Astronomy

 Well, as if I didn't have enough things to keep me busy, I seem to be picking up a new hobby, astronomy. For the last couple of months I have been watching courses on astronomy. Also, thanks to Facebook, I have been watching free live chats about the science. These chats have mostly been resented by Astronomy clubs in California.

   I won't even pretend to tell you I know that much yet. For one thing, when I go outside I have too much light pollution to see all the constellations near my house. However, I can see the bright stars and planets. Other than Orion and the Big Dipper I didn't know what any of the stars/constellations in the winter sky. Now I can pick out the stars in the Winter Hexagon, I know where the Pleiades are and where to find the Orion Nebula. All of these discoveries have been fun and fascinating. 

   If you look at the second star in the handle of the Big Dipper through binoculars you can easily see it isn't one star but actually two! The star you can see naked eye is Mizar and the other one is Alcor. If you follow the arc of the handle and keep going past the last star across the sky you will see a bright red star that is Arcturus. The way you find it is you "arc to Arcturus". Learning things like this really made my winter go by so much faster. I am really looking forward to seeing how the sky is going to change throughout the year.  Since everything is new to me, it feels like I am looking at the heavens through the eyes of a child. 

   A friend of mine offered to sell me his telescope for a good price. His scope is a professional one not the kind you would buy at Dick's sporting goods. I would never need to buy another one. However, I m so new at this, that I still have plenty to find in binoculars. But I am looking forward to the point where I graduate up to his ten inch refractor telescope!  

Two Lifers, a trip to Maine, and a Covid Test

   

Redwing

   A few weeks ago another really rare European visitor visited the lower 48. This one was not in Rhode Island but in Portland, ME. The bird is known as a Redwing. It is a bird of fields and meadows and sort of resembles a Robin. The closest they regularly occur is Iceland. There have been very few sightings in the USA. A bunch of my friends went on a Saturday in January to see it. Because of Covid they all took separate cars. I had to work and my friend Sue had to babysit. Neither of us were terribly upset because it was during that cold spell. The high for the day was eight degrees and the wind was whipping. 

   The bird has not left the spot it was found for weeks. Although it is really rare, it is usually very easy to see in the brush near the "Henry bench" at Capisic Pond Park. Sue suggested we go up to Maine and look for it. Besides the Redwing, another rare bird had been seen there, a Black Headed Grosbeak, a native of western grasslands. To add more sweetener to the trip a pair of Dickcissel have been hanging around. I have seen a few Dickcissel, but never got a decent photo of one. 

   

Dickcissel

So Sue and I got a Covid test and once we got our negative results we planned our trip. If time was not an issue Sue wanted to bird the New Hampshire coast and we both wanted to try Salisbury for a variety of birds. Salisbury Beach has had Crossbills, Snowy, Short Eared, and Long Eared Owl this winter. Not to mention Redpolls, Snow Buntings, and White Winged Crossbill. Most important to me was the Long Eared Owl which I have dipped on but would be a lifer. 

    Within five minutes of pulling into Capisic Park we had the Redwing. A couple of people were looking right at it. We watched and photographed it for fifteen minutes. Fifty feet down the path I saw a flock of House Sparrows was in the brush. Knowing that Dickcissel associate with House Sparrows I watched them. A Dickcissel popped out right out in the open for us. Again we watched this bird for quite some time. 

  After seeing our two targets, we looked around for the Black Headed Grosbeak for about ninety minutes. It hadn't been seen  for a few days but we gave it the old college try. We left more than happy that we got the Redwing and Dickcissel and it still wasn't noon.

   We drove along the New Hampshire coast and stopped at Hampton Beach. Sue is hoping to get one hundred species in each New England state. We were pleasantly surprised to find an Ipswich Savannah Sparrow and eight Purple Sandpipers. I think we left New Hampshire with about twenty birds.

 

Extremely cropped photo of my
lifer Long Eared Owl

 I'll be honest, despite the long list of good birds I named four paragraphs up, all I really wanted at Salisbury was the Long Eared Owl and maybe the very unlikely White Winged Crossbill. I went up specifically for the Long Eared a couple weeks ago but dipped. I didn't care if I saw Snowy Owl or Common Redpolls. Long Eared would be a lifer, and with our luck so far, I was optimistic. After heading straight to the bathroom we started birding. The Long Eared Owl has been in a clump of pines for three or four weeks. The problem is sometimes it stays well hidden. 

  From the rest room parking lot we could see a bunch of cars around the pines. We got excited because that many people wouldn't be there if it wasn't visible. Sure enough when we drove over we were rewarded with views of the Long Eared Owl. It was well hidden behind a lot of brush in a cedar tree only three feet off of the ground. This did not make for a good photo shoot, but seeing it was awesome. We watched it for quite a while, while also showing other birders where it was through Sue's scope. We left the owl, and looked for Crossbills and Redpolls, but the best we could do was a Red Breasted Nuthatch upgrade.

Needless to say, we had a fantastic day. I got two lifers, Redwing and Long Eared Owl (Sue had seen Long Eared Owl before). I also got photo upgrades of Dickcissel and Red Breasted Nuthatch. If you throw in the Pink Footed Goose from yesterday I got life or upgrade photo of five species of bird in about eighteen hours. 

Red Breasted Nuthatch
not cropped

I owe a huge thank you to Sue for suggesting the trip. I also went with her to get Covid tested which has very easy and completely painless. I never would have taken the trip alone. We had a lot of fun and saw some great birds. A few more photos below

A Red Tailed Hawk that only had one 
red tail feather

Another look at the Redwing

Dickcissel in a different tangle of brush

Yesterday's Pink Footed Goose

Well named

I'm told this Red Tailed Hawk flew so close to 
my head yesterday that I should felt the wind from
its wings. I didn't, but it did land in a tree six feet from 
me after it flew over me. 

Lucky Goose

 Today I went to South County for three reasons. I wanted to see the Snow Geese, I wanted to see Red Crossbills, and I wanted to take a rapid Covid test. The test came back negative, so off I went to see Snow Geese. It snowed ALL DAY today, but did not stick to the roads. After getting my test in Westerly I drove up to Card's Pond Road in Matunack The geese were in a field with Canada Geese. They were at least sixty yards away and the snow looked like a blizzard coming down. Factor in Snow Geese are white as the snow on the ground, lets just say it was not a good photo opportunity. However, Snow Geese are in my top ten favorite bird species so I watched them for fifteen minutes while snow piled up on my coat.

   From the Snow Geese I had a ten minute ride to Jerusalem. I did not see the Red Crossbills. They were probably off waiting out the snowstorm as best they could. I did have a young Red Tailed Hawk fly so close to my head that my friend Sue said I should have felt the wind. It landed in a tree right next to me and although the light was bad, got off some decent photos.

   

Easy to see why it was named 
Pink Footed Goose

While we were looking for the Crossbills, a girl named April Alex found a Pink Footed Goose n Johnston. I have only seen one Pink Footed Goose (PFG for now on). And I think there have been less than five ever seen in Rhode Island. PFG are a much more northern species. You are likely to find them in Greenland. This worked out perfectly for me since I have to drive through Johnston to get home. The little pond it was at was only 1.3 ,miles off of I-295. 

   The PFG was up on the bank feeding. I had it before I got out of my car. After it went back in the water for a swim I got some great photos as it swam all around. With the Mallards and Canada Geese it was comfortable with people around. I watched it with another birder for a half hour before I decided standing out in the snow was enough for one day.  

Recapping the last few weeks

Townsend's Warbler on right

 Now that the pressure is off of chasing every bird under the sun, all I really want to do is make memories and document them with my camera. I want to have as few bad days birding as possible and drive home with a smile on my face as close to one hundred percent of the time as I can. The last few weeks have been great. I didn't do too many blogposts because I needed the post about the Christmas Bird Count to stand alone for a while so people that may be interested could see it.

   However, I have done all kinds of adventures. Most of the birds are still around if anyone is interested in finding them. 

January 28, Bourne, MA

   In a snow flurry I drove to an area near Scusset Beach I staked out a Townsend's Warbler. This is a west coast species. They don't show up very often so I went down to Bourne to look for it. It was living in a backyard and eating at a feeder. It took over an hour staring into a backyard before it ate at the feeder. A lot of people must have been there in the days before me because a cop drove by. He never slowed down and just gave me a polite wave.

January 29

I went to go see the Varied Thrush that has been hanging out in Chepachet for over a month. I saw it feeding within ten minutes of being there but the real highlight were the bluebirds that came to the road while I was parked feeding on berries right across the street in perfect light.

Varied Thrush

After I left the thrush and bluebirds I went for the number one bird I wanted to get a photo of that I have seen. The species...Evening Grosbeak. The good news is I saw a whole flock. The bad news is they were pretty far away and they never stopped moving so I didn't get any wall hangers despite fifteen minutes of trying. So mission accomplished that I got photos, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

Feb 5

I went to of all places, Cranston to see Rusty Blackbirds. Rusty Blackbirds are one of three species I really want to see/photograph this year. Ninety minutes and 210 photos later, that mission is complete. I had only seen Rusty Blackbirds once in my life. They are really cool and enjoyed watching them. A couple of photos, then more adventures below

Feb 11

   I decided to try my luck at Salisbury Beach again. There are a lot of good birds in that one area. Long Eared Owl has been there for a week. Seeing one would be a lifer. White Winged Crossbill has still been reported, and I really want a photo. Those are the two birds I wanted most but there is a Snowy Owl there now. Continuing birds include Red Crossbills, Common Redpolls, Snow Buntings, and a Hoary Redpoll that would be a lifer.

   Unfortunately this was not the best day birding. I didn't see White Winged Crossbills or the Long Eared Owl and neither did anyone else. I did see the Snowy Owl one hundred yards in the marsh. I did get a photo upgrade of Red Breasted Nuthatch. Despite dipping on the two reasons I went there. I enjoyed my five hours spent.

Northern Harrier taking off

Red Breasted Nuthatch

It's not too often I get a face show of
Northern Harriers. They have a face like an owl

Snowy Owl keeping far away from people

The only Red Crossbill I saw.
Female

Feb 12

   Since I dipped on so many birds on Thursday, I figured I'd try to dip on a mammal on Friday. So I went, for the third time, looking for River Otters. As usual, I had missed them. Apparently they spent all day on the ice yesterday playing and people got amazing photos. This morning, while I was nursing a migraine, I missed them by an hour.

   While I was dipping on the otters, my friend Jan refound a Yellow Breasted Chat that was seen yesterday in Beavertail. Other friends Carlos and Jess found a Rough Legged Hawk in Matunack, the first one since 2019.  The hawk is the rarer, therefore "better bird" but I wanted the Chat more. I was only 20 minutes away. Despite being so bright, Chats are a very hard bird to see and photograph. They are very shy and like to hide in the thickest, densest cover they can find.  I ended up meeting Carlos and Jess, then later Sue. We found the Chat. I had only seen three others before and only had one photo of a blurry lemon in a tree. I got two clear photos of today's Yellow Breasted Chat.  

   After seeing the Yellow Breasted Chat I did go down to Matunack for the hawk. Two other birder friends were on it so I had it as soon as I stepped out of the car. The sky had turned grey and the bird was far away. Still, I only had one photo of a Rough Legged Hawk and it was flying away. So despite not getting any great photos of it, I did get an upgrade of what I had.

Rough Legged Hawk

Even though I am not keeping a year list, I have decide to keep track of photo upgrades. Mostly so I can remember the location and date. January was excellent. I got 3 life birds, 11 photo upgrades and two out of the three lifers I got a life photo. So far in February I've gotten four photo upgrades. The Chat, Rusty Blackbirds, and Rough Legged Hawk are all rare birds (the fourth is the Red Breasted Nuthatch). So far so good, making birding fun again! 

Winter Wren Work

 

This Winter Wren was seen on a 
Christmas Bird Count in 2019

  Just because I am not keeping a list doesn't mean I don't have goals for the year. There are certain birds I want to see. There will always be photo upgrades to get. There are places I want to visit at certain times of the year. 

   One of my goals was to find a Winter Wren. The truth is, Winter Wrens are a very shy little bird. They are not common, but they are not rare either. I probably would come across a couple without even trying with as much as I am out. Still, since it was on my list, I have been going out of my way to find these adorable little guys. The catch, no using playback.

   I made a decision a while ago not to use playback to get birds to show themselves. Others do, and I don't care. I've gotten good looks at birds because others have. But for me, I made the decision not to. The thing about Winter Wrens is they are skulkers. They like to hide in the brush unseen. But they also come out very easily if someone plays their song. I made a choice that I wanted to find Winter Wrens (and all other birds) the hard way.

   Today was at least my third attempt to find Winter Wrens this year. They like wet marshy type areas with mud. I know a few of those spots and have been checking them on a regular basis. There have been a couple times I've seen a flash of a little bird dart off into the brush that I'm sure were Winter Wrens, but never saw them enough to ID.

   Today as i was walking up the road from my car the same thing happened. A little brown shadow slipped into the underbrush. I waited a few minutes but it didn't come back out. I walked further up the road then back down the other side. I went back to the same spot roughly 40 minutes later. Quite a few White Throated Sparrows moved in and were feeding. Feeding along side of them in deep cover twenty feet from the road was my Winter Wren! I watched it go back and forth in and out of site for a minute before it disappeared for good. Obviously, I didn't get a picture but I knew I wasn't going to.

   I probably spent two hours this year looking for that bird. The cray thing is I knew where it was. It was just a matter of seeing it. I earned the right to cross that one of of my 2021 goal list. Now as Bill Belichick would say...on to Yellow Breasted Chat.

Disappearing Bucket List Items and lesson learned

Wild Horse seen from the driveway
 of the sanctuary

 I have written repeatedly that my bucket list is written down in a notebook. Unless I really do sell my house and live out of a car and a tent, realistically I could not do everything on the list. Still, I'm going to give it the old college try. The vacations I have gone on lately are places with multiple items I can cross off of my bucket list. When I went to Florida in the olden days of 2019, there were thirteen things I wanted to do. I managed to do twelve while catching a tarpon didn't happen. 

  Before I even go any further I want to clarify if I do something on my bucket list, it is not a "been there, done that, check,what's next?". I really appreciate the moment and try to soak it all in. It is far more important to me that I got to swim with manatees, easily two of the best hours of my life, than it is to say I swam with them. Moving on...

   One of the things I had hoped to so someday was to go on a pelagic boat trip in Monterey Bay on Shearwater Adventures. Debbie Shearwater ran these trips for years. She has been mentioned in many books and played by Angelica Houston in "The Big Year" movie. However, Debbie retired last year so I can't do that. I probably am a couple years away from any vacations to California anyway. Despite my disappointment, it was unrealistic I could have done that trip before she retired. There really wasn't much I could do. It is the following that I am kicking myself for...

   When Laurie and I went to South Dakota in 2016 one thing we wanted to do was see wild horses. There is a sanctuary south of the Black Hills that is home to wild horses. The horses had been born wild but rounded up and many were abused. The owner of this sanctuary took in as many as 600 horses and lets them roam free on his 40,000 acre ranch.

 

 Laurie and I went there after going to a working excavation site that has fossilized Wooly Mammoths. It was early afternoon and as we pulled down the driveway we had second thoughts. You could take a bus tour out to the horses, but for the two hours it was $60/ person. While on the driveway, we could actually see some of the horses feeding. We had already spent more money than planned and sixty dollars to see horses just didn't seem worth it. So we left.

    We had a great time on that vacation and I think we will go back again soon. There were other things on that trip we didn't do. So another vacation to South Dakota wouldn't be a carbon copy of the 2016 trip. There's a lot to do in that state, and you can't do it all on one trip. 

    I regretted not going on the bus tour almost from the moment we got home. There isn't any question that when we go back, seeing the wild horses is the thing I most want to do. I still want to sleep in the prairie of Wind Cave National Park, and I want to eat the ice cream at Mt Rushmore, but I really want photo ops of wild horses. Those bus trips take you right to herds of habituated wild horses. You can get pretty close to them. They are all different colors and the scenery is beautiful. I could have taken head shots and landscape photos with the horses in the foreground.

   EXCEPT!!!!! The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary is no longer open to the public. I was online the other day during the storm fantasizing about being anywhere but my living room. So I went to the wild horse website just to look. I was curious if their tours changed, if the prices changed, and just daydreaming. On the website it said the Wild Horse Sanctuary is Private property and there is no public access. There was no word about Covid. There was nothing about suspending tours until it is safe. Plain and simple they no longer do tours. 

   This is crushing! I always thought I would get back there someday. To know that I can't sucks. To make things worse, I was there. I was in the driveway. I could have pulled out $120 that I am sure looking back, I wouldn't have missed. Lesson learned! 

So my advice if you are within arm's reach of something you really want to do, DO IT! It might not ever be within reach again. 

   On a positive note, even before I found out the sanctuary was closed to the public, I had learned from my mistake. As Laurie and I were driving through the Everglades in 2019 we stopped at the national park. There is a fifteen mile paved loop through the swamp. You can rent bikes and do the fifteen miles. Also, you have to pay the national park entrance fee. The entrance fee is thirty dollars and good for a week. Though we were just driving through. The bike rental was $9/hour. This would be an eighty four dollar bike ride. As we were sitting across the street from the park entrance, I remembered the regret of not paying for the horse bus tour. So we paid our fee and rented the bikes. It was worth  every penny. We saw tons of gators and wading birds. The trip through the swamp was awesome. 

As I write this, I think of the miss opportunity of being so close to the horses. I learned, the hard way, that some of the things on my list are out of my control so do them if you can. It is not just about how long until I kick the bucket.

One of the gators right next to the bike path.
At least I learned something 

Christmas Bird Count Info

    Hello, and welcome to my blog. As I said on Groupme, there is far too much info for me to cover on the Groupme site. I know there was a lot of interest over the winter by many people wanting to join existing CBCs. Here is my plan and answers to many questions. I apologize in advance how long this is but I wanted to put it all in one place.

  Obviously, this was a bad year to join an existing CBC. The pandemic made it so count leaders keep the teams as close to a skeleton crew as possible. One of the most fun parts of a CBC is carpooling with others on your team. You get to talk about birds and have a few laughs between stops. This year, carpooling was obviously banned so that alone changed the whole dynamic of the count.

   At the end of the count day, at least one person from each section usually goes to a meeting place where all of the birds are tallied up. For the South Kingstown count it s the South Kingstown Police Station. For the Westport Count it is a church in Tiverton. These meetings are fun and there is usually food or drink provided. This was cancelled this year due to the pandemic taking away one more fun thing about the CBC. Everyone just gave their worksheets to the leader when they were done. 

   Two other things I noticed from questions- the first was people that wanted to add their feeders to counts. Although you would think it is helpful and you are contributing, it really isn't. CBC's are important because they show year to year and decade long trends. The most important thing is consistency.  You would want the same places counted year after year. So if twenty people add their  feeders to the count this year, it would throw off the year-to year numbers of chickadees, titmouse, etc...

   The other thing I want to address is nepotism. Being on the outside looking in and wanting to contribute, it can feel like CBC's are a "who you know" event. You are kind of right but not for reasons you think. Remember, some of these counts are decades old. So the people that run them have had the same friends help out for years. As I've said, and for the reason you want to help, CBC's are fun. So the people that have done them, do them year after year. It becomes a tradition to do your part of the circle. So, if the same people don't move away or die off, it is tough to join a Count Circle. After addressing that, I will need a lot of people if I were to run a count, so getting your foot in the door will benefit me very much. More on that near the end. 

   Christmas Bird Count (CBC from now on) isn't a town or a county. According to the National Audubon Society a CBC is a fifteen mile diameter circle (or a 7.5 mile radius from a center point). So all of the locations/birds have to be in the count circle. I can not, for instance just choose to do a CBC for Providence and Cranston. The count has to be in the circle. There needs to be a center point 7.5 miles from the circumference. This is why the Westerly count spills over to Connecticut and why the South Kingstown Count covers Narragansett. The name is just the name.

    As I posted on Groupme, I would like to start a count in Providence. I spent an hour one night trying to find a center point that would cover as many good spots as possible. I could not just drop a pin in downtown Providence, say City Hall for instance. If I did, there would be too much boring birding in Rehoboth and Seekonk on one side of the circle. On the other, the circle would overlap the Scituate count and that would not be good. So in my hour of trying to figure out a pinpoint that really works, A pin in the Providence River just south of Sabin's Point would cover a lot of good birding. To the northeast Swan Point would be covered. To the east would be Warren Reservoir and Barrington. Colt State Park would be covered. To the sw, Goddard State Park is in the circle. Finally, to the west, the line would end right before the Scituate CBC circle. This could work out very well.

   If I were to start a Providence Area CBC, there are some logistical problems other counts do not have. Driving through Providence, Warwick, and Cranston can be a nightmare. Comparing those towns to the nice smooth driving on Rt 1 and Rt 2 in South Kingstown, going from Point A to B will take longer. This is also an obstacle for a central meeting place in the morning and one for a (hopeful) evening count. These are things I have plenty of time to work out.

  If I were to do a Providence Count, I can not officially add it to National Audubon's list of counts until September. To start a new count I need ten committed counters. But truthfully, I would not even consider it unless the number of people was much closer to twenty. Despite being so urban, there are some very large pockets of public land (Roger Williams Park, Colt and Goddard State Parks, Swan Point, etc. As I've already said a couple times the fun part of the counts is the comradery. Either birding with friends or meeting new ones is a big part of the count. I would want "teams" to bird locations and wouldn't want to have people bird alone. Long before September I'd like to have a list of names committed to the count. But if I do, I will be happy to register a new Providence Bird count.

   Here is the thing for me, to pull this off  I will need to do a lot of work. In my vision, I'd like to count every possible public access. In addition to those large places I mentioned above, a public access spot can be a pull off by a lake where you can count ducks. Barrington has a Land Trust with many tracks. Providence has small parks. East Providence and Warwick have bike paths and all these towns have parks and places to fish. All can be counted. This will take A LOT of scouting by me and any of my friends I drag along. I don't mind this scouting, but it will take many evenings after work and/or days off to scout these spots for access. I DO NOT MIND DOING THIS AND LOOK FORWARD TO THE CHALLENGE, I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE IT IS NOT IN VAIN AND WILL HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE TO MAKE THE COUNT A SUCCESS. In addition to Groupme, I plan on inviting members of the Ocean State Bird Club. 

  We all know there "is no I in Team" but I can assure you, there is an "I" in "contribute". There are few things in birding more rewarding than contributing to a CBC. In my first count while waiting for Mike Tucker while it was still dark, I heard killdeer at Pardon Gray. When Mike got there I made him listen. It turned out they were the only Killdeer found during the entire count. Last year after I separated from Jan St Jean to find the Kestrel in the fields near Trustom I found a Chat. This South Kingston count after three of us failing to find a Saltmarsh Sparrow in Succotash Marsh I stopped near the blue house where I found five Greater Yellowlegs. Scott Tsagarakis was a few minutes behind me I waved him down to show him. The point is, anyone can contribute to a count. And I welcome anyone that wants to help.

  Lastly, and I was upfront about this on Groupme, It will be impossible to do a count on a Saturday  and very unlikely on a Sunday. The counts have to be done within a certain timeframe I believe Dec 13-Jan 4. All those Saturdays and some Sundays are filled up with existing counts. Secondly, I work every Sunday. Though I'm no one special, I can't just call out. Four different employees get Sunday's off while I cover for them. So I'd have to change four different people's schedule just to get one day off, which is unlikely during the holidays. So a Providence count would most likely be on a Friday. This is obviously not a problem for retired people, but I understand this is a problem for 9 to fivers. If you have a leftover vacation/personal/or sick days you can't carry over, maybe a Friday CBC would be a nice start of a long weekend. I wish weekend days were ore of an option but with all the other counts and my schedule, it is very unlikely.

   So, here is your mission if you choose to accept it. If you really think you can join the count please DM me on the Groupme site. Please send a message that says you can do or not do both a Friday or Sunday. It would look something like this

Friday yes

Sunday no

   Or whatever days you are available. If you have any other questions you can DM me those also. Like I said the timeframe would be mid-December to the first week of January. Please only reply if you are 90% confident this is something you can do. I don't want to scout all these places thinking I'll have twenty five helpers but twenty back out the last minute. Luckily for me, I have access to a lot of advice. Dan Berard, who runs the Scituate Count is the president of the bird club which I am a board member. Also, Scott Tsagarakis who runs the South Kingstown Count is one of birding buddies and has been very helpful so far in giving me advice. I'm sure having them to guide me can and will help make the count a success. As I mentioned above, the point of CBC's are to see year to year trends. So a one time count is worthless. Assuming I have enough participants, I plan on doing this count for many years. So if you help out, your foot won't just be in the door, you will be in the count year after year if you want. 

If nothing else, thanks for reading this and your interest in a Providence Area CBC is appreciated.