Really good birds, really bad light

Prothornatary Warbler, cropped but still pretty sharp.

Yesterday was one of my best days of birding after work (quality, not quantity). Saturday afternoon a Prothornatary Warbler was seen at Hunt's Mill in East Providence. This is a pretty rare bird especially in the northeast. It is unusual for me to have such a rare bird so close. Usually, when there is a "chase" I find myself with an hour drive or more like I did for the Tanagers. Hunt's Mill is only a few minutes from a place I work. I didn't know about the warbler on Saturday and I was doing yard work anyway.

So as you can imagine, after work on Sunday I took the quick trip in hopes of seeing it. When I got there, four birders were under a tree and had just seen it. Luckily for me, it was still around. I got some great looks at the bright yellow warbler. I didn't get any pictures because it was sprinkling out and left my camera in the car. I didn't know how long it would take to find it. Long story short, I went back after work today and got a couple photos in bad light.

When I left Hunt's Mill I stopped at Caratunk Wildlife Refuge. Someone had put up Purple Martin gourds and birds were starting to use them. I saw one Purple Martin, but no pics.

After I got home from work/the birds, Laurie came over. It was still early in the day. Every year, we take a walk at Great Swamp the last weekend in April. This didn't start out as a tradition, but we realized after a couple of years that it had become a habit. The weather had cleared to mostly cloudy but it looked like the precipitation was over.

We didn't see much in the woods and fields other than Field Sparrow. We dipped on a couple birds we normally see there. However, in the swamp, we ran across a Little Blue Heron. Little Blue is a very good bird for Rhode Island and the Northeast. It isn't super rare but it is unusual. Only a few sightings of one happen a year.

I immediately posted it on a birding site incase anyone else was in the area. I got some "decent" pictures of it. Again, bad light foiled my day. It was fairly far away so I wasn't getting a frame filling photo, but it is a pretty bird and deserved  a better picture.

All in all, a great day seeing the Proth Warbler, Purple Martin and finding the Little Blue Heron. I'm not worried  I didn't get great shots. You take them when they are there, and just enjoy what is in front of you when they aren't. I did get some pictures of the cute little Pine Warbler below.

Not Every trip is a winner- New Hampshire Waterfall Misadventure

I accept that not every fishing trip, weekend getaway, or vacation will be better than the last. There are an infinite amount of things that are out of your control. Among these of course are car issues, the weather, and traffic. Laurie and I went away for a night in New Hampshire. My car ran just fine and we only got stuck in a little traffic, the weather...well.

For years I have wanted to go to New Hampshire to see what waterfalls look like from spring runoff of melting snow. I clearly knew that melting snow would not only swell waterfalls but also make the trails muddy. To prepare for that we brought extra socks and my box fan to dry our boots at night. I expected to see snow at higher elevations, I did not expect to see snow in the valleys...well

We reserved a motel for Thursday night. The original plan was to stay there Thursday. However, if the weather was nice (dry and any night time low above 30 degrees) on Wednesday night, we would go up Wednesday after we got out of work and sleep at the one year round campground on the Kanc...well

We were not so lucky. The weather called for all day rain on Wednesday. Thursday morning rain then drying out in the afternoon to partly sunny.  Friday morning was going to be nice, but rain was moving in during the afternoon. Basically, we had from Thursday at noon until Friday at noon to enjoy the waterfalls. Truthfully, I was okay with that. I did a lot of planning for the trip including a driving route and trail research. I had a list of five hikes (anything more than ten minutes from the car) that ranged from two miles round trip to four miles. I had hoped to do four of them, two each day, a morning hike, lunch, then an afternoon hike.  Knowing we only had twenty four hours, I hoped we could do two and maybe three of them.

As weird as it sounds, I don't like going away when things are really good around here. For example,

Crystal Cascade, Pinkham Notch

I would never take a vacation from September 10-20 because of albies. Likewise, I don't leave stripers and birds in May. So I mentally prepared myself to step away from what has been great birding to visit these waterfalls. This may sound ridiculous, but I don't want to think about what "I could be doing" instead of what I am doing. I just reminded myself it was one weekend and many of the birds are yet to come. Since spring waterfalls have been on my bucket list for a decade, this was easier than I thought.

However, when I knew that Thursday morning would be a washout in New Hampshire yet in Mass it would be clear. I realized I was going to waste a morning I could be birding to sit in the rain. The storm was clearing on a path almost completely going south to north. Knowing that it would be crappy out, I asked Laurie if she'd go to Plum Island with me birding on our way to NH. This way, I'd get my birding fix, and we wouldn't be wasting the morning. Also, Newburyport is an hour closer to NH, so once done, we'd only have a two hour ride.

To keep this from getting out of hand long, I'll summarize Plum as quickly as possible. We got there at 9 and planned on leaving around noon. The birding was pretty bad because of the weather. It stopped showering roughly 10:45. I saw three new species for the year, Merlin, purple finch, and Black Bellied Plover . By far the best bird was the Merlin. We only saw about twenty species.

Glen Ellis Falls

We left Newburyport at 12:30 and after a couple stops at drug store and candy shop for Laurie's fudge, we were hiking before 4 pm. The goal was to do the easiest hike on the list: Waterville Cascades. It is roughly a mile each way. At the end is a series of waterfalls. This hike gives a lot of bang for a buck. We put on our boots and went up the hill. Almost immediately we encountered a snow patch. I didn't think much of it and we moved on. As we went into the woods the snow patches got bigger and closer together to the point we were walking on snow and ice constantly.

As you might imagine, a woman who really doesn't love hiking anyway was none too thrilled to be slipping on ice AND postholing in the snow. At some points we were falling through the snow over a foot deep. She wanted to turn back, but I realized that if our easiest hike was going to be this hard, then my other hike plans were shot too hell. So we pushed on. It rained on and off for the hour we trudged through the snow making things worse. We crossed a snowmelt brook that soaked our feet all the way through. This was the last straw for Laurie. I knew the waterfalls were only a couple hundred yards away, so she waited for me while I went.

 Leaving Laurie meant, I was going to get a picture of the first waterfall and rush back to her. There wouldn't be any lingering, or exploring the other falls. Come hell or high water I wanted to see a damn mountain waterfall. I went down into the valley where the snow got much deeper. I post holed a few times where my leg fell in all the way to my crotch and I had to roll my way out.

Here's the worst part... the highwater stopped me! After all that, there was brook I could not cross just ten to fifteen yards before the first cascade. However, it was just a little to wide to jump. If I was alone and it were 1 pm, I might have done it. My feet were soaked anyway. I knew crossing that river would take too much time of our vanishing daylight. I turned around, rushed back to Laurie, fell into more snow drifts, got to her, listened to her complain, and finally at 6:45 got out of the woods.

Snow and ice covered trail at Glen Ellis

I quickly want to point out, that we were in no danger from the elements. Although the water on our feet was cold, we built up some sweat hiking. It was sixty degrees and when it wasn't misting on us, felt like a nice day.

After this disastrous hike, we went to our hotel room. Luckily, this was the best part of our trip. He stayed at the Day's Inn in Woodstock. Ive stayed a Day's Inns before but this was the best. The room was spotless. It had a really nice indoor pool and a hot tub. I think we were one of three guest rooms sold for the night. We went for a swim and sat in the hot tub for an extended period of time.  We went back to our room and watched the Sox and the NFL Draft.

After our continental breakfast Friday morning, I knew any big hikes were out of the question. I was hoping to see a couple of the close to road waterfalls. We drove up Crawford Notch to Silver and Flume Cascades. These are true roadside falls. They were full of water, but I was none too impressed seeing a waterfall from my car.

From there we drove to Crystal Cascades in Pinkham Notch. The drive toward Pinkham was pretty much snow free and I  was feeling pretty good about our prospects. Then...as we reached higher elevations we saw more and more snow. When we got out of the car at the Tuckerman Ravine trailhead, there was snow right at the beginning. However, it was packed down from so much use so it was easy to climb. Crystal Cascade is only 10 minutes up the trail, and was easy enough to get to.

Then we went to Glen Ellis Falls. I knew the stairs down to the fall would be slippery so I told Laurie it might be tough.

Common Mergansers swimming in the little
open water at Saco Lake

She chose to sit it out. Sure enough the stairs and ice were slippery (but doable) I got  some pics, but it was cloudy and the falls were spraying mist everywhere. The pics suck, but the falls was fun to see.

After we left there we just worked our way back to the Kanc. We stopped at the roadside Lower Falls and Rocky Gorge.  We walked up to Falls Pond and got a picture. The ice is starting to break up on the mountain ponds but they are still mostly frozen.

Falls Pond and other mountain ponds are still ice covered

After those two roadside falls, we headed home encountering rain about an hour from Lincoln until we got home.

As always, when I go to New Hampshire I try to learn from my experiences. I always try to improve on ways to make a trip better. Obviously, I learned some important lessons on this trip.

Assume there is still snow and ice on the ground at the end of April.

The Day's Inn was very nice.

Honestly, if I'd have been alone AND had my snowshoes I could have seen the waterfalls that require hikes. I really wanted to go out to Arethusa Falls. It is the largest waterfall in the Granite State. I couldn't ask Laurie to do anymore hikes after Thursday. She was (rightfully so) miserable. Seeing snow fed waterfalls was a bucket list item of mine. Although I saw a couple, I missed four of the hikes I want to do. Therefore I'm not crossing this off the bucketlist. I don't know when, but I will be back.

Other hikes we had planned- Bridal Veil Falls, Arethusa, Fletcher Cascade, Basin Cascade Trail.

Rocky Gorge, Kancamangus Highway

Rock of Ages

   On Friday night Laurie and I went to see Rock of Ages at the Bradley Playhouse in Putnam Connecticut. Rock of Ages would be classified as a musical, however the music is all 80's rock and heavy metal.

   This was our first time at the Bradley Playhouse in Putnam. It is a very small venue. Ever seat is a good seat. The ticket prices were $21/24. The Bradley is roughly a fifty minute ride from Providence.  Warning, the bathroom is tiny. The show started at 7:30

   Rock of Ages is the story of a small town girl (Cherrie) trying to make it in a lonely world (Sunset Strip). She meets a city boy born and raised in South Detroit (Drew). Drew wants to be a rock star. They meet at the Bourbon Club owned by Dennis Dupree. A major rock star (Stacee Jaxx) throws a kink in their budding relationship. Throughout the plot, tons of 80's rock songs are played.

   The cast , vocals, and the band were awesome. The girl that plays Cherrie steals the show. Stacee Jaxx was played perfectly as a cocky rock star. Even the minor characters were really good and they mostly had songs to sing. By the end of the show the audience was on their feet.  I would absolutely highly recommend seeing this if you have any interest. I don't see how you can be disappointed.

Rock of Ages plays through May 6

http://www.thebradleyplayhouse.org/

The Tanager Show continues

I went back to South County again today. I knew I could get better photos of the Scarlet Tanager if it put on the same show as yesterday. I knew the angle of the sun, where the birds were, and I had all the time in the world to be patient.

I spent three hours at Trustom. I only took photos when the birds were close. Unlike yesterday when I got there, I already had good photos of these rare birds. Today's mission was to upgrade. That's what I did. I didn't waste time on photos I planned to delete anyway. However, when the birds were where I wanted them, I snapped a zillion photos.

After I finally left Trustom, I went looking for shorebirds. I found a few willing subjects but nothing too rare.

After birding I went fishing. I landed four holdover schoolies on 4 inch zoom flukes. Thus ending a very productive, really fun two days off from work.

Photos below- None are cropped

Of course, I spent some time with the Summer Tanager. At one point, it landed close enough that I could have reached out and pet it.

Brant

AmericanOystercather

Notice the band on the Piping Plover's leg.
It has been captured and banded.

Tanagers and More!

Now that spring is feeling a little more like spring, I'm in my typical spring time pattern of fishing after work and birding on my days off (and usually fishing during the evening).  Friday was the first day I had off from work since I bought my new lens that was sunny. Needless to say, I really wanted to play with it.

As I normally do, I checked the Rhode Island year bird site that I keep track of my birds at. I check to see what new species are migrating through and what to keep an eye out for. I noticed that Trustom Pond had both a Summer Tanager and a pair of Scarlet Tanagers on Thursday. I figured there was a shot they might still be around. The Summer Tanager would be a life bird for me if I saw it. If not, Trustom is still a great place to see migrants and to hopefully get pictures.

Right off the bat I saw some bluebirds along the tree line. They played cat and mouse with me. Every time I'd get close enough for a picture they would fly thirty feet down the path. Once in the woods, I came across my first of the year (FOY) Palm Warbler and some Pine Warblers feeding on the ground.

As I approached Osprey Point I ran across Jan St. Jean which is a very good sign. Jan is probably the most famous Rhode Island birder. If you find yourself birding where she chose to bird, then you made a good decision. I passed Jan on the trail and a guy near the bench told me the Summer Tanager had been posing for him. Sure enough, a minute later, I found it.

Man, was this bird awesome. It hung around the trail for almost an hour just letting everyone get pictures of it. It had no fear of people at all. I got some pictures from five feet away. Once I had to duck as it almost flew into my head. 

On top of the Summer Tanagers, there were other good birds at the point. I saw a Cliff Swallow along with Barn and Tree Swallows. There were Purple Martins spotted but I didn't see them. The other highlight at the point was a pair of Scarlet Tanagers. They were fairly close also, but didn't come within five feet like its cousin.

After I finally left Trustom, I went to Great Swamp. The place was dead. I saw a few birds but almost nothing. The best thing I saw was a Killdeer. Killdeer are pretty common, but this one got close to me for some photos.

Many photos below- None of the photos are cropped

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Scarlet Tanager

This gull was standing on the roof of my car when I
returned to it

Killdeer

Three Greater Yellowlegs

Obligatory Trustom Deer Photos

Best Photo I got of a bluebird

So it begins

   I got my first stripers on the year today. I went with my friend Dave to a quiet backwater spot after work. The fish we got tonight were almost certainly holdovers. It was nice to get out and fish with my waders on and just cast into saltwater.

The fish weren't big and they were kind of fussy. We got five hits to each fish actually hooking up.  Still we ended with more than a dozen fish between us. All in all, a great way to spend an evening.

Fish caught on 3/8 jighead  - 4 inch albino Zoom Fluke

Zach Donohoe

Zach Donohoe and the back of Madison Hubbell

In one of those weird ironies in life, Thursday I met the mom of Olympic ice dancer Zach Donohoe. They (with his partner Madison Hubbell) placed forth in the Olympics in a very deep field. Today, Stars on Ice was in Providence. There was no way Laurie was going to miss that. Of course, I was going for the ride.

One of the pairs teams was (say it with me) Hubbell and Donohoe. As in Zach Donohoe. What are the odds that I am out birding on a rainy day in Newport and run across the mother of Olympian who is also birding two days before I see her son perform at Stars on Ice? They don't even live in Rhode Island.

I'm sure everyone reading this post is happy to see a
fish in the lead picture and not a bird.

Knowing it was supposed to be almost seventy degrees today, I had many ideas on what to do. For the first time in a long time when I left my house it was over 50 degrees. I had my car loaded with binoculars/ scope and cameras. I also brought my trout rods and my light saltwater pole.

My first stop was a trout pond on my way to the highway. I hoped to catch some trout but was only going to give it a half hour if the place was dead. After twenty minutes of experimenting, I found something the trout would hit. I started catching one after another on a casting bubble with an olive Wooly Bugger fly. I left after my tenth fish in forty five minutes.

I left the fish at 9:30. I expected it to keep getting warmer. However as I got closer to the ocean the temp was dropping. When I went over the Braga Bridge in Fall River, I could see fog to the south and dark clouds. My actual plan was to hike a property in Middletown named the Norman Bird Sanctuary. First I stopped at St. Mary's Pond and looked for ducks.

When I left the pond it was getting darker and a light shower started. Norman costs six dollars to hike and I didn't mind paying it if I could have spent a while there. More importantly, I didn't want to bring my new lens out in the rain. So I went to Third Beach first.

Just a proof shot of the Snowy

In the parking lot, two woman were looking at something in the back of the lot. At first I gave them space but I was curious what it was. I looked through my binoculars but couldn't see where they were looking.  They saw me and waved me over. They were looking at a Snowy Owl. We got to talking, one lady was up from North Carolina and wanted to see a Snowy. She is a big time birder and told me of some of her trips.

The other woman, it turned out, is the mother of an Olympic skater. She is the mother of ice dancer Zach Donohoe. We started talking about the Olympics and I asked a few questions. Unfortunately, the wind kicked up and it started raining. I got a quick picture with her and we got in our cars.

Since it was forty eight degrees, raining, and getting late I ditched the plans to go to Norman bird Sanc and drove up to Plymouth to go fishing.  I figured it would be much warmer. I heard a news update saying it was 71 in Boston. I got to Plymouth and although it wasn't raining it was still only 53 degrees. I'm not complaining about temps in the mid-fifties, but it was weird knowing it was 18  degrees warmer only  few miles away. I ended up catching a rainbow and had another hit at Fearings Pond.

One of the turkeys on the way to Fearings. Be safe buddy,
turkey season starts tomorrow

All in all, not the best day. Other than the Snowy, I didn't see any good birds. I can't argue eleven trout in under two hours. I just wish the weather was what the forecast predicted. The highlight was without a doubt meeting and talking to Zach Donohoe's mom.

If I'd known I'd be in a picture when I woke up
I probably would have shaved

500 mm

Glossy Ibis

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted a big lens for wildlife photography. They are not cheap, so I would always put it off and buy the cheaper things on my want list. It always made more sense to buy four things for the same money as one lens.

Of course, this meant missing certain photos. Instead of getting perfect frame filling shots of the Long Tailed Duck at Charleston, I got decent pictures that needed a little cropping to be a "wallhanger". It has really driven me crazy this year since I have spent so much more time chasing birds and animals than fishing. There is no need for a big powerful lensfor fishing, in fact it is a waste and makes getting good shots harder. Birds are a completely different animal (pun intended). Finally I couldn't take it anymore, so a month ago, I decided to buy a 500-600 mm lens to fit my DSLR. I didn't buy it right away, because I research the hell out of everything. Also, I wanted to leave a certain amount of money in the bank. So over the last month, I've watched my spending to save up some of the money instead of take it out of my savings account. No matter what, I wanted it for the May migration of warblers, songbirds, and shorebirds. I ended up buying a used (saved me hundreds of dollars) Sigma 500mm lens.

Well, the lens came in yesterday at 3:30 pm. As soon as I opened the package I left to find anything to get pictures of. Unfortunately, last night was a bust. I went to three places and barely saw a bird. My best picture was of some cones hanging on a white pine.

So when I woke up today it may as well been Christmas morning. I had to force myself to brush my teeth the proper amount of time before I left.  The first place I went was Great Swamp in South Kingston. I had one target species there (Wilson Snipe) however, it was irrelevant if I saw the Snipe or not. I wanted to see birds, snakes, butterflies, mammals. It didn't matter, I just needed photo subjects. I didn't want them to be robins and squirrels, but pretty much anything was fair game. 

I had good luck at Great Swamp. There were birds everywhere. I got my Wilson's Snipe. There were dozens of them along with Killdeer and Greater Yelllowlegs. I saw six Kestrel, a bluebird, and many more.

From there I went to Trustom and saw a snake but not much else. Then I quickly hit Matunack and Jamestown. I saw a family of skunks in Jamestown.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS-

Golden Crowned Kinglet

The lens is heavy. I was at Great Swamp for three hours. I carried it in my right hand and it cramped up. It is too heavy to hang around my neck as I really feel the pressure against the vertebrate. I took 205 pictures today and deleted at least half. Because it is such a big lens it is somewhat difficult to focus on birds in trees. Also, birds that were far away came out a little blurry which I assume was from camera shake.

However, give it time and a somewhat close target, and the pics came out great (see the snake pic). I took a dozen shots of a Golden Crowned Kinglet and two came out really nice. The bird never stayed still, so I can't blame the camera. I don't care if I take ten shots and delete eight, I just want to get some great photos of wildlife. I think the camera is up to the challenge with a little more practice by me.

PHOTOS BELOW-

All the photos below were taken with my new lens. None of them have been cropped. All photos were handheld not on a tripod.

 One thing looking at photos does not do is tell you how far away from the animal I was or how big it is. For example, I can not expect a from filling photo of a garter snake's head. Its head is literally a half inch tall. I can't get close enough with a lens that big to do that. Obviously the size of an animal mostly determines (and distance, of course) how much of the photo is filled with the subject. The loon was much further away than the Kinglet. However, the Kinglet weighs roughly two ounces to the loons ten pounds.

Another issue is I can't control the sky. The more light, the better the picture will come out.

Anyway, I got at least a couple of good pictures of everything I shot at today. There wasn't anything I had to delete totally. So I can't complain

This adult loon is getting its spots back

Greater Yellowlegs

This Osprey and I wish the sky
would have been blue

One of the highlights of the day was coming across three skunks. I think they are a family unit but none of them look alike. The nice thing about skunks is they have no fear of us. I was only about ten feet away snapping photos while they fed. They barely left their noses out of the leaves and grass. I had to be patient to get pictures of them with their head up. It is not as if spooking it is an option...unless I wanted to end up wet and smelly.