End of the Year Review 2023

   

Sleepy Hollow, NY

   It is safe to say I will never have another year like this year. I spent a whole year playing while recovering from the health problems that I've talked about enough. While I still have trouble lying down, I am certainly grateful that most of the last nine months have been relatively pain free. Because I feel so much better and had some money in the bank, I had a year full of memories.

    Throughout my adult life, most years always end up having a theme. As I've said in other reviews, one year DJ and I went to New Hampshire every weekend during the summer. The following year I was introduced to Striped Bass and became obsessed. I'd drive to Narragansett or Jamestown four nights a week after getting done baking donuts at 1 am. Twice I've done Rhode Island Big Years chasing birds. I spent all of 2011 fishing for trout and keeping perfect records of how many, where I caught them, each species, and what I caught them on.

   It would be tough to pinpoint what this year's theme would be. I did such a variety of things that I'd say "enjoying nature" would make sense. As an outdoorsman and a wannabe naturalist, this is such a broad statement that it really doesn't describe anything. The more I thought about it, the theme for this year was about chasing adventures. For much of the year I was out looking for something different and new. When I wasn't looking for new and different I was still looking to make everyday as full as possible.

   If you are a reader of the blog, you could make a strong argument that I chased herps A LOT. This I did. I saw far more herp species in New England than I ever had. I saw species I'd never heard of (Italian Wall Lizard). My favorite day of my Midwest vacation was walking a road looking for snakes. Many days during the spring, I'd go birding only to find my eyes facing towards the ground looking for snakes as the morning wore on. Every day is an adventure when herping. Every rock that I lift is a possible winning lottery ticket. Even the most common Garter Snake is fun to hold and sometimes its a challenge to catch them.  But even though so many days spent looking for snakes, I still spent triple the amount of days doing other things. 

  I didn't fish too much this year. I did get out a few times. I had many good days trout fishing down the Cape and in Rhode Island. I did catch all the species of trout except Lakers. I only caught a few Stripers. I caught one lifer, Mackerel.  I fished my ass off in  New Hampshire fishing just about everyone of my nineteen days there.

   Many adventures involved fish but not a fishing pole. I went seining three times in saltwater and twice in freshwater. I got multiple lifers (more on lifers below). I went snorkeling and saw a Beau Gregory which is a tropical fish that should not be here. 

   Laurie and I went on multiple getaways. 

• April Cape trip looking for Right Whales and Herring Runs
• Philadelphia and Delaware Water Gap
• Sleepy Hollow, NY in the footsteps of Washington Irving
• Two trips to NH in the spring. I spent 19 days camping. Laurie came up for about five of those days
• Midwest Trip for ten days Gateway Arch, Hannibal, Kankakee Sands, Snake Road, Cuyahoga NP, PA wilds elk
• A "bag night" is a night spent in the sleeping bag (so its a term used for camping). I had roughly thirty bag nights. I camped twenty five nights and slept under the stars on Laurie's deck about five to ten other nights. I'd have done it a lot more but there was always so much dew on my bag in the morning. 

For nature on those trips I saw-

•   New Hampshire- one moose, one bear, otter, two beavers, heard multiple species of birds at my campsite, breeding toads, two Northern Watersnakes, Smallmouth Bass, Rock Bass, Pickerel, Pike, Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout, Common Shiner, Largemouth Bass
• Cape Cod- two far off Right Whales, herring runs 
• Midwest Trip- Bison, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, 16 Cottonmouths, 1 Plain Bellied Watersnake, 1 Rough Green Snake, Grey Tree Frog, Green Tree Frog, Cave Salamanders, Newt, Armadillo, Racoons, Elk, Indiana Bat

By the numbers- 

   I only kept a year list for herp species I saw. I saw 31 species of herps. This breaks down to 7 turtles species, 12 snakes, 8 frogs, 4 salamanders/newt, 1 Lizard, plus one subspecies (Midland's Painted Turtle)

I caught (with a fishing pole) one new fish species, Mackerel

Lifers-

• I got one lifer mammal, Indiana Bat
• For herps of my 31 species  ten were lifers
• Birds- Four lifers (Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Western Grebe, Western Flycatcher, Ross's Goose) Two state birds Sedge Wren, Townsend's Warbler
• Fish- I saw fourteen lifer fish species. eleven while seining, one seen at the Cape Cod Canal, Blind Cave Fish on a cave tour, and one by snorkeling

Photo upgrades-

• Including the lifer photos I got twenty bird upgrades to add to my photo album. I'm starting an album to document mammals, herps, and fish I've caught. This year I got photos of twenty five herp species that were either lifers or upgrades from what I had. 
•  I have photos of 47/50 fish I've caught. Missing are Sheepshead, Mahi Mahi, and somehow American Eel.
• There are eight bird species I have seen that I did not photograph out of 401
• There are eight mammal species I've seen without a photo out of 61

Armchair Ticks- 

   Though seeing an animal five years ago obviously does not count as a lifer this year I spent hours going through old photos to add to my Species Album. I found photos of 8 birds, 2 mammals, 12 lizards, plus some other photo upgrades of other snakes and turtles.

Personal-  

   I went to a surprising nine concerts. Many of them were free. I only read three real books, but spent countless hours buried in field guides. I watched dozens of documentaries. I went to the movies four times. Laurie and I did binge a bunch of series on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Plus. 

   Only went to fireworks once. Four Museums. Swimming at Onset Beach three times. Three fishing and outdoor expos. Visited Concord, MA twice. Four Holiday/Church Fairs. One figure skating event with Laurie. Saw a flower that smells like rotting flesh called a Corpse Flower at Wheaton College.

   Other than the above trips, all of my other adventures were fishing, birding, chasing state birds, herping, snorkeling (once), quahogging (once), camping in New Hampshire,  or vacation days

For my "Photos with Friends Project" I took photos of myself with twenty of my friends. This leaves me with many more to get. Since I started this project in May, I'm going to continue it for another few months until May. I really want to document memories with people

Happy New Year and may your days be filled with adventures!

Holy Mackerel

 Of all my posts, this one easily has the cheesiest and laziest title but low hanging fruit is the easiest to reach. So no apology from me at this time.

   Today I went to the Cape Cod Canal and caught my first ever mackerel. While it would be considered "spot burning" to say that I caught them at the canal, there are like four people that I know that have the surf rods heavy enough to actually fish there or they wouldn't drive there anyway.. They all live in Rhode Island or western Mass so it is safe to say that I will not be adding to the crowds at the Sandwich Marina. The fishing reports from tackle shops have already reported where the mackerel are. If you are randomly reading this on the internet and your goal in life has always been to catch a mackerel, you are welcome!

   Actually, catching a mackerel was one of my goals. I had never caught any. I'd seen them swim by and be chased by stripers in the summer but never targeted them. Yesterday I went but I failed. I had hoped to catch them on light tackle so I brought my trout rod and some small Kastmaters.  Unfortunately, the macs were way out of range of my small rod.  I did bring an eight food surf rod but I did not think things through. I brought my rod with my bairunner and twenty pound mono. This had half the casting distance of braid. Add to that that I only brought some egg sinkers and tied a small Kastmaster to my line, I must have looked like a googan (idiot)

   When I got done fishing yesterday, I went home and got more appropriate equipment. I got my Mojo rod with a reel full of braided line. I picked up my one Sabiki rig and some bank sinkers. The weather forecast said I had a few hours in the morning before a huge rainstorm. I planned on going fishing at 7-8 am but I didn't fall asleep until 5 am so I got up at 9 am.

   

It's a shame mackerel are just considered 
baitfish because the colors are incredible

   I caught three mackerel today. Since I had never caught any, I would have been very happy with one. I  caught two on one of my casts and an hour later caught the third. However, if I would have been in a competition or a tournament, I would have gotten my ass kicked. I saw so many mackerel caught. One guy reeled in five at a time so often I lost count. Many other guys caught a dozen or more. 

  I tried to figure out what I was doing wrong. My casts were about as far as those guys and I was letting my rig sink like they were. I think they had better Sabiki rigs than me. While I had a rig with five tubes that were grey and red the other people were using a different Sabiki. It seems like they were nailing fish on white teasers or shiny silver teasers. The white fly and the flashy stuff far outfished my rig. 

I learned a lot today by not catching. It made me pay attention to those that were. I probably won't spend a lot of time chasing mackerel anyway. The crowded conditions really aren't my style. On a personal note, the mackerel were my fiftieth species I've caught fishing AND I saw a guy catch a fish called a Longhorn Sculpin. I had no chance of catching one of those, they only eat bait off of the bottom and I was fishing with lures. Still, I saw a lifer. 

Longhorn Sculpin

A lifer, a state bird, and a photo upgrade on the same day

 

Western Flycatcher 

   Chasing rare birds has not been a fun pastime for me. Last week, I missed a Townsend's Solitaire by twenty minutes. The same day I missed a Bell's Vireo by forty five. I went back for the Bell's and dipped again despite giving it a solid six hours! Both of those birds would have been lifers for me. I can't tell you how frustrating that was.

   So when a Western Flycatcher was found by my friend Carlos Pedro early this  week, I tilted my head back and dropped an F-bomb. Not only was this a bird I'd never seen, it was the first one to show up in the state...ever! I couldn't go the day it was found and most of my friends did get to see it. The next day it was reported again so it was not what we call "a one day wonder". So I drove the ninety minutes to Burlingame Campground in the hopes of seeing it. I did not (four hours).

   I tried again on Thanksgiving. As I was driving down a birder reported it. I was still an hour away but felt good that the bird was still there. At least it had not died or flown away. I got to Burlingame about 10:30. Though I had the place to myself for a couple of hours, a few of my friends showed up after 1 pm. We searched for hours but did not see the bird. (five more hours)

   From 8 am on,  yesterday people started reporting the Western Flycatcher again. A pattern was developing that this bird was most active in the morning when the sun starts to warm up the trees. I could not go, and I  really didn't want to make the three hour round trip. I was quite content I had a turkey in the oven. That was until the reports did not stop until well after 11 am. I could have gotten the bird if I'd had left early. I was pissy all day. My friend Charles suggested we try again today (Saturday). I really didn't want to. It was going to be cold with a morning low of twenty one degrees. Who knew if the bird could survive the night? I didn't want to be cold for hours. Charles pushed me a little and I agreed. We met at 7 am. Temperature- 22 degrees.

   We made it to Burlingame at 7:30. A few people I knew were getting out of the car too. Dan and Sue are great birders. Sue is far better than me so I was quite happy to have them around. We walked out to the campground which is about a three quarter mile walk. We went right to the nature center and the sun was hitting the trees in front. In seconds Sue called out the bird. We all would have seen it anyway because it was very active. She gets the credit for finding it first. I was just happy to see it. 

Townsend's Warbler 

    Charles and I ran into my new friend Nicole (also her third try, and she was there for hours of Thanksgiving also). The three of us decided to go to Tiogue and look for Tundra Swans. On our way there, Alan Kneidel reported a Townsend's Warbler at Swan Point. We were twenty one minutes away so we went straight there. Within minutes of us getting there every birder I know was looking for this yellow colored warbler. It flew into a tree right next to myself and Dick Bradley. We saw it and I yelled for everyone else to come our way. About half of the hoard saw it and the other half didn't. It flew out of the tree never to be seen again. Half of us were very happy, the other half stayed until dark but left disappointed. The Townsend's was a state bird for me but not a lifer. I saw one a couple years ago near the Cape Cod Canal. Both birds were lifers for Nicole. The Flycatcher was a state bird for Charles.

   
   We still had time and went for the Tundra Swans but they were not there. We had an hour to kill before I had to get Charles to Wickford and Nicole to a Park and Ride in North Kingstown. So went to Frenchtown Park. There wasn't a lot of birds but we ran across a small mixed flock. A very curious Golden Crowned Kinglet came to check us out. They are a common species but one I never got a good photo of. Today I got my best one yet. A photo upgrade.

Golden Crowned Kinglet 

   We had one more interesting sighting today. My friend Sue sent me a photo of thousands of baby fish yesterday. I had never seen a school like that in freshwater. Though I did not think that the pond was connected to the ocean I thought the only thing they could be were herring. I stopped today and scooped some with my net. They were White Perch by the tens of thousands. I could fill my net with well over a thousand, if not thousands of little perch and it didn't make a dent in the school. I very cool sight! Today made up for what had been a god-awful November for seeing the "good birds".

White Perch and a few
Yellow Perch mixed in

Things that I am thankful for

 

Thousands of nickel sized
shells at Plymouth Beach
last weekend were amazing.

I almost forgot to write my  Thanksgiving blogpost. It wasn't until this morning that it hit me that I  needed to write a blog on Thanksgiving. If you've read them before you will see that over the first few years the things that I was thankful for were memories of that year. I would religiously be grateful for my close friends. A couple of years ago I lost my closest cousin and I had my own close call in the same week. So when Thanksgiving came around I was grateful for life itself. 

   Last year I wrote quite a bit about the people I was thankful for. I had been laid up for five months and was very appreciative of Laurie for taking care of me and the friends that checked up on me. After Thanksgiving I had another two months of pain before things turned around. 

    Now that I am pretty much pain free during the day (nights are still tricky) I am the living version of the cliche' "what a difference a year makes". It is very probable I will not have another year like this until retirement age. I spent most of the year hoping my back would fully heal before I went back to work. I had some money saved so I held out hope that the disk would slide back into place. So... since I wasn't working, I made the most of my time.

    As I look back on things I am thankful for it, this year it boils down to two things: friends and nature. Despite the free time, I didn't spend nearly as much time with my friends as I would have liked. Because I was trying to conserve funds, I did not go birding for the sake of birding too often after May. Consequently, I didn't see my birding buddies very much. The same is true of the little amount of time I spent with Dave. I think we only fished together once or maybe twice all year.

    Not seeing these people does not change the way I feel about them. I am truly grateful for the friendships I've made. The people that I spend time with will never know what they mean to me.

    While I may have not seen my friends too often because I was conserving funds, I saw a lot of nature because those funds went towards day trips and adventures. Over the past year my eyes were opened to nature I never thought much about. What I am most thankful for this year is nature itself and that I love it so much.

    I sometimes find it so overwhelming that there is so much to see and learn in the natural world. I am much better at the seeing and learning in the field than I am at doing my homework. I'll spend hours looking for snakes. This week, I spent ten hours over three days trying to get a life bird at Burlingame Campground. However, sometimes I find it tough to sit and study my field guides. Still, I am grateful that there is so much to learn. I'm even grateful that there are so many species of mice and voles that I'll probably never remember what they are even if I do come across a dead one on a trail. 

  Recently I started noticing small creeks and culverts more. The reason? Because there are a lot of small fish that I need as lifers. Every time I pass a small bridge I look to see if the water is deep enough for a minnow trap. I also look to see if there is access to the water. I don't want there to be. I want the distance from the road to the water to be covered in prickers or brush. That way, if I drop my trap for 24 hours I know that no one will stumble across it. I can't tell you how much I enjoy these little scouting minutes. These places are everywhere and it is nice to know I could have Bridle Shiners right next door. I don't have to drive to an exotic location to have a mini-adventure. I really am grateful for that.

   Lastly, thank you to those of you that read this. I said when COVID first started that I would link my blog to Facebook. The hope was that if I could have a reader forget about all the crazy shit happening for a few minutes than it was worth it to me. It seems as though I have a few dedicated readers that click on my link. Thank you all. Happy holidays!

P.S. I am VERY THANKFUL that I finally saw the Western Flycatcher today!

Holiday Fairs

 

Look, Carolers!

  I have to admit, I like baked goods. I also love Christmas. When you combine the two you get church fairs and holiday fairs. Laurie and I make a point to go to a fair or two during the season. Saturday we went to three.

   First up was a church fair in Mansfield. We bought some cookies and a slice of pumpkin pie. There were many raffles but we chose not to buy any raffle tickets at this fair.

  Up next was the Little Red Schoolhouse in North Attleboro. The schoolhouse and the Garrison house next door are owned by the Historical Society. They were both built in the 1700's. The third graders go to these two structures on a field trip every year as a tour of the town. They dress up in period clothes and learn about the town history. It is one of my fondest childhood memories. 

   

Despite being a ghost, 
Jacob Marley was kind 
enough to pose for a 
photo with me

Saturday, we just bought some Apricot Bread from the schoolhouse. The Woodcock Garrison House was not open until 11 am and we were over an hour early. When it is open, there is a fire going in the fireplace and the docents give a tour of the building. There are many artifacts over three hundred years old. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't go into the Garrison House, but our next stop more than  made up for it.

   Next, we went to the Dickens Fair at the All Souls Church in Braintree. Laurie found this place on line doing a Google search of  "Massachusetts holiday fairs". The reason we drove so far for Christmas cookies was because it was Dickens themed. You could get your photo taken with characters from "A Christmas Carol".

 

The most organized Christmas cookies I've ever seen

 There are two rooms in the church. One of course, is where sermons are held. In this room was a craft fair. They had things from homemade ornaments to catnip infused beds for your cat. The other room had a raffle table, baked goods, and places to sit. Laurie bought some raffle tickets but we did not win anything. 

   There were characters from Dickens classic. They all got together and sang Christmas carols. After they were done, I tracked down Jacob Marley and got my photo with him. Also there was Father Christmas, how could I not get my photo with someone so famous? I mean, the guy is a legend.

While these fairs are now nothing but a memory. There are still plenty of fairs across the region from church fairs, craft fairs in high school gyms to Plainridge Casino. I saw get out and go buy an apple pie or Cranberry Bread. Make the season fun. Worst case scenario, you don't win any raffles and you eat your feelings with Snickerdoodles! 

   

A good time was had by all

Father Christmas!!!!!!!

Some cool finds

   

Two Lined Salamander

     I'll be honest, I haven't done much lately. While this post will make it seem like I've been going nature crazy, my adventures have been limited to roughly one per week. The rest of the time I might be in all day or go for a walk at a land trust preserve in town. The big adventures have been far, if not few, between. That of course does mean I've done some stuff and what I have done has been pretty cool. 

   Oct 23

   At the suggestion of my great naturalist friend Charles, we  (Charles, myself, and our friend Louise) hunted down Two Lined Salamanders. Never heard of them? Neither had I until this year. After finding salamanders, assuming we did find them, we were going to look for Western Mosquitofish. Never heard of them? Again, neither had I. 

   Here is what I now know about Two Lined Salamanders. They live under rocks near streams. They are considered common. However, I really do not see how they can be that common because they like areas where the rock is shale. So they like areas with the dark layered rocks along streams and not your typical stream with mud banks or granite boulders. 

  As for the mosquitofish, they do not belong in Rhode Island. Sometimes they are stocked in ponds because they do eat mosquito larvae. They can gulp air like guppies and they are related. Though we live in the east, it turns out that Western Mosquitofish are the species more often stocked. However, RI DEM wouldn't stock them because they can become invasive. Despite their small size they will nip fins and harass other fish. 

 

The underside of a 
Two Lined Salamander 

  About ten days earlier, Charles had come across these little fish. He tried to get a photo and sent it to DEM for confirmation and clarity on which species it was. They said that it was inconclusive. So we went back to capture one and count spines in the fins. 

   But first... the sallys. We met up on Aquidneck Island about 9:30 after it had warmed a little bit. Charles had been scouting for hours before Louise and I got there. We walked next to and through a stream until we walked into a valley and the rocks along the edge did become shale. Quickly Charles found a Two Lined Salamander. We took photos of it and let it go. They have a mustard colored stomach and we got photos of that. A minute or two later I found one of about the same size. I crossed the river so I could flip rocks on one side while they on the other. I ended up finding about five more sallys. We walked back to the car and drove to Charles's mosquitofish spot. 

   

Western Mosquitofish

 It wasn't hard to find them. They were in water three inches deep or less. 

Charles brought his net and I herded them with my shadow as we had the sun behind us. Somehow, Charles caught one on his second pass with the net. We put it in a small clear container and took a million photos. We really needed to see how many spines were on each fin. While the sun glare made it difficult to tell if our photos were coming out well, the bright sun made it easy to see the fish right down to the rays on each fin. We just couldn't tell until we got home. Though there may have been some confusion on whether it is a hybrid or a Western, it seems like the consensus is the fish is a Western Mosquitofish.

Spring Peeper 

Minnow Traps

  For the past couple of weeks I've been baiting minnow traps hoping to find small minnows and shiners. I've tried a couple different streams but have come up empty both times. I may give up until the spring. 

Spring Peeper

   One of those close land preserve walks I did was at Oak Knoll Sanctuary in Attleboro. Laurie and I went for a walk on all of the trails. I found a few salamanders while flipping rocks. The big prize, however, was found by Laurie. She found two frogs hopping in the leaves. One was a baby Wood Frog.  The other was a Spring Peeper! While I hear Peepers almost every night during the warmer months, they are tough to see. I've only seen them once before. So Laurie's find was huge in my book. 

Nov 3

Sedge Wren

    Charles and I planned on trying for a salamander so rare in Rhode Island that the best herpetologist in the state has only seen them a couple of times. It was a long shot but if he found one we would be heroes. The species is called a Spring Salamander. They only live along small streams that flow west into ONE watershed in northwest Connecticut. Also, if you find fish in those streams, the salamanders probably won't be there.

   However, we changed out plans the night before because a Sedge Wren was found at Napatree. Never heard of them? Well, this one I had. I got a brief look at one years ago in Marshfield, MA. I counted it but after becoming an experienced birder I decided the look I had was so awful, I took it off of my list. It turned out that Charles had a similar terrible look at his only RI Sedge Wren. So... off we went to Napatree. 

   We ran into my friend Tim at Napatree and the three of us looked for the bird for two hours before it showed itself. The first look was awful for me. Charles and I were standing together and Tim was in front of us about twenty feet. The bird popped up ten feet in front of Tim but he didn't see it. I saw it and I kept explaining to him where it was. When he got on it, he lifted his camera for a photo. I did the same. The bird ducked back into cover. Tim got one photo but I did not get any! Luckily, twenty minutes later the bird popped up again. It wasn't nearly as close but it was up for a good thirty seconds and I took a dozen photos. None will ever be on my wall, but they were good enough to confirm what I saw on my ebird report. The Sedge Wren was my first lifer in Rhode Island this year and only my third overall. 

 

Red Fox

   We left Napatree at noon. On our way out a fox that clearly had been fed by people walked up to my car. Never one to miss an easy photo op I took some photos after getting my camera. While it made the photos easy, this is the reason you shouldn't feed wildlife. This animal will get hit by a car begging for food sooner and not later. 

   We decided to go try for the Spring Salamanders. It took an hour to find one of those perfect little streams. We walked up the hill and tried to find some salamanders but did not. We looked at it as a scouting mission anyway. We did see two snakes and a frog. Despite the temperature being fifty five degrees there were two Garter Snakes sunning themselves. I caught both of them but the second one was so cold, it didn't move. I'm sure that after the initial fear that I was a predator, it was happy to be warmed by a warm blooded animal for a couple of minutes.

   So over the course of my adventures, I got a lifer Two Lined Salamander, a lifer Western Mosquitofish, a great look at a Red Fox, my second ever Spring Peeper, and a lifer/ state bird Sedge Wren. The Sedge Wren ended up being my four hundredth life bird

A very cold Garter Snake

Counting Fish

Cutthroat Trout

    Before  I went through all of my herp photos, I made a list of every fish species that I've seen and identified. I broke the list into four groups. In order of most important to me they are: 

1.  I caught them fishing with a fishing pole on a hook Snagging does not count as fishing
2.  Seen snorkeling
3. Caught with a net or a seine
4. Seen in the water looking from above
5.  Someone else caught this species and I saw it

   (5)   Working my way back from the least important list, I almost find it embarrassing to see a fish someone else has caught but I didn't because I am a fisherman. However, when you are fishing bait on the bottom, you never know what you are going to catch. Case in point, I thought for sure I'd catch catfish in the Mississippi River but caught stripers. Luckily, this category is very small for me.  I've only seen five species of fish this way. I saw my one Weakfish at Charlestown Breachway fishing next to another guy in the middle of the night. I saw a slot Red Drum (also known as Redfish) on a bridge in North Carolina. Someone caught a Flathead Catfish in Minnesota in 2010 while DJ caught bullheads. I saw a guy snag a Gizzard Shad in Hannibal, MO. I've seen Bonito caught but have never actually caught one.

(23)  I'm quite cool with seeing fish in the water from above. They are still in their natural habitat.  If the water is clear than it's no different than seeing them snorkeling except I'm drier. I'll spare you all of the twenty three species I've seen this way. But I'd like to highlight some favorites. Probably my favorite fish I've seen from above is Peacock Bass. They are beautiful and one of the fish high on my bucket list to catch. Also on my bucket list to catch are Tarpon. I saw a school at Flamingo Marina in Florida along with Snook. I saw Blind Cavefish last month in Indiana. On whale watches I've seen Blue Sharks and Mola Mola. Unfortunately, I've seen two pike this way but caught neither. One was following my spinnerbait but turned away.

(13) I've seen thirteen species that I've caught with a net or a seine. If I happen to catch any of them with a fishing pole or see them while snorkeling I'll take them off of this list and put them on the one they belong on. I got all thirteen of these species this year. This is due to my newfound friendship with Charles Avenengo and the BioBlitz. We caught Banded Sunfish, Swamp Darters, Banded Killifish, and Bridle Shiners at BioBlitz.

   Charles and I went seining four times. Three times in saltwater and once in freshwater. By far, the rarest fish was a Tidemaster Mojara which live in the Gulf of Mexico. Probably the coolest saltwater was a Windowpane Flounder. I had never heard of this species but it is beautiful. 

   

Nine Spined Stickleback

We caught (Charles caught, I scared with my shadow) a Western Mosquitofish with a net last week. I've caught other species in a net but I have also caught them fishing. A fish only gets counted once so if it ends up on a list more important to me then I move it there.

(10) Snorkeling. For sure I've seen a lot more than ten species of fish snorkeling. However, I couldn't identify most of them. When I was in the Florida Keys I went on two different snorkel trips. I also snorkeled at multiple beaches. The reefs and beaches were teaming with life. But if I couldn't identify the species I'm not adding it to my list as a number. 

Snorkeling is my second favorite way to see fish. Being in the water with them in their environment is amazing. I got an amazing tropical fish in Newport in August when Charles found a Beau Gregory. Just a piece of art with an electric blue back and bright yellow sides and belly.

(49) My favorite way to count a fish is too catch them. It was tough to decide what's more of a priority fishing or snorkeling. I choose fishing for now but maybe I should have a separate list for fish I've seen snorkeling even if I've caught them.  

   I've caught forty nine species that I am positive of. I could add to the list if I find my photos from North Carolina from 2007. I only wrote in my journal the species that DJ and I caught as a team but didn't separate them into what he caught and what I caught. I'm hoping I may have a photo or two of me holding a fish. We fished from the Oregon Inlet Bridge and also took a deep sea fishing trip on a head boat. The only species I know I caught were Sheepshead. But I know between us we caught Croaker, Pigfish, and Spot. For now those three species are on the seen only list.  

   The same is true of a deep sea fishing trip we took out of Plymouth. For sure we saw Cod and Dogfish. But I can not remember if we caught either. I spent most of the trip adding to the chum over the railing.

   I guess if pressed I'd have to say my favorite species are Striped Bass, Smallmouth Bass, and False Albacore. I love caching these species. But the truth is, I probably enjoy catching new species more. I was really excited to catch my first Landlocked Salmon and Lake Trout out of Wachusett Reservoir. I caught little Grayling and Cutthroat Trout in Yellowstone. I'd say the prettiest fish I've ever caught are Kokanee and Red Breasted Sunfish.  

Kokanee

Conclusion

   If you add up all of those numbers of the five categories, it comes out to an even one hundred. I didn't plan it that way. I also hadn't been keeping track and figured I'd write a post once I reached one hundred. It just worked out that when I wrote all of the species on the list it came out to the century mark. 

   I'm not sure keeping track of fish species is a rabbit hole I want to go down. I already try to catch fish I haven't caught. The only fairly common "gamefish" in New England I haven't caught are Walleye and Pike. There are some others that are either rare to catch (Tiger Musky and Round Whitefish) or have a very small range (Musky in the St John's River Maine/Canada border and Arctic Char in a couple of Maine lakes). I don't know if I want to  make specific trips to try to catch these fish. 

   There are a lot of small fish such as Darters and Minnows I could try to catch even within a half hour.  of my house. I'm sure I will attempt to do that with my net. I also have a minnow trap. Seeing the fish we caught at BioBlitz and with Charles was really fun.

    I just found out about native fish get togethers where you travel to a destination  where a bunch of people go seining, netting, snorkeling, and micro-fishing for all sorts of fish. They have lodging and a banquet. There are guest speakers. It sounds a lot like bird festivals except you get wet. This sounds right up my ally. I can add to a lifelist and talk about fish for four days. However, I am already taking vacations to see snakes and other herps. Laurie is not going to like it if I suggest we go to Oklahoma for vacation to look at little fish. This rabbit hole keeps getting bigger.

   Lastly, I know very few people that have caught forty nine species while fishing. It is possible I only know one person that has caught more than me. His name is Roy Levya. I asked him the other day if he knew how many fish species he has caught. He told me he hasn't added it up in a while but somewhere around FIVE HUNDRED!!! I'm sure I couldn't name two hundred species never mind physically catch (this is while fishing not with a net!) five hundred!!!

   In 2012 Charles did a fish big year. He is not a fisherman so he found other ways to see fish. He is the naturalist at Norman Bird Sanctuary so he saw many of the fish seining. We stopped and looked at the water in various places to see what he could find. He went on party boats to watch fish get caught. Most importantly, he took a trip to northern Ohio and one to Tennessee to see fish. The Tennessee trip was like I was explaining above where he went to a fish meeting. He saw forty fish species in Tennessee. Overall he saw one hundred and ten fish species in a year. Ten more than I have seen in my life and I have the advantage of fishing for them. Between Roy and Charles, it is easy to be humble (and jealous!).

   Alice, that rabbit hole is looking mighty tempting!

Smallmouth Bass

Armchair Ticks

   

Black Chinned Sparrow

   For those of you that don't know what an armchair tick is let me explain. As many of you know, birders keep all kinds of lists. Lets say you've seen one hundred species of birds. Every year, the ABA ( American Birding Association) looks at the latest science and decides if a species may actually be two different species. Sometimes there is evidence that a bird has evolved differently from one location and is a totally different species. While a bird may look very similar it could have a different song or habits. If DNA confirms that there is enough of a difference than the ABA could decide that what we thought was one species is really two different species. If you have seen both of these populations in your hundred species, you get to add one and now you are at one hundred and one.

   This recently happened with Meadowlarks as my friend Scott told me. The Eastern Meadowlark was split into two. While there still is an Eastern Meadowlark, there is now a Chiricahua Meadowlark. The latter bird lives in the southwest from western Oklahoma to central Arizona. Scott had previously seen this bird in that range. So when the species was split, he got to add it to his lifelist without leaving his couch. Hence the name "armchair tick". Tick would be another term for checkmark or mark to identify you have seen the bird. 

   Another example of an armchair tick would be when the ABA allows a previously unallowable bird to be counted. Lets say someone lets there pet parrot free in Miami or one escapes. If I'm driving through Miami I can not count it because it is not a wild bird. I can not count a parrot that was raised by humans anymore than I can count a chicken in someone's back yard, it is not a wild bird. But say many parrots escape and they start breeding. Now they are not domestic birds, they are wild born. After a number of years, I believe twenty five, if that population is self sustaining then the ABA will announce that the bird can be counted. So if I were driving through Miami on my 2019 vacation and I saw that parrot species and in 2022 they announced it is countable, I get to add to my list without leaving my chair, hence...armchair tick.

 

Longnose Leopard Lizard

     All of my birder friends keep lists. The ones that travel can't wait to find out if the ABA split any species so they can add a bird to their lifelist. I know a few nature lovers that keep a dragonfly and butterfly list, but beyond that, I know a couple that keeps track of  herps they have seen. I know very few that keep track of much other than that. The best example of someone that does is my friend Charles.  He seems to keep a list of everything from Damselflies to Mammals. 

   Until this year I had my bird lists which are only in two categories, birds I've seen in RI (on ebird) and total birds (in a notebook). I have a half hearted butterfly list. Last year I kept a list of herps I saw in 2022 and this year I have done the same.  That was until this weekend.

   This week I put together my life list of fish. That in itself is worthy of its own blogpost for another time. I also decided to figure out how many species of herps I had seen before. This was pretty tough. I'd gone on vacations to Florida and North Carolina in the last few years. I took photos of pretty much anything that sat still long enough. If a lizard wanted me to take a photo I was happy to oblige. I never gave them much thought after I got home.

   In North Carolina I took a lot of reptile photos but I'm attracted to megafauna. So I'll take hundreds of photos of a Black Bear and forget to ID a turtle. When I got home from North Carolina I actually did pretty well with getting ID's of my lizards but didn't get too many turtles identified. 

   Much more of a problem was my vacation in 2010. DJ and I went all over the west. I snapped photos of everything. With over three thousand photos after deleting the blurry ones, there was a lot to go through.

 

Peters Rock Agama, Florida Keys

   Which is exactly what I did on Friday night. I was alone and had the night to myself. So I started looking for photos of all of the herps I had seen this year and put them in a folder so I could make prints. Then I decided to go through my Florida photos. I found three lizard species and a snake species that I did not know the identity of.  I also found the turtles from North Carolina and put them in the folder. 

   Next I tackled 2010. The job wasn't as bad as you'd expect. I didn't have any lizards until I reached Utah. I didn't have to go through my photos from Yellowstone or the Grand Tetons. However, we covered a lot of ground in the southwest. We went to the Grand Canyon, three Utah national parks, Flaming Gorge Dam, and two national monuments. It did take me a couple of hours to find all my herp photos. I tried to get positive IDs of the reptiles but did a piss poor job. 

  The following morning I posted the lizard pics of a reptile Facebook Group. I posted the snake from Florida on a Snake group and the turtles on a Turtle Identification group (who knew?). To my surprise, all of the species were identified. The snake was a Peninsular Ribbon Snake. All of the turtles were in the slider family but I had seen those species before. The lizards were all identified for me by a real reptile expert out west. I thanked everyone that was kind enough to help me out.

   All in all, I had thirteen species identified (not including the turtles) that I previously did not know what they were. In a stroke of a pen, I got thirteen armchair ticks!!! Needless to say, I was on cloud nine all day on Saturday. I am going to get prints of all the herps I have photos of including the species from these trips and make an album the way I do for birds. 

Sidenote- one of the thirteen armchair ticks was a bird. I found a photo of a species I saw in Utah and asked Scott what it was. It is a Black Chinned Sparrow a very handsome bird. 

Not that anyone cares but the previously unidentified species are:

Black Chinned Sparrow (bird, Utah)

Florida

Green Anole (was pretty sure but wanted confirmation), Brown Anole, Northern Curly Tail Lizard, Peters Rock Agama, Peninsular Ribbon Snake

Utah

Long Tailed Leopard Lizard, Side Blotched Lizard, Ornate Tree Lizard, Common Sagebrush Lizard, Western Whiptail, Plateau Striped Whiptail, Plateau Fence Lizard 

Peninsula Ribbon Snake

Finding White Perch on Memory Lane

   Today I went fishing in the hopes of finding an old favorite. I could not waste this absolutely gorgeous eighty degree fall day. I headed out onto Norton Reservoir armed with my trout rod, small jigs and small shad bodies. As an adult, when I fished everyday, if I went through a slump with big fish (Carp, Largemouth Bass or Stripers) I'd go to Norton Reservoir and catch thirty or more fish and get my confidence back. 

    When I was young we would stay at a cabin an hour from Acadia National Park in Maine. The cabin was on a lake that was nine miles long named Toddy Pond. The pond was full of White Perch. We could catch them in "Deep Hole" from the boat during the day and they would come into shore almost every night. I'd catch them along with Fallfish and Eels from the dock until I couldn't see. More than any other fish, I have fond, and somewhat complicated, White Perch memories from my childhood.

   

   We would stay at this cabin for two weeks in August every year. My parents, myself, my brother, and my parent's best friend Art (we called him Beezy because he got into a fight with a hive of bees as a kid and the nickname stuck) would go. I was addicted to fishing. I'd spend almost every moment in the canoe or boat fishing. My parents and Beezy loved playing cards. They played high-low-Jack and they played partners. I never got into it despite being fairly good at the game.  This left my brother who is three years younger than me to be someone's partner. Many nights I'd have my mom annoyed at me that I didn't want to play. But oh well, there were fish to catch.

  After many years of catching White Perch in Maine we put the boat into Norton Reservoir. It was loaded with perch and I would keep a few to eat. Sidenote- do not eat fish out of Norton Reservoir. It is polluted. Raw sewerage used to be dumped in there. They were stunted and unlike in Maine where I'd occasionally catch one thirteen inches, the Norton ones were never bigger than eight inches. In one of our first encounters with these fish I kept a few and put them in the net which we left in the water. I probably had eight or ten. My mom reeled in what she thought was a log until she went to pull it out of the water. The "log" was a monster bass. Easily eight pounds! Instead of waiting for me to try to lip it or for us to empty the contents of the net she tried to lift it out of the water snapping her line. She handled the loss well, but blamed me for having the net full of fish. Once grown and with a few big fish under my belt I realized this was her fault not mine. Who tries to lift a giant bass out of the water with their little freshwater rod?   

   After years of only catching White Perch in Maine and Norton Reservoir my parents bought the boat off of Beezy and I could keep it docked on Falls Pond at a family friend's house. The walk to his house was about ninety seconds. I lived out there. I was on the water almost every day. I learned how to bass fish out there and how to use lures. For my eighth grade graduation gift I was offered a small family party or fifty dollar gift. I bought fifty dollars worth of lures from Bass Pro Shops that were mail order at the time. We still went up to Maine the difference was we were trailering the boat instead of Beezy. 

   When I was about fifteen, the day after we came home from our annual Maine vacation, I was talking to a fishermen that was coming in off of Falls Pond. I asked him what he caught and he told me a few bass and White Perch. I'd fished Falls Pond my whole life and I had never caught a White Perch. I was sure he didn't know the true identity of what he caught. However, I was also secretly excited that I might have perch in the pond. Sure enough the next day when I got my boat back int the water I caught my first ever Falls Pond White Perch. I'd caught hundreds of fish from Falls Pond, how I had never caught a White Perch until that day is mathematically impossible. 

   A couple weeks later I caught a Falls Pond White Perch that was about fifteen inches. This is huge for a freshwater White Perch. I took it home and had it weighed at a local tackle shop. It was big enough to qualify for a state pin. Later that week as I was reading the outdoor column, which I read religiously, I read my name in the paper. There was a paragraph with my name and my catch. We bought multiple copies that afternoon.

    My last White Perch memory isn't about catching one. Fast forward twenty years I was fishing in Providence almost every winter night when the weather was warm enough. There had been a lot of sea-run White Perch around but I hadn't hooked up with one (Dave, if you are reading this, you probably already know where I'm going with this). The fish were much bigger than the stunted perch normally caught in lakes. I was determined to catch one so I left my striper gear in the car and used my trout rod. I put on a small jig with a small shad body. I didn't mind that I wouldn't catch any stripers with this gear, I really wanted to catch a White Perch. It was a rainy but warm, for a winter night. Dave had gotten there before me and had caught a few stripers that night. After only a couple minutes I hooked up but it was definitely not a perch. My medium-light freshwater rod bent over.

   When my drag started screaming Dave said, and I quote, "the fish are running big tonight". He was right. I had an epic battle on my hands. While I was fighting this big fish on six pound line Dave hooked up also. It took me twenty minutes to get the fish in but somehow landed a thirty one inch striper. Dave unhooked his fish and we set up my small camera on a timer and somehow it took a magical photo. The photo is in the top right hand corner of the blog. It has been featured in magazines twice. It is hanging on my wall. It is, by far, my favorite fishing photo of my life. While, this story isn't about White Perch, it is because I was chasing them.

   A good sized freshwater White Perch is a foot long, and a fifteen inch fish will make the paper if you are a kid. Since my childhood I've caught tons of Stripers that could eat a White Perch and still be hungry. I've gotten close to the elusive thirty pound carp. But every now and then, I go back. When an eight inch perch comes out of the water it reminds me of my childhood every time. All of these memories come back. Without White Perch my Maine vacations would not have been nearly as fun. I don't know what I would have done with those hundreds of hours I spent on Toddy Pond drowning worms and catching perch. Even worse, the evenings would have been spent playing cards!

Yellow Perch

A decent sized Pumpkinseed Sunfish

 

Black Crappie. Just a glorious day

Very cool stops in the Midwest

   

   We knew that the Gateway Arch, Hannibal, Snake Road, and Matt's house would be focal points on our trip. There were other things we did that required far less time. A couple of things were planned (Kankakee Sands and Blue Springs Cavern) while others were spur of the moment (US Grant Historic Site). The things below are all things I would highly recommend even though we never spent more than four hours at any of them. Each has a paragraph or two followed by some photos before you scroll to the next place.

   Kankakee Sands Nature Conservancy

   While the Gateway Arch was our first true destination, I drove all night on Thursday to put us close to Kankakee Sands so we could spend few hours there on Friday. This six thousand acre prairie in NW Indiana is owned by the Nature Conservancy. They did a great job converting ten square miles of farmland back to prairie. The main attraction is a bison herd of about 93 animals. They roam a square mile. There is a fence that separates you from them and they can be anywhere so your chances of seeing them vary depending on where they are. We got lucky and most of the herd was near the dirt road running along the fence line. I took photos for fifteen minutes.

  Next we took a hike in the prairie. I was hoping to find some grassland birds but I knew the odds were slim. It was mid-afternoon on a ninety degree day and many species had already headed south. I never ended up seeing any of my targets. Still, I loved walking in the prairie If I were passing through I'd go again.

There was Prickly Pear along the trail

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

   St Louis has a small population of the Eurasian Tree Sparrows. As the name suggests they are native across the pond. They were released and instead of reeking havoc such as invasive House Sparrows and Starlings, they have only a small population that is struggling to survive. Their range is a small neighborhood in St Louis called Dogtown and the adjacent park. I researched them and found an intersection where they were seen at a bird feeder.

 

   After the Gateway Arch we drove to Dogtown before heading to Hannibal. We parked near the intersection I read about. They weren't right there but we walked up and down the suburban roads and found a couple of the sparrows within a half hour. Two of them were in a tree in a yard. While I was photographing them an old man with a bad limp and a cane came out and asked me what I was doing. I told him he had a rare bird in the tree. When I said that he just shrugged because he was used to people looking at the birds. We talked for a minute and he drove off. 

The Eurasian Tree Sparrow was the one bird I got as a lifer on the trip.

US Grant National Historic Site

 

 As we were driving from Hannibal to Snake Rd we saw a brown sign for the Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site. I had Laurie Google it really quick and it was only nine minutes off of the highway. As much as I wanted to get to Snake Road, I couldn't pass up going to the home of our greatest general not named Washington. 

 

    The home, named White Haven, was where Grant met his wife Julia while we was stationed a few miles away while in the army. After they married Julia's father fell on hard times (he was a Southern sympathizer) so the Grant's bought up much of the property. Grant lived here in the years between when he left the military and when the Civil War started and he rejoined. 

   The house is the same gaudy color as when Grant lived there. The cement stairs leading you in are original to the house. Meaning you can step exactly where US Grant stepped. This fact was not lost on me and I took multiple photos of my feet on the steps. 

   There is an excellent visitor center with a twenty minute movie about Grant's life. Grant struggled during civilian life but was a masterful general. He became the 18th president. His  administration had multiple scandals. Though Grant was innocent of any wrongdoing he trusted too much and many of his friends that he gave positions to took advantage and tried to make a quick buck. During his administration Grant fought hard for the rights of black people. 

 
We spent a little over an hour at the Grant NHS. The place was easily worth another couple of hours. We only toured the house. We didn't walk the grounds. The museum was excellent but all we did was look at artifacts. We read very little abut his life. Yet I learned a lot. The video and the ranger that lead the tour were very informative. I'm very happy we took the detour before heading off to find venomous snakes.

Blue Springs Caverns, Bedford, IN

 

Blind Cavefish

   Between Snake Road and Akron, OH we went to Blue Springs Caverns in Bedford, IN. Blue Springs Caverns is the longest navigable cave in the world. There is a navigable river that goes for miles. You can take a one hour boat tour that explores a small percentage of the cave. We arrived for the 1 pm tour and we were the only people on it (though they did have a group of ninety school kids earlier in the day). My friend Charles suggested we go to this cave because Blind Cavefish and pure white crayfish live in the water. The cave is completely dark (minus when they turn the lights on) so animals lose their pigment. The boat ride through the cave was amazing. None of the photos I took can possibly do it any justice. We did see multiple Blind Cavefish and crayfish and even got a couple blurry photos of the Blind Cavefish

Rest Area Grey Tree Frog

   We spent two full nights at rest areas and a few hours one morning so I could get some sleep before heading to Kankakee Sands. The Friday night before heading to St Louis there was a Grey Tree Frog in a bubbler outside the restroom building. It was green but upon reading about them, Grey Tree Frogs can be green but you can tell it is a Grey because of a light spot under the eye no matter what color the rest of the body is. Since I had nowhere else to write about it, I figure leaving it here at the end of my writing journey though I saw it at the beginning of my trip seems appropriate.