Swan Point and Keeper Stripers. What a day!

Black and White Warbler

As usual this time of year, I did not go home after work today. Instead, as soon as I was free I went outside. My first destination was Swan Point Cemetery in Providence. Swan Point is probably the best place in the whole state to see spring migrants. I beat the Providence traffic and got there at 3:15. I stayed until almost 6 pm.

Birding is much better in the morning than in the afternoon. So I accept, I wan't see a lot compared to others who have the morning off from work, retired, or unemployed. I'd still rather be outside. I saw two new birds for the year, black and white warbler and ruby crowned kinglet. I also saw a new RI species palm warbler. I'd seen a bunch in MA the last week or so, but today I got to see some in RI. With these new additions my RI list stands at 113 and my total list 125. Only 19 more species to go to break my previous record.

Palm Warbler

It was a nice day at Swan Point. The three hours flew by. Besides my new birds, I saw some other nice birds that I just enjoy watching. The highlights were chipping sparrows, red tailed hawks, and a belted kingfisher.


At 6 pm I left to go fishing. I planned to bird Swan Point in the afternoon then take the thirty minute drive  to fish for stripers in the bay.

I did not catch many stripers today. I landed five and had two others fall off at my feet. However, today was certainly quality over quantity. I not only landed two keeper stripers today, but one of the ones that fell off was also a keeper. Except for one smallish one (about 18 inches) everything I hooked today was between 24-30 inches. My largest keeper was 30 inches. I measured it before releasing it. There was another guy fishing. I think he caught at least as many as me, but it looked as though he had much smaller fish in front of him.

The wind was blowing southwest and the tide was rising (low tide was about 6:30). The wind was very strong in my face. My lures of choice today were a wooden egg in front of a 3/8 jighead and a four inch zoom fluke. At sunset I switched the fluke for an unweighted Slug-go behind the wooden egg. I had multiple hits on the Slug-go. I landed a couple of the bigger schoolies and the biggest keeper on it. The fish were really keyed on it. Once I put it on, I had many swirls and follows besides the fish I actually hooked. In terms on size, today was my best day fishing so far this spring.

To make things even better, tides will be good all week. Spring migration is in full swing for birds. Air temperature will be in the sixties. What could be better than this time of year?

My first fish of the night.
Twenty six inches