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!).

Day 19.175: Birthday; cemetery

Well, it's the birthday of the nation today and it's a strange one for a variety of reasons. One reason has been the weather in this part of the country that has been unusually hot and has resulted in us spending most of the time indoors. 

Anyway, I still have outings to recap. Last Sunday, Exile #2, Exile #3 and I went to Evergreen Cemetery in Portland. This is some of what we saw.

Pickerelweed

American bullfrog

American bullfrog

Eastern phoebe

Mallard ducklings

They were retreating rapidly from a small dog that charged into the shallows where they were hanging out 

There were some very tiny ducklings in the group

Eastern kingbird

Belted kingfisher

Red-eyed vireo

Red-eyed vireo

Great crested flycatcher

We watched it bashing its catch on the branch until the wings fell off...

...presumably that made it more palatable...

...and it was soon swallowed

Common snapping turtle

Ready for his close-up

Day 19.174: Quick visit to Exile #4

I was off work yesterday and today in honor of tomorrow’s holiday. Exile #2 and I decided to pay a quick visit to Exile #4 to see how they are getting on in their new place. All went well and we were able to take them out for lunch.

It was all delightfully uneventful compared with the previous time we traveled from here to there. 

Day 19.173: Belgrade birds

Our first sighting after we left Norway was somewhere en route to Belgrade. We saw a Baltimore oriole and then saw that it was feeding a fledgling. 

Baltimore oriole

Young Baltimore oriole

Here are some birds we saw in Belgrade (apart from the previously mentioned Sandhill cranes and the mystery bird that turned out to be a wood duck. 

Loon with chick

Red-winged blackbird

Gray catbird 

Purple Martin

Purple martins

Brown-headed cowbirds 

Day 19.172: Ordway Grove

After lunch in Norway, we walked up the street to Ordway Grove - a small area of old growth forest with some huge pine and hemlock trees. Exile #2 was hoping we would see a Blackburnian warbler there but although we heard at least two, they were likely out of sight in the very high treetops. 

I’m glad we were forewarned that the entrance isn’t especially obvious. 

Red squirrel

Red squirrel

Downy woodpecker

Downy woodpecker 

American robin

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Common self heal