Day 19.130: Exile #4

Exile #4 is home for a couple of weeks before they start work back in Massachusetts. I went down this afternoon to help clear out their student room and drive a large vehicle with most of the contents in it. It meant a lot of carrying stuff down the stairs on a very hot day. When a rain shower interrupted, we were both pleased to have an enforced break. 

Here is a classic image of Exile #4 from the first year of the Exile along with a recreation using their graduation cap that was designed especially to echo this childhood moment. 

We did try it with extended arms, but tiny though they are, their arms are a lot longer than they were in 2007. 

Day 19.129: Last walk

It’s over a week since the last of the spring bird walks. Here is some of what we saw:

Cooper’s hawk

Gray catbird

A big surprise - two little blue herons (albeit rather distant!)

Canada goose for scale

This young red-tailed hawk landed near us

Spotted something on the ground 

Caught it

Then seemed a little unsure what to do with it (you can see in this photo that it is a mole)

Chimney swift 

Chimney swift 

Double-crested cormorant 

Osprey

Osprey

Furtive American robin

After  a few moments it hopped up to this nest

Scarlet tanager

Scarlet tanager

American redstart

Yellow-rumped warbler 

American redstart

Northern parula (and the insect it was chasing)

Blurry prairie warbler

Northern parula

Day 19.128: Back to Evergreen

I’m so behind on the birding posts. Here are some of our sightings from a quick visit to Evergreen Cemetery after church on May 10th:

Not a bird! Snapping turtle

Magnolia warbler

Northern yellow warbler

Mourning dove with nesting material

Northern yellow warbler 

Common grackle

Eastern kingbird

Eastern kingbird

Wild Turkey

American redstart

Black-and/white warbler

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Northern parula

Yellow-rumped warbler 

Black-and-white warbler 

Baltimore oriole

Baltimore oriole

Wilson’s warbler

Wilson’s warbler 

White breasted nuthatch. We saw this bird and another go in and out of this hole

And here are a few from our visit this Saturday (nearly a week later):

Not a bird: woodchuck

Sleepy mallards

We watched this great egret…

…  stalking its prey

…attacking…

…success, and, surprisingly…

…stretching its neck enough to swallow the catch whole

Northern parula

American redstart

Magnolia warbler 

Magnolia warbler 

Ferns unfurling

Pretty successful for two brief visits.