In the spirit of integrity of my blog, I have to admit that the first quarter of May has not been very kind to me. No I'm not whining about it, but as of this writing, I've only had a couple of "great" hours outdoors. The rest, well, meh.
Like every other fishermen in southern New England, I know that very big stripers are in the area. I went for them two nights in a row and only landed a couple. My biggest was probably a big slot and nothing compared to some of the monsters I saw caught. This whole having a job thing sucks. Also, the place that I fished was shoulder to shoulder with fishermen and just not my scene. Anyway...moving on
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| Louisiana Waterthrush |
The first five days of May were a continuation of the last few days of April at work. We had to get ready for what we call Inventory, which is an audit of all merchandise in the store. Long story short, those of us with any authority (managers and leads) worked our ass off for a week. This is part of the reason I did not get to striper fish as much as I wanted, I was working long hours that were also stressful.
The plus side to all of the work is that it is over. I had the last two days off from work and spent all of it outside birding. Laurie came with me both days. And like the fishing for me, it was not as good as expected.
We went to Mia both days and really didn't see much. The highlight list was short, a hummingbird, Rose Breasted Grosbeak and a close encounter with a Hairy Woodpecker. After Miantonomi both days we tried other spots without much luck until evening yesterday. The best bird we did find was a Solitary Sandpiper in a little pond that very few people know about.
After a long day of birding we could have driven home about 4 pm but I knew traffic would be awful so I sucked it up and drove to one more birding location in Arcadia. This was a great decision. Laurie napped in the car and I walked. Immediately I saw a Louisiana Waterthrush. It was in marshy habitat better suited for a Northern Waterthrush but there it was. I got some proof photos but nothing more.
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| Hooded Warbler |
The highlight was seeing Hooded Warblers, again the photos weren't great but I was happy to see them. They were on breeding grounds so I did not use playback to get them closer. It was a joy to watch them feed and just be doing warbler things.
At this place I ended up seeing nine species of warblers, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow-throated Vireos and many other species. All told, I probably saw thirty species. It was great.
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| Spotted Turtle |
Because it was chilly both days, we only saw a few herps. We saw one Garter Snake and turtles on rocks sunning themselves. We did find a first of the year Spotted Turtle which I would call the herp highlight. Fun fact, if you Google "best places to find herps in Massachusetts" you will get zero info on snakes and frogs but plenty of info on herpes including genital herpes. More photos below
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| Bleeding Heart |
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| Baltimore Oriole |
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| Japanese Cherry |
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| Veery |
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| Hooded Warbler |
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