June Explorations

Wilson's Pharalope. This is probably the best bird I found on
my own this year. I found it one one of my explorations
of the mudflats early in the month

   June is not my favorite month. After the whirlwind of May, June is a letdown. I try to plan my vacation or getaways in June to give me something to look forward to. That obviously wasn't an option this year. So I settled into my typical June routine that I can't seem to break. The days I work, I find it difficult to motivate myself to go out after I get home. Despite perfect weather the beginning of the month, I just don't feel like doing anything. Luckily, this year I have a fairly large garden. Although I couldn't motivate myself to drive any distance, I did keep busy doing yard work and planting.

   However, my days off are another story. I always have plenty to do. Even with two trips cancelled, I still found plenty of places to go. This year I mixed it up a little and did some exploring. I still went to Napatree and the Charlestown Breachway a couple of times, but I also managed to explore some new territory and some old favorites. I only saw one new species of bird for the year this month. It was a Blue Grosbeak found by Bill Thompson at Carter Preserve. But the funny thing is I really enjoyed all the places I went for the joys of birding and listing. I birded in three different states this month. Quite honestly, it was relaxing and very enjoyable. 
 
    During the first week of the month I went birding in Connecticut with my friends Jan, Sue, and Jess. We birded a place called Barn Island. It is just over the border. You can see Napatree from spots. This was a great adventure. There is a lot of different habitat, so there are many species of birds. Despite having all the migrants already north of us, we saw 46 different species in a couple of hours. We had a great morning. I didn't write about it because I was a jackass and left my memory card at home so I couldn't take any pictures. Still we had a great day.

    A week later a bunch of us explored Buck Hill Management Area. This is the northwestern corner of the state. The main attraction is a monument where the three states of RI, MA, and CT converge. We all stopped and got photos of it. I can only hope no one finds this monument offensive and tries to topple it. He didn't see as many species but I did get a decent photo of an Eastern Wood Peewee.

Some of my birding buddies around the monument at
Buck Hill

 














 As I've written about earlier, I visited an old favorite last week when I went to Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary. I went alone and spent 3 hours exploring and taking pictures. I drove home with a smile because of how much fun I had.

Bobolink at Daniel Webster

I made a stop at Hunts Mill in East Providence to get some shots of the Night Heron that summers there. Luckily for me it was there and but on a great show.

 
   

Also last week I went to the Carter Preserve in Charlestown. There I saw my only new bird for the month, a Blue Grosbeak. My photo sucks but it is a life photo and you gotta start somewhere.

Blue Grosbeak

    Today I went to a couple of my Rhode Island old standbys, the aforementioned Napatree and Breachway. I couldn't sleep so I got up early. I has at Napatree at 6 am (it is a 90 ride and I put the kayak on the car first). There was a thick blanket of fog until 8 am. There weren't a lot of birds, but Napatree has a habit of having rare birds such as Black Skimmers, Royal Terns, Curlews, and Little Egret. Even though I didn't see anything rare today, it is the possibility that always draws me back.

    After I left Nap I went to the Breachway. Again, there wasn't anything new but I had fun. My highlight were photo upgrades of Common Terns. Yes Common Terns are common and I've gotten photos before. However, since I was in my kayak, I posed no threat to them. They let me glide right within a few feet. I was in a strong current moving faster than I would have liked but taking the photos so close was still awesome!

Tomorrow I am going to Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary in Dartmouth. I have only been there twice and not in years. After that, Laurie are going to check out sites of some New England legends. It should be a fun day and I hope I have something to write about.

I guess what I am trying to say with this post is for me, June was a win.