We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
A baked or broiled chunk of Cod is a good test of a fine kitchen. Sad to say, Cod have been overfished to the extent that their historic populations may never be seen again - and I mean both the European and the western Atlantic populations.
Same issue with Haddock. Not sure I can tell the difference on a plate but a good Cod has thick flakes.
What about Fish 'n Chips? That means Cod or Haddock. For me, it has to be done right which means crispy but succulent, almost undercooked and fairly thick inside. It's easy to find terrible Fish 'n Chips and I have found lots of them. Worst ones in the UK, best one ever on the dock on Block Island. Malt vinegar, and beer are right with it.
Audubon had a great time in the USA. A hero of mine. He was a fine diarist too. He also became a heck of a shot. What many do not know is that one reason his bird images are often in awkward positions is that he generally painted them from specimens he had shot.
As an aside, Roger Tory Peterson's prints are excellent too. Audubon was, of course, an inspiration to him. No dead birds.
Tautog is a popular fish for recreational fishers - not really a sporty fish but a dining fish. It's no surprise that they are tasty because they live on molluscs and crustaceans. These guys (they are a Wrasse) live mainly from Cape Cod to Chesapeake Bay.
There's a limited keeping season for them: April, and then mid-Oct to mid November.
They are bottom-feeders, partial to rocky bottoms, underwater structure. Green crabs and clams are the best bait.
Tautog (Tautoga onitis), also known as blackfish, have a lifestyle that promotes a long life: they eat crabs and shellfish, sleep all winter, and in the summer they rest every night and have sex every day.
Not a bad life. In youth, I would catch a few off the wreck outside Wellfleet Harbor. The one in the photo is huge, probably should be tossed back to breed but you can tell from that gal's face that she wants to eat it.
They are passing through, because I never see them here during summertime. I don't know why not. This morning I saw (and mostly heard) them around my gym's illuminated parking lot. That's a typical place for them.
Over the years, I have seen them around illuminated stadiums and in small towns.
In a lifetime spent outdoors, I never knew that Yallowjackets stung. I just thought they bit. They only bothered me when getting in the way of my hamburger.
The yellowjacket is one of the most menacing insects known to man. These brightly colored wasps possess a fiery sting and bite seemingly out of proportion to their size. Yellowjackets are not 'bees', and they're definitely not friendly. So what makes them so dangerous?
1. They're aggressive. Yellowjackets are more aggressive than other stinging insects such as wasps, hornets, mud daubers or bees.
2. They can sting AND bite. Since yellowjackets don’t lose their stinger, they can sting numerous times, and will do so unprovoked. In fact, they usually bite your flesh to get a better grip as they jab their stinger into your skin.
3. They're defensive. Yellowjackets vigorously defend their nests. They will assign a "guard" to stand watch at the nest opening and alert the colony to a threat. Swarm attacks can occur when someone accidentally steps in, hits, or even comes too close to a nest. Attacks of hundreds of yellowjackets from underground nests can also be triggered by ground vibrations – thus, mowing lawns can be hazardous during the late summer season when colonies are large.
4. They sting you for no reason. Even if you're minding your own business and nowhere near a nest, yellowjackets don't care -- they'll sting you anyway!
5. They're scavengers. Yellowjackets are a common pest at picnics and other outdoor activities. They scavenge for meat and sweet liquids, which brings them into frequent contact with humans with ample opportunity to sting. (See #4.)
6. Their sting packs a punch. For people who are allergic, one yellowjacket sting can be deadly. But even if you don't have an allergic reaction, the sting is plenty painful. "Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue..." is how entomologist Justin Schmidt, creator of the "Schmidt Sting Pain Index", described a yellowjacket sting!
The Grey Fox is not a rare canid inhabiting much of the US and Central America. People know the Red Fox (imported from Europe for Virginia fox hunters before the Revolution) and the Coyote (which has invaded the Eastern US with the extirpation of the wolf), but few people know or ever see the crepuscular/nocturnal Grey Fox, a native canid.
I suspect that sometimes Grey Fox is mistaken for Coyote.
A cool fact about Grey Fox is their tree-climbing ability.
The Eastern and Central US has the Rough Green Snake (New Jersey and south) and the Smooth Green Snake, in the Northeast. These skinny bug-eaters are often referred to as "Grass Snakes," although both like to climb in vegetation.
They are so well-camouflaged that they are rarely seen, and they tend to freeze when disturbed. I think I once saw a Rough in a bush in southern CT, but I can't swear it was a Rough because it moved too quickly for me to grab it to check it's ID.
I love seeing snakes in New England. We don't have enough of them except for the regular Garter Snakes that always startle you when they are curled up in a Zucchini plant and the gigantic Black Snakes on stone walls and in the sand on Cape Cod. Did I ever mention the time my Mom killed a Milk Snake with a hoe (mistaking it for a Copperhead) while we batch of kids were playing in the grass? A mythical moment.
You have probably never seen one, but this cat-sized member of the weasel tribe is not rare in New England woodlands. While famous for living on porcupines and squirrels, Fishers will eat anything they can catch (but they do not eat fish).
"Due to its alert, secretive nature and solitary habits, most people have never seen this interesting predator. It disappeared from the state by the 19th Century due to agricultural land clearing. Fishers have since made an amazing comeback, and now live in populated areas that offer mature forest habitat and the squirrels it preys on."
The White Shark (aka Great White Shark, thanks to Hollywood) is a worldwide critter of primarily temperate coastal areas. They live on fish, and marine mammals when they can find them.
They do not mind cold water or warm water, but just follow the food. Below migration patterns of White Shark in the eastern US.
Most other sharks of the Northeastern US follow similar north-south migration patterns. While never common inland, Long Island Sound hosts Blue Sharks and Hammerhead Sharks in summer months.
Why are we seeing more White Sharks in the Northeaster summers these days? Because of conservation. The US Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 has resulted in dramatic increases in the numbers of Harbor Seals and Grey Seals. These blubbery critters, which can resemble humans in wetsuits, are favorite foods.
Other conservation efforts, such as limiting the trawler harvests of Menhaden ("Bunker"), have resulted in an abundance of food for sharks, seals, Ospreys, Eagles, porpoises, and dolphin. All of those critters historically lived in the southern New England seacoast.
These birds are similar to the very abundant Sandhill Cranes, and can interbreed with them.
Sandhill Cranes are huntable and highly edible. They taste like Swan, I am told. Do not shoot a Whooping Crane. The US has an eastern flock, and the famous western flock.
With a flock this small, conservation is promising but not guaranteed.
I can hear, out my window this morning, the songs and calls of Pine Warbler, Black and White Warbler, Redstart, Red-eyed Vireo (not exactly a warbler), Magnolia Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black-Throated Blue, Parula, Prairie Warbler, and a few more that I am not sure about.
My idea of watching the spring warblers is a chaise lounge lawn chair flat, under a big old oak tree with binocs. Preferably, a big oak near some juniper trees - which is why I planted my junipers and Japanese willows: to watch the warbler migration with minimal exertion. Let them come to you. Just wait for them to pass through the trees. Otherwise, it's a day of neck pain. Knowing their calls simplifies it: you don't have to try to see them. But plenty of them forage silently in the treetops. Especially the odd vireos.
Get out there and see these little jewels of Creation, and listen to their morning calls, as they pass by on their trip north.
I have had two or three expert birder companions in my life who had musical talent. You could take them for a hike without binocs or anything, and they would point and identify everything they heard.
Sad to say, I lack a musical brain, and my memory for bird songs and bird calls is weak and requires constant refreshment. It's funny, but some things stick to my brain like Crazy Glue and some sorts of things do not.
If birding is one of your hobbies (birding/hiking), you know that you hear far more than you can see. It's fun to see, because you get the idea of a species' habits. But if identification matters to you, sound is easier than straining your neck to find a Vireo in the top of an oak tree.
I've considered birding without ever looking at anything. Sitting on a log, say, during Spring migration and just listening for an hour or two. I know that I would be exasperated.
Can you readily tell a Rose Breasted Grosbeak from a Robin or an Oriole? And those are easy.
He or she has been skulking around my rose bushes this week. These guys are often early migrants. The rusty tail is a good field mark for this thrushy-looking thrush.
In the Northeast, we have two non-migratory thrushes which are not thrushy-looking: The Robin and the Eastern Bluebird.
The topic came up with friends the other day. Consider the speed at which some species fly (ducks over 50 mph, for example), not to mention the speeds of diving predators.
Three species of Asian Carp have invaded the Mississippi watershed. They are destroying the native ecosystem but, like most invasive species, there is no way to get rid of them.
I did a double-take when I passed one of these guys perched on a tree beside the highway. In winter, hawks along a highway are generally always Red-Tails, so this smaller guy's rusty chest in the sunlight surprised me.
Red-Shoulders tend to be birds of the lowlands, but in migration times you can see anything anywhere.
The teams of good guys who replaced bad wood with azic and repainted our house thought it was fun to renovate one of my wren houses too during their lunch breaks (sometimes chickadees take it, though. I don't care).
We had a major migrant wave last night. Most songbirds migrate at night. This morning, flocks of cheeping and chipping White Throated Sparrows and Juncos all over the HQ.
That's my Sugar Maple today, with dumpster and porta-potty. The dumpsters keep getting smaller, which is a good sign that we are getting to the end of fix-up.
From 1998, 
Tautog is a popular fish for recreational fishers - not really a sporty fish but a dining fish. It's no surprise that they are tasty because they live on molluscs and crustaceans. These guys (they are a 
They are passing through, because I never see them here during summertime. I don't know why not. This morning I saw (and mostly heard) them around my gym's illuminated parking lot. That's a typical place for them.
In a lifetime spent outdoors, I never knew that Yallowjackets stung. I just thought they bit. They only bothered me when getting in the way of my hamburger.
Lots of them in our border (mostly) perennial beds now. 
The
It is said that the D-Day armada witnessed a swarm of 
You have probably never seen one, but this cat-sized member of the weasel tribe is not rare in New England woodlands. While famous for living on porcupines and squirrels, Fishers will eat anything they can catch (but they do not eat fish). 
Seeing Endangered Whooping Cranes Step Through the Fog of Extinction -
thought I glimpsed a female yesterday, but today I saw a male picking weed seeds out of my lawn. If they are nesting nearby, I am delighted.
It is ramping up right now. 
I have had two or three expert birder companions in my life who had musical talent. You could take them for a hike without binocs or anything, and they would point and identify everything they heard.
He or she has been skulking around my rose bushes this week. These guys are often early migrants. The rusty tail is a good field mark for 
The teams of good guys who replaced bad wood with azic and repainted our house thought it was fun to renovate one of my wren houses too during their lunch breaks (sometimes chickadees take it, though. I don't care).
We had a major migrant wave last night. Most songbirds migrate at night. This morning, flocks of cheeping and chipping White Throated Sparrows and Juncos all over the HQ.
That's my Sugar Maple today, with dumpster and porta-potty. The dumpsters keep getting smaller, which is a good sign that we are getting to the end of fix-up.