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