Day 19.203: Very dry in California ... Fields

After the extremely wet week we've had, we were surprised at just how desiccated the landscape was at California Fields Wildlife Area when Exile #2 and I visited this afternoon.

So dry

We saw quite a few monarchs on the Queen Anne's lace

There was quite a bit of common mullein - this was one of the more impressive flower stems

There were lots of Carolina grasshoppers flashing their dark banded wings as they flew and then almost disappearing when they landed

Even if I saw where they landed, they were hard to pick out

A little less dry once we were into the partial shade

This oak sapling had enormous leaves. Maybe black oak?

Morrow's honeysuckle

We heard more birds than we saw: indigo buntings most prominently. We did catch glimpses of eastern towhees and goldfinches and a sparrow (likely a song sparrow). Our best sightings were of cedar waxwings.

This one was having a good "hair" day 

Day 19.202: Wetness day

Our nature group was due to meet on Wednesday evening this week until the weather forecast (for rain) caused a reschedule to Tuesday. 

Well, it didn’t rain on Tuesday…until we’d all walked well away from our cars and then it rained hard enough for us to get very wet. We spent some time looking at trees both while sheltering under them and afterwards.

We also saw a few wet birds:

Double-crested cormorant 

Mallards 

Great black-backed gull 

Canada geese

Great cormorant

American goldfinch

Great black-background gull

Day 19.201: Shore; birds

Here are some of the birds we saw on the boat trip on Sunday while we were close to shore.

Double-crested cormorants

Osprey

Osprey

Two young bald eagles

Bald eagle

Common eiders

I'd never have known, but this is a rare summer sight - a long-tailed duck. She has decided to spend the summer in Boothbay Harbor rather than traveling north 

Day 19.200: Tori Amos

Exile #2 and I went to see Tori Amos on her In Times of Dragons tour this evening at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland. I remembered writing the story of how she played a part in our origin story after a previous concert but was surprised to discover it was nearly 19 years ago during the first year of the Exile!

In any case she was on great form tonight with a drummer and bass player and a trio of backing singers that really transformed the vibe compared with last time we saw her a couple of years ago. She seemed relaxed and like she was having fun again as she wandered through some hits and deep cuts from every phase of her career. 

Day 19.199: More birds at sea

Here are some more birds we saw at Eastern Egg Rock or further out at sea on Sunday.

Laughing gulls

Laughing gull

Laughing gull

Various birds at Eastern Egg Rock

Double-crested cormorants

Common eiders

Black guillemots 

Black guillemot

Common eiders with chicks

Roseate tern

Roseate tern

Arctic tern

Red-necked phalarope (L) and Wilson’s storm petrel (R)

Common terns

Northern gannet

Wilson’s storm petrel 

Common tern

Laughing gull

I also caught a few brief glimpses of a great shearwater as it passed on the other side of the boat. The one photo I attempted was taken as it dipped below the wake waves of the boat.