Fishing New Hampshire

 

Big George still had snow my entire trip to the Whites

   

   The following is basically a journal entry from my fishing trip to NH. Some of it is copied and pasted from my Facebook posts and some of you have read parts of it already. Other parts are more detailed than stuff I had already written. Mostly it is here so I can look back at my vacation itinerary in case I ever go back in May.

Day 2 Wednesday May 24

   One of my main goals was to catch a Northern Pike. Tuesday I drove up and spent most of the day getting a campsite. I really didn't do much else, so Tuesday was a travel day

 

 I spent all morning on Moore Reservoir. Moore Reservoir is an impoundment on the Connecticut River. It is considered a very good pike lake. I fished this reservoir in Nov 2021. The temp was twenty eight degrees to start the day and the temp peaked in the mid-40s. Despite the cold, I caught three Smallmouth on big spinnerbaits with steel leaders made for pike. This made me think there must be a lot of Smallies if I caught three on pike baits in the freezing cold.

 
 I put in at 8 am Wednesday because it was a chilly morning and getting out of a warm tent didn't seem like fun. When I got to the lake it was overcast and windless. Perfect for fishing from the canoe. I worked my way along the Eastern shore casting my pike lures towards any cover I could find. This meant rocks and wood. The weeds have not grown yet in the chilly northern New Hampshire spring. I never got a hit or a follow.

   After passing a mile of prefect Smallmouth habitat I took out my bass rod and started casting a grub on a 1/8 jighead. Within three casts I hooked a thirteen inch Smallmouth. I hooked another a few casts later. I had a decision to make, Smallmouth or Pike? This wasn't an easy decision for me. While I knew I'd catch more Smallmouth, I drove all this way to fish for Pike. 

Rock Bass

  So I compromised. I fished for Smallmouth as I worked the shoreline and when I came to wood, flats, or stream mouths I casted my pike lures. This worked out okay for the Smallies. I caught seven and had at least that many more hits. Of course I did not catch a Pike or there would already be a photo for you to see. 

  For most of the morning the weather was perfect for fishing. Some of the time it was flat and part of the time there was a slight breeze causing small ripples. About noon it started to rain. I fished in the rain for another two hours hoping a pike would like the weather. No luck. On the other hand, I'd love to fish this lake for Smallmouth with a boat and trolling motor. If I caught seven with another ten hits fishing half the time for pike not to mention paddling for at least three miles, what damage could be done if the entire time was dedicated to Smallmouth fishing? I guess I won't know anytime soon. 

  All in all,  although I dipped again on Northern Pike, I had a good day fishing. I'd have preferred not to get soaked but the weather was perfect for fishing especially from a canoe. I'll try again.

Day 3 Thursday May 25

Nine inch trout

   After an afternoon of rain on Wednesday, the forecast was for clearing skies and highs in the fifties, I knew that was a recipe for a northwest wind. So I knew I wasn't going to try Moore Reservoir again today. So I went trout fishing at ponds I wanted to fish anyway. One of the goals of this trip is to avoid unnecessary driving. Driving with the canoe on my car is killing my gas milage plus, I just don't want to drive for no reason. 

  So today, I hit the ponds on Sandwich Notch Road. Sandwich Notch Rd connects Rt 49 (the road to Waterville Valley) and Center Harbor. It is really rough with rocks and potholes. It is possible to drive it in a 2 wheel drive vehicle but you must go slow and dodge obstacles. I only plan on going down this road once. 

The first stop was Upper Hall Pond. Upper Hall is a fly fishing only pond. It has special restrictions that all trout 12-16 inches be released. I'd like to tell you it is loaded with fish in that slot range, but I've never caught one that size in there. That said, it is usually loaded with fish. 

   I put the canoe in the water while an older couple was also fishing from a canoe. I could see a couple of rises right in front of the launch but it looked like the couple was making their way there. So I paddled out to the far side of the lake. As I did, the wind picked up and blew me towards that shore. I anchored up but it was no use, the wind kept pushing me.

   So I paddled back towards the lee shore. I had to paddle backwards because the wind was too strong for me to paddle with the bow into the wind. It took me fifteen minutes to go 150 yards.

   When I got to the "calmer shore" I started fishing again. The wind was still strong enough to move me when it gusted, but for the most part I could fish. After a few casts I got a hit. At this point I was expecting to go fishless. So the hit was very much welcomed. A few casts later I caught a nine inch brookie. Then another, and another, and so on. Once I found fish, catching was easy. I had on what was a beadhead flashback Hares Ear, but it is so beat up, it is hard to tell what it is anymore. Still, the fish loved it. All told I caught fifteen Brookies at Upper Hall. All of them cookie cutter nine inch fish. I got a little bored with these cookie cutter fish and fighting the wind so I went off to my next pond.

Common Shiner from Kiah Pond

   The next pond I fished is Kiah Pond. Kiah is a mile off Sandwich Notch Road and the drive is just as rough. When I got to the pond I ate a quick lunch and launched. Kiah is a small pond so it was not as windy as Upper Hall, but there was still an annoying gust. I paddled to the lee shore and started fishing.

  Two casts in with my torn up fly, I hooked up a nine inch Brookie. Moving around the lee shore I ended up catching eight fish in an hour. Same as Upper Hall they all looked exactly the same. By the time I caught the eighth one, I had enough. I put the canoe on the car and made the technical drive back down Sandwich Notch Rd. I was very excited to see pavement. I went to Lincoln where I spent the next hour reading emails and texts while having two slices of pizza.

   One other note about Kiah Pond. Kiah has Common Shiners. I had planned on putting on a tiny fly after I was done trout fishing to catch one. I didn't have to because a shiner about four inches hit my beat up Hares Ear. 

   Honestly, I was happy to get my Sandwich Notch Road day out of my system. I like Upper Hall Pond and Kiah Pond. I had a very good day at each. If I stayed at Upper Hall all day I could have caught dozens of fish. They were very aggressive. However, nine inch stocked trout can only hold your interest for so long. 

   So at 4 pm I was thinking of going back to my campsite but there was still a lot of daylight left. So I took a look at Echo Lake in Franconia  Notch. The wind was howling from north to south right into the boat ramp. I decided to fish from shore. I put on my waders and used my spinning rod. I never would have been able to cast my fly rod into that wind. I put on a 1/8 ounce Kastmaster which casts very well into the wind.

  Third cast I caught a trout that was (say it with me) nine inches. I thought here we go again. But it was early and I hoped that they wouldn't all be that size. After the second fish, I could tell there were a lot of them in front of me, so I crushed the barbs of my spoon to make releasing the fish so much easier.  It didn't take long to find out if there were any big ones around. A few fish later I hooked a fish that had some serious weight. When I got it in, it was roughly sixteen inches and close to three pounds. I took some photos and released it. This got me excited. 

 

 The fish were stacked up in the wind and I killed them. In an hour, all on the Kastmaster, I caught twenty fish. I caught ne tiny four incher and I wondered if it was a wild trout? Maybe a holdover fry from last year? I don't know. 

   Most of the fish were in the eight to nine inch range. However, I caught two others that would be considered "lunkers" by New Hampshire standards. They were the same size as the other big one. All of them extremely fat and close to three pounds. They were really fun to catch.

   After an hour I called it a day. That north wind along with the wet fish was freezing my hands. Obviously, I had a great day. I caught forty two fish. Three of them trophies. I caught them from three different ponds. Twenty two on the fly rod, twenty on the Kastmaster. Even though I "complained" that so many of the fish were cookie cutter nine inch fish, I know most of the people coming up to New Hampshire over the holiday weekend would be happy to catch one or two of those Brookies. I count my blessings, I promise you that!

Day 4 Friday May 26

Commerford Reservoir/ Echo Lake

Day 4 I tried for Pike again on an impoundment on the CT River named Commerford Reservoir. When I got there it was flat. By the time I launched it was breezy. By the time I came back two hours later the waves were borderline dangerous. Don't worry, I said borderline. I dealt with the wind for hours without a hit. In the afternoon I licked my wounds at Echo Lake catching four Brook Trout. Laurie came up Friday night and we made supper at Crawford Notch.

Day 5 Saturday

Wild Brook Trout

The goal today was to hike out to some beaver ponds that I had caught wild Brook trout at a couple years ago. Catching wild Brookies was second on my list on this trip only to getting a Pike. We had to hike in a couple of miles but we came in from the opposite end that I had before.

I didn't know what to expect. These Beaver ponds have been around for years. So the area around them has become flooded meadows. We firmly expected to get our feet wet so we wore old sneakers.

The first pond we came to didn't have any access due to thick brush around it. The second pond was drained and all that was left was a trickle of a steam surrounded by a mudflat. The third pond was only slightly better. The access point had, had me casting over a sterile mudflat. Things were not looking good. Keeping in mind, Laurie was only coming along for the scenery and a muddy dried up lake was not cutting it.

The head net saved the trip for me

The first wild Brookie

At the fourth pond there was a nice grassy area where someone had obviously camped. This gave Laurie a nice spot to enjoy the breeze while I scouted a place to actually make a backcast.

I moved up to the Beaver dam in the next pond up. I walked out onto the dam and started casting a Bead head Pheasant Tail. No luck but I did see two fish swirl within casting range. Next I tried an Alder fly hoping a dry would work. It did not. So I tried a tiny Hares Ear which did match the color of the flies on the water. Within three casts I caught an 8 inch wild trout. I yelled to Laurie I had one. Took some photos and let it go. I caught another one a few cast later. That was it. It took me an hour to catch a fish and almost three hours to get to these ponds. I packed up after the second fish and made my way back to Laurie. We looked at a newt that I couldn't grab and made our way back out.

We stopped in Lincoln for pizza and went to the Cog Railway parking lot to look at the view of Washington before heading back to camp.

Despite seeming almost ungrateful that I was catching " nine inch cookie cutters" on Thursday the little wild Brookies are a whole different story. I love those beautiful wild fish. You don't hike six miles round trip for their size. Two fish that were well worth the hike.

Now he walks in quiet solitude the forest and the streams

Seeking grace in every step he takes

His sight has turned inside himself to try to understand

The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake

John Denver and Thomas Wanderer

Day 6 Sunday May 28

  Today was a birding day. We went to Pondicherry which is a NWR. The one bird I hoped to see on this trip is a Mourning Warbler. We didn't see one at Pondicherry but otherwise, had a great day. I realized pretty quickly that hearing birds is a lot easier than seeing them up here. For example, we heard at least five Canada Warblers but only actually saw one. We did get some good birds. We had a great look at a Sapsucker drilling holes. We did see the one Canada Warbler and two Alder Flycatchers. Two loons were in close also.

   

   The best thing we saw wasn't a bird but a Snowshoe Hare. We got to see it a couple of times as it made its way in and out of the scrub. We also saw a grouse cross the railroad tracks and a deer feeding near them. All in all it was a good morning.

   Laurie's feet were pretty beat up from the hiking so we took it easy the afternoon. For lunch we had a picnic near Echo Lake and I fished there a little while with one hit. However I have a good memory from being there. I was fishing near the boat ramp. It was a busy day (Memorial weekend Sunday) with a lot of kayaks in the water. I knew there would be traffic. There was this one group coming in. I could see the lead guy purposely coming in right in front of me instead of going around where I was casting. As he got right in front of me he flipped his kayak. It was beautiful karma. We left after the disturbance.

   Next I went to Mirror Lake. Again, there was a lot of people. Way more than I expected. We were there so I fished for thirty minutes. I had one good pull but dropped it. I had three other taps on the Kastmaster. We went back to Echo Lake before dark where I caught two Brookies, finally!

Day 7 Monday May 29

   Laurie wasn't going to be able to be able to do any real hiking so we went back to Pondicherry in the morning. We saw the hare again. We saw one of the Alder Flycatchers and heard two more. I did hear a Mourning Warbler but it would not show itself. 

 

Rainbow Trout

After Pondicherry, we came back to camp and packed Laurie's tent. We bought gas and some chicken salad. We had a picnic at Echo Lake again. From there we took the Gondola up Canon Mtn. The hope was to see Bicknells Thrush. We didn't but it was still beautiful . We stayed on top about an hour before heading down. 

   Laurie left at 4 pm  and I went back to camp and took a nap. 

Then I went fishing at the Ammonoosuc River where I caught two Rainbows on a Kastmaster because they wouldn't hit my flies.

Tuesday May 30 Day 8

I got an early start and fished Moore Reservoir again. I pretty much knew I was going to fish for bass not Pike since I can find amazing bass habitat but not much for Pike.

I had a great morning. I caught 18 Smallmouth Bass all on either a Zara Puppy or a 4 inch grub.

When my back was done I drove to another boat ramp to scout for tomorrow looking for Pike habitat. It looked great for bass. I didn't want to sit in my canoe so I walked the shoreline casting my grub into likely looking water. I caught another ten Smallies before I turned around for the car.

Of the 28 bass, about fifteen were between 12-15 inches. I didn't get any real big ones.

The only time I ever caught more bass was when I hired a guide on Squam Lake. So today was by far the best day I've ever had for bass that I didn't have to pay for.

As for my game plan. Not sure if I'm going to bass or trout fish tomorrow. I also don't know if I still plan on fishing at Umbagog. It is another 90 minutes north. If I'd have caught one real big trophy sized Smallmouth I wouldn't even think about going. Too much gas and more driving. But I do want a big bass. So it's all up in the air. Nice problem to have, where to fish.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take your broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were waiting for that moment to arrive

McCartney/ Lennon and Thomas Wanderer

Day 8 the night

I went to Saco Lake hoping to fly fish. When I got out of the car I heard a loud chorus that I thought were Tree Frogs. Instead, they were American Toads calling in the water. So I watched toads. Then I saw movement in the water. I followed it and it was an Otter chasing trout. I saw it catch and eat two trout! So I knew I wasn't fishing. While walking around the pond I came across two beavers. One was out of the water cutting down a sapling. It walked back to the edge of the water while the other one kept watch. The one swimming slapped its tail three times but swam right up to me multiple times. All this happened in a half hour.

Day 9 May 31 Wednesday

 

 Fished Moore Reservoir again. This time at the Perking's Landing site. Caught about twenty Smallmouth and a dozen Rock Bass. Same as last time, half the fish were over twelve inches.  I saw a small pike about two feet. It saw me before I saw it and cruised to deeper water. Fished until 2 pm. 

  After a supper of pizza, I went to Saco Lake again. Saw the Beavers and toads, but not the Otter. 

Then went to Lower Falls of the Amonoosuc where I caught six trout on an Adams and one on a Kastmaster. I got killed by mosquitoes

Day 10 June 1 Thursday

  

I tried another boat ramp on Moore Reservoir. This one on the very north end where the CT River comes in. Turned out it was not very good. I tried for Pike with a big spinnerbait. The first cast I caught a decent Smallmouth which I thought was a Pike until I saw it. .

After that fish, I caught another dozen bass, but they were all dinks. I was purposely trying not to catch them. When I saw them following my lure I'd pull it away. I left early because I didn't feel like catching 9 inch bass. I also caught some Yellow Perch and a Fallfish.

Big Olivarian Lake Brookie

So I drove an hour to a pond I had on my list for trout, Olivarian. To my dismay it was pretty windy. I had a tough time keeping the canoe where I wanted it. I caught one big Brookie in ninety minutes.

The highlight of the pond were two conversations. One with a Gulf War vet that had moved to the area. He was originally from RI. He told me about his tour in Bagdad.

The second conversation was with a lawyer. But he is an amateur botanist and knew about insects. He showed me some plants and a wasp.

I drove back to Saco Lake to see the toads and Beaver. But the Otter wasn't around.

Day 11 Friday June 2

I packed up the tent while getting eaten by mosquitoes early. Then I drove to the lakes region and fished a small pond named Kusumpe.

I caught a few pickerel and a couple bass. I had a very big bass on the line but it came off. The proverbial " one that got away". It was a tough loss and I don't want to talk about it anymore.

While I was fishing I heard a rumble in the woods. When I looked over, it was a bear walking along the shore. I got a good view of it before it went out of sight.

I was still pissed about my big fish and thought about would I rather see the bear or catch the big fish. It wasn't even close, I wanted the fish.

About noon I packed up and headed home. Before I left I caught a newt with my butterfly net. Took some photos and put him back.

No you never see it comin'

Always wind up wondering where it went

Only time will tell if it was time well spent

It's another revolution

Celebrating what I should have done

With these souvenirs of my trip around the sun

Jimmy Buffett and Thomas Wanderer

Summary

71 Smallmouth

57  (presumably stocked)Trout

8 of the trout were Rainbows

2 Wild Brook Trout

Caught from five ponds and a river

Other fish caught

  3 Pickerel

 1 Common Shiner

 25+ Rock Bass

 1 Fallfish 

 4 Yellow Perch

More Herps while birding

 I spent a good chunk of May looking for birds. However, as the day would progress and the birds got quiet I started looking down more and more for herps. I was pretty successful. Besides the Spotted Turtles I came across some other good stuff. 

   One frog Laurie found was a Pickerel Frog. I tried to grab it but it hopped about four feet to the water. Would have like to get a photo because it was a lifer for Richard.

   The best thing I saw, I didn't find. My friend Allison O'Conner and I both went to a meeting at Kettle Pond. We both got there early to bird, though she was there before me. When I ran into her, she told me about a Grey Tree Frog she had just seen. So we raced out to go see it. Photo Below

I came across this small Northern Water Snake while walking back to the car one day with Richard Tucker. I found it, he grabbed it, we both got a photo holding it, we let it go.

                                                         Richard holding the Water Snake

                                                       And myself

This was another Northern Water Snake I spooked near a pond. It only slithered to a tree limb near the water and we watched it for a few minutes. Myself, Laurie, and Richard.

                                                     American Toad

                                                        Out of focus Garter Snake

                                                        Another Toad

Northern Rough Winged Swallow Upgrade

 

   I've gotten lucky with some species and it would be hard to upgrade my photos. Some species have quite literally put on a show and I've been fortunate enough to have a fifteen minute photo shoot with them. When that happens I will manipulate my settings and play with them on my camera. I'll change the aperture and/or the shutter speed. I'll take some photos on the "P" mode and even a few on autofocus. If the bird is close enough sometimes I can get multiple near perfect photos.

   On the other hand, some species just don't want me to photograph them. One example would be Sharp Shinned Hawk. I've seen quite a few. They are not a rare bird especially in the winter. But I'll be damned if I can ever get a photo of one. There are other species that also come to mind that I've gotten either terrible or no photos of. One of them would be Northern Rough Winged Swallow.

  Rough Winged Swallows are a common bird. They nest everywhere there is water. They will also migrate with other swallow species. I see or hear them just about every time I am at Trustom Pond. But for some reason, I can never get a good photo of one. 

   Trying to get a photo of a flying swallow is an exercise in futility. They move so fast and never in a straight line. Trying to focus on one is almost impossible. Hoping one lands in front of me is usually my best bet, but up until Thursday of last week, that strategy has never paid off.

   Thursday I went for a birding bike ride on the South County Bike Path. On my way home I stopped at the Cumberland Monastery because someone reported a Wilson's Warbler there earlier in the day. I knew my chances of getting the Wilson's were small but it was still early and had nothing to lose. I knew the warbler was seen right between two ponds only five minutes from my car. 

   

This was the branch they originally landed on
that got me excited.

   Sure enough there wasn't any sign of the Wilson's Warbler. However I saw some Rough Winged Swallows flying around in the small pond. They landed on a dead stick out in the middle. The sun was right in my face and any photos would be washed out. I started walking to the other side of the pond in the hopes the swallows would stay on the branch and rest. I did not have  hope that these little energetic birds would sit for the three minutes it would take to get on the good side of the light.

   To my surprise the little birds did stay. As I neared them I started taking photos every ten steps just in case they flew. As I got to where the sun was right at my back...they flew. But only for a few seconds. They circled the small pond a couple of times then landed again. The light wasn't as good as I hoped. While the sun was at my back, the dead branch in the water was in the shade. The birds repeated the sit and do a couple of laps multiple times. I had all the time in the world to take all the photos I wanted and to play with my settings. The branch the birds rested on was probably thirty feet from shore. The birds were not taking up the whole frame by any means, but they were still a photo upgrade from the dark drab photos I had before. 

   After taking fifty or sixty pictures I knew I wasn't going to get any better photos of the swallows out on the branch. I walked a few feet up the shoreline and there was a dead snag sitting in the water. I thought that maybe a swallow would come to this snag if I sat still. In my twenty minutes of watching the swallows none had gone over to this branch. It stood within reason that if none had landed there before then they probably wouldn't land there if I was close to it. 

   It turned out I was wrong. About two minutes after getting near this fallen limb a swallow landed just fifteen feet from me. It was close to eye level and in bright sunlight. I started snapping away. After a minute it flew off and I thanked it for the opportunity to get some photos. It must have heard me because it came back. Just as the swallows had done before this one would sit for minute, do some laps and land again. Needless to say, I didn't stop shooting. When I got home and went through my photos I knew the ones of the birds on the branch in the middle would not compare to the on that landed a few feet from me. However, I didn't realize how good the light was and how nice the photos would come out. Enjoy.

My best Northern Rough Winged photo before today

 

Spotted Four Spotted Turtles

    Last week while checking out swamps and ponds for birds I came across Endangered Spotted Turtles at four different places throughout the state. Yes you read that right, Spotted Turtles are very rare in Rhode Island. So needless to say seeing them in four places was really exciting. 

   Knowing that these turtles are extremely rare I sent an email to the RI DEM herp biologist to let him know the locations. I know this is a short post, but thought these guys may be of some interest. Photos below 

Photos with Friends

 

Tim Metcalf and I

   A couple weeks ago I decided that I wanted to start getting photos with some of my bird mates. I posted on Facebook (about thirty of my birder friends are Facebook friends) that I wanted to get photos of them to collect as memories throughout the year. Of course, I have friends that are not on Facebook so I'll have to ask them for photos and explain this whole project to them individually. 

   The whole idea came about just because May is here and I know a lot of people will be out. I have collected a lot of great photos of birds but very few of birders. I can always upgrade some of the birds I've seen, and I have. So far, I have fifteen upgrades this year. I think it is fun to take photos of birds (and any wildlife). I suspect taking photos of wildlife will be a lifelong passion. But I wanted to add photos of my friends too because in the end, that's what birding is about.

   I am very surprised by the support I have gotten from my friends about this. I hate getting my picture taken. So no matter what, at least half of the people in the photo are already uncomfortable. I suspect many of my friends also aren't thrilled about being in photos. So I certainly understand most people might feel the same way.

  The opposite has been true so far. I've had multiple people come up to me and say we need to get a photo together. In fact, the morning after I posted my status, Tim Metcalf took out his phone and took a selfie with me just so he could be first. Besides Tim I've had about five people ask for a photo. 

    Besides not enjoying my photo being taken in the first place, I'm pretty happy in my little social distancing bubble. So just the mere fact that I need to get close to people is somewhat uncomfortable for me. But, I have been making it a point to put my arm around my friends as we get photos together.

   It is my hope that when something great happens I can get a photo of the occasion. An example would be if myself and another birder get a lifer together. Another instance would be a group of us going on a whale watch (this is how I plan to get a photo of Scott, shhh!). I have no problem with just getting photos with my friends, but I do hope some of the photos will capture happy moments in time.

Annual Plum Island Trip

Indigo Bunting

    Though I haven't posted lately, I have been out everyday. I've been leaving to go birding early in the morning and fishing most evenings. I've been birding in Rhode Island almost everyday. Mostly I have been going to Miantonomi Park in Newport. I went there for a week straight. Yes, I did get tired of seeing the same birds. So I decided on mixing things up. Yesterday I birded by bike along the South County Bike Path. I had eight species of warblers. Mostly breeding birds in RI. 

   Today I took my annual trip to Plum Island. I look forward to going every year. I have discovered the best birding is around the twentieth. I have been keeping an eye on the wind and last night was a southwest (despite below freezing morning temps which made no sense to me) I got a little later of a start than I would have liked consequently I didn't get there until 7:30.

   There were still plenty of birds to look at. The pine trees in the sunlight were loaded with flying insects and the hungry warblers noticed. The few pine trees along the road were dripping with warblers. Many of the rarer warblers were feeding on these insects. My very first bird on the refuge was a Bay Breasted Warbler. I had a feeling it was going to be a good day after that. 

 

Olive Sided Flycatcher

    The best bird of the day wasn't a warbler. It was an Olive Sided Flycatcher. This rare bird lands on dead branches to perch. They are a large flycatcher with a big head. They have a white chest that makes it look like it is wearing a suit. Unknown to me until today, they also have white spots on their back that look like cotton balls. This bird hung around all day. I saw it four times in four different dead snags. 

   Besides the rare flycatcher I saw many species of rare warblers. The "best" warbler was probably a Tennessee. I had only seen two before today. They usually hang out in the top of trees. The first one I  ever saw was in a seventy foot oak. Not exactly a great view. The trees at Plum Island are stunted due to the salt air. So today's Tennessee and all the other birds were no more than thirty feet off the ground. 

 Other good warblers were a Canada that I only got one photo of, and it was a bum shot. I watched a Blackburnian for fifteen minutes hopping around and foraging in a small oak. The bird I most wanted to see was a Wilson's Warbler. I ended up seeing one after noontime. There was also a Blackpoll in the same tree. The best bird that I found, that had not previously reported, was a Cape May. 

   There are multiple ways to bird Plum Island. One is to see how many species you can see in a day. This would require stopping at Lot #1 and scanning the ocean. You'd also hit Sandy Point for the ocean and the beach. There you can get birds like Piping Plover and Least Terns. Other places to hit would be the Wardens for sparrows and the Salt Panes for shorebirds.

  I did none of that. I didn't care about seeing shorebirds or counting species. I went to the island to see warblers. I spent all of my time at Hellcat parking lot and the Pines Trail. Hellcat was where it was at today. Especially the road. The boardwalk trail was pretty dead. On the other side of the road where the trail crosses I did have the Wilson's Warbler and where the Waterthrush lives. But most of the birds were along the road.

 

Tennessee Warbler

     All in all, it was a great day on the island. The pine trees were loaded with birds in the morning. I ended up seeing eighteen species of warblers. As I said the best bird of the day was the Olive Sided Flycatcher. However, there were many species of rare warblers. The only species that I know was there today that I dipped on was Northern Waterthrush. It was not for lack of trying. I looked for it five different times in the swampy areas. 

   After things died out I went shad fishing for a bit in West Newbury. I knew right away it was a waste of time. The wind was blowing in my face dirtying the water. Underwater visibility was about a foot. I gave it a half hour anyway. I then quickly drove over to Mill Pond where I saw Blue Winged Warblers and an Indigo Bunting. Many more photos below

Bay Breasted Warbler

Baltimore Oriole

Wilson's Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler (and below)

It was a little crowded 

Chestnut Sided Warbler

The backside of a Canada Warbler

Common Grackle

Red Winged Blackbird

Black Throated Green

Common Yellowthroat

Indigo Bunting

Blue Winged Warbler

The back of the Olive Sided Flycatcher.
 Notice the cottony white patches on its back