None at the Chu, what else is new?

I decided to give Wachusett Reservoir a try today. The ocean was rough and it was a beautiful day. Although I would prefer the weather to be crappy at Wachusett, I didn't want to waste a nice day. However, good weather or bad, usually I don't catch a hell of a lot when I go there.

Today was just like any other at Wachusett. I didn't catch any lake trout. The good news is, as usual, I saw a few cool animals. I spooked two deer. I also saw a loon and a bald eagle.

So today was a typical day for me at the big lake. No fish, nice scenery, wildlife, no regrets

Monadnock- A photographic journey

Yesterday I hiked Mount Monadnock in southern New Hampshire. Monadnock is one of the most hiked mountains in the world. It regularly has 100,000 people a year on its summit. The reason is proximity to major cities. It doesn't hurt that it is the tallest point for fifty miles in all directions. I did not want to hike the normal route because it is so crowded with people. Instead I chose to hike a route the Mountain Wanderer did in June 2014. This route is much longer but well worth it. On my hike to the top I did not see a sole until I got to the summit.

Although it was in the low fifties at the bottom, the summit was thirty six degrees. It was cloudy and the sustained winds were twenty miles an hour. In short it was freezing. I stayed on top just long enough to eat. I didn't study the views of the northern mountains. Like everyone else I found a rock to block the wind and ate. Since I had all this extra time, I stopped many times to enjoy the view from rock perches on the way down. Total time took me five hours and forty five minutes. I would have stayed longer if the summit would have been more hospitable.

A view of the mountain from an approach road
The weather called for crystal clear skies but
it was cloudy most of the day

The first trail I hiked is the Parker Trail
It starts near this small reservoir

Glacial Erratic

The next trail was the Cliff Walk
It had this surprise ladder to climb

Hard to believe farming was done on
the side of a mountain, but this stone wall
says differently

My first view. On Cliff Walk

As you can see in the picture below there are two signs. The closer sign heads straight for the summit. The one to the left is the Mount Rosa Trail. It takes a round about journey going over a small side peak of Mount Rosa. It is longer but rarely used. I reached deep to pull out my inner Frost

I shall be telling you this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood and I-

I took the one less traveled by

And that made all the difference

So even though I hadn't seen a person on my hike, I
took the Mount Rosa Trail because it was the less
popular trail

Monadnock summit 600 feet above from Mount Rosa

Weather Vane on Mt Rosa Summit

Tough to get lost on this mountain
Trails are very well marked

Some shrubs dressed in their fall best

Hazy, but Wachusett Mountain to the south

People on Monadnock Summit

Mt Rosa 400 feet below

On my way down I took the popular White Dot trail
Here is a steep pitch that was fun
to navigate

I found a rock perch to get comfortable on

Cool tree near the end of the hike

The busiest path is the White Cross. Although I
had a few people on the White Dot, the White
Cross is like an ant highway.

Entrance sign

A view driving out, The sky was clearing nicely...
now that I was down

As I was driving back I saw Wachusett while waiting
at this red light.

Hammonasset State Park and Beach, Madison, CT

Miles of beach at HSP

This morning I went on a day trip to Hammonasset State Park. I rarely go to Connecticut, so it was a new experience for me. Hammonasset (or as I am going to call it, HSP) is considered one of the premier birding locations in the northeast. It is especially good during the fall migration and the winter. I was really looking forward to this trip. I got up early and arrived a little after the gates opened at 8 am.

HSP is a full hundred miles from my house. It is just over forty miles from Rhode Island and seventy miles from New York. However, it is very easy to get to. It is just a couple miles off of I-95. It is off Exit 62. Once you take a left at the end of the ramp, it is a straight shot into the park.

Since I had never been there, I didn't know where to go. Admission is free during the off-season. This is a state beach, so expect to pay a hefty entrance fee during the summer months. Since it was free, there wasn't anyone at the gate to ask for a map or advice ( I will take that as trade for free admission!!!) I decided to drive the park road to the end to get a feel for the place. The road ends at a point. It faces south into Long Island Sound, To the east and west you can see miles of the Connecticut shore. To the west of the point, Hammonasset Beach stretches for a couple of miles. There are at least two restrooms and vending machines along the beach.

Black Bellied Plovers

Near the end of the point is a small pond. It had a couple Greater Yellowlegs and a mallard duck. A few sandpipers flew in, but left just as quickly before I could ID them.

 After my short walk around the point I headed back towards the Nature Center. Another road went
right towards some woods. I followed it to another parking area. At this spot is the trailhead to the Willards Island Nature Trail. This was a pretty walk through the woods. There were hardwoods and pines. All of it surrounded by a huge saltmarsh. On this trail I saw a bald eagle fly over my head. It was going south. I saw a bunch of songbirds. Over the marsh I saw a Northern Harrier and a Sharp Shinned Hawk flying.

Because this park juts so far out to sea, it a natural migrant trap. As birds start flying south, they run out of land at this spot. The end of the line, if you will. So the birds stop, rest up, and feed. It gets bird nerds like me a chance to see a bunch of birds. For the record, the most famous migrant trap in the U.S. is Cape May, NJ.

By far, the highlight of my day was a Red Tailed Hawk. It was sitting in a short pine tree when I saw it. At that point I was only 20 feet from it. I thought for sure it was going to spook. Just after I saw it a field trip full of fifth graders came walking by. I thought my chance to see this

Red Tailed Hawk

bird was over. I was shocked when twenty kids walked within feet of the the hawk and it didn't move. After the kids went by I snapped a few more pictures. It had bigger problems then me or kids. It was getting harassed by a mocking bird that wouldn't quit. On a side note, the biggest lowlight of the day were field trips. I could not get away from kids no matter where I went. There were ten buses in the parking lot. Each group spread out throught the park. On the bright side, what a nice late October day for a field trip. High temperature was seventy degrees today!

Because this park is such a famous birding location, I will make the 200 mile round trip again in the winter. With all the marsh and fields I can see why birds of prey like this area. Even today, I saw four species of raptors. I also can see why this place is so popular with Connecticut residents. The beach is big and beautiful. The scenery is nice. There are miles of walking trails. A lot of people were bike riding today. Best of all for those that want to go during the warm seasons, there is even a campground.

I don't think there is a prettier
maple in America right now

A view of the point

Part of the Willard's Island Trail
Notice the saltmarsh to the left

Northern Flicker

One of the short sand trails leading to the beach

This mockingbird enjoyed harassing
the hawk

Three Common Surfcasting Mistakes to Avoid

Surfcasting is an ever learning experience. There is always a new spot to learn or a new technique to apply. Sometimes,realizing something is working before everyone else (such as a hot color, or what size bait fish are keying on) can make all the difference.

Here are three very simple surfcasting mistakes. They are very easy to avoid. By default, by not making these mistakes, one is guaranteed to catch more fish.

1. When checking out a spot bring your rod with you!

 I have been as guilty of this as anyone. How many times have you went to scout out a spot "just to see" and when you got there, saw a blitz and had to run back to your car? I'm sure everyone surf fishermen has done that. Half the time, by the time you get back, the fish have either stopped or moved out of casting range.

I have learned my lesson, I always carry my rod (and usually my bag, because it it does no good losing your popper in a school of blues on the first cast) to the water.  So many times  I'll walk into feeding fish and only have one cast before they move on. Better to have that one shot then to be running back to your car dropping F-bombs.

2. Always make a few casts!

One of my pet peeves is what I call "the watchers". A lot of guys will stand around all day and only cast when they see fish. Worse, many guys will drive all over creation stopping at many spots searching with binoculars but never making a cast because they don't see breaking fish. This is a huge mistake. A lot of times the fish are not showing but they are there.

Monday night I went to Narragansett. There were a lot of fish around. Many were schooled up and would pop up all over the place. I got lucky and had fish break right in front of me twice. Both times I hooked up and landed a fish. Both times, by the time I got the fish in, the feeding stopped and I was casting blind. It didn't matter, there were loads of fish cruising just outside "the first wave". I ended up catching many more including a 31 inch keeper. To my right was a guy also casting blind. He caught as many fish as I did. My friend Dave was half a mile away also hooking up with fish hugging the shoreline.

To my left was Pier 5. It was loaded with guys, none casting, all waiting. I am sure there were fish right there, but no one was even trying. This is just the latest example of "dry lines catch few fish" I've seen it time and again, sometimes the fish are there and not showing. Give a spot ten minutes, you have nothing to lose.

3. Put some small plugs and soft plastic in your bag.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen guys casting eight inch poppers into flat water with fish exploding all over one inch bay anchovies These guys have almost no chance of catching anything. I can not understand why they don't carry at a minimum, four inch Zoom flukes, Cocahoes, small bucktail jigs, half ounce jigheads and a wooden egg float.

Of course when fish are on big menhaden, mackerel, or squid, big plugs are the name of the game. In southern Rhode Island the predominant forage is small bay anchovies and peanut bunker. To catch fish you really need to "match the hatch"

One time I was at Potters Cove in Jamestown. There was so much bait the water was black. Schoolies were heavily feeding on the bait. Every cast I would cast to four or five close splashes. However the fish were fussy and I didn't have any lures to match the tiny baitfish.  Even though I was casting at four or five fish at a time, I'd only hook up about every ten casts. Still, the fish were around for a while and my total started to add up. A guy to my right was using an eight inch popper splashing water up four feet (the water was glass calm so it caused quite a commotion). He obviously wasn't catching anything. After a few fish, he came over and asked me what I was using. When I showed him my 3/8 ounce jig and 3 inch shad body he said he didn't have anything that small. And he didn't! I saw his bag. Pencil poppers, big needlefish, and Danny's swimmers.  It really blows me away that guys don't put gear in there bag of all sizes.

Before you say "those are small fish". I watched Ben Pickering land a thirty five pound striper on a five inch swimmer. It was the same deal as Potters Cove. The fish were on tiny bait. But this time a school of giant fish (10-40 pounds!) were keyed on it. They had the bait pinned against the rocks in Narragansett. The fish were in such shallow water, huge stripers were almost beaching themselves. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in the surf.

As I said, by avoiding these three mistakes, by default you WILL catch more fish. At least once, you will walk into breaking fish and catch one because rod was in hand. At least once, you be surprised

This fish was caught on a small swimmer
that was imitating tiny bay anchovies
Still think big fish only eat big bait?

that fish are right in front of everyone but no one knew it until YOU started fishing. And I assure you, that if you put some small stuff in your bag and learn how to fish a bucktail, YOU will catch way more fish.

The birds I Missed!

Friday Parker River National Wildlife Refuge was calling me. Only having one day off this week, I didn't have a game plan until Thursday night. Knowing migrating birds would be gone soon, and really, I just felt like going birding, I went to Plum Island. I left home around 7 am and made the entrance gate at exactly 8:30.

To keep this relatively short, I birded until 2 pm. I wanted to leave in time to miss the Lowell traffic. In total I got 40 species. This would be a fine number, but in truth, it was nothing special. For one, I didn't get any new birds for the year.  Secondly, I saw ducks I had seen with Laurie last week and few shorebirds I'd seen all summer. As for song birds, all the ones I found, I could have seen five miles from home. I see no need to drive ninety miles to see robins, blue jay,s and pigeons.

That's not to say I didn't see a few good birds. As I mentioned before I enjoy shorebirds. I found most of the common ones including sanderlings and five black bellied plovers. There were a lot of ducks in the ponds including green wing teal, pintails, and a brant (a goose).

Unfortunately, my big complaint is with myself. I missed some birds that I knew were there. If I'd have seen them, I could have pushed fifty species, but more importantly added to my year list. When I was scoping the ocean, I saw tons of white wing scoters and many surf scoters. Yet I didn't see any black scoters. I'm sure they were there.

One trail is refereed to as the Pines. Upon pulling in, a few people were walking out. I asked if they saw anything interesting. One lady said " Red Bellied (woodpeckers), Juncos, Yellow Rumped (warblers), and Golden Crowned (kinglets) were in there." Apparently birders do not like saying the third word of a three part name. I found two out of four. I saw the Juncos and Warblers but missed the woodpecker and the Kinglet. I wasn't so worried about the Red Bellied Woodpecker, although I missed it, I watched one for ten minutes the day before in Barrington, RI. The kinglet hurt. I'd been wanting to see one all year. They are not particularly rare, but somehow I keep missing them.

Lastly, I missed a rarity while there. A Clay Colored Sparrow had been found. Of course my chances of coming it upon it were slim, but it had been reported earlier in the day. I didn't check my emails or I could have joined the legions that followed the report.

Sorry I do not have any pictures. In my rush to leave my house early, I left my camera home. Just one more thing to add to my frustrating day. I probably should have gone fishing in Narragansett!

My message to Utah Congressman Rob Bishop (R)

Rob Bishop
In the Pocket of Big Oil
National Embarrassment

A little known fund that provides money for outdoor recreation, land preservation and projects on public land has been eliminated. The Land Water Conservation Fund  was a deal the government made 50 YEARS AGO with gas and oil companies. Money from profits made from off shore drilling would go towards conservation. The theory being if we harm the environment in one place we can protect it in another.The fund would get up to 900 million dollars a year. However often a huge portion of this money would end up in the "general fund." None the less, over 100 mill or more would be used for the benefit of us all. Obviously, over the past fifty years this fund had no direct affect on gas prices. Gas has been cheap and expensive over that time, and secondly the money comes from PROFITS.  Let me make this clear, THIS WAS NOT A BUNCH OF TREE HUGGERS WHO COME UP WITH THIS IDEA. FOR FIFTY YEARS THIS FUND HAD BIPARTISAN SUPPORT. This program has always been very popular with both sides. It brought jobs and outdoor recreation to each Congressman's state without costing taxpayers anything.

In comes Utah Congressman Rob Bishop, he single handedly blocked this bill this month when it was up for renewal. Somehow he convinced enough Republicans to vote against it. Not surprisingly Rob Bishop is in the back pocket of oil and gas. They are the biggest contributors to his campaign. It is an embarrassment to the great state of Utah. I have followed this bill closely and it seems most of his constituents wanted him to renew the LWCF. Again I say, this fund benefited us all. Whether you were a hiker (stereo-typically liberal) or a hunter (stereo-typically conservative) this bill was good for all Americans. By killing this fund, the only people helped were a few gas/oil CEOs and stock holders. Quite honestly, it probably cost Americans jobs since a lot of those funds went towards public projects that DIDN'T COST THE TAXPAYER A DIME!

It has bothered me so much that I went on Rob Bishop's Facebook page and wrote the following. Posts need his approval so it will probably never see the light of day. Luckily I have a medium in my blog and get to express my views where people can see them.

Rob Bishop,

I truly can not understand how you can look yourself in the mirror after blocking the BI PARTISAN LWCF. Clearly the fund had no affect on the price of gas over the past fifty years. So many worthwhile projects are gone/ on hold because of you. Utah may be the most beautiful state in the country so it surprises me that a Congressman from such a great state would do this. Since the LWCF has had bipartisan support for fifty years and you tore it down, the only conclusion I can come up with is you are in the back pocket of oil. The LWCF literally benefited EVERY American no matter conservative or liberal. Whether hiker, hunter, or both (like me) that fund benefited us all. Who benefits from taking away this fund? A few millionaire CEO's and some Wall Street stock holders. You didn't create working class jobs,  you didn't make the economy stronger. If anything, those public land projects that you blocked would have created jobs in rural areas. All you did was harm us all. Based on the many comments I have read below, I am not alone in this opinion. I believe you let down the majority of the constituents that voted you in. Whether another Republican runs against you or a Democrat beats you, it is irrelevant to me, I just know you did not do your job and you let down most of those that voted you in, and you need to be voted out.

A Foliage Tale- New Hampshire Thursday

Laurie on Sugarloaf. Big George in the background

Laurie and I wanted to do a foliage getaway to New Hampshire. We planned on going last week, but four straight days of rain made us postpone it to this week. That worked out well for us because the leaves were closer to peak. It still didn't work out perfectly, we took off Thursday and Friday from work, but got rained out Friday

We left home at 6 pm on Wednesday. We got up to our campsite in New Hampshire about 9:45. By ten, we had the tent set up and huddled in our sleeping bags for warmth. We got up at 6:45 am surprised by frost on our rainfly.

After a short drive with the heater on high, Laurie and I arrived at the trailhead for the Sugarloafs. The Sugarloafs are a couple of small mountains near Twin Mountain/Bretton Woods. The are very easily summited, however they have million dollar views. We packed our backpacks and set off at a quick pace to warm up. Within an hour we went the 1.3 miles to Middle Sugarloaf. I did this hike over the summer. I was blown away by the view. However, the cloud ceiling was about 5000 feet so I did not get to see the Presidentials, which are the main attraction.

By the time we got to the summit it had warmed up to a very pleasant temperature. My guess is 55-60

degrees. Because it warmed up and we were in no hurry, we loafed around for almost two hours. We saw a total of four other people. On our way down, seventeen others were going up. No doubt, they stayed in bed until the mercury rose. It paid off for us to get an early start, even if it was a bit uncomfortable at first.

After we got down we made a trip to Lincoln, NH. We bought hot soup at the grocery store for lunch. Laurie bought fudge. Then we drove to our next hike along the Kancamangus Highway. The next trip we did was called the Boulder Loop on Dugway Road. Total distance is 3.1 miles. I had never done this hike so I didn't know what to expect. The hike does a loop over some cliffs on Moat Mountain.

It turned out the hike was fairly easy. It is about a mile and a half to the ledges. Unfortunately, the sun was in our face. So our view was washed out a bit. Since we were spoiled by Middle Sugarloaf

Laurie on ledges of Boulder Loop

during the morning, we felt this view was a bit underwhelming. Being honest, we were just being spoiled brats. The view faces south towards Passaconaway and Chocura. Like I said though, the bright sun made it tough to enjoy. The best thing about this loop, it was well named. There were huge boulders the size of houses along the trail. I don't know if they were glacial erratics or broken off the massive cliffs from frost heaves. Either way, they were awe inspiring.

We got down with about two hours of daylight left. We took some pictures of the covered bridge on Dugway Road. Then we did the "tourist thing" and stopped at scenic vistas on the Kanc. We went to Rocky Gorge and Lower Falls. There were a lot of people at both taking pictures of the foliage. As we approached Lincoln again, it was getting dark. We got a pizza at G and H Pizza. It is my favorite pizza place in New Hampshire. We got a chicken finger and pineapple pizza
.

We went to bed to a show of stars. But we woke up at 6:30 to rain falling on the tent. We had hoped the rain would hold off  long enough to do a morning hike. We were not so lucky. We drove around for a half hour after we packed the tent looking for animals, but found none. We headed toward home.

Covered Bridge on Dugway Road

 I checked the weather for Massachusetts. The area around Plum Island was going to be cloudy but not rainy until 2 pm. I convinced Laurie to go birding for a couple of hours. By far the highlight was seeing a Peregrine Falcon at Sandy Point. We also had some other good birds including Northern Pintail, Green Wing Teal, and a Black Bellied Plover. I'd rather have hiked, but any time spent on Plum Island is not wasted. Many photos below

Laurie walking into sunshine 

Rocky Gorge

Lower Falls

View on Zealand Road

Photo ops abound on
Middle Sugarloaf

The Boulder Loop is well named

A Rare Bird Indeed- Northern Wheatear

Since I had the luck of finding the Blue Grosbeak yesterday, I thought I'd try my luck for the northern
wheatear at Wachusett Reservoir. There have been reports of the Wheatear since Thursday. To be completely honest, I had never heard of this species of bird until the reports came in. Then the whole birding world was a buzz. Many of the expert birders in New England went to see it, since most hadn't. It is that rare of a find.

I did a little research and found out this species mostly lives in Europe. It winters in West Africa. There are some in Alaska and northern Labrador, but they are considered rare on the East coast.

I figured I had nothing to do after work so I took the hour ride to Wachusett. I went to Gate 37 and walked to the water then went left. There was one other birder there. He was a guy about 22 taking pictures. He showed me the bird. So in two days I had two life birds. However, this one is much rarer than yesterday's Grosbeak. I was pretty happy.

The two of us spent an hour getting pictures of the Wheatear. It was very cooperative. It let us get within about 25 feet of it. We didn't get too close to change its behavior. We watched it hunt many times for insects. It seemed very comfortable with us around. Since it has been at there, many birders from all over have come to see it. I heard it even made the newspaper. So as you can imagine, it got used to people really quickly.

After about an hour, others started showing up. I didn't want to stress the bird so I left. My new friend, Josh, told me some American Pipits were just down the rocks. So I followed him. We saw the Pipits and Savannah Sparrows. The sparrows were first of the year birds, and the Pipits were another LIFER!

Getting an Easy Rarity! Blue Grosbeak

I had to go to work at an ungodly hour Sunday because of a callout. Because of thi,s I got to leave work a little after noon. While I had a free minute I checked my email. I noticed an email from one of the sites I "liked" on Facebook. There was a blue grosbeak in Swan Point Cemetery at 11 am.

Since I was in South Attleboro, MA at the time, I was only fifteen minutes away. After I left work I headed south to Swan Point, which is in Providence. The email said where the bird had been spotted. I went to that area (near the compost piles). I was expecting a dozen birders to be there. To my surprise there was only one car when I pulled up and two people looking for the bird who hadn't seen it yet.

I started looking with them. One of the birders had a network of friends that keeps him updated about rare birds. He made a few phone calls and found out exactly where the bird had been seen. Sure enough there it was.
The blue grosbeak gave the three of us excellent looks for at least ten minutes. It would move from the short trees to the ground and back again. It was the "duller" female but she was a very pretty copper color.

I stayed about thirty minutes and left for a nap. I am grateful Wayne made those phone calls and was kind enough to make sure I saw the bird.  I'm not sure how rare blue grosbeaks are in our area, based on the conversations I had, a couple seem to show up a year, so its not so rare no one has ever seen one. Still, it is a great find even for experienced birders, and a lifebird for me. And, I didn't have to work or drive hard to find it!