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