Day 19.150: Sunday afternoon on the beach

We wondered if we might see piping plover chicks but had to settle for the baby eiders. We did see a couple of piping plovers:

And enjoyed watching the common terns hunting:

Day 19.149: More Saturday morning birds

More from our Saturday morning nature group outing at California Fields, in addition to the grasshopper sparrows. 

Song sparrow

Common loon

Eastern towhee

Empidonax flycatcher (possibly least)

We had a lovely view of a group of young red crossbills

By far the best view I've ever had

...and briefly joined by an adult

Also a lovely view

We hoped to see indigo buntings and eventually Exile #2 spotted these two

Distant, but unmistakable

Downy woodpecker

Northern house wren (playing house)

Another distant indigo bunting

Tree swallow

Song sparrow

Eastern towhee

Day 19.148: Exile#2’s Sunday Column #555

Exile #2 writes…

We’re in the period of almost summer. The State Park is open, the lifeguard stations are out on the beach, and the mats at the walkways are back, but the visitors have yet to show up. This meant we could head to the beach this afternoon for a walk without too much difficulty. While out, we ran into this adorable bunch, a group of female eiders with their chicks. They were mostly just bobbing about in the shallows, although, like human children some of the chicks seemed to enjoy a clamber on their Mom.

On the way home, we ran into an extraordinary amount of traffic, which turned out to be folks heading home after high school graduation. Yet another sign that summer is on its way.

Day 19.147: Grasshopper sparrows

Our nature group visited the unexpectedly-named California Fields Wildlife Area - not as far away as we might have imagined - in fact just 25 minutes or so inland from here. 

The area has a wonderful selection of plants and birds and is one of the best places in Maine to see grasshopper sparrows. We succeeded in that and a lot of other fun sightings. Here are a few photos of these unusual-looking sparrows as they take a spot on my life list. 

Day 19.146: Muskrat

Today was a recovery day (although I did go to work and cut the grass). Exile #4 picked up a rental car provided by the insurance and did some shopping and furniture reassembly. 

Here’s a picture of a muskrat towing some vegetation across a pond from last weekend’s nature group outing. Now I need to get to bed before it’s time for this week’s. 

Day 19.145: Not entirely according to plan

After I worked a half day, we packed up the van and Exile #4’s car and set off for their new apartment in Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, about 3/4 of the way there, a large truck, illegally using the left lane thought that maybe moving into the middle lane was a good idea, but chose the bit of the lane currently occupied by Exile #4’s vehicle. One side-swipe and a 180 degree spin later, and our plans were a bit derailed. 

I met them at the yard where they were towed to. I was a few miles ahead of them when the incident occurred. 

Amazingly, we managed to get Exile #4 and the contents of the car into the already quite full van and we were able to complete most of the plan for the day after a two hour delay. We skipped some of the planned furniture construction, but at least put the bed together. 

The apartment seems very nice and the insurance company will provide a rental car for the next few days, so things are not too bad all things considered. 

Day 19.144: An odd cycle of movies

With Exile #4 going back to Massachusetts tomorrow, tonight the five of us completed a little cycle of movies. We often watch TV series together but there wasn’t time to start a new one so we decided to do some stand-alone film watching and it turned into an interesting little film festival. There wasn’t any planning behind it until we realized how we could bring it home tonight. 

We started with Project Hail Mary (2026) (featuring Ryan Gosling - this will help us close the loop later). Next was Remarkably Bright Creatures (2026) (small town feel-good), then Fargo (1996) (small town with murder), then, for the first day of Pride month, Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (secluded location, more murder) then Companion (2025) (secluded location, strange girlfriend, more murder). 

Tonight, we brought it all together with the charming Lars and the Real Girl (2007) featuring Ryan Gosling, small town and a strange girlfriend. Exile #2 and I had watched in many years ago - near the start of the Exile but I’d forgotten what a gem it is.