steamed crabs tonight....

[wesw]

...straight from assawoman (bay, that is)

caught crabs and even saw some large blue birds that I didn t recognize. not great blue herons, but similar, smaller and a deeper blue. they looked like wading birds but were foraging in a field, not far from the water....

[kristina]

could it have been a Little Blue Heron?

http://www.richditch.com/page111/page155/page155.html

[wesw]

it very well could have been. there were about a dozen of them in the field and I saw one flying, it held its neck the same way as a great blue heron when it flew.

I ve spent a lot of time around the water on the eastern shore and I don t recall seeing them before.

google time

[wesw]

definitely was.

went to google images and saw the exact color .

apparently there is a wide color variation between adults and juveniles and even between breeding and non breeding adults. I must have seen a breeding colony. beautiful blue color. kinda purple.

Wikipedia shows that their breeding range extends in a sliver up the east coast to the eastern shore of Maryland.

live and learn

[Sue U]

Over the weekend we've had an oriole set up camp in our yard. I haven't seen one around these parts since I was a child. I had almost forgotten how shockingly brilliant their color is. I hope it sticks around.

[Gob]

We had a couple of Rainbow Lorikeets on ours this morning, they are gorgeous. I'll see if I can link a piccie when I get home from work.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Ha! Reverse photo bomb

[Gob]

Nice one Meade!! That's the image I hoped to post

[Guinevere]

Interestingly, we have Orioles at my office. I love seeing them - definitely a declining species (not in the MLB sense, however!).

And definitely a Lesser Blue Heron. I see them here occasionally but not often. We do have a Great Blue rookery nearby and they are one of my favorite birds of all time.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Sparrows took up residence in the bird houses I built for the wrens.
Squatters!

I hear the wrens singing in the morning but haven't found out where they are nesting.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Your hole is too big.

If sparrows can get in

[oldr_n_wsr]

Your hole is too big.

If sparrows can get in

Nope, not going to bite on that one.


But I get your point.

[oldr_n_wsr]

wesw maybe you can help me out with this.
About 10 years ago, my cousin (God rest his soul) brought some blue claw crabs up from Virginia that were cooked and coated in pepper (red kind I think). We ate them by covering the table in newspaper and used mallets to crack them open. Spicey hot and delicious and it was advised not to touch our eyes (among other parts of our anatomy) until after we were finished and washed our hands thoroughly.

Know of any blue claw recipes like that?

[Guinevere]

Oldr, that's steamed with Old Bay Seasoning and vinegar. That's how we do them, spicy, hot, messy, and delish. Lots of cold bevvies required. Spend all afternoon picking and drinking.

Recipe here:
http://www.oldbay.com/Recipes/Crab/Main ... Blue-Crabs

[Lord Jim]

it was advised not to touch our eyes (among other parts of our anatomy) until after we were finished and washed our hands thoroughly.

Oldr, that is sound advice whenever eating anything covered with hot spice with ones fingers...

Unless you want to get an idea of what getting shot in the eyes with pepper spray feels like...

[wesw]

yep, they beat me to it....

there are , by the way, tons of bluecrabs up around cape cod., and they are BIG because no one bothers to catch them. I believe we have aided in making our local crabs smaller as a species by keeping all the large ones....

and don t tell anyone I said this but...., I have always found that the crabs I catch in saltier water (i.e. the ocean) taste better than the ones I catch in more brackish water(i.e. the bay) shhhh. I ll deny it if you quote me....

I would bet money that you cold catch blue crabs around long island too, and that they would be tastylicious...

[oldr_n_wsr]

Thanks for that Guin.

[wesw]

older we steam our crabs with beer, vinegar and a little water and coat each layer of live crabs with old bay seasoning as we drop them in the hot steamer pot. they often skitter around the kitchen when we drop them, and occasional pinch someone. about 12-15 minutes and they are done.

then, with a little vinegar, old bay and drawn butter on the side, maybe even some lemon juice, we get to pickin', as guin described

[oldr_n_wsr]

That sounds good.
Might be time to head down to the Patchogue bay dock.

I got a hankerin for some crab.

[wesw]

apple cider vinegar is what we use but some nice red wine vinegar would probably be good too...