Day 1-2 (kinda)

Day 1-2(ish):


I decided, instead of dealing with stupid NYC/NJ/CT traffic in the morn of Tuesday (check engine light went on Sunday night!!!... just a gas cap contact, whew!), I drove to Nanuet, NJ to see a good buddy Kenny who I go to festivals w/and hang out with from time to time. Arrived there (about 75min in traffic... yea, skip traffic.....) about 10:30 and we took in some jams, took in some DBs, and I crashed there.

I set out around noon, after going to the bank an buying a fireproof safe (marked as $40, night crew marked it $18... score!). And just like The Merritt and Hutch.... tree/construction/one lane shit.... so I stayed in Cleveland instead of Chicago. Especially since I would have gotten there by like 5am today (5/12). Motel 6, 5 mi from the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame and downtown Cleveland. I check out tomorrow (5/13) at noon..... on to North Dakota, with a stop at Indiana Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore in Indiana.

I was only about 3 hours in before some (some.... haha) storms rolled in (get ready CT!), so I pulled off I-80 in a place called The Village of Lighthouse. I made sure nothing would get wet, grabbed a snack, wrote in my journal/book, then heard the mojo....

This place was Cabella's, Bradely, Strong Rd, and Griswold all rolled into one. Bobolinks, Baird's Sparrow (lifer), RB Grosbeak, Field Sparrow, Yellow warbler, Catbirds abound.... but the best was a stunning..... stunning, female Prothonotary warbler who came to my pishing. She picked up my MoJo and refused not to chip and show off that blazing white undertail coverts. This was about an hour stop.

(Awesome little town......)

(Where the grassland and migrant birds were in PA)

I got back on the road, as soon as I jump back on I-80...more construction. Now in Ohio at this point, but I did see several Brewer's Blackbirds crossing the highway from grassland spot to grassland spot. A lifer for me! I noticed the smaller size of the grackles coming from the same areas. One nice point in traffic is when I watched an adult Red-tail devouring prey a top a lamp post.... going 1 mph, I got good looks!

40 Species so far... best being female Protho and HUGE 1st year Goshawk coming into a tree on the side of I-80 in the in the Poconos, PA.

Here for one more night.... off to see Cleveland!

-Brian-

Wow that came up faster than the last 4 months!!

I am off and about by 5:00a Monday morning. I just hope I stay awake for Breaking Bad!!


These last few days have been chaotic/hectic/exciting/anxious, etc..... from packing, gather, yada yada.

At least my Blue-wings came home before I left! Still no Indigo Bunting!!!!


This will be my last post until stopover #1.... somewhere near Chicago.


3 days........ then 3 months of anything I want. I am going to leave a tape recorder at various spots over night to pick up historical Americans.... where Kennedy was shot, the Alamo, Gettysburg, etc.... not for me so much, my buddy is big into the ghost mojo.


See you out west!!!!

-Brian-

Oil......

Unbelievable. You'd think after Alaska they would get there shit together. They can spend billions on nonsensical technology (iPad, for one....), yet not find a way to safely transport oil?

How many googles of times have ships navigated everywhere? To me, this really angers me for 3 reasons...

1) The most obvious, the wildlife of the Gulf

2) Obama thinks it's a good idea to do MORE drilling

3) My first encounter of the Gulf Coast in TX and LA will surely not be as expected.



I was in Alaska 2 years ago, and drove to Valdez. I honestly wanted to cry due to the way the locals described the disaster.


People ask me why I want to live in a cabin in the middle of an undeveloped million acre forest.... my answer is always.... 'You, and people'.


-Brian-

Lots of packing and thinking....

I got a few new tats yesterday, rainy out, no plans, so I sat down and opened an excel file and just thought of everything I would need. From tent to chapstick, from plastic forks to my cell phone, from my water shoes to my lens cleaner.

In about 15 minutes, I had 228 items listed. The good thing, though, is that I already have 92% of all that.... I just have to think about where it is and find it all!! My buddy said, 'What, they don't have Walmart in bumblescum??'. Of course they do.... but being prepared is a no brainer when compared to a possibility.



It is now 10:11am (est), on April 27th, 2010. By this time on May 10th, 2010 I will be probably in Ohio. Not exactly safe.... but I made it home to Stratford from a hotel on the Illinois/Indiana border (called the Blue Heron!) in 12 hours. I am leaving at 4:00am, so 6 hours in I will be nearing Ohio most likely. People really think it takes longer to get to places than they actually do. Yea, it does take 14 hours to drive to Savannah, GE.... but from my house in Stratford it takes me 13 minutes, going the speed of traffic, to Main St. in downtown West Haven.

I can't wait for that first sunrise to enlighten my first birding spot... and myself.

T-Minus: 49min, 18hrs, 13 days......


-Brian-

Two weeks.... music

Only two weeks until what will (hopefully not!!) be the trip of my lifetime. (I still need to get to Mexico again, Costa Rica, Galopagos..!!!).


One enourmous part of my life is music. I play music (guitar, keyboard, drums, harmonica, flute), I hear music (huge difference between listening and hearing!), I have musical vibes in my blood stream. I already rambled off a few bands to be heard on the trip, but because I am bored, I will list what I got on the iPod now. I listen to any and everything, so the list is quite eclectic and probably most artists are unknown to several.*

Suggestions are greatly appreciated.... how else do you find new music??* If anyone knows of a band listed, and knows of something I may like, I WILL put it in the iPOD... and give it a chance. most turn off things too qick to even know if they dig it or not.


(in no order of favorites....just what comes out of my mind......)

Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst (Conor IS Bright Eyes), Jack Johnson, Cage, Incubus, Citizen Cope, Miles Davis, Led Zepplin, The Doors, Atreyu, Air Supply (yea, I said Air Supply), Portishead, Kings of Leon, Plain White T's, Nas, Les Claypool and his many bands (Primus, Frog Brigade, etc...), Pink Floyd, Boston, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, The Wailers, 311, The Agony Scene, Alice in Chains, Arlo Guthrie, a little bit of Janis...can only take so much of her, Poison The Well, A Jealousy Issue, New Found Glory (not a bad show the other night at CCSU... too much new stuff), Marshall Tucker Band, Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dave Matthews Band, Hatebreed (eh), Galactic, Ryan Montbleu Band, moe. (gotta be in my top 10 bands.... way too many to do a top 3, forget one), Tool, A Perfect Circle, Dashboard Confessinal, The Dillinger Escape Plan (coolest band name ever), Tupac, Biggie, OLD Mobb Deep, Blood for Blood, Jane's Addiction, Every Time I Die, The Grateful Dead, Ratdog (oh, Bobby, why...), Phish, Phil Lesh and Friends, Keller Williams, The String Cheese Incident, Nirvana, Widespread Panic, Muse, The Reckoning, Bob Dylan (Conor Oberst is the next BD), Eighteen Visions, Gin Blossoms, God Forbird, Radiohead, Full Blown Chaos, Hopesfall, Green Day (Dookie and prior), Metalllica (pre-Load... again, d-bag sellouts), Interpol, Damien Marley (Bob's son), Simon & Garfunkel, George Clinton and P-Funk, Deep Banana Blackout, Remembering Never, Crosby-Stills-Nash, Jethro Tull, Soundgarden, Sublime, Santana, Butthole Surfers, The Meat Puppets, Buddy Guy, a little bit of the old Ludwig Van (Beethoven... from Clockwork Orange... book better), Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Paganini (5th caprice.... wow.... link to video of best shredder EVER playing the 5th on electric guitar), Straylight Run, Lotus, The Black Crowes, A Life Once Lost, Bud and Budd- The Kind Buds, The Mars Volta, Michael Frantiw/Spearhead, Spearhead alone, Killswitch Engage, Seemless (Killswitch's original singer's new band), Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, Mother Love Bone, RAQ, Senses Fail, Stome Temple Pilots, maybe some Coheed, John Gilmore solo stuff (Floyd lead guitarist), Better Than Ezra, Spin Doctors, Beach Boys, John Denver, The Bled, Johnny Cash, Candiria, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Drowning Pool (pre lead singer's death), Pantera, Superjoint Ritual, Foo Fighters, Tenecious D, From Autumn to Ashes, Fuel, Into Another, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Oasis, MxPx, NoFX (I hate the Misfits!), Live, REM, Kottonmouth Kings, Lords of Acid, The Chemical Brothers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, OutKast, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, G. Love and Special Sauce, Perpetual Groove, Jeff Beck, Patsie Cline (my father loved her... know the songs by heart), The Bloodhound Gang, CKY, Cypress Hill, Flyleaf, System of a Down, Depeche Mode, Bootsy Collins, Cat Stevens, Edgar Winter Group, Mgmt, Trivium, Beck, Slightly Stoopid, The Roots, Silverchair, Candlebox (best band to learn on guitar), The Used, AFI (eeehhh), Eminem (I guess... I think he sucks besides his flow skills.... generic, corny and lame lyrics... Ill take Cage over him any day), The Pretenders, Blink 182 (2004 and prior), Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Portishead (needs to be mentioned twice!), The Mamas and the Papas, Roy Orbison, Ben Harper, Bens Fold Five, Matchbox 20......


....that is where my Brian brain train ended. I encourage all to check out any bands listed. how does one learn with closed eyes and ears??


-Brian-

Phone/GPS and some Sherwood photos

Well I got a new phone, and I love it. I don't know how it compares to others, but I got the newest Motorola Droid w/Google. It is the one with the slide down keyboard (was a must... still working on getting better at that!).

But it indeed save me money.... I needed a new phone like crazy, and wanted/needed a GPS for my trip. The Droids maps and car navigation is amazing. Within seconds, it found where I was, I typed in San Fransisco, and had step by step directions.

Most probably know all these neat features, but this is my first 'real' phone... and I dig the hell out of it!



Anyhow... early on Friday morning (4/23), I met Tina Green at the entrance of Sherwood Island SP in Westport, CT for a look around. I had only been there once, and it was only as far in as to the conifers so see some really awesome birds (thanks go to Tina for that, also!!), so Tina was gracious enough to trot me around the park and point out the finer birding sections.

We tallied 43 species, highlights being 7 Snipe, 7-8 Willet, 4 Thrashers, and a single Yellow warbler (at most, 5 minutes after Tina left for work.. bummer!). That was our ONLY warbler of the walk. The Mill pond and LIS were quite dead.

Nonetheless, it was a gorgeous day (a bit breezy) to be out in nature. And I agree with Tina when she says that Sherwood could, and maybe more importantly should, be the Hammo of Fairfield county. Maybe not as big, but the habitats are all the same... just not maintained as much as they should be.

Below are a few photos I snagged of the few I snagged in total.

-One of many Willet who have returned to Sherwood Island and the CT coast-

-A crap photo of one of the 4 Thrashers we found-

-My favorite.... as I was leaving the point on the shore to head out and home, this amazing little guy landed and was very photogenic. I raised Black Swallowtails before, and I think they are just amazing. This was my first encounter this year with any swallowtail, though the next day I saw two Tiger Swallowtails.-

After today only 2 weeks!!!

(I can't say that Alex's FL birdlist didn't get me a bit jealous that I am not out now!! I'll be down there around July 1st... if AZ doesn't hold me down!)


-Brian-