Adams National Historic Park

    Last Saturday, Laurie and I went to the Adams National Historic Park in Quincy. This area is dedicated to the protection of the birthplaces of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, the second and sixth presidents of the United States. The home called the Old House at Peace Field is also protected. John Adams lived in this house in the latter years of his life as did the next four generations of Adams.

   Because Trump is an asshole, the budget only allows for this national historic site to be open four days a week. To make things even worse, you can go inside the houses of the two president's birthplaces on Thursday and Saturday or you can go to Peace Field on Friday and Sunday. The park does not normally have the funding to have all of the buildings open all four days. Very sad, that Americans can not see an entire national historic site all in the same day.

   Luckily, and I mean very luckily, the Saturday Laurie and I went, the town of Quincy was having a festival. As part of the festivities, all the houses were open on this particular Saturday. Laurie and I arrived at the visitor center around noon. We watched the 25 minute program about the Adams family. Then we bought our timed tickets for the houses. The houses of the president's births are a mile from the VC. The house at Peace Field is also not in the same area. Luckily, there is a trolley that takes you to both spots and runs on a 45 minute loop.

John Adams birthplace owned by his father

  We boarded the trolley about 1:15 and went to the saltbox houses the Adams's were born in. They are self guided and it doesn't take long to see both homes. There is a ranger (and/or volunteer) to answer questions. After we looked into both homes and asked a couple of questions we waited for the trolley to pick us up and bring us to our next stop. 

John Q Adams birthplace
John Adams home with Abigail

   We had a fifteen ride to the almost mansion sized home at Peace Field. John and Abigail bought this farm later in life. John Adams despite his brilliance for knowing the law loved farming. He would have been just as happy as a farmer as a Founding Father. The land is no longer farmland but now a Victorian type formal garden. One of his grandchildren turned some of what is left of the property into a formal garden which is very pretty.

Peace Field

    Usually you can take a normal guided tour of the house which talks about the Adams family and the house they lived in but there was a special tour running that we took instead. The tour was unofficially known as "the death tour". It concentrated on the deaths and last few days of John Adams, Abigail Adams and also Thomas Jefferson. Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826. This is exactly fifty years to the day since they signed the Declaration of Independence. This tour was quite amazing. It was lead by a park ranger dressed in period attire for mourning death.

The room and bed Abigail Adams died in

  We did see the room that Abigail Adams died in and the bed is original to the room. Since Adams lived to be ninety in a time when most people were dying young, he experienced many deaths in his life. Abigail died before him, so did a daughter of breast cancer. Most of the other founding fathers died before John Adams. John Adams final words were "Jefferson survives" not knowing Thomas Jefferson died a few hours before John Adams the same day.

Our noble steed

   After our tour was over we went back to the Visitor Center via trolley and then the ten minute walk back to our cars. All in all, we had a fantastic day. We got extremely lucky to do all of the houses on the same day. 

If you go... The cost for the day is $15. As I said in the beginning, this would normally cover either the birthplaces OR the farm. So to see all the park has to offer, you most likely need both days. Due to lack of funding, the park is open Thurs-Sunday. Parking on street is tough and mostly limited to one hour. There is a parking garage and the National Park Service will validate your ticket. The park is only open for a few months during the warm weather and not year round. Because of the distances between the visitor center, the birth houses and Peace Field, I don't think walking to all of the sites through urban Quincy is an option. You can not reserve tickets in advance you have to buy them the day of the tour (you used to be able to buy them in advance until this year)

Front view of Peace Field from the street

So Happy Together

   

Jay and the Americans

   Last week I went to an oldies concert with Laurie, my friend from work Adam and his girlfriend Hannah. The show was at the South Shore Music Circus. The show is know as the Happy Together tour. The main act are The Turtles (who sing Happy Together). This tour has been around for years with The Turtles being the last act. Each year when they tour they add or subtract a band or two so you are always seeing something different. The last time we saw this tour was 2019 when among others, members of Three Dog Night were there.

   This year's lineup was the following...The Cowsills (from Newport, RI), The Vogues, Jay and the Americans, Little Anthony, Gary Puckett, and The Turtles. The Cowsills rocked it with "Indian Lake", "Hair", and "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things".

Gary Puckett

   Each group played five of their signature songs. The Vogues had "Five O'clock World" and "My Special Angel". Jay and the Americans got everyone into it with "Come a Little Bit Over" and "This Magic Moment.  Gary Puckett , who is usually on the tour every year played "Lady Willpower" and  "Young Girl".

   For me, the highlight was seeing an eighty five year old Little Anthony dance as he sang :Shimmy, Shimmy Cocoa Pop". I hadn't heard that song in forty years. He was funny in-between songs as were most of the acts. 

Little Anthony

   

The lead singer of The Turtles isn't the original. It is the guy that was the lead singer of The Archies. Their big song was "Sugar, Sugar". Along with Sugar, Sugar" and "Happy Together" they played "It ain't me babe", and Elenore".

 

     All in all, it is an amazing show if you love the oldies. The groups still sing great. Most members are well into their 70's so don't expect to see all of the members. Most groups had a couple members and the rest was filled in with their house band.  The Happy Together Tour seems to play the South Shore Music Circus in Cohassett every year. I believe they also play at the Cape Cod Melody Tent also. If you can remember to check the schedule next year, I highly recommend going to see The Turtles and whomever they bring with them. 

Adam liked the show enough to
buy a $40 tour shirt

Post script- Twenty one year old Adam had a great time. He is a slut for The Cowsills (his words) and knew most of the songs from the other bands.

Soft Shelled Turtles in New England!

 Extremely high on my 2025 bucket list was to go see Soft Shelled Turtles in western MA. I only found out about them when herper extraordinaire Michael Lupachini posted them last year. I was shocked that a species I associate with Florida lives in Massachusetts

 Spiny Soft Shelled Turtles are not native to Massachusetts. They are considered invasive however it seems their presence has not caused any negative effects to other species. Though not native to Mass, their range does extend fairly close as they are native to Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes.

 Seeing them this year was worth the two hundred mile round trip. Laurie and I went to see them on Saturday. We got a late start and it worried me that they may have been done sunning themselves for the day. The air temp high was 85 degrees. By the time we reached the river it was that temp and humid. Luckily, a quick scan of rocks across the river revealed two Soft Shelled Turtles. The river is wide so my photos are from about a hundred feet away. We looked at the two turtles for twenty minutes. I realized I had my spotting scope in the car. Unfortunately when I walked up to my car to get it, both turtles decided to go for a swim.

  We decided to check another spot on the river. There is a boat ramp with an extensive view of a a beachy shoreline. We found another five turtles! They were really far away, the furthest being at least a quarter mile away. We used the spotting scope and watched a couple go into the water only to climb right back up the shoreline after a five second dip to cool off.

 

 I'm pretty sure I saw a swimming Soft Shelled Turtle in Florida last time I was there but didn't get a photo and the water was muddy. So I never counted it on my official list. I'm counting them this time obviously. I'm pretty sure that Spiny Soft Shelled Turtles are my first lifer this year. Quite a contrast from last year where I got thirty four lifer vertebrates.

  After our turtle adventure we had a picnic of steaks, potato salad, and strawberries at Hopkinton State Park. In the evening, we went the opposite way in MA and went to see Dirty Deeds at Plymouth Memorial Hall (separate post). Saturday June 21, 2025 was a great first full day of summer for me!!!

Three of the seven that I saw are in this photo
from a beach across the river

Bonaparte Photo Upgrade

 

    A couple weeks ago a very rare for New England Franklin's Gull was at Misquamicut Beach parking lot. I was working the day it was seen so I couldn't go see it. I did have the following day off from work and went for it. It wasn't there but I did get a photo upgrade of a Bonaparte's Gull. These little gulls are dainty almost tern like. Usually when I see them they are young or not in breeding plumage. Adult breeders have black heads. When they are not breeding most of the head is white with a black smudge on the ear.

   I've gotten fairly close to many of the non-breeders before and gotten lucky with photos. However, I never had great views of an adult. When I went to Westerly there were quite a few adults mixed in a flock with three other species. Some of them were right on the parking lot very close to my car. I didn't have to walk to them. I could use my car as a blind, since gulls at a beach parking lot are extremely used to cars, and was only a couple parking spaces away when I was shooting them with my camera.

Adult Bonaparte with three non-breeding
Bonaparte's Gulls

Dirty Deeds done pretty cheap

 

 It's no secret that my favorite musicians are the late Jimmy Buffett and AC/DC. I've seen Buffett many times but never AC/DC. I've wanted to see them and told myself if they toured again I'd go see them. When my chance came this summer I couldn't get myself to pull the trigger and buy tickets. AC/DC played at Gillette Stadium in May. I couldn't bring myself to pay $125 (plus $60 parking) for nose bleed seats where I would have to watch them on the big screen. It was a tough call but it wasn't worth it to me to see little ants around the stage. I hate Gillette concerts

   Luckily for me, there is a pretty good alternative. There is an AC/DC tribute band called Dirty Deeds that is a great facsimile of the real thing. I saw them last year at the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket and was blown away. I knew I would see them again.

    Dirty Deeds played the Plymouth Memorial Hall this weekend and Laurie and I went. There was an opening band that was a pretty good Guns and Roses Tribute. Unfortunately the music was so loud that you couldn't hear the lead singer at all. To sing along you had to know the words and the beat. None the less, they were a nice surprise.

   After the short intermission Dirty Deeds came out. They played roughly two hours. They did play about four songs that I actually didn't know which surprised me. The only big hit they didn't play is "Money Talks". They also don't seem to play "Big Balls" and the innuendo song about gonorrhea "The Jack". 

   Other than those songs, they played everything one would expect from AC/DC. "Back in Black", You Shook me all Night Long", "Hells Bells", "Highway to Hell", "Jailbreak", "Who Made Who" and a bunch of others. I had a blast and danced extremely badly all night along with losing my voice screaming.

    Dirty Deeds will be around a couple more times this summer. They are playing at the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket again. They are also going to play at the Charlestown Seafood Festival. If you like AC/DC then you won't be disappointed seeing Dirty Deeds. They are awesome. My video that I took exceeds the megabyte limit that I can post so below is a link to them at the Hampton Beach Ballroom playing "Thunderstruck".  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4YAyWNWqS4

Cicadas

   

There are some things that I really want to do in life that I will be disappointed if I never get to do them. Then there are things you hope you can do but don't really give much thought to. Last year when the south was being invaded by seventeen year Cicadas I have to admit I was jealous. I wanted to experience thousands of those insects. While I think my life would still be complete without seeing a mass of Cicadas it was still something I hoped to experience.

   I was told while at BioBlitz that there was an invasion of Cicadas at the Midway Recreation Area on the Cape Cod Canal. The person that told me about them said they may be there another week or so. I didn't want to waste this opportunity to see Cicadas. I had Wednesday off from work and went down after it warmed up a little.

   I was not disappointed. There were tons of Cicadas. As soon as I opened my car door I could hear the constant buzzing. I saw a few while driving into the picnic area and I knew I had a shot at getting a few photos. For the next two and a half hours I listened to what I can describe as the ultimate white noise. I could have fallen asleep to the relaxing sound of Cicadas. I did hear some individual Cicadas. If you can hear an individual they actually sound like they are saying "pharaoh".  I heard a few and sure enough that is what they sound like. 

   Basically, I spent two and a half hours doing a Cicada photo shoot while listening to the relaxing sounds they make. Plenty of photos below.

These holes are from Cicadas that emerged from 
the ground. It is amazing to me that they have lived 
underground for the last seventeen years

These are the shells from Cicadas. Once they molt
these shells get discarded 

I have to admit, that
it feels like they bite when 
I let them stay on my skin

BioBlitz 2025

 

   Every year the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS) has a twenty four hour event called BioBlitz. This event is at a different location in Rhode Island each year. The goal is to see how many species can be seen in the twenty four hour period. The Rhode Island BioBlitz is the oldest actively running BioBlitz in the world. This is my third year I have attended. This year's event was held at the Steere Hill property of the Glocster Land Trust 

    BioBlitz happens in early June, or at least it has since I started attending. The twenty four hours start at 2 pm Friday and ends at 2 pm on Saturday. There are teams for every life form imaginable. When you sign up, you can join three teams. I always join the fish, herp, and mammal teams. There are teams for mosses, insects, fungi, trees, mollusks, etc... Most of the team leaders are experts in the field. Many of them are PhDs with years of field work. As far as I can tell there is at least one team for each family of living things in Rhode Island. 

    I choose the fish, herps, and mammals selfishly for lifers. I'm always on the lookout for seeing lifer vertebrates and being around true experts is one way to make sure you don't miss anything. This year I was asked to be the fish team leader. I am assuming that the regular leader couldn't make it this year. I declined the official title but with all of the time I spent trying and failing to find fish, I did in fact become the defacto leader of the broken up fish team.

The woman taking the photo is Kira Stillwell.
She is the main organizer of BioBlitz. The large
tent is Science Central.

   Before I go on, the schedule for the twenty four hours goes something like this. People can register after noon. It is a good idea to set up camp before the horn blows to officially start at 2 pm. Many people that stay both days camp overnight. When you register you sign a liability and a waiver that you will be photographed throughout the event. The horn blows at 2 pm to officially start BioBlitz. Between 2-6 pm go out and look for species. At 6 pm food is served. This year it was a BBQ buffet that was very good. After dinner most people go out again. For example, I went out and checked my minnow traps and rebaited them.

   After dark there is still plenty to do. One guy set up a bat detector and had a large group of people listen to his presentation and look for bats. Down the trail, a couple of sheets with lights on them were set up for moths to land on. These sheets are out all night. I also went on a night walk with Dan Berard and a couple birders from my club Chris and Su. Dan has a thermal imaging scope so he scanned for mammals in the woods. We saw a mouse in a pine tree. I had set up a mammal trap next to my tent. When I got back from the moths/walk I had a White Footed Mouse that I let go.

White Footed Mouse 
Photo by Su

   I didn't get much sleep and was off again before 6 am. I checked my minnow traps which had tadpoles but no fish

IO Moth 
Photo by Allison O'Connor 

. After I got back, I spent most of the day with the herp team. We went to vernal pools and small intermittent creeks. My friend Rick Rego found a Two Lined and a Four Toed Salamander. We spent hours looking for Ring Necked Snake but didn't find them.

    My birding and seining friend Allison O'Conner was with me most of the day. We had our tents twenty feet apart. She went with me to set up my minnow traps and was a key member of the herp team.

Spotted Salamander 
Photo by Allison O'Connor 

   While most vertebrate IDs are in the field, much of the work happens at Science Central. Science Central is a large tent where there are microscopes, tables, and other scientific equipment. After registration, it is where many species are brought back to be identified. Some species of fungi and plants can only be identified under a microscope. Something I found out was there are about twenty species of fireflies in Rhode Island. Most are so similar most can only be positively identified by dissecting the male genitalia!!!

Four Toed Salamander 

Two Lined Salamander 

   It is impossible to see everything going on in a twenty four hour period. There is so many interesting things to see. I stick with my vertebrate teams because I keep track of my lifers. However, you are bound to learn from someone. When I was pulling in my minnow traps, a recent college graduate was dipnetting to find Caddisfly larvae. He was explaining the life history to us. Also, everyone is so mellow. It doesn't matter what team you signed up for, you can join anyone in the field or ask questions at Science Central. Being on a team is a start, but I'm sure if I wanted to hang out with the people looking for mushrooms all day, they would have been happy to have one more team member.

My little corner of the tent area

   For me this year, I didn't get any lifers which is probably because I've seen about all of the herps, birds, and  mammals that are not rodents in RI. Having so little water obviously hurt our chances of finding fish. I still had a ton of fun. I had dinner with my favorite people there (Rick, Allison, and Danielle Stebbins). The moths put on an incredible show as did fireflies. We had two very good salamanders. The cute little mouse in the pine tree was pretty dam adorable.

    I had planned on leaving before the closing horn at 2 pm. I really had planned to be home at noon, but looking for Ring Necked Snake and then packing my tent meant that I left at 1 pm. Though I wasn't there, after the horn blows at 2 pm, teams tally up their species and submit them.

    While Comic Con may be the ultimate geek fest, for sure BioBlitz is the ultimate nerd gathering in RI. Everyone is so smart. BioBlitzers are so willing to learn and share information. If you ever really want to learn about nature or even one small branch of it, I highly recommend signing up to the RINHS and going to BioBlitz 2026. Throughout the year the RINHS has other events and presentations. However, there is no question that BioBlitz is the Super Bowl 

Post Script-  This was an extremely long post, but the truth is it is only part of the twenty four hours. I could have written a post just as long about the bat identification equipment or just about what goes on at Science Central. This was about as short as I could keep it.

Many of the photos used above and below are not mine. Thanks to Allison and Su for sending them to me. Info on RI BioBlitz below. 

https://rinhs.org/events/ri-bioblitz/

Rick Rego herp team leader 
and a frog

The herp team looking at a salamander 

Eastern Box Turtle 

   

Spotted Salamander larva

Tadpoles from my minnow trap