Day 19.153: Birthday cake

Exile #4 shared this photo of their solo birthday celebration:

I believe they are getting together with friends over the weekend for another celebration. 

Day 19.152: Civic duties

On Tuesday, four of us voted in the Maine primary elections. 

Today, I did the last of the duties relating to the Honda Civic that Exile #4 was driving last week by sending the title to the insurance company in acceptance of the total loss settlement. Meanwhile, today is Exile #4’s birthday and they have been doing a lot of adulting. Moving into their first apartment, starting a new job (today was day 4) and buying a car to replace the aforementioned write-off. Quite the start to a new season of life. Happy Birthday!

Day 19.151: Turkey surprise

When I arrived at work the other day, I saw a wild turkey sitting close to where I parked. I tried not to disturb it, but failed. As it stood up to walk slowly away, I saw there was a tiny chick as well. 

Cell phone pictures only sadly. 

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.