Black Bellied Redemption

 

  Laurie and I took a trip to Forsythe NWR in New Jersey in August 2021. While we were there I was told about a small flock of  Black Bellied Whistling Ducks. They had been there for weeks. Someone told me right where to look. Unfortunately, the day we were there they were not seen. Nobody had them on ebird reports. They were seen again the following day and for the next few days. I'm not complaining on that day I saw a lifer  Roseate Spoonbill, Gull Billed Terns and Caspian Terns. 

   Black Bellied Whistling Ducks are a Florida specialty. Some are also in extreme southern Texas and Arizona. The one in New Jersey was a big deal for the birders there. They are common in Mexico and South America but in the US, they don't live north of central Florida. 

  The day after I came home I went to work as usual. That day Dave Campbell found a Black Bellied Whistling Duck (BBWD for now on) in Warwick, RI. All day at work it was not lost on me the odds that a species that I had never heard of being in Rhode Island showed up the day after I looked for them in New Jersey.

   As soon as I got home from work I dragged Laurie to Apponaug Cove to see the BBWD. I've missed enough birds by mere seconds that we rushed down to see it as soon as I could leave work. When I got to the cove the BBWD followed a bunch of Mallards that came right up to us. It was pretty obvious the Mallards were fed by locals and hoping for a handout. The BBWD stayed back but still got to within fifteen feet of us. Unfortunately my camera was home! I had taken it out of the car to upload the photos from our Philly/ Forsythe trip. I didn't even think about it until I got out of the car and went to grab it. 

   As you might imagine, I was really annoyed that I left my camera at home. I could have gotten amazing photos without even trying because it was so close. Instead, I took a couple of "proof" photos with my underwhelming camera on my phone. It killed me to see everyone else with wallhangers of such a beautiful duck. We were the last people to see the duck (along with one other birder.) After it swam away from us, it kept swimming far down the cove never to be seen again. 

   Fast forward to this week...I was trying to figure out something to do this weekend. I checked the Mass Rare Bird Alerts and saw there was a BBWD in Holyoke. I also wanted to see if I could see spawning Landlocked Salmon from Quabbin and thought we could make a day trip of it. I was also hoping that there might be some foliage as we went toward the Berkshires (spoiler alert there were very few trees that were still pretty). 

 

 We left early and went to see if we could get the duck. It had been hanging out with domestic ducks and tame Mallards at a farm. The type of farm that has cider and hayrides in the fall. They also sold apple cider donuts, pumpkins, and ice cream. They had animals that people could feed and pet. Right out front was a duck pond full of many varieties of domestic ducks and Mallards. It seems this Black Bellied Whistling Duck found this place to its liking and has hung out for a while. 

   The BBWD wasn't hard to see at all. It was feeding in the mulch when I got there. It didn't have any fear of people. It walked back under the fence into the duck pond . I walked almost up to it to take photos and I knew from the beginning I was going to get redemption. I had as long as I wanted to take all of the photos I wanted of this bird. 

And I did... I took photos of it for thirty minutes. It did tuck its head and took a nap that I had to wait for. Luckily, a gull didn't want to see it nap either and gave it a little nip. This woke up the duck and it actually made the whistling sound that they are named for. 

  I enjoyed my time at the farm. Then we went to Holyoke Dam where I hoped to see a rare turtle but it was a bit cold. From there I went to Quabbin and walked down a dirt road to where a biologist told me I should go to see salmon run up river. The river was almost dry and there wasn't any chance that salmon was in it. They would have had to jump a mud dam to get into the river. I suspect there are hundreds of salmon staging just outside the river mouth waiting for a big rain to raise the water level in the lake and the river. 

Multiple photos of the Black Bellied Whistling Duck below. You can see the black belly

Multiple Lifers and State Birds

 

I've been busy lately trying to enjoy what is left of the warm weather and afternoon sunlight. I've gotten to see some pretty cool stuff. 

  Two weeks ago I went to New Hampshire fishing for two days. Fishing was tough and I had to work for every fish. I fished four lakes and did manage to catch at least one fish in each lake. Total I got six Smallmouth, one Largemouth, one Trout and half a dozen Pickerel. This sounds good but averages out to about a fish an hour. My highlight was one of the biggest pickerel I've ever caught. It went about twenty five inches or more. 

 

Black Throated Grey Warbler 

   When I got home, a few days later my friend Joe Koger found a Black Throated Grey Warbler in Barrington. This is another species that shouldn't be east of the Rockies. I got to see it after a very short search. It was a lifer. In a year of numbers, I have a weird stat. There are 35 warbler species that live in the east. I have missed a few of them including a fairly easy Cape May. Because of the rare western warblers that I have gotten to see, I've actually seen more than the eastern 35 despite my misses. 

   At Trustom Pond my friends Allison and Sue found a  Grey Checked Thrush. This species does migrate through on their way home from Canada. It is really rare though. I was actually headed to Trustom when they found it. It took a couple hours of searching with Claudia but we ended up seeing it. Another lifer.

Grey Cheeked Thrush

   This Saturday I planned on doing a Salamander Walk in Taunton. I've been planning it for months. So it was kind of annoying when a Tropical Kingbird showed up in Middletown on Friday night. I didn't want to screw up my plans to go see a possible lifer salamander. Tropical Kingbird wouldn't be a lifer for me. I had seen one in MA a couple years ago at Daniel Webster. It would be a state bird for RI though. I hadn't realized how rare they are but it is Rhode Island's first official record. So I went. Again, it took a couple hours but  I did see it.

Tropical Kingbird

   I did see the Tropical Kingbird in time to make my Salamander Walk. The walk was crowded with about fifty people many of them kids. I did get to see a Four Toed Salamander which was my target. I also managed to find four other Red Backed Salamanders. All in all, it was a really good day off from work.

   I almost forgot, a few weeks ago a Great White Heron showed up in Narragansett. Great White Heron's are a mutated color variation of the very common Great Blue Heron. It is not a separate species though it very well could split into one some day. There is a national wildlife refuge in the Florida Keys for the purpose of protecting this subspecies. There are only about eight hundred in the world. So it is extremely rare and it is unbelievably unlikely one would show up but it did. I took my kayak out to Sprague Bridge and saw it pretty easily. As I said, not a true species but one of the rarest birds I have seen this year.

Great White Heron

 

  Though not a lifer, I saw a Ring Necked Snake in September. I have been looking under the same rocks all summer and knew I'd eventually find one. My photos kind of suck but happy to see it. I did pay the price though. I got chigger bites all over my ankles again. I have about fifteen Chigger bites on me. If it is a repeat of last year, they will probably be itchy for another four to five months.

Ring Necked Snake

   Lastly, the entire point of my New Hampshire trip was to catch a Northern Pike. As with all of my other attempts I failed miserably. So I went to Connecticut this week pike fishing. I finally hooked one and fought it for five seconds but dropped it. I did see a small one less than a foot in very shallow water. So although I still haven't caught one, I did see one for the year.  

How much sensitivity do you want to pay for?

    If you asked me a few months ago, maybe even last week, what the most important thing I was looking for in new fishing rods I would have told you sensitivity. I want to feel every bite but not only that but every rock my lure hits and every wobble of a crankbait. 

   Before I go on, you may be wondering what other things would someone look for in a rod. Price is obviously a big issue. Strength is obviously very important. Of course weight can be an issue. When most people pick up a rod they are always impressed if it is really light. Ten times out of ten, if the option is between two rods that are about the same cost, people will choose the lighter of the two. Light usually does signal that it is sensitive because it is made out of graphite. For the most part, graphite is strong. Another general rule is that a light, sensitive rod will cost you more. The only downside to light rods is that people want rods to be lighter and lighter these days. So rod companies are making them as light and as thin as possible. And there is your Catch 22. These thin rods are more brittle and break easier than a thicker rod. 

   However, this post is about sensitivity and not arguing tenths of an ounce. As mentioned, a sensitive rod will be light because it is made of graphite. The higher the quality of graphite, the more sensitive and the more expensive. This all makes sense but then I started going down a rabbit hole of thought.

   For instance, for the past twenty years my "trout" rod has been a Shimano Clarus. I bought two of them so my son and I could use them together. They have gotten a lot of use catching hundreds of trout, white perch,  and every other panfish. I caught a ten pound striper on one of them and even my first five pound Largemouth ever. These rods cost me $60 each twenty years ago. So for sake of argument, they would be about $80 rods now. This would be on the low end of the price scale.

  The question becomes how many more fish would I have felt with a more sensitive rod? The truth is, one will never know. How can I know how many fish I missed because I couldn't feel them. But... I can tell you this, I bet I didn't miss any fish. Reeling in a Roostertail or a Kastmaster means my line was always tight. So if a fish hit my lure, I'm quite sure I felt it. After twenty years, I do want to upgrade my rods. My cork handles are almost black from sweat, my oils, fish slime, dirt, and every other imaginable element. The truth is I want a nice rod, but I really don't need one. I'm looking into getting a six foot St Croix. I've been eyeing it for weeks, but the truth is I seriously doubt I will catch more trout with it. 

   Thinking about this lead me to many conversations at work about sensitivity along with other deep thoughts. You can buy a four hundred dollar rod for fishing the surf. You can even buy a thousand dollar custom made rod. These rods are light and strong. Some are so sensitive that you can feel every vibration of a six inch paddle tail shad. But here is the question...do you need to? As Mike Wheeler pointed out when he is casting an eleven inch metal lip swimmer if he gets a hit he is going to know it. Any striper big enough to hit an eleven inch lure is going to try to pull the rod out of your hands. Does it matter if the guy using a hundred dollar Powerstick can't feel every vibration of the lure? The answer is no. He/she is going to feel the hit of any striper worthy of being caught no matter how cheap the rod. Now, I'm not faulting anyone for buy a five hundred dollar  Lamiglass. They are strong, light and extremely sensitive. They are a pleasure to fish with. I'm just saying sensitivity would be over rated when it comes to selecting a rod for stripers.

   This also got me thinking that sensitivity is not even a factor to guys fishing bait. If you are not holding your rod because it is in a sand spike or a Y bank holder than sensitivity isn't important at all. For that matter weight really isn't much of an issue either if you are only making a cast every ten minutes or so.

   Now don't get me wrong, while I am making an argument that in many cases sensitivity isn't as important as I had thought, I do like the feel of nice equipment. As I said, sensitive usually means lighter and better made. I'm just saying that you could get away with a cheaper rod and be plenty satisfied or at least never miss a fish.

   So when is sensitivity important? When it comes to freshwater fishing the answer is when you are fishing deep or with a slack line. For example, when fishing for Smallmouth in the summer they could be in twenty feet of water or more. You need to get your line down to their feeding zone. I would almost certainly put a grub on a jighead as my number one deep water lure. I want to be able to feel any pick up or bang by a smallmouth on that bait. I have to let it sink to the bottom and many times you can get a hit on the fall while your line is slack. While hopping it along the bottom, you twitch your rod tip quickly alternating between tight and somewhat slack line. I want to feel those hits. In that case, a sensitive rod will absolutely put more fish in the boat (or in my case kayak or canoe).

   Other bass fishing techniques that would require a sensitive rod would be casting jigs into cover, plastic worms on a Carolina or Texas Rig. Of course, Ned Rigs and Dropshot need a sensitive rod to be effective. 

  Another time when a sensitive rod would be handy is fishing bait from a boat. Whether it be straight down to catch Lake Trout or Haddock, if you are fishing deep you really want to feel the bait get taken. Species such as Tautog can have very subtle hits. In fifty feet of water with a cheap rod you could get your hook stripped of a crab and not even know it. 

   So what does this all mean? It means for many types of fishing you are not going to miss any fish because you do not have a three hundred dollar GLoomis. You are going to catch just as many trout on a Roostertail as "that guy". It also means that maybe if you you need to buy a couple of bass rods, you could spend a little less on a topwater rod ( where you can see a fish hit your lure) and a little more on the one made for lures twenty feet deep.

   I did this very thing. I hated a rod/ reel combo that I bought in March. I only used it once, I hated the color and the microguides. It didn't feel right. So I returned it and used the money to buy a top of the line sensitive rod ( I do get a hefty discount so  it only cost me an extra $16 after my refund). So I bought a Johnny Morris Platinum rod. This rod is really sensitive and I will be using for lures where I want to feel every tap. For lures such as topwaters or reeling in jerkbaits I'll use my cheaper rods.

   Hope this helps you save a little money when picking out a rod...unless you just want a really nice rod anyway.