Let the Games Begin!

Over the course of the next three days I have a busy schedule of fun planned. I have as many as seven different blog worthy adventures planned. When I say blog worthy, I mean worth writing about for the interest of the public and hopefully to capture some memories. They're a variety of activities, they are not all birding trips or fishing trips (none of them are fishing trips).

My adventures start at 6 am Thursday morning. I have to go back to work from 10:30-2:30 and am off again for the next two days. I'm leaving work at 2:30 because Laurie and I have plans Thursday night.

It is the perfect storm of fun that all of these plans came together. Some by accident, others by planning and proximity.

Stay tuned.

A quick couple of hours birding

Pectoral Sandpiper

I worked a split double today but had a few hours off in the afternoon. I went back to Charlestown for some birding. There were a lot of birds but not a lot of variety. By far, the best bird  I got was Pectoral Sandpiper. It is not super rare, but all of the other birds were the very common shorebirds. I spent roughly two and a half hours on the flats.
A few pics below

Saltmarsh Sparrow

Greater Yellowlegs

Semi-palmated Plover

Marbled Godwit

Marbled Godwit

The last three offdays from work I've gone surf fishing. I had one good day where I caught eleven stripers, three of them keepers. The other two days, including yesterday, I had a grand total of one schoolie and two other hits. I decided I needed to do something else. There are only three more weekends before September gets here. I have mch different plans in September than I do for July/Aug. I thought I should start doing some of them before it is too late.

So today I went to one of my favorite summer destinations, the mudflats behind Charlestown Breachway. Although we tend to think of birds going south for the winter as an autumn thing, shorebirds head south starting in mid-July. August and September are great times to be on the mudflats looking at shorebirds. Low tide was around 2 pm today, so I left the house at a relaxed 10:45 am (as opposed to 4:45 am  yesterday to go fishing).

There were a ton of terns on the mudflats but not too many peeps (slang for little shorebirds) at first. While I was looking for birds, I found a big bird in my scope far away. I couldn't tell what it was so I walked closer to it. It had its beak tucked in while it rested. I assumed it was a Willet, which is a very common wading bird. Still I wanted to be sure. As I got closer, I saw brown markings on its back, Willets are grey. I waited and saw the unmistakable upturned orange and black beak. Marbled Godwit.

I watched it for ten minutes. I was the only person out  on the flats and had been for the hour I was there.. Finally tow other people came by with spotting scopes. I waved them over and showed them the Godwit. The two people were Linda Gardrel and Jan StJean. Jan is the most famous birder in Rhode Island. Rarely does she get beat for seeing the most birds in the state. Now that she is retired, she is probably unbeatable. They were very excited to see the bird. It was a first of the year bird for both of them. Come to find out, the Marbled Godwit was the first sighting of one for the year. We reported it on various rare bird alerts and went back to birding.

The Godwit flying to a resting spot

For me, the other "best" birds were white rumped sandpiper and black tern. Both were first of the year birds for me. We also saw some gorgeous Black Bellied Plovers, Saltmarsh Sparrows, and roughly 400 Common Terns. I spent over four hours on the flats. Unlike the last two times I went striper fishing, my drive home was pleasant. I had happy endorphins running through me. It is not everyday I get to report a rare bird and to be the first to see that species in the state this year. It was a good day

The chunky bird is a White Rumped Sandpiper

Black Bellied Plover in Breeding Plumage

One more look at the Godwit

Round, Round, I get Around- The Beach Boys in the Round

Last year Laurie and I saw the Beach Boys at Bold Point in East Providence. It was, for both of us, our favorite memory from the summer of 2017.  Their tour schedule did not include Bold Point this year, but it did include a couple of local venues within a reasonable drive. I had so much fun last year, I asked for Beach Boys tickets for my birthday present. Luckily for me, my wishes were fulfilled and on my birthday I opened an envelope with Beach Boys tickets for Aug 8 at the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset.

The South Shore Music Circus (or SSMC from here on out) is a small venue, as I said, in Cohasset. The reason it is called a "circus" is because the venue is a giant tent or "big top" like in a circus. There are nine sections. Each has about 20 rows. The worst seats in the house are only 20 rows from the stage! The stage spins very slowly. That way, no matter where you sit, every audience member will have the group in front of them an equal amount of time. I  am not sure the range of ticket prices since I did not but the tickets. I'm pretty sure there are three price levels roughly 45, 67, 89. Laurie got us tickets in the second price level. We were EIGHT rows from the stage and because she got the seats early, she secured us end seats.

We were plenty close enough to the stage where we could easily look into the eyes of the group. I'm pretty sure I made contact with Mike Love once and Bruce Johnston at least once. It would have been much easier to have made eye contact to Mike if I was female. If you were dancing, within the first ten rows, and female he was sure to make eye contact and wave to you in appreciation.  Mike also high fived  and shook hands with fans in the front row. For guys that have been doing the same job for fifty years, they seemed to be having fun and enjoying the audience.

As you would expect, a Beach Boys concert is fun. They played all of their hits and had the audience standing and dancing most of the night. Tough to pick just one highlight of the Beach Boys concert because they have so many great songs. However, Good Vibrations with its psychedelic instruments would probably be it.  After "Good Vibrations" they still had a few more hits including Kokomo.

All in all, it was an awesome night. The Beach Boys played for an hour, took a 30 minute intermission, and played again for another 55 minutes. When you consider that most oldies are only around two and a half to three minutes, that is a lot of songs. Mike Love(who has a reputation of being a dick. He sued his cousin Brian Wilson twice) was funny and very interactive with the crowd.  Bruce Johnston kept waving his arms in the air to get people on their feet. The music, amazingly, sounds great. Mike Love is 77 years old and Bruce Johnston is 76. They both were dancing around the stage. When they were making their way to the stage Bruce was lagging behind and he JOGGED to catch up.

The SSMC is off of Route 3A in Cohasset. For us it was a little over an hour drive. Parking is free and it is "church style". The cars are parked bumper to bumper. You can't leave your row until the car in front of you leaves. To my astonishment, the parking lot was cleared in fifteen minutes! Food and beverage prices were reasonable for a venue. Beer was between $8-9 depending on the brand. Soda was four dollars. A slice of pizza was $3.75. Ice cream is four dollars. They had other food options but that's all I remember. Like I said, there are only 20 rows and the stage goes in a circle. There are two poles holding up the big top that can obstruct your view (you can see them if you look at the seating chart). The view is only partially obstructed if you are behind the poles because of the rotating stage. Basically, it is a great place to see a concert.

The Beach Boys will be in our area for a few more days. I highly recommend checking them out. How many more years will these national treasures be touring?

Aug 9, 10 Hampton Beach Casino

Aug 11, Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis (two shows)

Aug 12 Indian Ranch, Webster, MA

Aug 15 Ridgefield, CT

Bruce Johnston

I've said it before, Polo is Awesome

I love going to polo matches. I went on Saturday for the second time in my life. It is so much fun.

First off, I think the average person has the wrong impression of polo. I think most of us think it is only for rich snobs. I was on the phone with one of friends at work.I told her that I was trying to convince Laurie to go to polo with me on Saturday. When I told her that she had a weird judgmental voice. When I got off of the phone with her, I sent a text explaining how fun and how cheap the tickets were.

This was her response- "Lol, you guessed correct. I was definitely judging you. I was like, this rich uppity snob. It must be nice to afford polo."

So let me shatter some myths. The tickets to the end zone which is general admission are $15. I think that is quite reasonable, by all means compare that price to a Boston Red Sox or Patriots game. There are other levels. I think the price of a car load is $100 on one side of the field. You can drive your car right to the edge of the field and tailgate ten feet away.

The price of a ticket for the Aex and Ani Pavillion is $20 a person. You are at the "fifty yard line" and you can get food. We sit in general admission because you can bring your own food and drink. That's right, you can bring your own food and drink (alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages) right to the field. Laurie and I get some pulled pork sandwiches, cornbread, and soda from Becky's BBQ for the match.

Lastly, I suspect the average person is rich who goes to polo. But really who cares? I mean, how can you tell if anyone at a sporting event is a snob or not? How many people do you really interact with at a baseball game or Patriots game once you are in the stadium? Maybe the guy in front of you in the bathroom line or concessions line. The guy whose seat is next to yours. I do know this, a lot of people brought their dogs (yes you can bring your dog) and a lot of people were admiring them, meeting and playing with other people's pets. In short, everyone seemed really friendly.

Oh ya, parking is free also, and it is only a thirty second walk from your car to the field.

So we got our fifteen dollar ticket, parked the car, and carried our food and drink to an open spot. We set up our blanket and lawn chair and got comfortable for the match. There are three chukkers (periods) on each side of halftime. Each is seven minutes long. At the end of each seven minutes the riders switch out horses. Each horse gets ridden once per half. The riders hit the ball with a mallet. The object is to hit the ball through the goal posts.

On the other side of the field you can pitch tents and tailgate
right up to the boards

At halftime the fans are encouraged to go out on the field and stomp down the divots. Imagine being allowed on the field at Fenway during the seventh inning stretch.  So we went on the field doing our part to flatten it out. Of course we had to watch out for the "steaming divots". After the match the players ride by the fans high fiving them as they pass. The announcer words it this way" the riders come by for the sweaty hand thing". It is a thrill for the kids to get their hand slapped, but really the adults like it too. It is a tradition and almost every spectator was at the edge of the field waiting for the riders to slap their hand.  The Newport team won 11-10. We got back into our car and was off of the field and back on Route 138 in less than ten minutes. Ending a really fun afternoon at the Newport Polo Grounds.

The riders doing the "sweaty hand thing" High fiving the fans

You can order tickets online or just get them the day of the match. Matches start at 5 pm on Saturdays. On some weeks it is USA vs an International team. The other week it is the Newport team vs other cities (we say them play Palm Springs) Info can be found at the website. Bring some food a bottle of wine or soda and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of polo.

https://www.nptpolo.com/

Sometimes it's the Little Things (in this case Leopard Frogs and Marsh Wrens)

Marsh Wren

This morning I went to Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge in Concord. The goal- to see and photograph Marsh Wrens. I had heard them this year at Plum but hadn't seen any. Basically, I was just looking for something to do.

Normally, I write to inspire others to get outside. Not today, unless burning sweat dripping into your eyes is on your bucket list, then ninety degree heat with seventy percent humidity, is not a lot of fun. Still, I got some pretty decent pictures.

There were a lot of leopard frogs in the grass. I haven't seen too many since I was a kid, so it is was nice to see them. There were also a lot of Marsh Wrens calling. One came out of the cattails for a few seconds. Pictures -

Leopard Frog

There were a lot of this species of water lily

I mean, a real lot

Milkweed

Cardinal flower

A turkey and her poult were on the trail

Back up plan B,C,D

Of the few Saltmarsh Sparrows I have ever seen, this is by far
the best photograph I have gotten.  

I wanted to go to New Hampshire this weekend. However, the weather predicted powerful thunderstorms in the mountains. Over the next couple of days there was also predicted to be only sporadic sunshine. Not exactly the report to inspire an out of shape middle aged man to climb a mountain. I try not to hike if there is cloud cover, because fifty feet of grey air is not the view I am looking for. I made my decision last night about 5 pm to stay home. But what to do on my Friday and Saturday off days?

Well, I planned on going to the Cape to do some striper fishing. There has been a good bite the last couple of weeks for those willing to be there at first light. So I attempted to get up very early to be there by 5 am. However, I've worked my ass off the last couple weeks and when I woke I decided I needed more sleep than I needed to (attempt) to catch stripers.

So this left me with two other summer ideas. The first was to go snorkeling at Prudence Island. I like going there at low tide and swim around the rocks. Problem was, low tide was at 3 pm today. So it didn't exactly fit with the ferry schedule. Also it was so hot and humid, I really didn't want to peddle my bike all over the island to get to my favorite cove. If these all sound like excuses, you are probably right.

I also thought that our area was supposed to get afternoon thunderstorms. This ruled out my last option of birding at Charlestown Breachway. Being on the mudflats with absolutely no cover surrounded by water is the worst possible place to be in a thunderstorm. However, I checked the hourly forecast and there was between a 0-10% chance of afternoon precipitation. So I put my kayak on my car and headed south. I got stuck in traffic in multiple spots (there was a three car pile up on I-295 that backed up traffic for two miles). I almost turned around at multiple points because of the traffic. Once I got past a certain point I figured I may as well keep going. I also knew I may as well stay down there for a while because the beach traffic coming home was thick.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

I finally made it down about 4:15 and put the kayak in. A short paddle got me on the mudflats. There were a lot of shorebirds. I didn't see any rare species, but many of the more common ones. I was surprised to see at least 14 Piping Plovers. The best birds I saw was Saltmarsh Sparrow and Seaside Sparrow. I watched the Saltmarsh Sparrows for some time hoping to get a good picture of them. I got one that I am happy with.

I also played in the mud and found a few littlenecks. I was having so much fun I lost track of time. I had planned on going p to Narragansett if there weren't many birds. I never checked the time and before I knew it, it was 8 pm, and the sun was starting to set (it was cloudy so it felt late anyway). I paddled back to the car and came home. All in all, It was a fun afternoon. I'm glad I had a Plan D.

Cropped picture of a Seaside Sparrow. A little out of focus
but the first one I have ever photographed.