When life gets in the way...

 I am not a fan of real life getting in the way of my nature. The last month has been really hard since Laurie has had some serious medical issues which lead to a broken foot. She has been in either a hospital or rehab (not drug rehab) since July 15th. So if you are wondering why I haven't written much, I've spent almost all of my time either working, sleeping, or visiting. 

   While none of us wants to deal with health issues of our own or loved ones, I realized something... when I'm birding, fishing, hiking, etc... for me it is real life. I don't look at those things as something I do when I can but rather something I need to do to be human. It was an interesting realization, but I think it is probably true for anyone passionate about their hobbies. Our hobbies are just as important to us as our jobs, wealth and maybe even family and health. I mean, when I was injured, I can't tell you how many times I dreamed of albies or how heartbreaking it was for me when I couldn't chase a rare bird. Health first, yes, but then love life.

 Anyway, I have gotten to sneak off a couple of times since July 15. I figured I'd share a few photos of some cool things that have been around

 

 I've actually gotten two lifers since Laurie got hurt. The first was the famous Flamingo that has been vacationing in the Northeast. I got to see it on the first day it was in Rhode Island. My phone blew up with reports of it from everyone that knows I'm a birder. Today I got to see a  Lark Bunting. This is a midwestern bird. It was in Norton and I went to it after visiting Laurie right before dark. Weird, everyone told me about the Flamingo, but no one has sent me messages about a Bristol County first bunting. On a downside, I didn't have a memory card in my camera today.

  Last week I went snorkeling and seining with Allison O'Connor and seining with Louise. This is the time of year when tropicals get lost in the Gulf Stream and make it to New England. The day did not disappoint. The only bad part of the day was I dipped on catching a Dogfish at Fort Adams despite hearing they are so plentiful they are a nuisance. 

The most beautiful fish I saw was a Beau Gregory. They are a stunning tropical fish that I saw snorkeling. I don't have an underwater camera so I didn't get any photos.

Crevalle Jack

Mojarra species

Pompano

Permit

Same Permit

   I've been leaving my minnow trap in the water hoping to catch this little native. It is a Banded Sunfish (in bad light). It took weeks of baiting it up everyday. It only had any species of fish a few times but it had crawfish every time I checked it. One day when I threw the crawfish back in the water a Bullfrog that I hadn't seen hopped over and devoured it. So after that whenever I caught crawfish, I always threw one over to my new friend. I fed it all summer. 

Below is the friendliest Buff Breasted  Sandpiper ever. For three days it would walk right up to anyone sitting still. It got so close to me I could have pet it. 

This morning I went and saw baby Diamondback Terrapins as they were hatching. With the addition of the Terrapins and the lifer Lark Bunting I am up to 381 New England vertebrates for the year

Short Bigeye

 

Both photos by P Carl

   Today I got another lifer and it was a tropical fish that most certainly got caught up and took a ride on the Gulf Stream. The species is known as a Short Bigeye. They get to twelve inches or so. When they are adults they live in six hundred feet of water on the Continental Shelf in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. It stands to reason that the big eye is so they can find food in the deep  almost dark water of the deep

   As with many of these southern species, I had never heard about them until a couple weeks ago. They have been showing up in Rhode Island and on Facebook. Apparently, enough got swept up the coast that people have been running into them.

   Thursday I got a phone call from my friend Carlos that he was seeing a bright orange tropical fish. I had remembered seeing this fish on Facebook and sent a photo to him and my friend Sue and that is what they thought they saw.

 

Today I went to the mudflats looking for birds and hoping the fish were there. I brought my seine just in case. Myself, Sue, Carlos, and another birder named Carl caught six of them in one swoop of the seine. We took a bunch of photos though mine are terrible. Luckily, Carl took a lot of photos and many came out great. The two photos in this post are his.

   Juvenile tropical fish end up dying when the water temps drop in the fall. They don't have a chance to make it back into warm water. Because of this, the fish we caught today were donated to a local aquarium. This way the fish get a second chance at life and the public gets to see them.

Saw two new birds today. Up to 372 species.

Tell me you don't know how to fish without telling me you don't know how to fish...

    Working at Bass Pro Shops the past few months has put me in contact with fishermen from all skill levels from pros to people that are buying their first fishing pole.  I have literally had hundreds of people come up to me and ask advice on their first pole. I've had mothers and fathers ask me what to buy their kid and I've had retirees tell me they want to get back into fishing for the first time in forty years. I am certainly not going to make fun of their ignorance. We all have to start somewhere.  Whether you are a six year old or a sixty year old picking up a new hobby, you need to build a foundation based on info and learning through repetition.

    However, many of these one on one conversations are exactly the same. I find myself telling ten different customers the exact same thing on a busy Saturday. While many people will tell me straight out they know nothing about fishing, you'd be surprised at how many others will pretend they know what they are doing. Here are some interactions that I have on a regular basis and some funny stories...

   Everyday I have multiple people come up to me and ask what they should buy. When they say they want a pole for "just for pond fishing". They always say "just" and they don't say freshwater or lake, they say "pond". This ALWAYS translates to... they do not expect to catch anything big so direct them to the cheapest pole in the store. These people do not want to spend any money on a pole, but since they don't own one, the cheaper the better.

   You'd be surprised at how many people actually think "Ugly Stick" are good rods. We sell ten or more a day. Some of our employees recommend them just because the rod is not going to break. The reel is junk though. I hate selling the combos to people because there are way better products for only ten dollars more.

On a regular basis, usually on Friday's (before people start vacation) people will come up to me and tell me they want a single rod for both fresh and saltwater. They don't understand that a freshwater rod will corrode in saltwater or that saltwater fish (and live bait) are too big for freshwater gear. Despite my explanation, I've had to sell rods far too big for freshwater to people that were going to use it in both ponds and the oceans. I've sold freshwater combos that I know were going to get used at the Cape Cod Canal.

  You'd be surprised at how many people ask where the saltwater line is or the freshwater line. To which I explain to them their choice is mono or braid and the line can be used in both the ocean and ponds.

   I had a guy on Friday come in with two junky rods. One was a six foot spinning rod with a 4000 series reel and an extremely light baitcasting rod that was falling apart. The line was a total bird's nest. He wanted me to put six pound fluorocarbon on both rods and got me a 250 yard spool of Vanish. The spinning reel could easily take over 400 yards of six pound line. I explained to him that both rods should take twelve pound line and that fluoro casts like crap because it is stiff. He wanted the fluoro because it was invisible underwater. He was going to Long Island and using the rods for fishing a lake and a bridge over a saltwater channel! So I told him these rods were not made for the salt to which he didn't care. I also explained if he got a two pound fish from the bridge he would break the six pound line trying to hoist it up. He did end up getting twelve pound line. BUT he had me use the 250 yard spool of Vanish for both reels. When I was done, the spinning reel was only one third spooled at best. There was a half inch of empty space between the line and the edge of the spool.

   Understandably, but so many people do not know that a baitcasting rod has a trigger and spinning rods don't. I show at least three people a day the correct way to hold a spinning combo. 

   You'd be amazed at how many people buy rods based on color. We sell these junk "Krazy color" combos. We sell bright orange baitcasters. People buy these things based on color even though they could get stuff so much better for cheaper.

   Combining the last two thoughts, I had a guy come up to me right before close last week who wanted me to "show him the most expensive rod" so I brought him to the G Loomis rods for freshwater. He then decided he was going to buy a baitcast rod (with a trigger) for a spinning reel. I explained why this wouldn't work (for one, you hold the spinning reel upside down and a baitcasting reel  reel side up) Not to mention the trigger! Then he told me he was going to use it in both fresh and salt. Then he wanted to see "the most expensive saltwater surf rod". Jesus, I wanted to get away from this idiot. He then proceeded to tell me he bought one of those Krazy Color spinning rods at Dick's last week and asked my opinion. While I did sugar coat it a little, I did tell him it wasn't good quality. He would be better off returning it and even if he couldn't get his money back maybe get store credit.

   Yes there's more... he then decided he was going to get a Krazy Color baitcaster (right after I told him it was junk) as a "back up rod" So I explained that there is huge learning curve and he would get tangles. Also, it wouldn't be a "back up" because a baitcaster is made to do different things than a medium spinning rod. So, he could buy a second rod, but it really wouldn't be a back up. He ended up buying the junk Krazy Color baitcaster anyway. I learned a very important lesson not to waste time with morons. Let them buy whatever the hell they want.

   You'd be amazed how many people have more money than brains. A guy that owns a high end auto dealership ( BMZ, Mercedes, etc...) came in one day after catching his first fish. It was a striper and he was hooked. He came in with his wife and three kids. He bought all the kids push button poles. However, for himself he wanted to buy a thousand dollar Shimano Stella. One of our employees talked him down to a nice $260 Saragosa. Still, they guy wanted the Stella right up till he paid. 

   We had a guy put 80 pound braid on a small baitcasting reel. I doubt it held forty yards.

    We had a guy put a 5000 size reel on an ultralight trout rod with heavy braid. His target...squid.

   Lastly, a Portuguese man and his wife came in yesterday. His race only matters because he was going on a trip to Portugal. He had huge reel for thirty years that finally died. Obviously, that reel has been discontinued for twenty or more years so he was looking for something similar. He was talking to my boss and he wanted a reel that would be huge for tuna. Think about an eighteen wheeler for carrying your lunch. The reel he was looking for could hold 600 yards of 50 pound mono (yes  600 yards, and yes, mono, not braid). Then my boss asked him what he was fishing for and he said and I'm quoting "small fish like fluke". Good lord!!!

   

Operation 365!!!

 Since January 1 I have been on a quest. I've told very few people about it and even most of my close birding friends don't know. I have spent the last six and a half months trying to see 365 species of vertebrates in New England this year. I chose 365 because that would mean getting an average one species a day for the year. I originally had hoped for 350, but I got that the end of June so I knew 365 was very doable. 

  Today I hit the magical 365 with a very magical bird. The first ever American Flamingo to land in RI since records of such things were kept was my three hundred and sixty fifth vertebrate species this year! This Flamingo has been hanging around the Northeast for a month now. It touched down on a Cape Cod Beach twice but has spent most of its time on Long Island. Today it showed up in Little Compton. I got to see it along with very few other birders because it was at a private beach. I got very lucky.

   I've actually been at 364 since July 9th. I could have ended it very easily by catching a very common Brown Bullhead catfish. I didn't try because I didn't want Brown Bullhead to be the winning species. I wanted it to be something special. I got a Common Galinule a few days ago but I had to take a Boat Tailed Grackle off of my list the same day. I'd say Flamingo counts as special. 

   This journey required a lot of research but more than that it required planning. The most important factor was staying true to nature's calendar. For example, birding as much as I could in May was a no-brainer. But there were many other much smaller windows to get specific targets. Herring only run upstream in the spring. My only chance to see Sea Lamprey was at a fish ladder in Manchester in late May. The easiest Spotted Salamanders would be during a rainy night in March. Wood Frogs are in vernal pools for a short time. The list goes on. 

   I planned as many of these events as I could. If I felt the urge to go trout fishing but the weather was good for looking for snakes, I looked for snakes. I purposely took off the six weeks after May from birding to look for herps, go seining, and day trips. Since May, Laurie and I took a trip to Boston to see Italian Wall Lizards, went up to Maine on a Puffin Cruise (got four targets) and went to NH for NH specialty birds, Eastern Newt, and fish. 

 

 One thing I tried to do was bundle. I wanted to keep my driving/gas expenses down as much as possible. I would spend an entire day off in nature. I'd bird in the morning, go seining in the late morning, and try for herps around lunch time into the afternoon. I went to New Hampshire trying to get all of my species in one trip, but my car radiator and a couple of dips foiled that plan. Still, I had very productive days getting a large variety of species.

    I also put myself in places where I had a good chance to see things I couldn't easily see. At Bioblitz I got ten species most of them were fish. The reason was that RI DEM used a hundred foot seine to haul in a lot of species. They also set out lobster pots and when they brought them in, I got Sea Bass and Scup. My Puffin boat had four species. The whale watch I went in April had seven mammal and two birds. The whale watch I went on last week had the other two Shearwaters I needed.

If I was going to chase a single species, I wanted it to be either a lifer vertebrate or a state bird. I wanted to see many new species as I could. This meant I had to get off of my butt when a rarity showed up in Rhode Island. This has worked out far better than I could have hoped. I've gotten ten lifer birds so far this year and one state bird for RI (Black Necked Stilt).  For the sake of records the lifer birds I've seen so far this year are- MacGillivary Warbler, Northern Shrike, Little Gull, Hermit Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, White Winged Dove, Mottled Duck, Swallow Tailed Kite, South Polar Skua, and the Flamingo. 

Eastern Chubsucker

 
 


I knew going in that the wildcard would be fish. I know that I would get somewhere between 250-280 birds. I know what mammals, reptiles, and amphibians I could get within ten. Fish were the wildcard. I've caught in my best year 33 species in New England, I knew that would be an impossible number. To catch that many, I'd have to take too much time away from other animals. I couldn't spend days trying for a Bowfin when I could get five or more birds in that time. However, I have a new weapon, a seine. This allows me to catch small little fish I could never get on a hook. With the seine or with RI DEM I've seen twenty three fish species. I've also caught sixteen while fishing. There are certainly a lot more species out there so fish will still be the great variable (along with winter birds I missed) on what I end up with. Five of the fish are lifers (Smallmouth Flounder, Rainwater Killifish, Four Spined Stickleback, Sheepshead Minnow, and Eastern Chubsucker). All but the Smallmouth Flounder were in my seine. The flounder was at BioBlitz.

By the numbers... 

   Birds    276  (240 in RI, the other 36 in other states but not RI)

   Mammals 21 (one lifer Red Backed Vole)

   Reptiles     12

   Amphibians   11

   Fish               45

   Total lifers    15

Dips...

    Obviously, on a quest like this you are not going to bat 1.000. There are going to be dips. For fish, my biggest dip was American Shad. I tried for them at the Merrimack River and a fish ladder but never saw one. I tried for Northern Pike but since I had never caught one, I really don't look at it as a failure. For herps, I've tried for Green Snake a dozen times without success.  For mammals, I have very few rodents and didn't see a moose or bear in NH, I got very lucky on whale watches and even saw my only coyote from the deck of a whale watch boat.  

  I didn't get a chance to try for Bicknell's Thrush in NH. While I was in New Hampshire Merlin picked up Ruffed Grouse in the place I was looking for them. Despite my best concentration, I did not here them so I didn't count it. At that place (Pondicherry) I did get Mourning Warbler, Alder Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Purple Finch, and Yellow Bellied Flycatcher, so I'm not complaining.

   The one person that I talked extensively about my gameplan was Charles Avenego. I bounced ideas off of him multiple times a week for the last few months on  Messenger. I explained gameplans and listened to advice. I didn't always follow his advice. Even when I didn't, he has always been supportive and congratulated me on my victories. Thanks buddy!

Easy ones left...

   By far the easiest species left would be Brown Bullhead. There are other easy fish like Yellow Bullhead and White Catfish. I'd probably see Cod and other bottom fish on a Cod Boat and the Cape Cod Canal usually has a run of Mackerel in the summer and another in winter. I also haven't seen Bay Anchovies or Menhaden.

  I've got most of the easy herps, but I'd like to chase some of the harder ones but they require long drive to Connecticut or the Berkshires. Most of those would be lifers. I can get Leopard Frog at Great Meadows in August. I also need Diamondback Terrapins which will require a special trip but should be pretty easy. I'll keep plugging away at Green Snake

The easiest birds left are shorebirds. I should be able to pick up another five between shorebirds and terns. More if I get lucky. I missed a few winter birds, so I'll be doing this up until December 31. 

 You can't really predict mammals. I was told where otters live but haven't gone to look yet. I want to buy a small mammal live trap to try to catch different small rodents. That would be the biggest variable on adding to my number. Other than that, I am going on a bat walk on Saturday. So I could get lucky and see a species with people capable of identifying them.    

A Maine and New Hampshire weekend

    For the past month Laurie and I have been trying to see the Puffins that live on Eastern Egg Rock. Each time we planned on goin g the weather did not cooperate. Finally. this week it did. So we bought tickets.

   To get to Eastern Egg Rock you need to take a boat. There are two boat companies that will take you out. One is in Boothbay Harbor, the other is in New Harbor. We took the trip on Hardy Boats out of New Harbor because it was our only option. The other boat was sold out. The cost for a ticket on Hardy Boats is $51. The trip lasts ninety minutes. Thirty minutes to the island, thirty minutes there, and thirty minutes back to port. The trip goes out at noon.

   I wanted to see more than Atlantic Puffins. There were four species I hoped to see on the day. Besides the Puffins, Black Guillemots and Arctic Terns nest on the island along with other species I had seen. Seeing the Puffins and and Guillemots would be easy. I actually had a  Guillemot in port before the boat engine even started. The tern would be the hard part. The easiest way to tell an Arctic and Common Tern apart is bill color. Commons have an orange bill with a black tip. Artic Terns have an all red bill. This is much easier said than done. Terns are fast and focusing on the bill while in flight is challenging. There are also way more Commons than Arctics. 

   While near the island after taking a few photos of Puffins, I spent most of my time trying to see tern bill color. I was alone in this endeavor as everyone else on the boat were there to see Puffins. I did see a few Arctic Terns.

   After we got off the boat we drove down to Scarborough Marsh near Old Orchard Beach. Laurie stayed in the car and I hustled out to see Nelson's Sparrow. I hear, I saw, I conquered. Then I jogged back to the car.

    We then headed west to New Hampshire. Laurie booked a Best Western in Franconia. It has an indoor pool and we swam for an hour. I slept on the floor near the A/C. We woke up to a decent Continental Breakfast at 7 am.

   We went to Pondicherry which is my favorite place in NH. There is so much wildlife. Though not really on Sunday. Merlin heard three separate Rough Grouse but I didn't hear any of them so I can't count them for the year. I did see two snakes. 

   

From Pondicherry, we went to Mirror Lake in North Woodstock. Mirror Lake has trout but they were not my quarry. It also has Red Breasted Sunfish. I remembered to bring my rod, but I forgot my tackle. I was going to use a fly with a casting bubble. Since I left it at home I had to resort to worms. So I bought the only hooks in the store that were way too big, some bobbers and worms. This cost me eleven dollars to catch a sunfish. 

   Once at Mirror Lake I caught a fish on my first cast but it was a Pumpkinseed. For the next forty minutes I had fish strip my tiny piece of worm on the point of the hook constantly. Finally forty minutes in I caught a beautiful Red Breasted Sunfish.

  We then headed south closer to home and we went down Sandwich Notch Road. This was the sight of my radiator exploding three weeks ago. This time, in Laurie's car I went very slow and

missed all but one pot hole. Once at Upper Hall Pond I walked down the side road with my net. I looked for and found Eastern (also known as Red Spotted) Newts. I caught two and took a few photos.

   We left New Hampshire soon after but it was a memorable trip. 

   

Two more life fish

Eastern Creek Chubsucker

    This week I saw two species of fish that I'd never seen before. One of them I had never even heard of. One was a freshwater fish the other a saltwater fish.

   Early this week I went exploring some small ponds and creeks in Norton. I didn't want to travel far and Banded Sunfish  supposedly inhabit some water in the area. So I searched for them unsuccessfully. However, while I was seining the Wading River I caught some little minnows I'd never seen before. I thought they were Eastern Blacknose Dace. It turned out they were Eastern Creek Chubsuckers. Either fish would have been a lifer, but I was glad to have people give me the correct ID. They are pretty little fish with orange fins. They certainly would be worthy of being in a household aquarium. These guys were released though after I took some photos.

   Today my friend Allison O'Connor went seining in Ninigret Pond. I did well there last week getting some pretty cool fish including a lifer Four Spined Stickleback (Don't worry if you have never heard of the fish I'm writing about. I never knew most of these fish existed until recently). I knew that it would only take one new fish to make the trip worthwhile. I met Allison at 12:30. We made a couple passes at

Sheepshead Minnow

the boat ramp at Grassy Point. The first pass yielded us a few Mummies, Silversides, some Striped Killifish, and a Needlefish (new for the year).  

   Our second pass produced the same and also a two and a half foot eel. For our third pass we decided to go way out and work our way back in. We caught over a thousand fish and rushed to get them back in the water. There was one odd looking black and white fish that I put into the holding tank. We took some photos of the fish and released them. We learned a lesson on not catching too many fish at once. The black and white fish looked a lot like the Sheepshead that DJ and I caught while in North Carolina. 

   It turned out that the fish wasn't a Sheepshead, but a Sheepshead Minnow. Thanks to the ID from our friend Rick Rego. It was obviously a lifer for me and Ally-O. All in all, seining at Ninigret really produced. We had about ten species all from the twenty foot seine in waste deep water. 

Other notes from the day...

 

Swamp Darter in the front

   Before I met Allison I went seining alone in a freshwater pond. Seining alone means I put one stake in the bushes and swing the net into a big circle. Once the circle is unbroken (country song) I take both ends and drag the net up the beach. This is how I caught all of my freshwater fish. Today when I did this, I caught the expected Banded Killifish and Bluegills. What I did not expect was the little tiny Swamp Darter that I caught. I knew they were in the pond since we caught one last year. I had given up hope of catching one after the last outing. I assumed they were just in another part of the pond. 

   On a not so fun note, on my way home I saw a piece of "dirt" in my elbow pit (you know what I mean). I tried to brush it off but it was stuck. I tried rubbing it off but it did not move. After a minute of this I realized the dirt about the size of a flake of pepper was a deer tick. So when I got home I pulled it out with tweezers and saved it on a piece of Scotch Tape. I called my doctor and explained that I had a deer tick embedded in my arm for up to six hours. It did not have a bullseye but probably didn't have time to form. So they prescribed me medicine as a preventative treatment for Lyme Disease. I will take this tomorrow. If you are wondering how I got a Deer Tick on me while seining, I went looking for snakes before seining while it was cool out in the late morning. I walked through grass and weeds  higher than my waste to get to the rocks. I did see my Milk Snake friend again though.

More photos below of some of the fish we saw today...

Another photo of the Swamp Darter

Needlefish

Male Striped Killifish. Really beautiful

First of the year Pickerel Frog

American Eel

Little Fish

 

Black Sea Bass from BioBlitz

I have spent a lot of time over the last four days looking at little fish. On my own I caught White Perch, Yellow Perch, Fallfish, and Common Shiner fishing. At BioBlitz (post to come) I saw ten species of fish while helping seine. One was a lifer that I had never heard of, Smallmouth Flounder. Yesterday I went seining with my friend Jan in both a freshwater lake and a salt pond. We got some pretty cool things including two lifers for me (Four Spined Stickleback and Rainwater Killifish). After Jan left I went to the site of last year's BioBlitz and picked up three more species for the year and a mystery shiner that I think will become a new species for the day after people smarter than myself identify it. Photos are in no particular order because some were on my phone while others were on my camera card. Also, Blogger thinks it is fun to mix up the order anyway. 

  Since the photos are all messed up at the end of each species I put an "F" for freshwater fish and an "S" for Saltwater.  Fish I caught/saw but did not add a photo of since last Friday are Yellow Perch, White Perch, Scup, Windowpane Flounder, Fluke, Silversides.

Black Sea Bass-S

Lifer Smallmouth Flounder- S

Northern Sea Robin

Lifer- Four Spined Stickleback- S

Lifer- Rainwater Killifish- S

Mummichog-S

Bridle Shiner-S

The smallest Bluefish I
have ever seen- S

Striped Killifish- S

Mystery Shiner- F

Fallfish- F

Common Shiner

Two of the mystery shiners-F

Pipefish seining with Jan- S

Tautog- S

Pipefish from BioBlitz

Seining Third Beach at BioBlitz 
with RI DEM

Photos below of Jan and I seining at Ninigret