Living the salt Life Again- Short Version

The albie fly, while not the best lure for the day still
scored me dozens of feeding stripers.

I had the last two days off from work. I spent both days down by the ocean. Here is the short version.

Thursday

YESTERDAY WAS HOT!!!!!

I got to the ocean at 6:30. It was so hot and humid at 6:30.  I could shake my head and sweat would pour off. My friend, Dick, came down to fish with me.  I caught a bunch of stripers on an albie fly and float, hoping to get a bonito. It was so hot that by 9 am I was done fishing. The fish were still biting but, I couldn't take it.

I left to go birding in Charlestown. I saw at least 5 Western Sandpipers, which is a lot for around here. As the name implies, most of them live on the west coast. A few show up on the East Coast, but 5 in Charlestown is a lot. I also saw White Rumped Sandpiper and two Pectoral Sandpipers.

I went fishing again at the same spot I fished in the morning. It was loaded with fish. I caught so many that I got bored and left before dark. My friend Dave, and his son Jon, caught even more than me. The hot lure was the Jumpin' Minnow. However, I stayed with my single hooked Albie Fly. I caught more than my fair share of fish anyway.

Friday-

The weather was much nicer today. The high at the ocean was around 78 and the humidity was much lower.

I went birding because of a report I read. Caspian Tern and Buff Breasted Sandpiper were seen in Charlestown. I went down and saw the tern but dipped on the sandpiper.

I drove back up north to fish the rocks. By the time I got there the water was dirty. The fish had stopped biting, and the bait had disappeared. Still, it was nice out and there worse things I could be doing than standing on rocks, enjoying the breeze, and casting my surf rod.

Pictures below of Western Sandpiper. It is the bird with the long droopy bill

Nathanael Greene Homestead (NGH)

This is a picture I took of his portrait in
Second Bank Portrait Gallery,
Philadelphia, PA

If you drive on Route 95 by Exit 7 in Rhode Island you will see a brown sign that says "Nathanael Greene Homestead this Exit". I have driven by the sign dozens of times during the years, yet I never checked it out, that is, until Sunday afternoon.

Nathanael Greene was a key player in the Colonies fight for independence against England. His rank in the second half of the war was second only to General George Washington. He was put in command of the southern troops in 1780. He was one of three generals to serve the full 8 years of the war. Greene was born in Warwick, RI, but the house he built, that we visited is in Coventry, RI

The NGH was built in Coventry next to a foundry that Nathanael and his brother Jacob ran. It sits close to a river which is roughly a hundred yards in the back yard. Laurie and I visited it on Sunday afternoon. The cost is $8. It is only open Fri-Mon 10-5. Any other info can be found at their website.

http://nathanaelgreenehomestead.org/#

You go into a Visitor Center where you watch a fifteen minute film that chronicles the life of Greene. After that, a docent takes you on a tour of the house. You go into each  room and they explain artifacts in the room, how the Greene's would have lived, and which items are original to the house. The docents all seemed to be high school kids. The kid that gave us the tour was an absolute history buff. He knew far more about Greene, the Revolutionary War, and even Russian History (we may have gotten a little off subject in our conversation) than was required for the job. I would guess in busier times and a bigger crowd, it is probably less than a 45 minute tour.

Nathanael Greene Homestead, Coventry, RI

The tour lasted about an hour but that is probably because our conversation about current events and politics. After we walked out of the house, we walked down to the cemetery where many people were buried including other Revolutionary War soldiers, but not Nathanael Greene.

Books were one of the most expensive items in Colonial times
and fire was a real danger. So Greene kept his books in this
leather chest. In case of a fire he could pick it up and throw it out
the window. Which is a lot easier than trying to throw a
bookshelf out the window.  

One of my favorite things about the house was one of its visitors. Marquis de Lafayette. He was friends with Greene and visited him up in Rhode Island. I just find it fascinating that two heroes cared enough for each other to visit.  The house had many artifacts. Some were original to Nathanael Greene, some to the time period. Others were reproductions to help visitors understand living at that time.

Greene used this desk when he was"on campaign"
with the army writing letters, orders, and reports

After the war, Greene was given a large land grant in Georgia and died there at the age of 43 of sunstroke.

The top photo in this picture is of
Marquis de Lafayette

A Salt Life Weekend

Two of these terns are the same. Can you tell which is not
the same? Two are Foresters and one is a Common Tern
Answer at the bottom of the post

There is no better place to be in the world than a New England coastline in September. The air has cooled and the humidity is gone. Shorebird migration is full swing. Most excitingly, there is usually a ton of bait. Behind that bait is a mix of stripers, blues, and albies. September is awesome. 

So why am I promoting September in late August? Because, this year, we are experiencing mid-September fishing a month early. That is right, I have never personally seen this much bait and fish for this time of year, but that is for another paragraph. We begin with yesterday morning...

I woke up yesterday morning at the ungodly hour of 5:15 to meet my bird club at Napatree Point. I had to be there for 7 am. I was a few minutes late so I had to catch up. We went out to the lagoon and on our way out a guy told us of a Red Necked Pharlope. We hustled out and we all saw it. It's a cool little shorebird that swims. When it swims, it will swim in circles frantically. We also saw Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Red Knots and Oystercatchers. I ended up with three year birds and a lifer (Pharlope).

I left there and went to Trustom by myself. It was dead there. I saw more frogs than birds. The most interesting thing I saw was the picture below of a Bull Frog eating a Green Frog. However, between Nap and Trustom, I probably walked four miles, so I felt like I got my exercise in.

The tide had dropped enough while I was walking at Trustom to put my kayak in Ninigret Pond. I paddled out to the mudflats and birded some more. I didn't see any new birds or even any rare birds  in my hour of birding so I looked for quahogs. I found a few in 45 minutes. When I looked up from quahogging, I saw three birders a hundred yards away. They were the people from my bird walk. I walked over to them and made sure I hadn't missed anything. We birded together for another 45 minutes.

One of the many fish today

By this point it was late afternoon and time to go fishing! I rehydrated in the car and headed north. I pulled into a parking lot and brought my gear to the water. When I looked down I saw hundreds of stripers cruising past me ten feet form shore! I made a cast and was on. By the time I let the 25 inch schoolie go, the bass parade was over, but the bait moved in. I had a huge school of bay anchovies right in front of me. However, to my left, birds were working over a huge school of bait (it turned out to be peanut bunker. After a few minutes, the bass joined the party. For the next 2.5 hours I watched blitz after blitz of bass tear into the school of baitfish. I caught a bunch of fish including two keepers all on a walk the dog type of plug (I don't know the actual name, but it works like a Jumpin' Minnow). I also caught a decent bluefish.

The next morning (Saturday, today) I "slept in" but was out of the house at 7:45. I was invited back to Charlestown by the members of my club I saw after quahogging. When I pulled my kayak up, I saw at least ten spotting scopes. Almost all of Rhode Island's best birders were there. So yes, I kept my mouth shut and just learned. I was hoping to see either a Western Sandpiper or a Whimbrel. I hadn't seen either yet this year and both are kind of rare. I have been actively looking for them for two weeks without any luck.

Whimbrel

As today's luck would have it a Whimbrel showed up on the flats. all of us got a great look at it. It was hiding/feeding in some tall grass and all we could see was its head. Then it flew out of the grass right towards us and fed not 30 feet from us. Great pictures were had by all. It hung out for five minutes then flew off. We were lucky to see it, but made reporting it for others a waste of time because it flew far out of sight.

So after I birded this morning of course I went back to see if the fish were still around. To my astonishment they were. I saw stripers blitz for an hour under the mid-day sun. I ended up catching eleven. They were all big schoolies. Unfortunately and painfully I only had an hour. I had to leave and pick up parts for my car. The place closed at 3 pm so I had to leave breaking fish that were literally at my feet at 1:30. I can't tell you how hard that was for me. Today's fish were all caught on an albie fly and a wooden egg. I knew I'd catch stripers on it, but really wanted a bonito if one showed up.



Answer- The Common Tern is all the way to the left. The subtle differences are- the Common Tern is showing a speck of orange on the bill and has more black behind its head. Also, it is a juvenile adults look nothing like this. Welcome to my world!

Thus ending my weekend of living the Salt Life. Next week on my offdays I'm supposed to go to New Hampshire. However, I might have to rethink my plans if September fishing is still going on the last two days of August!!!


Actually, I have one more weekend treat to enjoy!

Last but not least Adventure 7/7 Dedicated Pelagic Birding Trip

Well, if gymnastics was the highlight of Laurie's weekend, then the birding trip was the thing I looked forward to the most. My bird club (Ocean State Bird Club) chartered a boat to go way out in the ocean to see seabirds that you can not see from shore. I happened to see the sign up on the website and immediately put my name on the list. The boat only held fifteen people and my bird club has many members, so I was fortunate to get a spot.

We took off out of Galilee at 6 am on Saturday morning. We went out on the forty two foot Snappa. After getting to bed at midnight, when my alarm rang at 4:20, it was nothing short of painful. I packed all of my gear Thursday afternoon knowing I would be too busy Friday to pack. All I had to do was put my cold Gatorade and my lunch in my backpack and off I went. The boat went 35 miles southeast of Point Judith to a place called Cox Ledge.

The ride from Galilee to our first stop was roughly ninety minutes. We were miles from shore and land was nowhere in site. The captain put out some chum that made a nice slick and within minutes we had some birds. Since I had never been that far out, not even on a whale watch, all of the birds were sure to be lifebirds for me. The main group of birds were called "shearwaters. We saw four species of Shearwater (Corys, Great, Sooty,and Manx). I had made a cheat sheet which I had attempted to study, but was just too busy all week. I planned on studying it on the trip out, but I left it at home. However, the birds were actually easy to identify. For example, Sooty Shearwater is all brown. The other three have white on the sides. So if you see an all brown shearwater, it has to be a Sooty. The Great has a black cap on its head. There is a white collar separating it form the brown on the rest of the body. So even though  I'd never seen a species of shearwater, I could ID them fairly quickly.

Sooty Sheatwater

We also saw Wilson's Storm Petrel and Lesser Black Backed Gull along with other gulls. I was very surprised that gulls travel that far from land. I'm so used to see gulls fighting over french fries, it was refreshing to see them out at sea.

Roughly halfway through the voyage, I got seasick (along with many others) and added to the chum slick. After that, I spent most of the time lying down in the cabin. If there is one silver lining, it is, I didn't miss anything. In the last four hours of the trip, they saw very few birds and no other new species.

I took exactly 188 photographs. Of those, I got less than ten focused birds in the rough seas. Obviously, if I would have spent more time vertical, I would have taken more pictures. Another guy I had talked to on the boat, who had a camera with much faster speed than mine said he took a thousand shots and only had a few real good ones. So I don't feel too bad. Even with the seasickness, I would like to go out again next year. Seeing birds that I can't see from shore was really fun. 

I ended up getting four lifebirds (the four species of Shearwaters) and two life fish. I saw flying fish come out of the water and mahi mahi under a single piece of seaweed.

All photos are of Great Shearwater except the one picture of the Sooty Shearwater.

.

Adventure #6 of 7 in three days- Gymnastics Nationals

Simone Biles and her coach

Believe it or not going to the Gardner Museum, the JFK Historic site and eating lunch at McGreevy's on Friday were all just foreplay (at least for Laurie) to the main event, going to the US Gymnastics Nationals at the Boston Garden. Since I seriously doubt anyone reading this cares a whole lot about gymnastics, this will be a relatively short post.

The US Gymnastic Nationals were held in Boston from Aug 16-19. Laurie and I went to the Washington County Fair on Thursday the 16th, but she went the other three days. Obviously, after our fun day in Boston, I went with her on Friday night. Men and women compete in the nationals but not on the same night. The men competed on Thursday (preliminarys) and the finals on Sat. The woman went on Friday with the finals on Sunday.

The best gymnast in the history of competition is Simone Biles. She won four golds and a bronze at the last Olympics. Her routines are so much harder than everyone else, she could literally fall on her face at a discipline and still beat the next best gymnast in the world by a point. So needless to say everyone else competing in Boston was playing for second.

Laurie and I got there when doors opened. We walked around and she watched all the gymnasts warm up. We also went behind the announcers booth and I got pictures of the announcers including Terry Gannon. After that, we watched the competition. Simone was way ahead of everyone else after Day 1.  We had to take the T back to my car, then drive home from Braintree. I got to bed about midnight. I needed to get up at 4:20 am on Saturday morning for Adventure #7

Terry Ganon

Adventure #5 of 7 in three days- JFK Birthplace

JFK is one of my favorite presidents. Anyone that knows me, knows he is one of my heroes. I have visited his grave in Arlington, his library in Southie, and a museum in Hyannis, I've read a couple of his books. Yet I had not made it to his birthplace until Friday.

After Laurie and I ate lunch at McGreevy's after visiting the Isabella Gardner Museum, we made our way to the JFK Birthplace National Historic Site. The home is open Wed-Sunday 9:30-5 during the summer and by appointment during the offseason. Tours are given each half hour except from 12-1 and after 3:30. During those times you go through the house yourself. There is a ranger that will answer any questions for you. You can also borrow a "wand" where you listen to John's mother, Rose, explain the house and the rooms. It is totally free of charge to go through the house. The family lived in this small house until JFK was three, then they moved down the street to a much larger, fancier house.

JFK was born in the far bed near the window

The JFK birthplace isn't the easiest place to get to. It is in a very nice Brookline neighborhood. We followed the directions according to the website and used the subway system. From the stop, it was an easy 10 minute very safe walk to the house. Directions can be found here  https://www.nps.gov/jofi/planyourvisit/directions.htm

Jack wore this Christening gown

The guided tours last 30 minutes. If you do the self guided tour listening to Mrs. Kennedy, that takes roughly 20 minutes. We were there about forty five minutes. After listening to Rose Kennedy narrate the rooms, I talked with a ranger for a few minutes. I also took some pictures.

The kids would eat there meal at this little table

The family dinner table

Adventure #4 of 7-McGreevy's Sports Bar

Rarely do I write about an eating establishment on the blog. Under most circumstances, restaurants have little to do with the outdoors. However this story is different because it is the beginning of Red Sox Nation.

McGreevy's is a sports bar on Boylston Street in Downtown Boston. It is owned by Dropkick Murphy's band leader Ken Casey. Casey bought the bar is 2008 because of its history. In 1894 Sam McGreevy bought the bar which was called the 3rd Base Saloon. It was technically the oldest (first) sports themed bar in the country. Politicians, fans, and ballplayers would come in for a drink. The original Red Sox fans called themselves the Royal Rooters. McGreevy's nickname "Nuf Said".Whenever there was an argument in the bar, when he heard enough, he would slam his hand on the bar and say "Nuf Said!"

I'm obviously a fan of the Dropkick Murphy's, they are my favorite band from Boston (sorry Aerosmith). I love the fact that Ken Casey is a sports junkie. He is a huge Sox, Bruins, and boxing fan.  I have wanted to go to McGreevy's for a while now. But I wasn't going to go in to Boston just to eat and grab a beer. So when Laurie got the gymno tickets, the opportunity to visit McGreevy's presented itself.

The plan was to go for supper before heading to the Garden. However, when we got out of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum I was really hungry. I knew it would be best to eat before going to adventure #5. So we took the T to the Prudential stop and walked the ten minutes to McGreevy's

We were there early in the day so there were only a couple of people there. I'm sure it is packed during Red Sox games. We took a table ordered a water and I looked around. The entire wall space is covered in memorabilia. There are photos of players past and present. There are old newspaper articles, signed shirts and a Dropkick Murphys poster or two (or three). I asked the waitress if I could take some pictures and apologized for looking like such a tourist.

McGreevy's is a bar and the menu is typical bar food. That said, they have an actual classically trained chef that selects the menu options. For my meal, I ordered buffalo chicken wings, sweet potato fries and a Bud Light. Laurie got a burger, sweet potato fries and a Sam Adams. The food was delicious. The wings, although buffalo, had another spice added I could not put my finger on. Instead of tasting like every other restaurant's buffalo chicken, they had their own delicious taste. Laurie and I both thought the Sweet Potato Fries were the best we ever had. They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and not at all burned. She also said her burger was good.

My beer cost me $5 which is what one should expect to pay while in Boston. To put that into perspective, my soda at the Boston Garden was six dollars while the extra large is $8. Overall, my experience at McGreevy's was great. I will go back,if for no other reason, the Sweet Potato Fries were that good!

Photos of the inside below.

Autographed picture of boxing legend Micky Ward

The man with the mustache is Nuf Said McGreevy

This shirt needs a little explanation. If you look up the video for "Tessie" on Youtube you will see all of the members of the Murphys are wearing these red jerseys. This one is Ken Casey's. After the Sox won the 2004 World Series, Casey sought out all of the members of the championship team and had them sign it. The Dropkick Murphy's released the song Tessie in 04. They do believe they are partially responsible for breaking the curse.

Adventure #3 of 7 in three days- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Painting of Isabella Stewart Gardner

Laurie and I went to Boston on Friday and did four different things in the city. I don't particularly like getting into Boston whether by train, subway, or automobile. Laurie bought tickets to the US Gymnastics championships for Friday night. Since I had the day off from work anyway, we went to a few things we wanted to do and make a day of it.

My friend Dick Durand told me about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (ISGM from here on out) months ago. I was surprised I had never heard of it even though I research things to do in the area all of the time. I put it on my 2018 to do list. Since we got the tickets for the gymno, we planned on hitting the museum the same day. 

Tickets are a surprisingly reasonable $15. The closest T stop is the Museum of Fine Arts. It was only a couple minute walk from the stop. You do get a $2 discount if you wear Red Sox apparel. Apparently, Mrs. Gardner was not only an art enthusiast and a world traveler, but also a huge Sox fan. I'm sure any other needed info is easily found on the website.The museum consists of a private collection of one individual, Isabella Stewart Gardner. While she was alive and collecting pieces of art she decided to have a museum built. It was finished during her lifetime and helped with the designing of the room layout. Also of interest, the building itself is a work of art. the architecture is unbelievable. 

The second Rafael
in the ISGM

Painting by Rafael

The museum consists of three floors. There is a central courtyard that is a beautiful Venician garden. Although there is art from many places, by far the most popular style is Italian, specifically early-Renaissance. There are two works by the master Raphael. There are many religious themed paintings by other Renaissance artists. Amazingly there was very little in the way of French artists. I didn't see any Monet or Van Gogh. It was almost refreshing. I saw so much French work in Philly and DC, I would not have been impressed. I like seeing early paintings that have survived for 700 years as much as Claude Monet's work.

The ISGM is sadly home of the largest art heist in history. Two guys dressed as policemen stole two Rembrandt's. There are two empty frames on the wall wh
ere they were hung. Fortunately, there is a Rembrandt self portrait still there.

This is a Rembrandt self portrait
It is from a time when only talented
people could take a selfie!

The museum took us roughly two hours to go through. When you walk into a room there are lamenated  guides that you can grab and you can read about what is hanging on each wall. The guide tells you the name of the work, artist, and year. I looked up the info of the pieces that struck me. If you like art, it is absolutely worth going to.

More photos below

A Medeival knight's tomb cover

St. George slaying the dragon.This is a
common theme for Renaissance paintings.
I have seen them in many museums

The "Tapestry Room" was huge

One of the missing Rembrandt frames

This is Queen Isabella. It is from roughly 1500.
I believe (although haven't researched it yet)
It is THE Queen Isabella that paid for
Columbus's voyages!

Adventure #2 of 7- Washington County Fair to see Sawyer Brown

Sawyer Brown lead singer
Mark Miller

Last night Laurie and I went to the Washington County Fair (WCF from now on). Although I always enjoy going to country fairs, when I go, I on a night there is entertainment I really want to see. It so happened to be playing the WCF on Thursday night. The group, Sawyer Brown, was one of the biggest groups of the early 90's. They are one of the reasons I started listening to country music as a kid. To this day, they are still in my top five favorite country bands. I know the words to all of their hits and they have a lot.

We arrived at the fair around 5 pm. Parking is free, admission is $11. The fair is typical of a county fair. There are rides and games in the Midway. There are barns full of domestic animals. There are plenty of vendors selling food and crafts that will gladly take your money. We ate before we left the house so we wouldn't spend a ton of money on fair food. A couple hours after we got there I got a slice of peach pie and Laurie got an apple crisp. Besides that, we got a couple of Gatorades for a very reasonable $2 each. Also of note, most food vendors were selling bottled water for a dollar.

Sawyer Brown came on at 8:30 and put on a great show. They played for an hour and a half. They played every hit I could think of except "Betty's Bein' Bad". The lead singer, Mark Miller, used to be known for his crazy dancing and energy. I was no longer expecting that since he turns 60 in October. However, he was still up on stage dancing, jumping, and bouncing around. It was impressive in the 80 degree heat. I am grateful they came this way and it is nice my ticket was only the $11 fair admission.

Obviously Sawyer Brown is on to their next venue, but the WCF is running all weekend. You can get entertainment info, directions, and a daily schedule from their website. Of note, after the concerts, everyone leaves. We were stuck in the parking lot and its single lane driveway for 45 minutes.

http://www.washingtoncountyfair-ri.com/

Some of the other blurry members of the band

Three Days of Adventure Post #1 of 7 Napatree and Lady Luck

There are all or part of 18 different Red Knots in this photo

My three days of planned fun started with a ninety minute drive at 5 am this morning. The goal, Napatree Point. The reason...shorebirds. I got Napatree at 6:45 and walked out to the lagoon. Napatree is a very good spot to see shorebirds but you have to pay your dues by walking  mile over sand. I didn't have any intended targets in mind, nor did I know of any rarities out there.

As I was walking in, another birder was walking out. He told me there was a Little Egret in the lagoon along with some Snowys. A "Little Egret" is the name of a species. It is not a description. They are rare in the United States because the live and nest in Africa!!! I do not know how many documented sightings there have been in Rhode Island, but my guess is less than a handful.

  This bird was reported last week. Apparently, it roosts across the Pawcatuck River in Connecticut and in the morning it flies over with its Snowy cousins to feed at Napatree. I hadn't heard any reports about it in many days. Secondly, I didn't even know it was at Napatree, the last report I had heard was it roosted it the marsh in Weekapaug Pond. I never really gave it any thought because when it was reported, I knew I wasn't getting down there anytime soon.

Black Bellied Plover- these are a common shorebird but usually
skittish. When I try for a pic they always walk or fly the other
way. While looking through the scope at the Little Egret, I looked
up for a second and this guy was 20 feet from me. I had to
take a few pictures. He even caught himself a 10 inch sandworm
Luck was on my side today! 

So it was pure blind luck this guy told me about the Little Egret. Chances are I wouldn't have given the egrets a second look if I were out there alone because I was looking for small shorebirds. I walked over to edge of the lagoon and all the egrets were feeding on the other side. It took less than a minute to see the long ten inch plume hanging off the birds head. I watched it for a few minutes but had to be at work at 10:30, which meant I had to leave at 9 am, so I  moved on from the rarest bird I have seen this year.

Next up, I started scanning the water for shorebirds. I crossed the little river that connects the lagoon to the bay. On the other side I came across my favorite shorebird, Red Knots. I started counting them and there were more and more. I counted 40. This is a lot for this species so I reported it on the RI bird Facebook page along with letting others know the Little Egret was there.

After I left the Red Knots, I headed back towards the car and lagoon. Two birders showed up and scoped the three hundred or so terns. I had made a decision not to invest much time on the terns because I was limited and wanted to move around. One of the guys told me he had a black tern in his scope and wanted me to take a look to confirm it (it's nice to have a witness). From my point of view, it was nice he showed it to me. I talked with those guys for five minutes but had to hustle back to the car under an increasingly hot sun. But man, what a morning

Ruddy Turnstone

Author's Note- I was asked if I got any good pictures of the extremely rare Little Egret. The answer is no. It was across the lagoon. I could have walked around the pond and tried to get some pictures. I did not want to take the chance of flushing it. If I would have scared that bird off and other birders didn't see it, I would have felt absolutely awful. So I made the decision not to attempt a photo. It worked out just fine since I saw the forty Red Knots.