Winter Big Day- A Good Day Birding

Today was the first day this year I spent the whole day birding. I keep track of my Rhode Island list on a website with other birders. since I barely had done any birding this year, I was in dead last on the list. The list is a way to keep track, it is not a competition. Still being in last place is embarrassing. I planned on leaving at sunrise. However, watching the Olympics until almost 11:30 meant I needed a couple hours more sleep.

At first, my day didn't start out very good. I had three target species ( Red Breasted Nuthatch, Yellow Rump, Red Headed  Woodpecker) at my first two stops ( Burlingame Campground, East Beach).  I barely saw a bird at those two spots nevermind my targets.

Things got better from there. I went to Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge. I took the walk to Grassy Point. I saw the Lesser Black Backed Gull that seems to winter there every year. I also saw some Horned Grebes and a Great Blue Heron.

Iceland Gull

I'm not going to bore you with every bird I saw today. I ended up seeing 54 species.  The highlights were

 Lesser Black Gull
Iceland Gull @Beavertail
Black Headed Gull @Scarborough Beach
 Trustom Pond- Pintail, Redheads, Lesser Scaup,  Gadwall, American Widgeon
Bluebird @ Fort Ninigret


My best experience was at Charlestown Breachway. I heard last week there was a Long Tailed Duck in the breachway. Some great pictures were taken. The only LT Ducks I've seen in Rhode Island were last week a quarter mile off of Beavertail.  I hoped it was still there. They are so pretty and I really wanted a frame filling picture. Happily there was a pair just chilling in the current. I stayed and watched them for a half hour. Also in the breachway were a few loons. One of them seemed to have no fear of me. It came pretty close to the rock I was sitting on. It was probably the closest I've been to a loon.

Long Tailed Duck

Another cool experience was the Iceland Gull at Beavertail. I knew it was there. The problem was, to me gulls just look the same. I did look up a picture of it someone took a few days ago. One thing I read, the wings are white. There isn't any black on the wing tips. Some people were throwing food out of their car. The gulls were fighting for the food. It was easy to find the Iceland as it was flying toward the scraps. It is smaller than the typical Herring and Ring Billed Gulls. It didn't get any food, but because the people were throwing out food, I got some close up pictures.

All in all, I had a really good day. Seeing 54 species was more than expected.  I got some good birds. Of course your always going to miss some easy birds. For instance, I didn't see any blue jays today.  That is one of the fun things about birding. You never know what you are going to see.

A couple more photos below

Top 21 Reasons Watching the Olympics is better than Watching the Super Bowl (and a few reasons they are not)

After a Patriots Super Bowl loss I feel like crap. My stomach has been in knots for almost four hours. I usually ate junk food. I can't sleep wondering what happened. Luckily, we have the Olympics to start watching starting tomorrow. I realized the other day the Olympics are great competition and sport. Yet I don't get sick to my stomach watching them. While driving I started thinking of reasons why the Olympics are better than the Super Bowl. Most of these are "tongue and cheek" but a couple like #19, 14, and staying awake until 3 am are very real

21. Unlike the Super Bowl, I won't have to wait two weeks between events.  I'll have 18 straight nights of competition

20. I've never had to listen to Joe Buck call an Olympic event or worse, listen to Phil Simms analyze one

19. I won't have to sit there for four hours wondering why the hell Malcom Butler isn't playing

18. No matter what happens, I could never be as mad at any participant as I am at Bill Belichick right now

17. Six words-  What will Johnny Weir say next?

16. Tara Lipinski is unbelievably hot!

15. I won't be disappointed by a halftime show.

14. When the Patriots are in the Super Bowl, I watch it with a stomach ulcer. Since all their Super Bowls are close, I've gone through this pain 8 times since 2000

13. I won't have to wonder if Arthur Blank is the nice guy that I hear he is, or the creepy looking old fool my eyes tell me he is.

12. Lindsey Vonn  is a role model

11. I have something to look forward to every night for two and a half weeks

10. Olympic hockey is awesome

9. People proudly stand for the National Anthem

8. Tara Lipinski (see #16)

7. I won't toss and turn until 3 am because anyone lost

6. What is considered a catch anymore?

5. I won't have to get mad at Bradley Cooper for cheering on his team

4. No US cities will burn down in celebration

3. Erin Andrews doesn't work for NBC so I won't have to watch her read questions off of cue cards.

2. Biathlon- Guns and Skis, crazy, right?

1. I can use the bathroom during commercials instead of "holding it"



7 Bad things about the Olympics

7. Too many commercials

6. Bob Costas is no longer the host of the Olympics

5. The top US Ice Dance team are a brother/sister pair. I don't care what anyone says, touching your sister that much is just weird

4. NBC hired Mike Tirico. He will be the Primetime host. Mike seems like a good guy. He is intelligent and knowledgeable.  However, his monotone voice has the same affect as Jewel singing me a lullaby near a babbling brook. It puts me to sleep.

3. Mike Tirico's voice- where adrenaline goes to die

2. Fluff stories taking up time I could be watching events

The number 1 worst thing about the Olympics:

I know what the phrase ShibSibs means. Not something I'm proud of!

A Great Day Outside (to see a Snowy Owl)

My friend Dick Durand was on a mission to see a Snowy Owl this year. He had never seen one. I offered to take him to a place in Rhode Island where one has been regularly seen this winter. I had Thursday and Friday off from work this week. We planned on going Thursday because the weather forecast was far better for Thursday than Friday. I picked Dick up late enough to go through Providence after rush hour.

What was a decent forecast turned into a fine winter day. The wind was from the southwest bringing in 45 degree air. For half of our walk the land protected us from the ocean breeze. Even when walking into it, the temperature was very pleasant. We couldn't have expected a nicer day.

We went to a place where a Snowy has been wintering offshore on a rock. Unfortunately it wasn't there. We stuck it out for twenty minutes. finally we decided to go for a hike. As we were walking around a huge field a couple pointed out a snowy about 60 feet away in the field. We admired it for 30 minutes from the path.  It was not bothered by our presence at all. It would look our way, then look in other directions also.  In the binoculars and scope we cold see every feather of the beautiful bird. Even with just our eyes, we were close enough to have good looks.

A Word about Owls-

Of all the birds in the Northeast, owls can easily be stressed out by humans getting too close. They try to conserve energy so they allow humans (mostly photographers) to get too close to them. Even though they are not flying they get stressed out. Their heart rate and body temp go up like ours does when afraid. This burns precious calories they are trying to conserve.  Eventually the human gets too close and the owl will fly. Again, burning too many calories. This can and has lead to dead owls. A Snowy Owl died this winter in Rhode Island because people were harassing it trying to get the perfect picture.

Because owls are so easily stressed I did not try to get the perfect picture of the owl. We stayed on the trail. I'm sure I could have gotten to within 25 feet and gotten a frame filling photo. Once the owl flew I could have gotten more photos of it flying. However it is not worth it when it is at the expense of the subject. This is the reason I did not wrote the location of the owl. Too many people look for the perfect picture. Trust me, I want it also. However, when it comes to owls, it is best to check your ego in the parking lot for their sake.

After we watched the owl, we started walking down the trail. In  five steps Dick noticed two deer right next to us. One was an adult female, the other a yearling. They were practically within arm's length of us casually munching on twigs. I got some pictures of the larger female.

I told Dick if we didn't see any Snowy Owls a nice consolation prize are the Harlequin Ducks that winter on the coast. Dick enjoys nature but isn't a birder. I wasn't going to bore him with every species we saw, but the Harlequins beauty does rival a Wood Duck. We found a few five minutes before we saw the owl. 

After we got back to the car we went to Becky's BBQ in Middletown for lunch. The food was delicious and we met a surf fisherman and had a good conversation with him.

All in all it was a great day to be outside. I'm glad Dick got to see his Snowy Owl. In my years of birding, I never had such a great look at any owl. We watched it without disturbing it for as long as we wanted. Then to have the deer photoshoot within feet of us was icing on the cake.

Just getting through the Big Suck

Thanks for the January highlight, Georgia

I haven't wrote much lately simply because there wasn't been much to write about.  I always tell people that January is a big pile of suck.A quick summary of the few things I did below

 This month hasn't been much different. I did get out ice fishing one time. My first fish of the year was a sixteen inch Rainbow.  The ice was probably safe a couple other days I had free time but didn't feel comfortable venturing out on it after getting two inches of 50 degree rain.

The one thing that breaks up cabin fever are the outdoor shows. I went to the fly fishing show in Marlboro a couple weeks ago and the Boxboro show over the weekend. I didn't do a "write up" because they are basically the same every year.  Coming up are the Springfield Show which I am going to and the RISA show which I will only go to if the weather sucks.

Like everyone else, I'm pumped about the Super Bowl. I have realized that the forty year old Patriots quarterback is a demigod. I spent most of last Monday at work trying to convince employees that he is really an illegitimate son of Zeus and a hero along the lines of Hercules and Perseus. 

More than most, I am looking forward to the Olympics. Laurie will be over every night and we will watch Primetime. As I've pointed out, she knows as much about figure skating as stat geek fantasy baseball owners know about their sport. So, I will be watching and understanding figure skating far more than any straight man should.

As for the month we just had, the highlight was by far the Peabody Essex Museum (and Kelly's Roast Beef). I went to the two fishing shows and three movies. The movies were  "The Darkest Hour" "The Greatest Showman" and "I, Tonya". All three were average movies. Nothing worth paying movie theater prices for, but all worthy of a Redbox selection.  Gary Oldman was awesome as Churchill in "The Darkest Hour"

The only other thing I really did was go to Moonstone Beach with Laurie on Sunday. The plan was for her to collect pretty rocks while I birded. This ended up working out way better for her than me. She got a bucket full of rocks. Meanwhile, I got fifty feet of grey air. The whole area was socked in with fog. I did manage to see a lifebird which is amazing considering I only saw six species (and three of those were swan, Canada geese, and mallards). The lifer was an American Bittern that I accidentally flushed while walking through some reeds. So go figure.

Looking ahead, I think the rest of the winter will be more fun. I've got 18 days of Olympics to look forward to. By the time they are over it will still be light out until almost 6 pm.  I've got tickets to a couple concerts and plays for Feb/March that I am looking forward to. My days off are going to be spent birding for the next month or so if the weather is good those days. Thursday, I am probably going to my favorite winter destination, Sachuest NWR. All in all, we made it through January, that in itself is a good thing (unless of course you are skiing five to six days a week then January wasn't so bad after all...Dave)

Georgia O' Keeffe at the Peabody Essex Museum

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Today, Laurie and I went to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. The goal was to see the special  Georgia O' Keeffe exhibition. The special exhibition is at the museum until April 1. Georgia O'Keeffe is an American artist most famous for paintings of the Southwest and of flowers that may or may not resemble a female body part. She is one of the few artists of the 20th Century that I enjoy.

Although Salem is a tourist trap loaded with many places to check out, most are only open during the summer and the fall. There wasn't much to do in town. Not to mention, the temperature was over 55 degrees when we walked in and thirty seven and windy when we walked out. All we did on the North Shore after the museum was go to Kelly's Roast Beef on Revere Beach for a late lunch.

The Peabody Essex Museum has a few galleries. Most of their stuff is Asian and Indian Art. There was a room dedicated to American artists. There was also an impressive room dedicated to Maritime Art. There is a twenty dollar entrance fee. It is not a huge museum but it is nice.

The Georgia O' Keeffe gallery is on the top floor. Besides her paintings, there was a lot of clothes. Apparently, her "style" was a big topic. I get it, she designed and wore what she wanted not what was considered proper or in style. That said, I didn't spend a  whole lot of time looking at her shoes.  She spent time in both New York and New Mexico. Georgia and her husband, who was a famous photographer, had a place on Lake George. He also took many photos of her, many of which are in the exhibition.

We spent around two hours in the museum. Over half of that time was spent in the Georgia O' Keeffe gallery. Admission for an adult is $20. There is some free parking in the area. If you have to pay to park the cost is only seventy five cents. Two photos of her paintings and three photos of Georgia below.

First ice fishing trip

I had planned on snowshoeing today after work. The two places that I went were not plowed out so I had no where to park. I gave up on snowshoeing and decidedto go ice fishing I stopped home and get my auger, jigging rod, and waxworms. since I wasted so much time on my failed snowshoeing jaunt, it was almost 4:30 by the time I got on the ice. There were a couple of holes that had skim ice, so I broke through two of them. I didn't have to dig my own holes.

I jigged in the first one for 30 seconds without a hit. I tried the second one and within seconds I had a hookup. After a brief but spirited battle I landed a 16 inch rainbow. I was pretty shocked to catch a nice trout as my first fish of the year. Between getting out of the car and pulling it through the ice the span was less than three minutes. I'm going to consider it a good (great!) omen going into 2018.

I only had 30 minutes or so to fish. I ended up with two small yellow perch and a pretty bluegill besides the trout. Not a bad way to spend a half hour.

Ice seemed to be about 8 inches thick on the pond.

How I did on my goals that I wrote in January

Every January I write my outdoor goals for the year. At the end of the year I look back on how I did. I just copied and pasted the original post. Below in bold is how I did




I have two goals that I really want to accomplish. These are the most important to me. I'm not going to try to my break my record for number of birds species I can see. If that becomes a goal every year then it is no longer about the experience. Maybe I will see more, maybe less. I suspect the number of birds I see will coincide with the number of stripers around ( good fishing will mean less birding). Also I'm not going to try to accomplish things I can't control. I can't say I want to catch a bunch of fifteen pound blues. I can only catch them if they show up again.


1. Finish the mountains in New Hampshire over 4000 feet. I have six left that can be done in four hikes. They are Adams, Madison, Wildcats, Cabot, Carrigain. I had planned on saving Carrigain for last, but since Adams/Madison is harder, I'll use Carrigain, which isn't an easy one anyway, to get in better shape for Adams.

I did not finish them. Hurt my foot. Managed to do two out of four of the hikes which was two more than I would have thought in August

2. I don't want to break or loose anything this year. I also don't want to loose any money. This goal is going to take diligence the entire 365 to accomplish. As I brought up a couple of times I had money stolen out of my car. It was money DJ paid me back for paying his car insurance. Since then, I lock my doors every time I get out. I don't want to misplace any paychecks or loose a twenty falling out of my pocket.

As for things breaking, sometime it happens. Sometimes a camera will just stop working. If it is no fault of my own, I can deal with that. I don't want to have to replace something because of my own stupidity. An example of my own stupidity would be, when the money was stolen so was a small point and shoot. I had no choice but to replace it. I need a small camera for hiking and long walks fishing. I don't want to take my SLR near saltwater.  After I replaced it, I brought it with me fishing. I took a picture of a small blue. Instead of putting the camera back in my pocket I put it on my surf bag ( I was sitting next to it)... then forgot about it. When I picked up my bag to fish another spot, the camera fell, and I watched it bounce into the drink. So I replaced that camera.

I need to buy a new surf rod this spring. I asked for BPS gift certificates for Christmas to help cut the cost. Other than that rod, I am trying not to make any big expenses this year. I don't need any big camping supplies. I have all I need for birding and picture taking. I need to replace some fishing gear I lost during the season, but other than the rod, nothing expensive. I'd have quite a bit more money in the bank if I didn't loose or break money, cameras, and my rod. This year, I'd like to leave it in the bank.

I did extremely good on this. Other than the camera lens there isn't anything I had to replace due to loss or negligence.  I was mindful of this goal all year. Hopefully I can have another year where I don't do anything stupid that costs me money

3.  Continue to learn to ski. Hopefully next winter I will be taking the lift and feel comfortable on intermediate slopes. That said, I just want to enjoy skiing. I don't want to get injured and I'm not going to rush the learning curve. If I need to keep practicing my turns for two more times, then I will. This sport is too dangerous to get overconfident.

Quit skiing when I hurt my neck. I gave it four tries. I got good enough where Dave thought I should go down the big intermediate hill but it just wasn't for me.

4. Try fishing for Northern Pike

I succeeded in trying for northerns but did not catch one

5. I'd still like to see a sea turtle and photograph a bull moose (two failed goals from 2016)

No and No

6. This one is actually going to happen because I bought tickets. I want to see Dropkick Murphys play "I'm shipping up to Boston". I'm not the biggest fan of theirs but listening to that song with a bunch of Bostonians around St. Patrick's Day must be incredible. It's on my life bucket list

I saw them. The Murphy's put on a hell of a show. I really became a fan after the show when I bought a couple of their cd's

7. If Don Henley comes to town I want to go to his concert. I can't see the Eagles without Glen, ( I did see them once in Foxboro). I want to see Don Henley one more time.

Don Henley played the Bank of America Pavillion in June. I could have went. Unfortunately, I looked up his setlist from other shows this spring. He didn't play some of the songs I would have wanted to hear, so I couldn't justify the $70 seats. It was a much thought out decision

8. Go to New Hampshire as many times as I can (reoccurring goal)

Only went three times, but that was as many times as I could this year

9. Catch a Channel Catfish

Check

10. Catch more carp than last year

Yes

11. Fish more for trout

Believe it or not, despite only going a few times it was more than last year

12.  Go to Sachuest in June to see if the fawns are easily photographed. I go to Sachuest a lot mostly in the winter. I've never taken the trip when the fawns should be out

I did not go in June

13. Go to Southwick Zoo

I went to the Southwick Zoo with Amber, Kirsten, and Laurie

15. See the AC/DC tribute band Dirty Deeds

Nope

16.  Daytrips that I do every year or try to (that I want to do again this year) include:

        a.  Fish for Golden trout     -yes

        b. Plum Island Overnight (birding and Shad Fishing)--- my trip got rained out

        c. Charlestown Mudflats Birding-   three or four times though I spent a lot of time looking for quahogs

        d. ALBIE FISHING (of course)-   pretty unsuccessful but I went

        e. Mt Wachusetts Hawk Watch- I went in late September not many hawks but saw a couple bald eagles and a Perigrine

        f. Race Point looking for whales and seabirds-  I went, probably my highlight for the first half of the year. We watched Right Whales feeding on the surface

        g. Newport Stripers in June-  I went during the new moon. I caught a bunch of stripers but they were all micros

Looking back I was only successful on 8 of the first fifteen goals. Some were choices I decided to make (such as not going to Don Henley) Some were unavoidable like getting hurt skiing and my foot holding me back from hiking. 

I was one for two on the ones that meant the most. I really wanted to be more careful with my gear. Wasting money on things you already own sucks. I really wanted to finish the 4000 footers but just couldn't. Still I cut my magic number of hikes from four to 2. So it really doesn't feel too bad. With any luck I'll will be a member of the 4000 footers club in July 2018.

As for number 16 where I had 8 daytrips I wanted to do; I did all but one. I look forward to my Plum Island birding trip every year. I plan it for the same weekend in May. This year, it was a washout. Instead, I went carp fishing on the Connecticut River both days and caught some decent carp. The other seven trips went as planned. I did get a few albies just not as many as I would have liked. 

I find it interesting to look back. What seemed important last year while thinking in the middle of winter may not have been nearly as important when the weather warmed up. I have certainly paid $70 to go to a concert before but after seeing Don Henley's setlist plus the hassle of just getting to Boston, it did not seem worth the time or money. As Bill Belichick says "it is what it is".