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.