Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
River Royalty
Christmas Bird Counts are a great chance for birders to get out and do some good. Survey work, by the layman (or laywoman, as the case may be) in the name of science can be very rewarding. Plus, the chance to see birds, after the count, that have been dug up by other teams adds another layer of fun.
I had just such a fun episode yesterday.
This past Saturday, a team working the Anchor Bay Christmas Count (one of the best in the state) drummed up a King Eider. That's good stuff.
As one can see on the range map, this gal (a "Queen Eider" to some) was a bit lost. Basically, they breed in the north-central part of the continent and fly either east or west to winter along the oceans. A bird on the Great Lakes (outside of Lake Ontario) is not a common thing, at all. In fact, the Michigan Bird Records Committee describes them as "Casual" - a species that have been recorded more than three times, but fewer than 30 times, in the last 10 years, and were recorded in fewer than nine of the last 10 years.
That is quite a mouthful, huh?
Anyway you look at it, I got the shaft from a photography standpoint. As is so often the case as of late, I had my camera and a good bird ready to go. What's missing? Good light. Yeah, I had clouds. Tons of 'em. Oh well. Any way you look at it, my picture is certainly alot better than that coin to commemorate the upcoming royal wedding. (Can they get they married already? I'm tired of it...)
Was it new for me? No, not by a long shot. I have seen them in Alaska and Maine. Interestingly enough, my very first one was in Michigan. A bird was hanging out at the Power Plant in Sault Ste. Marie in 1997. There is no tellin' when I see another one.
I almost didn't see this one. For days, she had been hanging out at the ferry landing to Harson's Island. Of course, she can't be there when I'm there. Oh, no. That would be too easy. So after watching and waiting for over an hour, I took off. Hundreds of yards of shoreline can't be covered in the area as the river front is all private property. As I pressed on for home, I noticed a little restaurant a half mile downriver from the ferry with some open public land on the waterfront. "What the heck...", right? So, I got out. And there she was practically at my feet.
Wait. She is royalty. Perhaps, I should be at her feet?
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Homeward Bound And Wrap-up
Tuesday, December 1, 2010
Driving out of Albany started nice. With temps in the 50s and light spitting rain, it felt like a warm spring day and driving was not a big deal. As I moved along, I watched in horror as the rain increased and the temperature dropped. Within 90 minutes, it was snowing. Roads were getting dicey and some traffic ended up in ditches. Fortunately, by the time I made Buffalo, the weather had cleared out. (I later learned that roads in and around Buffalo were a disaster and people were stranded on the expressway for hours and hours. I dodged that bullet!)
With time to spare and in a need of stretch, I figured Niagara Falls was as a good place as any. First, I went over the Falls in a barrel I stole from Sam Adams Brewery. After drying off, I birded the area around the Falls for just a few minutes. Another sharp-eyed birder who was also there picked out an immature Iceland Gull in the mist and drizzle. A great spot on her part! A loon was down there, too. 1 bah-gillion gulls in the area were made up of Bonaparte's Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls and Herring Gulls. Maybe a Black-headed Gull, too? Who cares! I got mine!
Right around the corner, Taps on Queen Brewhouse and Grill, served up two new beers and the final ones for the trip. The Red Cream Ale (#886) and Premium Lager (#887) were a “4” and “3”. Good stuff. For added impact, lines of glycol(?) were wrapped around the beer line, crusting them in inches of ice. Not only was the beer certainly cold, it also appeared to be draining from solid ice. Kinda neat.
The drive through to Windsor and home was uneventful. The border crossing was a snap but I almost screwed that up. The Customs fellow asked all the usual question and but was clearly stalling, asking irrelevant questions, and then circling back to ask the same questions again in an attempt, I suspect, to trip me up. When he asked “How where the Falls?”, I responded with a one word answer: “Wet.”
How dumb. Now, I was thinking about the mist and light rain that was collecting on my bins and glasses so the answer made sense to me. In hindsight, other stupid things I could say might have included “I think your hat looks silly…” or “You have a funny name…” or “Does that gun really have bullets?” or “I’m a mule. Can we hurry this up? I don’t have all day….” Fortunately, he let me pass even though he easily could have waved me aside and had my car stripped down to the frame.
I was home by 10:00pm and asleep my 10:00:30pm.
Mission accomplished.
So, the details of the trip (followed by a map to highlight locations):
New birds – 6
Total Trip Birds – 92 (a little low, perhaps, but remember I spent a lot of time on the ocean watching the same birds trickle by…)
Life/ABA List – 640
Maine – 80
Massachusetts - 77
Rhode Island - 34
Connecticut – 29
Total States/Provinces Visited - 9
Total States Visited (lifetime) - 42
Total ABA Ticks (sum of all state/province checklists) – 4,203
New Beers – 52
Life Beer List – 887
National Park Sites – 6
Total Cups of Coffee - 1
Astronaut Diapers Used - 0
Rare Birds And Beers
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Knowing Boston traffic is a fate worse than death and parking is every bit as bad, the early morning hours found me hurtling into town, not away from it. With parking easily secured by 7:30am, breakfast was casual, and for the first time in my trip, I ordered a coffee.
The Ula Café, if I have my facts straight, gets “it”. If everybody continues to buy junk, central American people get more poor(if you can believe that), habitat disappears and neo-tropical migrants die. Is that not enough to quit drinking bad coffee? They have arrangements with a roaster, who in turn, has arrangements with a coffee farm in central America. The farm gets it. They are pursuing sustainability, habitat preservation, birds, and good wages for coffee growers. Bird Friendly certification? No. Rainforest Alliance certification? Yes. Does that mean shade grown? No. Did the Café’s information panel specifically mention birds and the steps they are taking to help preserve them? Yes. Oh yeah, the eggs were good, too.
Time was spent writing waiting for the 10:00am gig. And what happens at 10:00am?
The Sam Adams Brewery Tour!!!
While I have been listing beers for almost a decade now, I have never been on a brewery tour. Never. So, the Sam Adams Brewery tour was quite an experience for a guy who does not brew.
First, a simple clarification. Boston Beer Company is the brewery. Sam Adams is the line of beer brewed by the BBC. Think of it like General Motors and Chevrolet. GM is the main operator while Chevrolet is the product.
Knowing I like history, it was really cool to walk such historic ground. Really. The beer movement that Jim Koch started in 1985 in this very facility is what has allowed me to enjoy beer. If he did not do what he did in Boston over two decades ago, the countless microbreweries across the country likely would not be here. Summer barbeques might still be held with garbage like Bud or Bud Light. Isn’t that a sick thought?
Attending the tour on a weekday was a slick move. So few people were there. Ten, maybe? Ten people in a giant brewery all by ourselves. Heavenly (if heaven existed). Except it is not a giant brewery. According to the tour leader (officially called a Beer Ambassador), most people (I am no exception) are stunned at the size of the place. There might be eight fermenters in there. Estimating sizes here, I bet you could fit most of the equipment in a four-car garage. That’s all folks. Some of your larger microbreweries sport that amount of gear. Basically, this is their research and development building with some keg operations. Major bottling ops take place in Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
On this particular day, they were actually brewing. Seeing the guy from the commercial measuring and pouring the hop pellets was simply so cool. The short fellow with the full bear d and shaved head is Bob. The other fellow is Dean. That's Dean in the picture.
Speaking of hops, part of the tour included a rundown on the basic ingredients of beer – water, yeast, hops, and barley. I have never had a chance to grab and handful of hops, rub it in my hands and smell it like Jim does in the commercials. The aroma is awesome. It was like a powdered IPA in my hand. Munching on barley (fresh and roasted) was truly an experience knowing how it was going to get used.
As if all that is not enough for the beer enthusiast, knowing that the Boston Beer Company is a huge supporter of the community makes it very rewarding for the visitor. The money I donated for the tour is used to maintain a program that helps get inner-city Boston kids outside to go camping or hiking. I saw these neighborhoods driving to the brewery and I’m telling you, in some cases, yards don’t exist. Where did these kids play baseball? Have they seen a bird that is not a House Sparrow? They also help to maintain the Granary Burying Ground (where Paul Revere is buried). Money well spent, if you ask me.
The tour winds down with a trip to the tasting room. With taps that rotate beer over the year, I was able to secure a nice sample of the Boston Brick Red (#885). You will not get it in Detroit. For that matter, you won’t get it outside of Boston. Good stuff. Not the best beer in the Sam Adams line, but still good. I gave it a “3”. On the subject of rare beer, I bought a special three pack of beer that can only be purchased on site at the Brewery. You can bet I’ll post notes when I sample them! (You can see them on the right side of the shelf in the previous picture.)
By the time the tour wrapped up, I had two choices after lunch. Press on for home (which has to happen at some point) or give the Black-headed Gull one more go. Two days previous, that bird had been reported on the Cape, right? Being on the southwest side of town, the GPS has me there in 1hour and 15 minutes. Off I went.
Before one gets to Dowses Beach in Osterville, a small causeway has to be crossed. The right side of the causeway has a small pond. Let’s say it is the size of a football field or so. On the far side? A small group of gulls. They’re worth checking, right?
Mixed in with the Herring Gulls sat a Bonaparte’s Gull-like bird, but a bit bigger. Red bill. Bright red legs. Dark spot behind the eye suggesting adult winter plumage. Finally. Black-headed Gull. Life bird #640. After it bopped around the waters a bit, the black underside of the primaries could be seen so well. Finally. After days of checking every gull everywhere I went, I scored it Finally. The last real bird episode of the trip, a last stab. I finally scored it. Standing next to it? A second Black-headed Gull. I thought one bird was not going to happen but to have two feet from each other was soooooooood damned cool……..
With all six major trip target birds in the bag, a course was set for home. Driving took me as far as Albany, New York again. Dinner was, by far, the best of the trip.
The C.H. Evans Brewing Company at the Albany Pump Station was simply awesome and it needs to be on your “must try” list if you get to Albany. The Scottish Light, Quakenbush Blonde, Smoked Miloweizen, Bock, Apple Ale, Beverwyck Black, Kick-Ass Brown, and Pump Station Ale (#877-884) were all very good. However, I was distracted by the meal itself. Butternut squash ravioli with balsamic grilled vegetables, including red peppers, eggplant, broccoli, eggplant, red onion and Portobello mushrooms tossed with olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil topped with a balsamic reduction, toasted pine nuts and goat cheese. Hands down, this was the best meal of the trip. It was really hard to take detailed beer notes when you eating that!
The location itself made for a super dining experience. The Pump Station is exactly that. Back in the day, water from the Hudson River was pumped into a nearby reservoir. This building, completed in 1895, still has the original cranes in it used to move machinery and, ultimately, the brewing equipment. It ceased operation as a pump station in 1932.
Twerps Do Exist!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Alarm clocks in hotels are junk. Oh, but they have little plugs so you can wire your fancy MP3 players though junky speakers! Who cares. I don't know why I trust them or continue to use them. Sixty minutes after I was supposed to get up, I rolled over and noticed the problem. Up in an instant, and out the door, the dawn flight at First Encounter was either done or a bust. The ongoing monster Dunlin flock with a few new Black-bellied Plovers was cool, but no Dovekie.
Internet checks showed I made the right call on the Lapwing. It was last seen....the night before...flying away. Sure, it could show up. Keep checking.....
Head of the Meadow seemed like a good place to go for no particular reason. More Razorbills. More distance problems...but hold on! That group of Razorbills is far out, but this pair of birds is clearly closer and yet much smaller! It has to be them! Black. White. Small! Dovekie! Yes! Yes? No? Ahhh, crap. I can't be sure. Birders don't lie about birds (okay, some certainly will) and birders need to be sure. Slight bits of doubt crept in. No Dovekie officially. Unofficially? I'm sure of it. I'll take brief, but excellent, looks. Long, poor, or even bad, looks where I can't be certain of the ID don't cut it.
Fifteen minutes later, it didn't matter. From the left, hundreds of yards up the beach, just out over the surf, two itty-bitty black-and-white birds were haulin’.. Tiny. Moving fast. Closer. Still small. Closer and right in front. Robin-sized. Stubby bills. Finally. Dovekie at 80 yards. Life bird #639. Awesome looks. They do exist!
With a five of six key trip bird in the books (three geese species, Razorbill, and Dovekie) and no word of the Lapwing, I off for casual birding. The Black-billed Gull was clearly not going to happen unless I bumble into one. Pilgrim Heights helped to bolster the passerine list. This location, where the Pilgrims found fresh water before they moved on to Plymouth, turned up some trip newbies including Yellow-rumped Warbler, Gray Catbird, and Red-breasted Nuthatch.
A side trip to a lighthouse highlighted the ever-changing and the never-changing. Let me explain.
The Fort Hill Marsh area was stunning in the late afternoon light. Swamp Sparrow and House Finch were new additions. A hunting Short-eared Owl would have been cool if it had flying around. A state park up the street turned up Belted Kingfisher and Fish Crow. With the setting sun, the GPS was set for Framingham.
In the dark, after securing lodging, an internet report came in. Black-headed Gull, a target bird from minute one, had been seen the day before. On the Cape. The location? Not far from the expressway and the Cape Canal. Looking back, it would have been very easy to check the spot had I known. I was beginning my home stretch, so, given the wandering nature of the bird, it appears my chance was lost....
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