters, a Jaeger, and Wilson's Storm Petrels. Birds were around the boat most of the trip. There was one whale seen. Unfortunately, only myself a couple other people saw it. It was a small whale so it was almost certainly a  Minke. The non-birding highlight of the trip were Ocean Sunfish. These large fish can reach up to six hundred pounds. They will float on their side at the surface. I personally saw three of them. 

With a couple hours left in our trip we took the long way back around the west side of Block ISland. The scenery was terrific. We saw both North Light, Southeast Light, the cliffs, Southwest Point and seals hauled out.

   All in all, if you were a birder it was a pretty good trip. If you like mammals, it wasn't very good. I wish it had been better for Laurie. No pelagics are like any other. Some are great and some can be duds. This one was somewhere in the middle

Below are multiple photos Paul Miller took of the Ocean Sunfish. His photos are way better than mine and by far the best I have seen. Below his photos are a few more of mine from the trip.

This photo and the following three  below were 
taken by Paul Millert

My photos below

Seals off of the North Rip

North Light

Southeast Lighthouse