Eclipse

 

   I now understand why pre-science humans thought it was the end of the world when there was a solar eclipse. I drove up to St Johnsbury, VT to experience the totality of the eclipse. Quite honestly, it was a nightmare. 

   Traffic was bad on the way up. I had planned on going to northern NH but traffic was so bad I took I-89 into Vermont and then went north on I-91. I found a  grocery store that allowed people to park for free. They had food and restrooms. I bought some cooked wings and ribs which were delicious. 

   I watched the eclipse with my glasses that I had saved on my burrow since 2017. When totality came I got to watch it for two minutes. It was mostly dark and I saw two stars. I took about ten photos. It was over as quickly as it started. I must admit that the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is accurate. It took all of my power not to make any puns or title this post Bonnie Tyler's song. My heart was racing and I was overcome with true awe. It took a few minutes for it to slow to normal.

   Then the misery began. If you read that traffic was a nightmare or saw it on the news, it was worse than you could ever image. Within fifteen minutes of totality I-91 was backed up with stopped traffic. I thought it would be smart to let it clear out for an hour which became two, which became three hours. Finally at 7 pm I tried to leave. I was immediately stuck in traffic so I drove through St Johnsbury only to find traffic as I passed the NH border. I drove another two hours moving maybe ten miles. The last straw was when my GPS told me there was an hour and forty seven minute back up going through Franconia Notch. So I did a U-turn on the interstate ( no one was going north ) and found a trailhead to lie down at.

   

Heavily cropped so you can see the red around
the sun

  From 10:30 until 3 am I tried to sleep. This would have been easier if I brought a blanket. I covered up with the three sweatshirts I had and dozed off a couple times. Finally at 3 am I left for home. I was again caught in traffic within ten minutes as I was funneled through Franconia Notch. Once south of Lincoln I finally got up to speed and made it home at 7 am. 

  The question I asked myself while I was stuck in traffic praying for the  end of the world to stop my misery is this...was it worth it? The simple answer is no. Two minutes of one of the coolest things I have ever seen was not worth the 22 hours of being on the road. I would not do it again...but I know this, I would have regretted not going up to see totality for the rest of my life if I didn't go. I could never have imagined traffic would take a full day to disperse. So while I am not glad I went, I am glad I have no regrets so I guess that's a win?

Cherry Blossoms

 

Cherry Blossom in Japanese

   Two years ago, Laurie and I took a trip to see the famous Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC. We spent almost a week around DC going to the cherry trees in the morning and museums in the afternoon. For the last two years, I have wanted to go back. Since Laurie basically worked her ass off for the past year, when she suggested we go again so she could get away, who was I to say no?

   This trip was much shorter than the last. We left when she got out of work on Wednesday night and we came home Sunday. This only gave us Thursday through Saturday. To shorten our time even more, the weather forecast for Thursday was cloudy with possible showers and Saturday was going to be windy. Friday was the winner of our three days. 

  We stayed at the Greenbelt Campground twenty miles outside of DC in Maryland. The cost is only $20/night. To put that into perspective, The Hotel Harrington, the motel we used to stay at when we first went to DC cost $185/night.  We have probably been to DC many more times just because we found this campground. 

   

The sky was epic on Thursday evening

  It turned out the weather wasn't so bad. While it was rainy on Thursday morning it cleared up during the day. We went to Arlington National Cemetery when we got to Washington around noon time. While it was cloudy most of the day when it got near sunset the light was beautiful and the sun put a glow on the trees and monuments. Friday was a great day but it did get chilly in the evening when we wanted to spend time at the monuments at night. Saturday we went to Antietam National Battlefield. It did rain in the afternoon mostly on our drive back to the campground but the campground was dry and we made supper before bed. 

   The objective of the trip was to see the cherry blossoms in bloom. Starting in February you can follow along with a website that predicts when the cherry blossoms will be in full bloom. Because of the really warm winter and the warm spring in the nation's capitol the blossoms were in full bloom on March 17. This is one of the earliest years on record. Laurie follows the cherry blossom bloom report. I can not because it would give me an ulcer. It is a helpless feeling knowing your reservations are a full ten days after the cherry blossoms have reached a peak. So, I tried not to think about it. It would have driven me mad.

   Luckily, after the blossoms reached full bloom, it got pretty chilly in DC. The cooler weather kept the blossoms from leafing out quickly. While, I could tell many of the trees were past peak there were enough flowers still in full bloom to be beautiful. Someday I would very much like to hit it right and get down to DC when the blossoms just reach full bloom but considering what I could have seen had they had a couple eighty degree days, I got pretty lucky. 

   

I  wanted to photograph the trees and get awesome photos of the cherry blossoms and the monuments. I hoped to use what I had learned last time and get some great photos. This I accomplished. Because of the intense light on Thursday evening, I got some really dramatic shots. I used both my camera and my phone camera. It amazes me how different the photos can be. 

  To make matters interesting I broke my camera last year so I have been using my old camera. I didn't throw it away when I got my new one (luckily). However, it is two models older than the one I had broke. The buttons aren't the same. Also, I learned how to use all the functions on a camera on the one I broke. With this camera, I still haven't figured out how to choose some of the settings. So it was a challenge to take photos that I wanted. However, it also made it part of the fun. I worked a vantage point taking multiple photos. While it would have taken me seconds to change my settings on the camera that broke, with this camera, I had to work at it to figure out what I wanted. 

   Below is basically a photo dump of photos that I liked. While I manipulated the settings on my camera for more/less light, different aperture, flash, and white balance, I didn't do anything to the finished product unless otherwise noted. I didn't add filters in  post editing or change the saturation, brightness, etc... 

The blossoms looked like a carpet of snow in places

Using flash highlighted the cluster closest to the
camera. Also did the same below

Lincoln Memorial as it was getting dark last Friday

Monk Parakeets

 Laurie and I went back to DC for the cheery blossoms over the last few days. I still have a lot of photos to go through. It's late and I drove eight hours to get home today so a long post with lots of photos is just not part of the gameplan tonight. However, it has been a month since I wrote anything so I thought a quick post about an unusual resident bird was in order.

   On our way home we stopped in Bridgeport, CT to see Monk Parakeets. Yes you heard that right, parakeets. And even more surprisingly, they are not escaped pets AND they are year round residents. While these parakeets ancestors undoubtably were escapees or purposely released, that was generations ago. These hardy parakeets can and do survive the tough New England winter. There is a very reliable park in Bridgeport where we can see them. 

   We pulled into the parking lot at 1 pm and within a minute we heard them calling. It must be close to mating season because many of the parakeets were "singing" and we saw some nest building going on. Monk Parakeets build huge nests and it looks as though they add to them year after year. Some of their nests easily rival an Osprey nest. 

   There used to be a colony of Monk Parakeets in Barrington, RI but the locals did not like them because of the noise, feces, and the huge nests on telephone poles. So the parakeets were forced to abandon their colony. I never saw them in RI but did get into birding while there were still vacant nests in the area. 

   

   Today, Laurie and I saw a total of seven Monk Parakeets all in one tree. We could hear others in different trees. We watched them for fifteen minutes but after driving five hours with another two and a half to go, we didn't stay as long as we would have liked. Still, it was a joy to see these tropical birds in New England again.

A Big Night

 

  For years, I've planned on going out during the first rainy night in March to look for salamanders and frogs. Every year when the time comes, I get lazy and don't go. The first warm, rainy night after the ground thaws (this happens in March, but March 2 is very early!) amphibians make their way to vernal pools to mate. For some, like Wood Frogs, they will stay in the pools for a couple of weeks. For others like Spotted Salamanders all the action happens in that one night. By morning, the salamanders are back in the woods hiding.

   I was always lead to believe that "Big Night" was just that, one night and not plural. So, I have always assumed that if I missed it, I'd have to wait another year. I just learned last month that not all amphibians will mate during that first warm, rainy night. The season could last almost until May. Because of this new fact, I plan on going out on multiple nights this spring.

   Knowing the weather forecast for Saturday was going to be rainy, I have been planning to go out for a few days. Despite knowing I'd be out Saturday night, I did a piss poor job of planning. To start with, when I went looking for my rain pants I realized they were not in my car. Also, when I went to get my small camera the battery was dead. So I had neither my rain pants or my camera. I did have my phone to take photos with but my camera does take better photos. 

 

    I had Laurie drop me off at a conservation area in Norton. I did not want to leave my car at a parking area since technically the conservation areas are open "sunrise to sunset". So she dropped me off about 6:45. The area I chose has a vernal pool a two hundred yard walk from the parking area. It only took a couple minutes to get to it but I was immediately glad I had waterproof boots on. The trail was basically a muddy canal. 

   It didn't take me long to find my quarry. My biggest hope was to see Spotted Salamanders. I'd only ever seen two in my life. That changed tonight. About fifteen minutes after looking in the water I saw one come up for air. Since I was so surprised I saw one I actually doubted myself. Luckily, a few minutes later I saw another and I knew I wasn't crazy. I watched the second one go back down to the leaf litter not too far from shore. I tried to get out on a log and pick it up but it was just out of reach.

  Not long after, I found a third that I could reach. I put my hand in the water and to my surprise it didn't try to swim away. I picked it up, brought it to the shore and took some photos before releasing it again.

   Soon after, I found a whole bunch of Spotted Salamanders. At one point I could see five very close to each other. Since I may have seen a couple of them more than once, I conservatively estimate that I saw eight  different ones tonight. I didn't see any other frogs or salamanders other than Spotted. However, that was the one I really wanted to see. Some of the big ones were eight inches including the one I caught. I did see some weird shrimp and insect larvae swimming around but I forgot to bring my net so I didn't get any photos of them. It was a great night and I can't wait to do it again!

Rare Sparrows

Vesper Sparrow

    Last Saturday, Laurie and I went to Richmond, RI and saw a rare (for New England) Vesper Sparrow. I'd only seen four in my life. On this day we saw three more bringing my total to seven! They were in a small flock with Song and Savannah Sparrows. They were not afraid of people or passing cars feeding right along the edge of the road. 

   Today I hung out with my friend Charles in Newport. We saw an even rarer sparrow. It was a Lark Sparrow that has been hanging around Fort Adams for over a month. Lark Sparrows are a sparrow of open fields and meadows in the Midwest. Why this bird decided to take up roots in Rhode Island I do not know. It has been seen by dozens of birders over the last few weeks. Today was my second time seeing it. It was the first bird we saw when we pulled into Fort Adams. I was still driving! I wish Lady Luck was always that generous

Lark Sparrow

*Note- I finally got a job. I'm working at Bass Pro Shops in the fishing dept. This explains why my blog has been quiet as of late. Hopefully, as I get back into the groove, I'll spend more of my days off on adventures. For the past few weeks, most of my days off have been hosting bird club events.

*Note #2- I messed with the white balance on my camera completely ruining most of my sparrow photos. I didn't notice until I got home tonight. While I did delete some washed out photos of the Lark Sparrow that would have been calendar worthy if I didn't f them up, I'm lucky to have salvaged a couple decent photos of both birds.

Below are a couple of other birds I saw in the last couple of weeks.

Ring Necked Pheasant

Short Eared Owl

Bonnie Yellow Birds

 

Hermit Warbler

 I was on my way to Trustom Saturday when my friend Nicole texted me to tell me the Hermit Warbler in New London was showing. This is a bird that has been seen on and off sporadically for a week. It hadn't been seen for a few days so it wasn't on my radar. Hermit Warblers are a west coast species. Their entire range is west of the Rockies. So this poor little guy is dreadfully lost. However, being a boreal species, it will probably not die of cold or hunger. 

    I drove past Trustom and thirty three minutes later I was in New London. Nicole was kind enough to wait for me with her friends and I was on the bird very easily. It had been kind of a skulker but this day it was right out in the open. As I was driving there it spent thirty minutes on the ground which is unusually for a species that likes pines. When I got there, it was spending time in cedar trees fluttering in and out of view. My looks were great and I enjoyed the bird for quite some time while talking with Nicole and her friends.

   On Tuesday I went down the Cape to look for the Western Tanager that has been there for well over a month. Laurie and I tried for it the day I went on a Cape rarities chase. Like the day we went, Tuesday was cold and windy. The wind at the water was howling. I looked for it for an hour while my nose froze off. While I was there a guy also started looking. After I gave up I went in my car to warm up before driving. I could hear the guy playing the song of the Tanager. I watched him with his phone out until he turned a corner. 

 

Western Tanager

 A few minutes later he saw me as he walked back to his car he saw me. He walked over to me and told me he saw the Tanager. I got out of my car and asked where. He brought me to the tree he last saw it. Of course it wasn't there. No doubt it was in that tree because he played the song. None the less, I knew where it had been and it was doubtful it went far. I kept walking into the woods and coming back to that tree. On my third look I saw the Western Tanager eating berries off the cedar. It was probably in the tree the whole time but blended well. 

    That night Laurie and I went to Middleboro to look for Short Eared Owls. We saw two. I didn't get any photos because I left my memory card at home from the Tanager. Still it was an awesome sight!