Day 19.182: Five for lunch

Exile #4 came for a visit last night and we took the opportunity of us all being together to go out for lunch. 

The rest of the day has been dominated by the World Cup and we are still waiting to see who England will meet in the last four.

Day 19.181: Smalls Falls

One episode I didn't get around to reporting from our adventure that included Saddleback and Bicknell's thrushes was our visit to Smalls Falls. We happened to be passing and thought we might as well see what it had to offer. At first impressions, it was a parking lot with a bridge and a view of a medium-sized waterfall.

We followed the trail which hugged the side of the falls and discovered that there are several cascades.

The noise from the tumbling water was quite overwhelming after our peaceful walk on the mountain. There were probably birds in the woods, but we didn't detect them.

Day 19.180: Barn swallows

We watched some young barn swallows waiting to be fed but the actual visits from the parent(s) were so short that it was hard to catch on camera. Eventually I succeeded after a fashion.

False alarm - just a fly-by

Incoming!

At last!

Day 19.179: More birds at The Pool

Here are some more birds from last Wednesday's nature group visit at the edge of The Pool in Biddeford Pool. Progressively more and more of a test for the low-light performance of my new lens arrangement.

Double-crested cormorant

Common grackle

Willet

Willet calling on the wing

Double-crested cormorants

Willet

Snowy egret

Snowy egret

Great blue heron

Common tern

Great black-backed gull

Black-crowned night heron

Black-crowned night heron

Great blue heron

Day 19.178: Birthday surprise

We woke up abruptly a little before 6:30 am to the sound of an electrical fault that caused a power outage for an hour or so - once again a squirrel shorted out a distribution transformer in our neighborhood. 

Fortunately, this didn’t interfere with the plans to celebrate Exile #2’s birthday which included watching the football followed by delivered pizza and a birthday cake along with some gifts of course. Happy Birthday Exile #2!

Day 19.177: "Weekend" report

I had Thursday and Friday of last week off for the Fourth of July holiday. I ended up taking Wednesday afternoon off so that my four-and-a-half day weekend started and ended with England World Cup matches (Wednesday afternoon and Sunday night).

Our nature group also met on Wednesday in Biddeford Pool for a mid-week evening outing that felt like the start of the weekend for me.

I've recently added a 1.4x teleconverter to my camera setup and was pleased with how it held up in the fading evening light (it trades light for magnification). Here are some photos of a bald eagle we first saw perched on a chimney, then harassed by a gull before giving us a nice fly-by.

Day 19.176: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #558

Exile #2 writes…

It has been absolutely sweltering this week and although today has taken a turn for the better, we mostly stayed inside and kept cool. It didn’t hurt that there was World Cup footie to watch, although I couldn’t help wondering how the Norwegians were coping with running around on a summer afternoon in New Jersey.

I read a little bit about how England had been preparing, doing fitness drills in a tent heated to 90°F/32°C. It seems some of the coaches may have been doing the same, as a few have persisted in wearing suit jackets - either that or they have ice packs sewn into their linings. We’ve just learned, however, that the England game is delayed by an hour due to storms, so we’ll have to wait just a while longer to learn their fate (not so much of hardship for us as it is for those in the UK!).