19.069: Gathered

We are gathered with my dad, my sisters and their spouses and my nephew and his girlfriend for a few days to mark Dad’s 90th birthday. Here is how part of today went down:

More birthday celebrations lie ahead both while we’re here and after we leave to return home.

Day 19.068: Gathering

Today’s logistics were a little complicated but worked out about as well as we could have imagined. Exile #2, Exile #3 and I left home a little before noon and got on the road to Boston.

An hour and half or so later, we were at South Station in Boston to meet Exile #4 who arrived on a train a few minutes after we arrived. 

After another short drive we arrived at Logan Airport where I went on a side-quest to meet E5N1 as he arrived on his flight from Florida. We soon got together at the terminal for our departing flight. 

 We did get separated a little later when we decided to grab some mid-afternoon food. This was how we ended up seated to eat:

Hopefully all will continue to go smoothly as we continue together. 

Day 19.067: Ring...billed?

I took my camera when I went back to work after lunch yesterday and stopped to look at the small pond near my work which had - for the first time in a while - some ice-free water and as a result some ducks.

Most interesting was this one:

Immediately recognizable - thanks to the ring around its bill as a ring-necked duck. They do actually have a subtle ring around their neck when they straighten it out, but I've never observed it.

First sighting of this species for me this year.

Today, the pond is ice-covered again after a chilly night and all the ducks have gone somewhere else.

Day 19.066: Saturday birding (part 2)

Our second stop was at the middle of Goose Rocks Beach and the nearby marsh where Dyke Road crosses the creek. Here are some of the things we saw there:

Hooded merganser

Two hooded mergansers

American black duck

Two American black ducks

Distant killdeer

Passing mallards

Northern cardinal

Harbor seal

Great cormorant

Horned grebe

House sparrow

Day 19.065: Saturday birding (part 1)

On Saturday morning after a bit of snow shoveling and then seeing E5N1 off on his trip, we went to Kennebunkport to meet our nature group. We did some tree observation and birding at one location and then did a little more bird and nature observation after a short drive up the road. Here are some of our sightings at the first stop near the mouth of the Batson River.

European starling

Song sparrow

American tree sparrow

A gathering of crows

Mallards

Common goldeneyes

Red-breasted merganser

Common eider (young male)

Common eiders (adult male and females)

Common goldeneye

Ring-billed gulls

Timber Island (looking moody)

American robins

Common goldeneyes

American black ducks

Canada geese

Common goldeneyes

Fresh snow and some of the clouds responsible for it

Day 19.064: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #547

Exile #2 writes...

I went down to the basement this morning and discovered this sad sight.



All Brits will know the sorrow of a forgotten cup of tea that has gone cold but this is next level. It’s a fair representation of what has been a mostly good but very busy week. Exile #1 didn’t even get round to mentioning that we had lunch and a fun afternoon playing games with Exile #4 and their friends, who were spending spring break at an Airbnb nearby.

Nor did he mention the all too exciting drama generated by a stolen phone and the absolute need for us to be in communication with each other this week. So it is that we now have a family burner phone...

Day 19.063: Snow surprise

E5N1 got away as expected this morning and has now made the journey by car and bus and plane to Florida. What I wasn't expecting was having to do some snow shoveling before he left at 6:30 am. We only had a couple of inches on mostly (by then) clear ground, but it was enough for the plow to come by which meant that some attention was required.