Day 17.021: Calami-tree

I don't know what happened to this tree (on our walk at Saco Heath). I really can't work it out - can you? In any case, I don't think that tape is going to fix it.

Day 17.020: Very European

Exile #2 took these excellent photos after spotting a bird (on our own feeders this time) that wasn't one of the regulars.

The initial view was something like this I suspect:

But this photo revealed what it was rather more clearly.

It's not the first time we've done a double-take at a European starling in winter plumage. Although we see them around fairly regularly they seldom visit our feeders.

Day 17.019: Winter normal

A few inches of snow overnight last night left everything quite pretty. Most of the snow lasted the day and is likely to be around for several more with overnight temperatures either side of 10 °F and daytime highs barely reaching freezing for the next few days. Finally weather that seems appropriate for the season. 

Day 17.018: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #466

Exile #2 writes...

E5N1 is currently in rehearsal for his school’s upcoming production of Mean Girls the Musical. This means almost nightly rehearsals, sometimes for singing practice, sometimes to learn choreography and occasionally to practice the odd line he has. So, sometime during dinner on Friday night, the conversation turned to difficult content in this and other musicals that has to be edited to make it acceptable for a high school performance.

At which point, Exile #1 and I thought of Grease! We have talked before about how much of it went over our heads as little kids. Exile #1 remembers seeing it at the movies with his big sisters. I remember wearing out the soundtrack album we had on vinyl. Turns out neither Exile #3 or E5N1 had seen it, so what else could we do but put it on? It’s still a lot of fun, we laughed all the way through, and Exile #1 and I saw new things, watching it with some experience of American high school culture. But it’s still funny how much we didn’t notice!

Day 17.017: Saco Heath

Exile #2 and I had a late morning outing to Saco Heath today. It was surprisingly difficult underfoot (slightly melting snow) which made it more of a workout than the distance would suggest. We were happy to have a little sit-down at the far end, and as we were there it started to snow.

The most common bird identified by both sight and sound was the American crow:

We also saw and heard a raven, heard chickadees and possibly red crossbills and saw this hairy woodpecker:

I have some more photos of the woods and the marsh to sort through, so I'll save them for another day.

Day 17.016: Stealing from the neighbors

It was Exile #2 and what she stole was a view of a bird feeder visitor - a pileated woodpecker looking rather large hanging off the suet block at the house across the road. 

Day 17.015: Winter again

We don't seem to manage more than a few days of winter at a time at the moment and there are a lot of days that seem more like late March than late January at the moment.

This week we had another round of snow - a few inches including however much this was that fell while I was at work yesterday morning.

In the evening, the precipitation ended up as a bit of freezing rain that made the roads rather treacherous for a while. Fortunately, by then our only outing was a rather cautious walk to the mailbox.

I managed to catch this little bit of iciness before the temperatures rose this morning.

Day 17.014: Fishing tales

1) The one who wanted to get away

This was one of my colleagues on the same boat. He had just found that his flight home for the next morning had been canceled and was trying to rebook as we headed out to deep water (about an hour at full speed). I happened to take this photo just as he pulled an impressive face. As to why he did so, a check of the horizon may explain…

The boat had just turned and rolled dramatically just as I took this picture - try holding the picture so that the horizon is level to get the real impression

He did eventually get a replacement flight, but after we were back to dry land.

2) The one that nearly got away

I've already posted a picture with my red grouper and revealed that we had to put it back because it was out of season. This was the first picture (I took it when one of our supervising professionals had just got it unhooked):

After that he offered to take my picture and showed me how to hold the fish like this. As I tried to hand him my phone, it became clear that I did not have a good grip and the fish gave a dramatic flip and I lost it completely, spilling it onto the edge of the boat where we all looked as it ... fell down into rather than over the edge of the boat. It could have gone either way.

Sadly (or not), no-one was ready with a camera at the time so that moment is the one that got away, They then found this mechanism so I could actually hold it for a photo.

Yes, thanks, a handle does make this significantly easier

Then I realized that I should hold it out toward the camera to make it look bigger and that is why I am laughing so hard in this previously published photo:

It was a fun afternoon excursion.

Day 17.013: Florida miscellany

Horseshoe crab carcass on the beach - not one of the things we've ever found on Maine beaches, even though as we discovered nearly a decade ago, it is possible.

Maybe not the expected weather - but palm trees on white sand in any case.

The view from my hotel room

Day 17.012: Birds in Florida

My trip to Clearwater was pretty tightly scheduled with a mixture of work and fun, but I did have a few hours to myself when I first arrived, and took a short walk along the beach to see what birds I could see. Of course, I was armed only with my phone, so no super-zoomed shots, but I was able to fairly confidently identify most of them.

The two boat trips also yielded some shots - mostly of the cheeky birds trying to steal the fishing catch (or the offcuts from the fileting process).

At least one laughing gull, others could be Franklin's, double-crested cormorant (TR)

Boat-tailed grackle (male TL, female BR), ruddy turnstone (TR & BL)

Terns: royal (large with orange beak) and Forster's (smaller)

Willet (TL), sanderling (right) and nanday parakeets 

Left picture with zoomed region is a group of white ibis - hard to see from photo, but live the beaks were distinct (and distinctive). Right pictures are roseate spoonbills.

Brown pelicans - huge but impressively graceful.

A great egret (TL and BR), and a pair of snowy egrets (TR & BL)

Day 17.011: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #465

Exile #2 writes…

The week in Maine was nowhere near as entertaining as Exile #1’s Floridian adventure, but we did have a little bit of winter weather, and the schools let out at lunchtime that day. It’s probably just as well as E5N1 is regularly spending evenings until 5 at school, and sometimes until 6:30, all in the name of entertainment. We are enjoying the fruits of his labor, however, and Saturday’s concert was excellent.

In classic E5N1 form, as we were leaving the venue, he ‘reminded’ us that he had a birthday party to go the next day. We had, of course, forgotten - if we ever knew - but we scrambled, and today, once again he disappeared like the social butterfly he is!

Tonight’s sunset as witnessed when transporting E5N1

Day 17.010: District Choir Festival

Since I’m back in Maine, I suppose driving to an early evening event through the snow is par for the course. The event was E5N1’s District Choir concert. The concert featured two choirs made up of high school students from several schools all over southern Maine. It was excellent. I may be able to bring you a taste of it later, but for now, here’s a picture of the mixed choir that included E5N1. 

Day 17.009: Early start - for nothing

With a similarly early start as I had for the outbound journey, I found myself at the airport in good time for my 7 am flight, only to discover that we were heading into the middle of an all-day winter storm in Baltimore. 

Around 6:15, they let us know that our new schedule was to depart at 8:30. I could have used that hour and a half differently and it now put my connection in doubt. 

In the end, we got away on that revised schedule and by then my flight out of Baltimore was delayed by an hour. 

We left the gate pretty much with that hour delay, but then had a lot of waiting around for de-icing to be done and it was two more hours before we took off. In the end I was about two and a half hours late getting back to Portland, but - all things considered - that felt like a win. 

Day 17.008: All work?

There has been a fair amount of traditional work this week (but it’s not very photogenic). This afternoon’s activity was deep sea fishing (chosen from a short list of options):

Me with a red grouper in caught (and threw back because it’s out of season). I’m laughing because I’m holding it out so it looks even bigger than it is)

My colleagues and me with the catch we brought back to land. We ate some of it just minutes later and the rest are going home with the most local one)

Day 17.007: Dinner cruise

Dinner tonight was on a boat with a view. 

Day 17.006: All fun and games…

After a day of meetings and a great dinner that featured sushi, dumplings, fried rice and wings, our attention turned to the games that included this oversized foosball table:

This is my colleague who was opposite me during that game but not visible - and - as an occasional reader of this blog- didn’t want to be missed out:

She went on to beat me at ping-pong and air hockey but I did dominate at corn hole - so that did something to restore my self-respect!