Day 19.093: Sparrow cross-over

Our most commonly seen backyard sparrow in winter is the dark-eyed junco. In summer they are replaced by chipping sparrows. Both are often seen searching for food on the ground. At this time of year, there is a brief period of overlap when both can be seen. This weekend's Project FeederWatch count included two juncos and our first chipping sparrow of the year.

Spring is here - even if the weather doesn't seem completely convinced of that fact yet.

Day 19.092: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #549

Exile #2 writes...

It’s been a fun having E5N1 around for the weekend. We got to spend a little extra time with him today and finish up his birthday leftovers.

It was also nice to go back to the high school yesterday and see a few old friends. The show was the musical version of 9 to 5 and, as ever, it was performed to a very high standard. For once, however, they had decided not to edit at all for language or content. This meant the Dad behind us had quite a busy time of it answering his children’s questions, my favorite being “Dad, what is blackmail?” 

Day 19.091: Birthday (observed)

After lunch, I collected E5N1 from his college dorm to bring him to the high school for the Saturday matinee of the musical. Exile #2 and Exile #3 met us there. Afterward, we had takeout and birthday cake and did gifts etc. 

Day 19.090: Phoebe visits

We’ve seen this eastern phoebe almost every day since last weekend. It seems to be finding bugs - at times by hovering at the side of tree trunks, and at times going to the ground before returning to a perch to pump its tail.

Why does it pump its tail when it lands?

To make it easier for us to identify it!

Day 19.089: I didn’t really think this through

I captured this yesterday. 

It was remarkable because I’ve been trying to get my streak back to 128 for significantly more than 128 days and I finally succeeded in stringing that many hard-mode puzzles together again. Of course the screenshot doesn’t prove that I got to 128 twice but I did. As of today it’s 129. I still have a way to go to catch Exile #2 whose maximum streak is over 180. 

Day 19.088: Happy Birthday E5N1!

Today is E5N1's 19th birthday. I chose a photo from each year - within a few weeks of his birthday.

Here is zero:

Here is one through nine:

and ten through eighteen:

This is nineteen:

We'll see him for a birthday celebration at the weekend.

Day 19.087: Snow?!

This happened this morning:

Both the remote Exiles reported snow at their locations too.