by the numbers: my cape cod morning commute

A year and a half ago I wrote a by the numbers with my commute in Chicago.  Below, my commute on Cape Cod.

15 minutes to get ready

1 stop sign to the office

10 lights to the office

28 miles to work

40 minute commute

a simpler rotary

There’s something nostalgic about rotaries on Cape Cod.  They resemble a simpler time when Cape Cod was at its height, and the Cape loves looking back at simpler times.  Today, the rotaries represent exactly what the Cape is today – overcrowded in the summer and out-of-date every other waking moment of the day. 

Whether they are overcrowded or out-of-date they are unique, just like Cape Cod. 

guns, hunger, & eisenhower

It’s December.  Which means at the end of the month the Bush era tax cuts will either expire, or be extended.  And if any Democrat wants to be reelected I am sure we will all see the tax cuts extended.  But that’s enough about what a payroll tax or estate tax would do for some, and nothing for a whole lot more. 

With all this talk about where everyone’s tax money is going, it made me ponder a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower that I heard today: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

First, with the rising of the Tea Party, do we let tax money go toward defense, or toward people who don’t have food or shelter?  Or, do we let those who cannot fend for themselves be susceptible to Darwin’s theory of evolution?  Second, if we can move beyond the idea of killing off the weak, is Eisenhower right?  Is the idea of ‘every gun…made’ theft from those who are hungry?  Finally, can we bring justice to Eisenhower’s idea?  Can we feed those who are hungry, warm those who are cold, and clothe those who are not?  

merry christmas

I hope everyone enjoys this holiday season.

a difference of opinion

One of the biggest conversations on racism in my college sociology classes was whether racism still existed.  The professor would show the class for forty-five minutes how racism still existed today and how for people of color it is harder to get a quality education, job, car, you name it, than someone that is white.  Of course the last five minutes of class a person who raise their hand say “I grew up in a poor family and I pulled myself up by my boot-straps”, completely ignoring the discussion of the previous forty-five minutes.  

I used to think that person was just one person in a mix of an overwhelming majority of people who saw existing racism and wanted to do something about it.  It seems as though racism, although still existing, was not as bad.

And it’s not.  There is no slavery or Jim Crow laws.  But over the past decade or so persisting prejudice and overt racism against illegal immigrants (most coming from Mexico) and people of Middle Eastern decent (Muslim or not) is getting worse.  Maybe it has been a big problem before that, but this is my perspective.  The classic case of this is from just last month when NPR fired their news analyst Juan Williams, who on said on Fox News made several blatantly prejudiced comments about Muslims.

I’m not here to discuss whether NPR was right or wrong to fire Williams, but whether we should be tolerating what Williams said, how he acted, and accept a culture that promotes racism against other human beings.  

Although white people have mailed bombs through the mail, bombed world trade centers, and murdered hundreds of people in the United States there is no racial profiling against white people – yet people today not only think but are acting to perform racial profiling for illegal immigrants and people of Middle Eastern descent to the point of detrimental heartless acts and death.

It makes me sick to my stomach the way we treat others in this country and people around the world.  Only education, awareness, and building relationships with people that are different than us will truly make the world a better place – a place full of peace and well being.

dogs and chickens

A few years ago when he was caught for illegal dog fighting, the world turned on Michael Vick.  He left football and went to jail.  For most people it unearthed underground dog fighting that happens everywhere in the United States.  It also reinforced the fact that 99.9% of people think that dog fighting is wrong. 

In the United States, cock fighting is also illegal.  Much like dog fighting it is inhumane and cruel to the animal.  Like dog fighting, 99.9% of people find it wrong.  However, that’s not the only inhumane thing that happens to chickens everyday and almost all of us do nothing about it.

Most Americans, every time they eat chicken, don’t know how the chicken was raised, fed, and treated from birth until mealtime.  The chickens can be injected with different hormones and fed food that fattens them rather than food that is healthy.  The chickens are kept in confined dark places with no opportunity to walk.  Many of the birds are even unable to walk.  After the chickens are finally ready to be processed and slaughtered they are transported, again in confined spaces, crammed into a semi by the hundreds. 

It’s a quick overview of the inhumane manner in which chickens are raised to be eaten.  The chickens are not raised as chickens, but are processed more like a bag of Doritos on the grocery store shelf.  Why, as a people, do we find cock fighting immoral and illegal  – where only a small number of chickens die each year - but find it okay to treat thousands of chickens each year inhumanly through the way they are raised?

It is not a question of finding cock fighting as something that is good, because it is not.  It is a question of this: why are we sitting around and letting our chickens be treated so inhumanly without considering it to be immoral?

For more information on the treatment of chickens and other animals I recommend Fast Food Nation and Food Inc (book & movie).

will the real news media stand up

Juan Williams says NPR was just looking for an opportunity to fire him for being on Fox News.  I say Fox News was just looking for an opportunity to attack a real fair & balanced news media.

my social commentary on the three tiers

What tier are you on?  Do you have an h or j extender?  No, this isn’t some jargon for architecture or engineering.  It’s my own made-up language for different steps in life.  Tiers are - of course - the different milestones in life that people reach.  They include such things as graduating from high school or college, getting a job, getting to sit at the adult table at Thanksgiving, etcetera.  Of course through all the accomplishments we can really narrow it down to three tiers and two extenders.  Tiers in American life are the staples to existence.  They are what make people, people.  They are what set us apart from other people.  The tiers are as follows (and I don’t think there will be any surprises): singleness, marriage, and children.  The extenders?  They don’t define a person completely, but instead can set someone apart from another person.  The h extender is for house, as in The American Dream.  The j extender is for job, as in “I have a really great, prestigious, and/or well paying job”.  Therefore, if person a is married and person b is married, but person b also has a higher paying job we therefore can conclude that person b is higher up in tiers.  This is at the heart of being green with envy – this is at the heart of American culture.

The tiers start with singleness.   Why?  Because that is where everyone starts.  And we all know we can’t move up at the adult table at Thanksgiving until there is someone serious in our life.  It doesn’t matter if we are twenty or forty we will be sitting with the seven and nine year olds until we are in a relationship.  Singles are at the bottom.  It’s almost a lower tier of civilization or an under-developed country.  For example, the industrial revolution is less advanced then the modern age, or because America has golden roads and cars to drive them on we are more civilized than other countries.  That doesn’t make us more civilized of course, but that is not the point.

Singles are friends with singles.  Well, until a single is no longer a single when they become married.  Then they are on to tier two: marriage.  In between singleness and marriage for many people is often an in-between phase: engagement.  It can be hours and sometimes years, but most of the time it is just months.  Engagement makes singles extremely jealous and married people only look down on the wishful couple with contempt (and jealousy for their “new” love).  It’s tier one, like elementary school is before high school.  And once we are in high school we don’t dream about what we learned in elementary school.  We look at how easy and simple it was in elementary school – and how difficult and demanding life is now in high school.  The singles rarely mingle with the married people.  The phrase “the third wheel” wasn’t coined for nothing.  They can try of course and some of them do, but in the end the groups are too divided.  If the singles don’t move up into the next phase they will just fall behind, and be left down in the lower social Darwinism tiers.

Alas, most people avoid this fate eventually by getting married and moving into phase two.  By moving into phase two there is the instant gratification of knowing that now you have surpassed the singles in tier one.  The legal paper now states that you somehow know more about relationships and what it means to be in a real committed relationship.  The tier brings a notch of pride.  You now cast off your single friends or persuade them that they too should get married soon, and now make completely new friends who are also at tier two.  Now only married people are good enough.  After a brief high, though, and finally “making it” to tier two, there is the sudden realization that all your new married friends (or now old single friends now married) are moving on to tier three and leaving you behind.  Now the baby-makers in stage three are no longer friends with you and are instead making friends with other baby-makers. 

The stage once loathed and avoided at all costs by singles is now being enviously looked upon.  Once tier three is complete everyone is looking up to you.  All knowledge about everything is known.  There are also two additional semi-tiers that can add to your tiers.  At anytime in the three tiers, owning a home or having a job with status raises you above others in your own tier, and in many cases, can even raise you above people in other tiers. 

Now that I’ve established the tiers, I should state that I’ve seen first-hand tiers one and two.  I’m sure you’ve at least experienced some of the scenarios I’ve described above.  It makes sense that as you move through the various tiers – or backtrack – you find yourself relating most closely with others on the same tier.  They alone know how it feels to deal with the difficulties that accompany singleness, the challenges unique to marriage, or the fears and joys of becoming a parent.  So, embrace the tier you are on.  And try not to let the green-eyed monster get you down or up.

Written in conjunction with Jess

summer birding highlights

The summer was full of birds.  The warm summer months of July and August brought a huge variety of shore birds, especially in August when the shore bird migration starts back down south.  July was nothing to write home about, but once August began the birds were almost falling from the sky.  Luckily, none were injured.

In the second week of August, the local bird club traveled to Fairhaven, Mass, along the coast to look for shorebirds.  To our benefit it was low tide in the morning.  Low tide is the perfect time to look for shorebirds.  As the tide goes out, it uncovers mudflats and - more importantly - an array of creatures that shorebirds like to eat.

The day was filled with a variety of shorebirds, which included the sighting of over 40 Semipalmated Plovers.  Along with the Semipalmated Plovers were two Black-bellied Plovers, Spotted Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs, Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Least Sandpiper, and a Dowitcher.

Also during the morning we saw a Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, and a rare bird for the area: a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

With the many shorebirds, rare sightings, and life birds, it was a great morning for birding.

Bird of the week: Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Life birds: Saltmarsh Sparrow, Spotted Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Sanderling, Least Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plover, and a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

one trillion dollars: cue pinkie to mouth

One trillion dollars is a lot of money.  So much money that you could buy everyone in the state of California a Subaru, and still have money left over.  Fox News has claimed that the Obama stimulus package will actually cost more than the eight-year Iraq War.  These accusations, although most definitely false, do assert that the stimulus bill is a lot of money – hundreds of billions of dollars.  However, I don’t think the stimulus bill is a good comparison to the Iraq war.  I mean, the Bush Administration tried several stimulus packages, but those are not talked about in the comparison.  And of course we don’t know what Republicans would have done if they had a majority in office.  Maybe they would have implemented a stimulus similar to the Bush Administration. The accusations about the stimulus seem to be more over politics than anything else.  Similarly, the Democrats made an outcry over the Bush stimulus.  In addition, Republicans, even if they did provide another stimulus, would not have spent as much money as the Democrats, right?

I think a better comparison would be to compare the Iraq War with the new Health Care bill.  Both are stated to cost around one trillion dollars.  And both Democrats and Republicans seem to reprove the decision of the other.  The choice is then between an unwinnable, unjustified, fake war, that was started under false pretenses of securing WMD that never existed, or a bill that is helping millions of people have health care coverage that normally would not have it.

Now I am not going to get into all the reasons why people hate the Health Care bill.  You know forcing people to have health coverage, a trillion dollars of tax payer’s money going to “welfare health care patrons”, etcetera.  Nor am I going to get into why the Health Care Bill is good: it covers donut holes, pre-existing coverage, and gives people a chance to have health care when they’ve never had a chance before.  Nope, not going to do that.  Just the basics.  If you had one trillion dollars and you could spend it on either the Iraq War or health care, which would you choose?  And no, the money couldn’t be spent on option C - the improvement of public education.   Or option D – not spending the money in the first place.  Then the American taxpayers could do what they do best – spend the money on themselves.

america the beautiful

As many border walls “we” want to build, laws to enact, and rallies at the Washington Mall “we” want to hold: this will always be my America.

land of the free, well for some of us anyway

There is a war going on. And it is not in Iraq or Afghanistan. It is going on right here in the United States. No, it is not immigration legislature. That’s not a war, it is just descendents of former poor immigrants refusing to let current immigrants into the country. Racism apparently did not end with the Civil War, Civil Rights, or with the election of a Black president. The war is actually going on in New York City and the issue is over whether to build a Muslim Center near Ground Zero.
Nearly nine years ago 9/11 happened over terrorists who were - and are still - upset over Western and Christian ideals. Just in the news recently a few doctors overseas were not allowed to continue their practice because the authorities thought they were Christians trying to proselytize. Once the powers-that-be figured out that they were not Christians, just citizens trying to be doctors, they let them continue without any problems. Forget freedom of religion.

In a country that demands freedoms to do just about everything, much of the country wants to take that same freedom from other Americans in the form of not allowing them to build a Muslim Center in New York City. In a country that prides itself above everyone else for its laws on freedom - especially freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, religion, etcetera – it is not allowing freedom of religion to its own citizens.

It is ironic – in a horrible, awful way. A country that was founded on freedom over 230 years ago, who fought for freedom, who sat on buses and had sit-ins for freedom now has many people who want to stop fighting for that right. They essentially want to eliminate the freedom of religion for some of our citizens – the very thing that we claim as a country that makes us different.

The Muslim Center is bigger than bricks and mortar. If it is not allowed to be built any claims of freedom will be a hoax, our progressions as a society will be a hoax, and bringing freedom to other countries will be a hoax. The foundations of freedom of 1776 were stained with the blood of Native Americans and Slavery, the Civil War stained with decades of Jim Crow Laws and Exclusion, the Civil Rights stained by a continued ambiguous racism. The freedom of today seems to be for some, but not all.

this drink you are about to consume is hot

Caution: the beverage you are about to consume is HOT! Yup, it’s true that when you don’t order iced coffee you should expect it to be hot. But of course we live in a world where someone can win a lawsuit for dumping hot coffee all over themselves and being rewarded money from the company because the cup did not say, “Caution: the beverage you are about to consume is HOT!”
It got me wondering. What other products could I stop using my brain stop using common sense and be rewarded money for the consequences?
Here’s my list:
Those pesky toothpicks in your sandwich. How has someone not sued over this yet? A sharp object plunged into your food to keep it together. The brown of the wood usually blends in with the brown of the sandwich bread. And the little color at the top of many toothpicks is hardly an indicator that there is a sharp object in my food. This seems to be a total oversight by the toothpick companies. I recommend that they start printing on their toothpicks, “Caution: Do not eat me.”

And what about some decent signage while merging onto the highway? Why hasn’t anyone sued over this? On the Cape the on-ramps to the highway are twisted just right so that cars are unable to build up enough speed to really merge onto the highway at a safe speed that is comparable to that of the highway traffic. Many times cars are merging at 30 mph and immediately merging onto the highway instead of building speed in the merge lane before merging onto the highway. This causes many drivers to dangerously slam on their brakes or swerve into the other lane to avoid a crash. Clearly, if someone is trying to merge onto a highway at 30 mph they don’t realize that they are actually entering one. Perhaps they have lost their way. Signs should be posted stating, “Highway – Caution!”

There are a lot of bald men walking around. Many of those men have tried products to try and grow the hair they have lost. Of course we all know that it doesn’t work. How do we know? Well, we wouldn’t see so many bald men if it worked. Why hasn’t anyone sued over this? There isn’t a disclaimer similar to those on psychic commercials that state at the bottom, “For entertainment purposes only.” Why not have the same disclaimer at the bottom of the hair products and for the commercials on television?
Gas stations seem to be a hot bed for stupidity. I’m not sure what people are thinking when they pull up to a gas pump with a lit cigarette and then continue to handle gasoline. Sometimes you see signs that say “no smoking”. But maybe people don’t understand why they shouldn’t be smoking. I figure that instead gas stations should be posting big signs with images of fire and explosions and in big bold letters that say, “Smoking Causes Explosions”.

Speaking of unhealthy habits. You never see any warning signs posted at fast food restaurants. Nothing that says, “these foods are unhealthy” or “warning: these food may clog arteries and cause heart attacks”. There aren’t even calorie counts on foods that have hundreds of calories, or notes about how much fat, sodium, or cholesterol is in each item. The only thing that is listed, of course, is the low price that beats out the prices of the fruits and vegetables of the grocery store next door.

Hot beverages already have a warning. What about cold beverages? I mean, if when we order a hot coffee we need a little warning on it that says the beverage is hot, why not have a warning that says the beverage is cold when we order a cold beverage? Imagine the potential of people suing coffee shops when they spill an iced coffee all over themselves and discover that not only is the beverage cold, but wet. Their two hundred dollar suit or dress is now covered in coffee and now they are cold and wet. My recommendation? They should add to cold beverages, “The beverage you are about to enjoy is cold and wet.”

Finally, everyone has one of the most powerful tools on earth. I urge everyone to “Use them at your own risk.”

new pages

The two new page links (community and maps) are in the works and hopefully will be completed in the next few days.  For now they are under construction.

three generations, one passion: maine trip part 3

[This is the third and final installment of my birding trip to Maine.  You can find the first two here and here.]


The next morning we relaxed and ate breakfast as we discussed where we should go to see a few more birds before making our way down the highway home.  A few places jumped out, but were too far out of the way to visit.  We decided to stop at Mattawamkeag Wilderness County Park, a campground and picnic area.  It wasn’t too far off the highway and still north enough to possibly see the Cape May.

Before we left the cabin for the weekend I would get the best singular view of a bird all weekend.  We decided to go for one more trip about the area of the cabin to see what we could get for the morning.  As we made our way up from the lake to the cabin following breakfast there was a flurry of activity from a group of Chickadees high up in the trees nearby.  Mike decided to see if he could phish them down to get a closer look, and see if any other birds would come to see the action too.  The Chickadees and Red-Breasted Nuthatches immediately began to come closer.  They made their way from the tops of the trees to 3/4^ths of the way down and began to make their way closer from 40 yards to only 20 yards away.  The Chickadees began making more racket: “chicka-dee-dee-dee, chicka-dee-dee-dee”.  The birds began to swarm around us to see who the invaders were.  They began to fly down to branches only slightly higher than our heads and only feet away.  A cluster of ten Chickadees and a half-dozen Red-Breasted Nuthatches swarmed us.  A Pine Warbler way off in the distance also began to make its way closer along with a Blackburnian Warbler, with it’s fiery orange and black face that was close enough to clearly see with the naked eye.  Out of the whole trip this was clearly my favorite part.  As the birds realized that a predator was not present or, at least, had flown off, they made their way back up into the tree-tops.  And we headed out to the road to see what could be found across the street. 

With that came the unmistakable double drum and quick flight into the woods of the Pileated Woodpecker.  We followed and drummed on the trees with a rock to see if it would come closer. After a few tries there was no response.  It had flown off.  Another bird however flew into sight – a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  It’s easily distinguished by its call and white-striped back that differentiate it from a Hairy Woodpecker.  After everyone got a good view of the bird and realized we were being eaten by mosquitoes we headed back to set out for the day.  

Finally on our way home we drove south toward the park.  Arriving at the park - like everywhere in Maine – when we got there we had to drive down an extensively windy dirt road to get to our destination.  After about fifteen minutes of driving (which we later realized was only about 1/3 of the way into the park) we decided to stop at the side of the road and meander into the woods to see what we could find.  What was the most random stop of the whole trip ended up being one of the best birding opportunities of the weekend.  We could hear birds everywhere.  Black-throated Green Warblers were singing in every direction, along with Ovenbirds.  We spotted our first and only Eastern Wood-Pewee of the trip.  (You know the bird that sounds like, “pee-ah-wee”.)  We tracked down a Nashville Warbler by sound, but were never able to grasp the bird in our binoculars.  It would elude us again further down the road.  Later actually in the park we would see a Scarlet Tanager.  It would only be a few minutes later after the Tanager that it began to rain.

The rain at first was drivable.  Then it began to fall harder and harder until I found myself looking from the backseat out the windshield unable to see anything.  We were looking for signs for I-95 and ended up missing our turn.  As we turned around I suggested that maybe we stop for a while until the rain slowed down.  Ed was determined to keep going.  We made our turn, and in front of us (or at least what we could see) was a bridge.  It’s not the scariest time I have ever driven over a bridge, but it was a close second and looking out the front I was unsure how Ed was able to see anything.  We thankfully crossed the bridge safely and decided it would be a good time to stop for awhile.  After the rain subsided we were on our way again in search of the highway headed south to Massachusetts. 

We stopped for lunch and realized that we had been away from civilization for the duration of our trip.  We were now entering civilization again.  Stores everywhere, people everywhere, stuff everywhere.  It was a wake-up call.

After lunch we moved south again.  For the weekend we were at around 65 different species found in Maine for our trip.  Our goal for the trip was 72.  We knew we could get a couple more before we hit the New Hampshire border, but we began to realize that if we didn’t stop at one more place we would not reach our goal.  And at this point - missing the Cape May - we all wanted to get to our goal.  We grabbed maps and begin to look for a place to stop before crossing the state border. 

Cathy noticed a small wildlife refuge in Wells just north of the New Hampshire border.  It’s near the ocean so we figured we might be able to see some shore birds to add to our list.  We pulled off the highway, drove a few miles, took a couple wrong turns, and eventually turned into the parking lot.  

At this point it’s getting late in the evening, so it turns into speed birding.  Spot. Go.  Spot.  Go.  Mike spotted a Willet and Tern from afar.  Then a Killdeer was spotted.  Then a White-breasted Nuthatch began to call.  What was a spot and go ended up being a real birding experience.  We spotted what we thought were two Snowy Egrets, but were not sure.  They flew out of view, so we frantically walked through the trail to another open area and got another view of them – we confirmed the Snowy Egrets.  Their bright yellow feet could be spotted from even far away.  Eventually we reached our goal and more.  As we were completing the last leg of the trail toward the car we observed a couple Eastern Phoebes learning their call, “phoe-be”.  We left Maine satisfied, but unfulfilled thanks to the Cape May.  The trip was a success.  It was three generations of birders from different walks of life all with one passion: birding.

up the mountain: maine trip part two

[If you have missed part one of my trip up to Maine go to my July 1 entry.]


After relaxing for a little bit with our generous hosts we had trout stuffed with crabmeat.  Before leaving Massachusetts we imagined that we would be sleeping in a small fishing cabin in our sleeping bags on the floor.  When we arrived we were treated like royalty with everything from delicious food and drink to the comfortable sleeping arrangements, to the view of lake.  We set our plans for the next day and went to bed early in preparation for a long day of birding. 

We packed our bags full of water, granola bars, bug spray, and bird books and set out for Baxter State Park at first light.  After leaving the cabin and driving down the dirt road we quickly realized we were not going to make it to the park at 7:00 a.m. as we had hoped.  Getting to the park late, the park rangers took down all of our pertinent information and let us journey through the park. On our way to the parking lot luck was on our side as a Ruffed Grouse went scampering across the road in front of us.  Was it to be a sign for a successful day ahead?

As we got out of the car and began to scope out the area we could see American Robins, Downy Woodpeckers, and Cedar Waxwings fly-catching on a tree.  Then Mike heared "che-BEK" and immediately started walking towards a big oak tree.  Mike already knew what the bird was, and also knew that he had never seen one before (and, as it turns out, I've never seen one before) – a Least Flycatcher.  With its distinctive call, eye-ring, and nervous tail flick it can be easily distinguished from similar flycatchers.  After a few minutes Mike still couldn't find the bird.  And after a few more minutes we moved on.  We moved to some more birds calling on the other side of the camp area.  After finding a few birds the "che-BEK" was still calling to us.  We gave it one more try.  After increasing frustration at not being able to find the bird through the leaves I finally spotted it through a tiny hole between some branches.  I called everyone over to find it.  The hunt for the Least Flycatcher was over.

We gathered up our things and followed the trail north towards Katahdin. We heard Black-Throated Green Warblers everywhere and an elusive Winter Wren, which could be heard, but not seen.  The first gem of the park came next – the Bay-Breasted Warbler, an uncommon warbler whose chestnut throat makes it unique to other warblers.  After that the warblers kept coming: the Black-Throated Blue Warbler, Common Yellow-Rumped Warbler, and Common Yellowthroat all made an appearance.  After a couple hours up the trail we were finding lots of birds, just not the one we came for.  We took a little break to re-fuel and then head back town to hopefully find the Cape May. 

On our way down it was unusually quite until we heard a "tee tee tee" in the distance.  Was it the Cape May?  We quickly tried to find the bird, but it was quickly apparent it was deeper into the woods.  Venturing further in we could see flashes of a bird, but nothing clear.  After a while we weren't sure if it had flown away or was just being quiet.  Then, the bird flew.  Mike and Ed saw it, or at least kind of saw it.  From their quick glance they came to the conclusion it was not a Cape May, but a similar sounding bird - a Golden-Crowned Kinglet.  We moved on.

Farther down we heard the same Swainson's Thrush that we had heard earlier going up the trail.  We had given up the first time, but this time we were devoted to finding it.  After a long while we found the bird.  Back and forth along the trail the bird would keep flying, hidden among the leaves on the trees.  It finally stopped on a bare branch for all of us to see.  For many of us it was our first sighting for this species. 

After nearly seeing what we thought was a Cape May and find the Swainson's Thrush we gathered up lunch at a shaded picnic table and replenished our strength for the afternoon.  We talked and watched a brazen little chipmunk gather food around the picnic table.  After lunch we set our sights on a less elevated trail in hopes of more birds.  Our hopes of seeing the Cape May were depleted, but not extinguished.  

We were to be thwarted again.  The afternoon trail would be sunnier and hotter, and the deer flies began to find us, unlike the morning hike.  After crossing a few bridges over rivers and bogs and stopping by a lake that over-looked the mountains the afternoon was pretty much a bust.  No new birds – and by the end we were tired and exhausted from all the hiking and heat.  The day was done.  Even though we were unable to find the bird of the day we still felt it had been a good day.  We had seen a Least Flycatcher, Swainson's Thrush, and a Bay-Breasted Warbler.   

We headed home for the day and had a relaxing dinner.  After dinner Mike collapsed on his bed for a short nap, which ended up being for the rest of the night.  Cathy, Ed, and I were not satisfied with the day – we wanted more.  So, we decided to go owling.  The three of us grabbed flashlights and set out for the night.  Unfortunately, as we learned later, it is easier to find owls when you phish (phising is the act of luring a bird out with sound such a bird recording or bird call) them out.  We didn't know this and were unable to see or hear any owls.  Instead? We decided to walk down to a nearby pond and look for peepers who were making a lot of racket.  Once we were satisfied with the frogs we had found we headed in for the night hoping to find some more birds the next day.

independence day extravaganza

My wife, who is a humble children’s librarian, could have done many things as a career: a beautiful musical, a comprehensive editor, an author, or a producer.  Here’s a video she has produced for today, Independence Day.  [Click full screen for enhanced enjoyment.]

we're not dorks, we're eccentric: maine trip part one

[This is part one of my travels to Maine in search of the Cape May Warbler.  Stay tuned for more.]


It all started with a conversation about dorks. By the end, after rolling into the park-and-ride in Mattapoisett, it was confirmed that we were not dorks, but eccentric. Birding hasn’t exactly gone viral, but today it is a more acceptable hobby and is in fact a money-making industry with everything from a simple bird book to excursions around the world to see birds. A few months ago a trip was set for the local bird club to drive up to Baxter State Park in Maine to try to see the Cape May Warbler and other boreal birds. The trip consisted of four adults: the leader, Mike; Cathy and Ed who are an older couple, and myself. It was three generations of birders. I wasn’t sure what to expect of the trip except that there would be birds – and lots of them.

We left for Maine about 10:00 AM to have plenty of time to make it up to the cabin in Millinocket, just south of Baxter State Park. Baxter State Park consists of the highest point in Maine, Mount Katahdin, the application trail, and apparently an elusive little wood warbler, the Cape May.  Although the park attracts people to it for those reasons and may others, you clearly leave civilization just a few miles north of Bangor.

On the way up the four of us talked about birding. We talked about the birds we wanted to see: the Cape May, the Boreal Chickadee, Three-toed Woodpecker, Black-Backed Woodpecker, Grey Jay, Northern Goshawk, and Spouse Grouse, among others. Then we began into birding stories. Cathy and Ed, who have traveled all around the world because of work, have been able to see some of the most beautiful birds around the world, including birds in Zimbabwe, Thailand, and Peru, and they have the stories to go with them. They talked about everything from painting flies about the tree lines in the mountains of Colorado, to feeding elephants in Africa, to sleeping under the stars on the Baja Peninsula. They’ve seen hundreds of birds, yet don’t have a life-list.

What’s a life-list? It’s what Mike, the leader, has been adding to for over 40 years of birding.  Although birders have different criteria for their life-list, it is basically the list of birds they have identified and seen. It usually consists of size, shape, flight-pattern, sound, habitat, color, behavior, etc.  Mike is someone who is seen as an obsessive birder. He lives and breathes birds. As the leader, he makes it fun. He also has a keen ear for bird sounds that makes it easier to find a bird. Although Mike has an extensive life-list, one bird that has eluded him throughout the years is the Cape May Warbler, a bird that nests and is seen frequently in the black spruce trees in Baxter State Park.

We decided to take a count as to how many birds we would see in Maine. The guesses ranged from 74 to 90. I guessed an optimistic 80, a number that far outreaches any number I have seen in a day or trip. Once we crossed the border we stared counting. The count started with common birds like the Crow and Grackle, and led into Tree and Barn Swallows. Even before we got to Millinocket we were building quite a list. Before we arrived at the cabin, we decided to stop by a rest area in East Millinocket. Next to a small lake we were hoping for something good.  We got out of the car and began to walk into the woods. Not much noise as we entered. One of the first things we would find, though, were Pileated Woodpecker holes, although throughout the trip the big bird would elude us at least two times.

We didn’t hear anything in the woods and began to make our way out to see if we could see anything near the lake. No luck there, either.  As we went to the car, Mike heared something. Hello, Cheerio. We walked slowly into the woods to locate what we were hearing. We tracked where the bird was coming from. It was a blue-headed vireo (formerly known as the Solitary Vireo), and a first for me. It’s a small beautiful songbird with, as its name says, a blue head. Next Mike spotted the sound of a black-and-white warbler, which gave us a nice show of its stripped black and white head. 

After getting our fix, we stopped by the local Hannaford’s, picked up some grub for the next few days and moved on to the cabin where we were staying for the night.  We followed our hosts for the weekend who insisted on leading us to the cabin instead of giving us directions to the place.  We found it odd, until we continued on un-marked dirt roads for the next half an hour.  After traveling for what seemed forever, we finally arrived. 

birding in may

May is one of the best months for birding, and this year was no different.  Besides the more common migrant birds that start popping up like a catbird, other species have been in abundance such as the eastern towhee.

But the real treasures lay in the beauty of the inimitable migrant birds.  The first and well known is the Baltimore oriole.  Its song in my neighborhood is heard throughout the day and can often be seen in deciduous trees looking for bugs to eat.  Its bright orange body makes it unique to other bland blackbirds, along with its song. 

Along the shore the greater yellowlegs and American oystercatchers can often be seen.  This month has also been full of new birds.  I saw my first tern, which is like a slimmer sleeker gull.  I also saw a prairie warbler for the first time, which I tracked down in the woods from its distinguishable ascending buzz-like song.  Keeping in-line with warblers I got a fantastic view of a yellow warbler, which puts the yellow of an American goldfinch to shame.   

The real show for the month though was the ruddy turnstone.  It’s a small shorebird that’s brown, black, and white with a pattern that distinguishes it from any other bird.  Its name of course comes from the bird often turning over stones looking for food.  The second was a great view of a common yellowthroat, a beautiful warbler that is easily distinguished by its black mask on its head.  

Three years ago I asked myself why I work so far away.  Three years later I am asking myself the same question.  And like three years ago, the answer is the same: “I don’t know.” Although the answer is both more simple and more complicated than that.   
 
The simple answer is this - I needed to pay the rent, cover bills, and buy food.   
 
The complicated answer is well… more complicated.   
 
After looking for months for a job in the city (and with no luck) I expanded my search to the outer reaches of the ‘burbs.  I received a job and for two years I decided to reverse-commute quite a few miles to work.  What is reverse-commuting?  It’s commuting the opposite of everyone else of course.  Everyone is commuting from the suburbs into the city.  I was doing just the opposite - from the city to the suburbs.   


Many people who live in a city can walk or bike to work.  For those who have to go a little farther, some can take a bus or a train.  If you’ve read this blog at all, you know that I try to be environmentally conscious.  During my years of Chicago suburb employment, I looked into taking public transportation to work when carpooling was not an option.  If I had done that it would have been over two and a half hours from the time I left my apartment until I arrived at work.  And that’s a conservative estimate.  With all the transfers each day from a bus to another bus, to a train to another train the cost adds up as well.  And even if I did want to spend five hours commuting every day, the buses and trains don’t operate early enough to get me to work on time.  So for two years, I was asked how I could drive that far each day.  Believe me, it wasn’t easy.  But I was committed to the city.  I was dedicated to its ideals, its people, and its lifestyle.  Ultimately, I was devoted to livingand working in the city.  It never worked out.  I moved out to the south coast of Massachusetts before I could ever find a new job in Chicago. 


Now in southeast Massachusetts after six months of exhaustive job searching I found another job.  It’s a commute again.  The drive, although only a few miles shorter in distance than my last commute, is much easier.  It seems shorter, it is less stressful, and is easier on the car.  Plus, the scenery is much better than the back-end of Chicago suburbs and giant billboards. 
 
Instead I drive through Cape Cod, along a tree-lined highway.  Such is life, I presume.  Not everyone has the luxury of being able to walk, bike, or have a short commute to work.  Not all of us are able to get a job in the same town we live in (or the next town over).  Sometimes we have to commute.  Unable to find work in my own town to pay the bills –I have to commute.  Although I think commuting should be kept as short and simple as possible, sometimes life isn’t that simple.

looking beyond prevention to quality of life

[The latest post is a synopsis I've written up for Alzheimer's Services on the National Institute of Health (NIH), at the NIH State-of-the-Science Conference.]

At the end of April, the National Institute of Health (NIH), at the NIH State-of-the-Science Conference made public their independent report on preventing Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline. There were a few statements that came up again and again: "currently no evidence", "inadequate to conclude", "insufficient evidence", "quality of evidence was low", and so on. In a nutshell the studies that have been done on prevention of Alzheimer's are inconclusive and more randomized controlled trials (RCTs) need to be done (among others).

What the research panel states without hesitation is that 'Alzheimer's disease exacts a significant toll'. There is no doubt that the financial costs and the physical and mental well-being of the caregiver are being exhausted and need support. In the recommendations, the NIH state that caregivers are a valuable source of information about the daily function of the elderly person with Alzheimer's disease.

Not only are caregivers taking the brunt of the disease, but they are also one of the keys to better research in prevention. With the NIH concluding that the current research is inconclusive, the support of the caregiver is still the key to Alzheimer's disease and other related dementias. Support services such as respite, education, and support groups are still the life-blood of people with Alzheimer's disease, their caregivers, and their families. On the Cape & Islands this is especially true. We need to provide the best care possible for the 10,000 individuals living with a dementia.

We encourage you to read the full report by the National Institute of Health. FULL REPORT

massachusetts says no to yankee fans

A recent copycat of Arizona’s immigration law, the State of Massachusetts has enacted a new immigration law of its own.  The bill, the first bill to ever be unanimously voted for by both democrats and republicans will go into effect next week.  The new law gives the right for any police office to ask any Joe (or Jane) Baseball if they are a Yankees fan.  If they are, the police officer is permitted to burn all of their Yankees gear and they are given thirty days to leave the state.  The bill has already created buzz in other New England states.  Possibly by the end of the year New England states will no longer have to deal with “resident” Yankee fans.  On the negative side of the recent bill, the New York governor has informed New York residents - and all Yankees fans - that they are at liberty to boycott Massachusetts and any other state thinking of enacting this law.  In response the Massachusetts governor retorted, “This is a ‘Red Sox Nation.’ Good luck.”

inherit the wind

I am not completely sold on the idea of putting a massive wind farm in Nantucket Sound. A hundred and thirty wind turbines are in the works to be constructed in Nantucket Sound, and would span 25 square miles. I am not sure how the new turbines will affect the fishing industry and general safety of boaters, commercial and personal. Then of course how does it affect the marine wildlife?  Is this going to affect the whales, or does something like this have no affect on their breeding and migration? And lastly, how does this affect local tribes? Is the wind farm impeding on a past or present agreement with tribes?

Of course the economical circumstances are always going to upset someone.  Are energy bills going to go up, or are they going to go down?  What will a hurricane do to the turbines?  What about tourism? 

Some of the local outcry seems to be over ruined views and a deterrent on tourism.  If you go to Cape Wind’s website (the company who is supporting the wind farm) they have made photo-shopped photos of what the turbines may look like from various points along the Cape and Islands.  If these photos are anywhere close to being accurate then the turbines that are about 5 miles out will in fact not ruin any Cape Cod sunsets.  As for tourism – I think the turbines would only create a buzz instead of becoming a deterrent.  Of course for others, imagining the idea of having to look at 130 wind turbines is too much.

Beyond tourism and economics though lies a real issue: where the future of energy is headed.  The same week that the wind farm was approved, one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history happened.  It has even caused some to rethink offshore drilling.  And just weeks before, the coal industry had another massive safety issue which resulted in 29 deaths.

We are never going to be able to depend fully on wind power.  But, if we are to ever progress in energy freedom, wind power needs to be one of the foundations so that there can be less oil spills and fewer deaths, and substantially decreased dependence on fossil fuels.     

Last Saturday, in the rain, I traveled to East Wareham to a marsh to see which birds were also braving the weather.  As I got out of the car, I realized it wasn’t just raining - it was cold.  I wasn’t sure I was going to see much except for a few gulls.  But then a red-breasted merganser flew into the marsh area.  After that I saw my first great egret for the year.  If you haven’t seen a great egret before, they are tall and white.  They’re hard to miss.  After the egret, I turned around to find an osprey sitting on a rock along the bay.

After the marsh, I traveled to Lyman Reserve, a reserve I pass everyday on my way to work to see what I could see there.  Although it is a small reserve area I did see a few things of note.  I saw an osprey hovering over the river trying to find breakfast.  And although I didn’t see much besides a few song sparrows looking for food, in a small island along the river a mother goose was on its nest.  Other birds I saw that day:

Canada Goose, Osprey, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Red-breasted Merganser, Great Egret, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, American Goldfinch

Bird of the week: Great Egret

First sightings of the day: Great Egret

(Life) Birds I want to see this year:
American Kestrel (seen on 2/27/2010)
Horned Lark
Eastern Meadowlark
An owl

trash day

Earth Day, much like Earth Hour, is meaningless if we don’t do anything about it. Whether you believe in global warming or not, the idea of Earth Day is important. Just take a walk (or a drive) around town and look for all the random trash that is splattered along the road, or in the park. Drive along a major thoroughfare or a highway and you begin to notice all the McDonalds bags, Dunkin Donuts cups, Shaw’s bags, and cardboard boxes along the road. If we do not take Earth Day seriously, not just on April 22 but every day, the trash will not just be in the dumps and splattered along our roadways, but will continue to build up in the places we visit ever day that do not have trash.

For now, it is easy to turn a blind eye to the Earth. The ice caps are melting thousands of miles away. Last year’s cold summer caused even the biggest combatant of global warming to second-guess himself. Water pollution is covered up, or towns make unsubstantial excuses to as why waste treatment plants or paper companies (etc.) had to dump their excess into the local river.
Trash, for now, is nearly contained in dumps and for the most part those dumps are contained away from the rich and left in poorer areas (i.e. Chicago’s South Side). But, the land will run out eventually. The trash will begin to show. How long will it be until someone notices, until someone cares?

growing arugula

The seeds are really starting to grow and sprout now.  After a couple weeks, the herbs are coming along and some of the cucumbers and pumpkins are ready to be transplanted into bigger containers. All of the arugula and carrots are really starting to sprout, and it's exciting to see how much they have grown in such a short period of time.  The onions on the other hand (for the most part) did not make it.  Except for a few, the onions will have to be replanted. 

Cucumber

Pumpkin

Arugula

Carrots

The few onions to make it