piping plovers

I’m not one of these people that is trying to ever grow their [bird] life lists. Those are for those birders. If you’re not familiar with life lists – it’s the list created by a birder of all the birds he has ever seen. Sometimes its just mentally kept in someone’s head. I keep a casual list for my own recollection and history. Others keep a list for the sake of making a list - a list of ever expanding birds that can only be satisfied by traveling the world and making a checkmark next to each name. You know these people when you bird with them: after they see a bird they are already racing on to see the next bird. It’s not the bird they are satisfied with but the number.

I say this because I was able to add a notch to my life list this past month. And it was exciting! Earlier this month the bird club went out for a Piping Plover search. Often the bird club will go out in specific search for a certain bird. Many of those times we come up empty handed. So, when I read the email that we were looking for Piping Plovers - a species which I have never seen - that are federally protected, and which beach-goers would rather run over than protect, I was excited but had reservations. It was early April, and still cold in Southeast Massachusetts. The Piping Plover is a small bird. I did not really expect it to have arrived yet, and according to ebird.com it didn’t look like anything had arrived yet (that anyone posted). My only hope was that in years past these birds had arrived around the same dates on which we were searching.

When we got to the beach on West Island in the morning it was fairly empty – only a guy walking his dog in the far distance. It was sunny that day, but we had some snow flurries earlier in the week. We began to walk the beach toward the man and the dog. There didn’t seem to be any bird on the beach let alone a hard-to-see Piping Plover. My hopes were fading that not only wouldn’t we see a Piping Plover, but not much of anything else, either.

Well, that was until Mike, the bird club president, spotted a Piping Plover from across the bay. How he saw it is beyond me and the rest of the group that was there that day. All of a sudden though, the day was looking up. We all stopped next to the water and peered off into the distance to try to find it. Indeed it was a Piping Plover, or at least that was what Mike was telling us. We saw a bird flying back and forth, but even with binoculars it was still just a speck in the sky. Only Mike, an experienced birder, could tell at that distance it was definitely a Piping Plover. [How could he tell? From the way it was flying.]

We got our short glimpse. For me though, I had to have more. We began to walk slowly up the beach toward the bird. We had spotted three birds initially. A few minutes later we saw them fly away peeping as they went by. Our excitement was almost gone, except that only two flew away and not three. We continued to walk. Finally, we got to a reasonable distance were we could really see the birds. And boy, were they hared to see, almost exactly blending in with the sand. No wonder they are federally protected. Not only do the adults look like the sand they live on, but their eggs look like small rocks in the sand.

We got closer and closer until basically we couldn’t get any closer because they were so close. It was our lucky day. The Piping Plovers had probably just flown in during the night, and were exhausted. Although they would walk or fly away if you got too close, we were able to see the birds at a close distance that is usually unattainable. Not only that, but because they had just flown in, they weren’t going anywhere. We were able to watch them for as long as we wanted - real enjoyment for a birder.

Although we didn’t see a wide variety of birds that day, it was probably one of the best birding days I have ever had.

Here are some photos from the day:

it's a race to the finish

I’m so excited! It’s that time of year again when we analyze why or why not someone should be president. I used to think that you had to have lots of money and political connections to be president, then Sarah Palin almost became Vice President, and my mind was forever changed about who the American public would/will elect.

The 2008 (or November 2007) election came down to McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden. I remember when they first announced Palin as McCain’s running mate. The buzz on McCain was huge – and for about two weeks I thought he might win. Then Palin decided to talk and have an interview with Katie Couric and the rest is history. I said it before here and still stand by it – I think if McCain had a different running mate such as Mitt Romney he would have won, even with the War in Iraq looming over the Republicans.

The 2012 election is a lot different for the Republicans. Much like how the Democrats swept through the house and senate in 2006 the Republicans embarrassed the Democrats in the 2010 House elections. There is no War in Iraq looming on the backs of the Republicans. Now, Obama has the economy on his back. This is what I think the key issue is: the economy. If the economy continues to improve, which includes jobs, the housing market, and lower gas prices I think Obama will win. If the economy continues to improve slowly like it is, I think Obama will not win.

Some analysts are already saying Obama has won this election while others say he has already lost it. I’m sure in the weeks and months to come we will see more photos of Obama with turbans and more accusations about his birth certificate, but let’s hope this election spends less time on that and is more focused on the issues.

what does mary have to do with palm sunday?

We decided to try the week 3 church again this week. The first time we visited there was a guest preacher. We also went to the traditional service. This time we went to the contemporary service – which we were told would have more kids, and indeed it did. It was Palm Sunday so you never know what to expect. Will the church have a normal service or does the church do something extra special that day? From what I could tell this church had a little of each.

We got to see the interim pastor on Sunday, who was not there the first time we visited. He looks like Barney Frank, a House Democrat in Massachusetts, and if we heard him the first week we may not have come back. His sermon - certainly nothing to write home about. Even his closing words left us unsure if the service was really over besides the fact that the congregation got up and began conversing with the people around them.

There were a few odd things to note. First, the church is having a dramatic reading for their Good Friday service. Nothing unusual there, except that it was noted in the bulletin and by the pastor that Mary of Magdala - one of the dramatic people being betrayed - is believed by some to have been the wife of Jesus. A common misconception by Christian skeptics and Da Vinci Code enthusiasts at best, it was no place to bring up such an idea. Also odd was the fact that the pastor kept saying “common era” (C.E.), also a phrase used by people who can’t stand the phrase A.D., a Christian calendar that the Western world still uses today.

There was still some liturgy, which Jess and I both like. A common prayer was said aloud by everyone. There was also a good skit that was put on by the kids at the church, and a song by the praise band. All-in-all we still like the church, but some concerns were raised at this service. If the concerns are common practice we will probably move on, if not we do really like the church. 

42... and counting

Once again it is Jackie Robinson Day. This year it corresponds with the week of the 150^th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. I’m sure the slaves didn’t think that African Americans would still be breaking the race barrier in 1947, over 85 years later. It wasn’t just that Robinson was a difference maker on the field, but also off the field.

family church, as opposed to that other kind of church

Week four we decided to try our second church in Plymouth. The first week in Plymouth didn’t go so well (you can find more on that here). We were hoping this week would be better. We walked in, were greeted, and handed an eight-page bulletin, front and back.

Although we had already been to this denomination in a previous week we added it to the list to create a better variety of churches. Unfortunately, this time neither Jess nor I liked this church. There was nothing particularly bad about it, but there was nothing particularly good about it.

One thing that was unusual is that every first Sunday the church has a “family” service. Many churches have family services a few times a year.  I am sure others even have it as frequently as this church. This Sunday there wasn’t even a normal sermon, just a homily for the children. I have never been to a church that has totally taken out the sermon in a service.  

This church usually full of Catholic rejects and delinquents seemed as if it wasn’t full of that particular population but rather as if they just had the wrong sign on the outside. Lots of kneeling, sitting, standing, sitting, kneeling, back to standing. For an hour and a half.  You get the point. It just wasn’t for us.

On the bright side, the two reverends seemed nice, smart, even funny. But, it just didn’t feel right. After church we shook off our shoes and left.

baby money

Families are much smaller today than they use to be. Families with eight or ten children were much more common a few decades ago. Today, it is very rare to see a family that size. Well, unless it is on television of course. Why? I believe one of the main reasons is money. That isn’t the only answer. Otherwise we would see a lot of millionaires with huge families. Culture also has a lot to do with it too.

While at the midwife’s office waiting for our appointment to start, I grabbed one of those parenting magazines. Browsing through it I noticed a survey question that asked, “How many kids would you have if money wasn’t an issue?”  Two things were clear by the results. 1) People still didn’t want ten kids, but 2) they did want more.

Now faced with the reality of fatherhood I will also be facing the challenge of providing for a child. Like the majority of people these days we can’t afford to have one person at home to take care of the baby. Therefore, the challenge is to find not only someone you can afford to pay to take care of your baby, but also someone whom you trust.

I wasn’t worried at first when thinking about the idea of daycare. At least not until I actually started looking into pricing. First, we looked into the locations that are convenient to where my wife works. It went from disconcerting, to frightening, to down-right stressful. The prices were just way beyond what we could afford. It wasn’t looking good. Then I called a national daycare chain. My wife let me call this one. It was a hundred more dollars than the local places. Worriment started to set it. Not even half way through the pregnancy and I thought I may have to bring the baby into work with me. (Later Jess would point out to me that the national daycare chain is more because they pay their workers more and pay for their benefits, etc.)

I knew the search was getting desperate when Jess started to get worried. But, all was not lost. Not even a week later a co-worker of Jess’ gave her a daycare listing from a local paper. Jess gave a call immediately. Not only is the daycare affordable but it is close.