The Tundra Bean Goose

 

  The Saturday before MLK day I was on my way to the Cape to see if we could find the rare hawk around Monomoy. As we were nearing the exit for I-195 0ff of I-495 Joe Koger a great birder (and great former school teacher) reported seeing a Bean Goose. I'm not going to lie, I'd never heard of a Bean Goose. So I knew it was rare. We jumped on 195 and then Route 24 and were at Portsmouth High School within twenty minutes. 

   The only other birders there were Joe and Louise Ruggeri. It wasn't hard to see the goose at all. They pointed me in the direction of where it was in the flock. The bright orange legs gave it away. 

   It turned out that there are three species in the Bean Goose family. One is the Pink Footed Goose which is a pretty rare visitor to Rhode Island. I've seen three of them in my years birding. The other two are Tundra Bean Goose and Taiga Bean Goose. As I was looking at this goose there was a big debate on whether it was a Tundra or a Taiga. Honestly, it blew me away that people were talking about the differences in the two species instead of driving to see this very rare bird. 

   It turns out that it is a Tundra Bean Goose and it was the first one ever reported in New England. Way to go Joe! The Saturday Joe reported it, ninety birders did see it. We left before the circus arrived. We watched it for twenty minutes. When we left about ten people were there and it was going to get crowded.

    It is still around and people are driving from as far away as New Jersey and I know one couple flew in from Florida. It has a pattern. It sleeps at Lawton Reservoir at night so people can view it there in the wee hours of the morning. Then it flies to fields to feed. It usually ends up at Portsmouth High School in the afternoon. Birders are not allowed on school grounds during school hours. So they can check the goose flock on weekends or after school gets out. 

  There is a Northern Lapwing around which is a great bird. I saw it the day after it was reported at Scarborough Beach. From there it was seen in Jamestown. Then it moved to New Bedford and has been wintering there for the last couple weeks. Between the Lapwing and the Bean Goose, there are two really great birds in the area!

   

Learning from Gear Junkies

    My interview at Bass Pro Shops went well. I had tailored my resume specifically for fishing. I highlighted links to this blog and also fishing magazine articles that can be found online (Fishing Jamestown). I answered all of the questions easily and was hired on the spot.

   However, my knowledge of fishing really did me little good when it came to the gear. Much of my gear was in very good shape and old. Since fishing companies are always trying to get you to buy the "latest and greatest" pretty much everything I own had been discontinued. Even rods and reels that still have the same name are three or four generations newer than my stuff.

    So I spent a lot of time trying to learn about new products. Whenever I had to close, I'd spend my last hour just trying to get a feel for rod brands and where they were in the store. I'd go home and try to read reviews about one specific rod or reel. a night. Quite often, I'd send my buddy Adam a text message and we would discuss his opinion on a particular brand of rod/reel.

   Adam is a twenty one year old kid but he is one of the biggest gear junkies I know. He is also probably my best friend at work. For sure I have text conversations with him more than everyone else combined. Adam has a photographic memory so he is a wealth of knowledge. We discuss the value of one brand versus another. all of the time. I do this with other people while at work too. I'm always asking questions "polling" people for their opinion.  

   Adam has really strong opinions and there is no changing them. When I wrote the long post about different models of reels, many of the things I wrote were based on conversations we had. Sometimes I agree with Adam and sometimes I don't. For example, I think he is spot on about how great the Bass Pro Panfish Elite rod is for $80. But I do not think St Croix rods are "overpriced junk".  So I wade through our conversations and pick out info and form my own theories and opinions. 

  When I got there, everything at the reel counter looked the same to me and I thought I'd never learn one baitcaster or spinning reel from another. I had to break them down and learn what each brand/model looked like one at a time. Even now, I still don't know what all of the codes are on some of the reel boxes (all the Daiwa Tatula models for example). My conversations with Adam and others in the store proved very useful An example of an opinion I formed over these conversations- 

   I have owned a few Shimano Sedonas so going into the job, it was my favorite reel under $100. However, they have gone up in price and the newer models are much different than the ones I have. Adam is always saying the Daiwa Regal is the best reel for under a hundred. At the very least, it is "the cheapest good reel". It costs seventy dollars. The Sedona is about ninety dollars. The truth is they are both decent reels but the Daiwa is a better value. So I suggest the Daiwa Regal when kids (and adults) are stepping up to a decent inexpensive reel instead of the Sedona. I kind of owe it to my conversations with Adam about value and cost comparison conversations that I've saved many customers money

  I've also polled all of my fellow employees in the fishing dept about which brand of mono (regular fishing line) they use. I've always used Trilene XL for bass and Big Game for carp, but I figured with my discount, I'd be willing to try and use other lines. It turned out that there really isn't one opinion that one line is better than another. I had two employees including my boss tell me they use the Bass Pro Excel fishing line (the cheapest) Adam uses Suffix Advance (the most expensive). In between were other Suffix models, Trilene, and P line. So I learned that basically mono is a personal choice. Some stretch more than others and some people may or may not want that, but the reality is there are many quality lines. 

   All in all, a year into this job, I know an exponential amount of info about fishing gear than I did when I got hired. It took a ton of reading descriptions and reviews. It also took a ton, and I mean a ton, of questions. I appreciate all of the patience that was awarded me.

Lapwings and other things

 

A friendly Palm Warbler walked up to me at 
the Black Throated Grey stakeout. I didn't 
get Palm Warbler (a common species until 
December last year)

   The biggest news in the Rhode Island birding world at the end of December was a Northern Lapwing that showed up at Scarborough Beach. I had spent the morning birding in southern New Hampshire. Just as I was pulling into the yard to drop Laurie off so I could go to work at 3 pm, the report came in. As you can imagine, I was pretty frustrated that I couldn't chase a great bird because I had to make money.

   I did have the next day off and I luckily got to see it. Northern Lapwings are native to Asia and Europe and as I just read, very rarely come to North America. When they do "cross the pond" they usually end up in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. So yeah, it was a big deal bird. We call them "megas" as in mega-rare. 

   I didn't have my camera with me that day but luckily my friend Claudia Cooper let me borrow hers so I could take a photo that I could call mine to add to my photo album. I am grateful for her kindness.

    The bird was only seen for those two days then it disappeared presumably forever. I had to work on January 1 so I couldn't go out and do a traditional big day like most of my birding friends. I did have the weekend off though and didn't plan on wasting it. 

    A couple days ago Dick and Marge Bradley found the Northern Lapwing in Jamestown. They found it

Northern Lapwing with Claudia's camera

 on Weedon Lane. So obviously I, along with everyone I know, went to see it so they would have it for their 2025 year list. It was out in an open field and this time I had my camera. It was far out in the grass so my pics aren't any better than with Claudia's photos. 

   Since I had two days to bird I had a choice to make. Did I want to see how many species I could see or did I want to chase rarities. I could rack up big numbers just by going for all of the common winter residents. But I decided to go for rare birds. I got some and I missed some.

   Saturday morning my first bird I tried for was a Greater White Fronted Goose at Jamestown Reservoir. It wasn't there. Then I went right up the street and also dipped on Clay Colored Sparrow at Goodna Farm with other birders. From there I got the Lapwing. 

   

Northern Lapwing, my camera, cropped

I then drove to Scarborough to see the Black Headed Gulls that winter there. However, the highlight was watching crazies do a Polar Plunge. It was freezing. The air temp was about 25 but the wind was howling making the wind chill near single digits. They jumped into thirty five degree water and got out in those conditions.

    We then left to go to Trustom. We saw most of the good ducks and I found unreported Canvasbacks. I was happy to contribute to the good bird list since I spent most of the day chasing reports.  I picked up another five species including Eurasian Widgeon at Perry Mill Pond.

Female Canvasback. 
Probably better than any bird I found in RI 
all last year

   I also tried to find Long Dilled Dowitcher, White Crowned Sparrows, and Meadowlarks without success. All in all, I found Saturday to be a struggle. I saw forty five species, but missed more than half of my targets.

   Sunday I changed strategies and went to the Groton area of Connecticut looking for two rarities. I first tried and failed at the Black Throated Grey stakeout. I spent about ninety minutes there. While I was there, I talked to a Connecticut birder and she said the Spotted Towhee which was my next stop was a two mile walk one way. I couldn't leave Laurie in the car for what would have been over two hours. So I abandoned my next idea and Sunday was frustratingly feeling like Saturday. 

   I drove back into Rhode Island where I got Lapland Longspur, Horned Larks, and a large flock of Snow Buntings at Misquamicut Beach. Then I went back to Jamestown and got the Greater White Fronted Goose which was my fourth attempt. 

 

Lapland Longspur

 I had a decision to make and decide if I wanted to go to Ft Adams for a Lark Sparrow, Providence for a Tufted Duck, Dartmouth for a lifer Says Phoebe, or back to Matunuck for the three birds I dipped on yesterday. 

   Long story short, I went back to get the three from yesterday. I got two of the three. With Tim Metcalf we had the Long Billed Dowitcher and he refound the White Crowned Sparrow. We didn't see the Meadowlarks but  all in all, Sunday was more fun than Saturday. Maybe it was because it ended on a good note with friends.

Post script-

   I haven't decided if I want to keep a list this year or not. I also don't know if I want to do a Rhode Island year list. I chased as many of the rarities as I could over the last two days. I got frustrated with multiple strikeouts. But these were birds I wanted to see. Thinking about many of the rarer birds that show up every year, honestly I don't have the mental energy to chase them. The thought of jumping in the car to see Vesper Sparrow, Cape May Warbler, American Golden Plover , Royal Tern, and twenty five other rare year birds already feels exhausting and not fun. So if I know that I'm not going to go after them, then is there any point in keeping a list? Probably not. I just want to have fun.

A few photos from below including the Polar Bear Plunge-

Ameriasn Pipit
My 300th bird for 2024. 
Drove to Rye, NH to see them

Wilson's Snipe in New Bedford.
One of those rarer birds that show up every year. Usually I get them in April
This is one of those species I wouldn't go out of my way to chase but since it was near a
Snow Goose I was looking at, I was glad to see it.

Sue Palmer's 312 Birds

 

  My friend Sue Palmer came extremely close to breaking Tim Metcalf's Rhode Island single year record for birds. Tim saw 314 birds in 2022. Sue saw 312 birds this year. Before this year, Tim had the 314 and the previous high was 309 set by Carlos Pedro. 

   Sue worked tirelessly all year to find birds. She found an Atlantic Puffin on a pelagic and Jaegers from shore. She found plenty of other good birds that she reported so that others could also see them.

 She was also relentless in refinding birds that others previously reported. She spent hours looking for a Sedge Wren that was found in Lincoln. But she did see it. She did this with other birds throughout the year. Sue worked her ass off to get these birds.

   Sue's 312 birds is the second highest total all time in Rhode Island. As I wrote above, Carlos had the record of 309 until Tim smashed it. Sue beat Carlos by three species. This may not sound like a lot, but three species when you have seen everything else is really (I mean really, really) hard. 

Congrats my friend!

Year in Review

   

Yikes, the year is over! Where did it go? I was hoping that after being injured for a year in most of 2022 and out of work for 2023 that this year would be more "normal". I had hoped to go back to what most would consider just that. Go to work and when I had time, play. Most importantly, stay healthy. While I managed to stay healthy this year, Laurie had issues leading to a broken ankle and was bed ridden for weeks, then rehabbing for months. This effectively gave her no summer and I spent much of it visiting her or taking care of her during that time. Despite this, 2024 was the most even keeled year for me since pre-COVID

  While some years I spend much of my time fishing or birding and other years hiking, this year I spent as much time as I could trying to see how many species I could see in New England. I called it Operation 365. The hope was to see 365 species of vertebrates in a year. When I wasn't at a hospital, I was birding, fishing, seining, and herping all to see if I could reach 365.

   I kept track of my Rhode Island birds on Paul L's website. My other New New England birds were kept in a notebook. I also kept a separate list for fish, herps, and mammals. Basically this post will be dominated by one theme...numbers. I haven't kept a bird list since 2021 because I get too competitive but I did this year. Other than for the purpose of doing "A Big Year" I don't love doing it. I'd rather keep track of experiences than numbers. But I made an exception this year. 

By the numbers...

   428 species  

      301 species of birds, 28 mammals, 28 herps (amphibians and reptiles), 72 species of fish

          267 birds in RI + 34 others from MA, CT, NH, ME

     72 species of fish    19 caught with a fishing rod, the others seining, in the water, or other fishermen

      28 herps      14 reptiles, 14 amphibians

      28 mammals    nine that live in the ocean

Lifers...

    One goal was to force myself to see multiple lifers. I chased a lot of things.  I got 34 lifers. Fifteen were birds, one amphibian (Four Toed Salamander), fifteen fish, and three mammals ( Hoary Bat and Red Backed Vole, Southern Flying Squirrel). 

   Included, I got eleven new species of birds in Rhode Island bringing my Rhode Island life total up to 346

Bird lifers- MacGilvray's Warbler, Northern Shrike, Little Gull, Hermit's Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, White Winged Dove, Mottled Duck, American Flamingo, South Polar Skua, Lark Bunting, Grey Cheeked Thrush, Black Throated Grey Warbler, Northern Lapwing, Tropical Kingbird, Swallow Tailed Kite

   All but the Swainson's, Hermit Warbler, and Lark Bunting, Swallow Tailed Kite were seen in RI. I also got one other state bird, Golden Eagle

   Fish lifers were the following- Pompano, Red Hake, Whiting, Snowy Grouper, Spotfin Butterflyfish, Bigeye Shorttail, Naked Goby, Oyster Toadfish, Rainwater Killifish, Four Spined Stickleback, Sheepshead Minnow,  Smallmouth Flounder,, SEAHORSE, Four-eyed Butterflyfish 

Eastern Creek Chubsucker  was my only freshwater lifer

Dips-

With a quest like this you are going to have a lot of misses. Believe me, there were many drives with my tail between my legs. A quick recap of some of my worst ones

   By far, I did the worst with mammals in terms of not seeing species I had previously seen. I missed Black Bear, Moose, River Otter, Striped Skunk and all mice (and rat) except White Footed Mouse. I tried really hard to catch rodents setting live traps. I caught plenty of White Footed Mice but nothing else until I caught a squirrel that destroyed my trap.

   For snakes I only saw six of the thirteen possible species. I knew I hasn't going to see Copperheads because I didn't go to look for them. My most surprising snake miss was Ribbon Snake which is pretty common. My friend Nicole and I came across a dead Rat Snake but I didn't count dead animals.

  I missed a lot of fish. I saw a Northern Pike, actually two, but I really wanted to catch one. I made three trips to Connecticut to fish for them each a three hour round trip. I also tried for them on the upper Connecticut River in New Hampshire twice. Though I saw one, Pike took up more time for me than any other species. I also dipped on Yellow Bullhead three times but each trip was less than an hour. My second most annoying miss was Spiny Dogfish which I tried for multiple times without luck. I also missed Albies and American Shad. 

   I got really lucky with birds. I saw almost everything I chased. I decided if it wasn't a "state bird" in RI and I had previously seen it, if I saw one in another state I wasn't going to chase it in RI. This meant after I saw Nelson's Sparrow, Greater White Fronted Goose, Short Eared Owl and thirty one other species, I wasn't going to look for them in RI. Worse than dipping was my seasickness. I missed five species on pelagics due to being upsot. I would have 306 species, and far less stress the end of December if I could have just stayed vertical and not been heaving.

Favorite Memories- 

   

Eastern Creek Chubsucker

   Obviously, I didn't want this year to be all about numbers. However, I really did want to see many lifers and make memories. Starting two sentences off in a row with obviously wouldn't be great writing, but... obviously seeing a Flamingo in RI was amazing. But so was seeing a Golden Eagle with six of my friends. Other fun birding memories were seeing a "heard only" Swainson's Warbler and getting the other four guys on it. Chasing and getting killer photos of a Black Bellied Whistling Duck with Laurie who was barely walking. There are tons of good times. I saw three lifers with Claudia Cooper and got at least two RI lifers thanks to my friend Sue Palmer.

    For herps my favorite memory was finding a Milk Snake again that I saw last year and then another much smaller one a month later. I did get chiggers though.

   For mammals I saw a coyote and almost all marine mammals from a bird club whale watch that I co-lead in April. That was fun. Also seeing a Red Backed Vole and explaining what I saw to Dan Berard and having him know exactly what I saw was cool.

   Lastly, I spent a lot of time seining. Since I had Tautog, Black Sea Bass, Scup, and Sea Robin in the seine, it saved me from having to catch them on a rod.  I think I got most excited about the Pompano, Jack Crevalle, and Eastern Creek Chubsucker. 

  Lastly for this category, it is way more fun to be a "finder" than a follower. With birds, I did not have a good year finding many of the good birds. With my friend Nicole we had Alder Flycatcher. In NH I found unreported Purple Finch, Yellow Bellied Flycatcher, Black Backed Woodpecker and Mourning Warbler. But for the most part, the rest of the good birds I saw were because of chasing reports. There is no way I would have come close to 300 birds without the unselfishness of birders.

   As for the other 128 species that were not birds I am proud to say almost all were because I found them. I had to look hard for most snakes (easily fifteen  trips looking for Green Snake). I set a minnow trap almost everyday for a month until I caught a Banded Sunfish in a creek that I thought they were in. The Chubsucker was luck since I went searching for little creeks to seine.

Many thanks...

   As I said, without unselfish birders I'm much closer to 280 than 301 birds. I enjoy hanging around dozens of birders in RI and many are really close friends. I appreciate them more than they know. There is no point naming all of them here, but a big thank you for being my friend

 There are so many people that help[ed me on this one year quest. Allison O'Conner seined with me more than anyone. I can't seine the ocean alone so without her, and her tireless pushing, I wouldn't have seen so many fish.  Laurie, Sue Palmer, Dick and Marge Bradley, Louise Ruggeri, Jan StJean, PCarl, and probably others that I can't remember at the moment all helped seine at least once.

   My buddy Dave was with me when I caught Carp and saw my excitement when I caught a White Catfish.

  For sure, the person that I talked with the most, strategized with, and told about my success and failures was Charles Avenengo. We message multiple times a week. Without his seine and teaching me how to use it, I would have less fish. He also identified many of the oddball species I caught when I sent him photos. 

   Many of you kept asking me my number supporting my effort. Barbara Seith for one, asked me many times where I was at. It was nice to know people cared. 

   Lastly, Laurie likes nature but isn't going to get excited about a  Short Billed Dowitcher, but she knew how badly I wanted three hundred New England birds. I was at 296 around December 15. So everyday that I had off from work in late December she came along as I chased whatever species had been around. She put up with a thirty mph wind with flurries coming in sideways in Provincetown. She came with me to the New Hampshire coast to see (shake your head) American Pipit for my 300th bird. Not to mention other trips to the Cape, southern RI and the White Mountains. 

   Thanks to all of you. 

Pompano

Humpback Whale

   

Buff Breasted Sandpiper

   

Black Throated Grey Warbler

    

Red Fox

 

Retiring from pelagics

Snowy Owl on the beach

 Since I got obsessed with birding and started making friends with birders in 2018 I've gone on quite a few pelagic birding trips. I remember the first one vividly seeing my first Shearwaters and Jaegers. We had a Mola Mola, Bottlenose Dolphins and even saw the fin of a Blue Shark.

  Since then I've seen almost everything out there that isn't crazy rare. My adventures have made memories of great birds, breaching whales, and a school of Pilot Whales that will last forever.

   The problem is, I get seasick on at least half of the boat trips I go on. I've tried every over the counter and prescription that I know of and more often than not, if it is slightly rough I add to the chum slick. Not only that, I stay nauseous the rest of the trip and have to lie down in the fetal position. Looking at the horizon does not work for me. Lying down in the cabin dozing in and out of sleep is the only way to keep me from getting sick over and over.

   I got so sick on a twelve hour pelagic in North Carolina that I opted out the second day wasting one hundred and seventy dollars.  The trip had been paid for months earlier but I could not bring myself to go out two days in a row.

  So I think I have made a decision to give up on pelagics. As I said, I really can't see much else as a lifer unless some crazy rare Bird comes up from South America or a Sperm Whale graces the boat with an appearance. 

  The irony is I love pelagics. While I may not seeing anything new for my life, every trip is different and you never know what you will see. I went on an eighth hour charter yesterday with most of my birding friends and spent about half the trip lying fetal along with two trips to the rail to mostly dry heave.  On the trip I saw two new species for the year before I got sick. But I missed another species. When we slowed down to watch dolphins I could barely lift my head up and did not get up to look at them.

 

Northern Gannet flying across the boat

   It is tough to justify going out for eight hours and spending one hundred ten when you feel so much like death that you won't look at Dolphins. So I decided that the only pelagics I'll ever consider will be in the Pacific. I've never seen the Pacific and if I went on a pelagic in say Monterey Bay, I'd get a dozen lifers and probably Grey Whales and other mammals. So a trip would be worth it. 

 Ironically I've never gotten sick on a whale watch.

 Many times I've just lucked out and it was flat. The whale watch I went on in April was glass calm. I could have kayaked from Plymouth to P-town across Cape Cod Bay. Other rougher trips for reasons unknown to me, I haven't gotten sick. My only hypothesis is that my stomach can handle the shorter four hour trips of a whale watch. Also I usually book whale watches for the afternoon so maybe waking up later has something to do with it. Though, I did get a great night sleep despite having to be on the road at 5:30 am yesterday. 

   Laurie thinks I should give up pelagics because of the cost and my habit of adding chum overboard. But she thinks I should go on whale watches because I haven't gotten sick. I suspect part of her thinking is because she likes whale watches as much as I do.

  Maybe next year I'll go on a whale watch and continue to go if my stomach allows. But as for dedicated pelagics and cod boat trips that last eight hours  anywhere in the Atlantic, I think I am done. 

Things that I am thankful for

 

I was happy to finally get a photo of a
Mourning Warbler

   Every year I write a post on Thanksgiving about all of the things I am thankful for. This year I was in New Hampshire and did not have time to write a post. The last couple of years had been hard and I was thankful for relationships, not drowning, and grateful for knowing people that had died. Before the last couple of Thanksgiving posts, I used to write about a few good memories from the year. I am always grateful for New Hampshire, Laurie, Dave, and Striped Bass.

   Having dividing my time between taking care of a bed bound Laurie and trying to see how many species of vertebrates  I can see in a year this year I am just grateful for nature. Without fish, the mountains, the ocean, snakes, and frogs I would be lost.

   I can not put into words how beautiful I think the natural world is. I love to fish, flip rocks, hike, snorkel, chase birds, and find any other excuse to be outside. There are many people that have mental health problems. I am lucky, other than every day stress that we all have to deal with, I do not have any mental health problems. I believe that would not be true if I didn't have the outside world. Being outdoors is my relaxation, but it also my adrenaline rush. It is my reason for planning sunrise to sunset adventures on my days off from work. 

  I could name every thing I enjoy about nature from seeing a rare bird, sitting on top of a mountain, to casting my fly or surf rod. But that list would be endless. While I may get overwhelmed in May, and wish the seasons wouldn't end in November, I understand these are First World problems and I am extremely lucky. 

It seems as though I have not had "a normal year" in the last few. With my back sidelining me a few years ago (awful) and then being healthy and not working (amazing) I had a strange couple of years. I thought things were back to normal when I got my job at Bass Pro in February. I had less free time but also had an income again. Then Laurie got hurt, broke her ankle, and had other medical issues. So many of my plans were derailed over the summer. So this year had more downs than anticipated. Still, I am grateful that when I had time... I had nature to go to. Chasing down many vertebrates was/has been a challenge that has kept me busy all year.

   Below is a list of a few of the things I m grateful for this year. While the writing above is more like my Thanksgiving posts from the last couple of years, I'd like to think about a few individual things that changed 2024 for the better for me...

    I am thankful for my job at Bass Pro Shops. Working in the fishing department is a place I thrive. I'm getting pretty good at my job and enjoy the people I work with. Management treats us well. For example, the last two days they bought us pizza. 

   I am thankful for the use of the seine. I have seen a lot of really neat fish I never knew were in both the ocean and freshwater. It takes two people to use it, so thanks to all of those that helped me.

   I am still thankful for stripers, New Hampshire, and Laurie.

   I am thankful for my birder friends.

   I love smallmouth bass

   I m thankful I got to fish with Dave a few times this year. Birding has really made it tough to go carp fishing. Glad I caught a few carp also.

   I am thankful for all of the lifers I saw this year. I got at least one lifer mammal, bird, fish, and herp. Each one was an adrenaline rush.

   I am thankful I sucked it up and bought an electric motor for my canoe. Just using the motor means more fish because I am not spending as much time paddling. Game changer!

   Call it consumerism if you want, but I am extremely thankful for my employee discount at work. I get a huge discount on Bass Pro brand gear and a very good discount on gear made by other companies. I have really improved my rods and reels along with a couple pairs of hiking boots.

   Lastly, as I said, I am just grateful I love nature. My mom had me outside as a little kid. She took me fishing and on nature walks. But I think it might not have been "nurture" in the nature vs nurture question. I think I would have wanted to explore and see all the fish and snakes anyway. For that, I am truly thankful.