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. 

Day 19.143: Birding (away from the beach)

The middle of our nature group time on Sunday morning took us a short distance from the beach into the newly created Fletcher’s Neck Sanctuary and South Point Sanctuary and nearby. Here is some of what we saw. 

Cedar waxwing

Common yellowthroat

Common yellowthroat

Bank swallow (a.k.a. sand martin)

Bank swallow

Common grackle

Double-crested cormorants

Distant gannet 

Eastern kingbird

Red-winged blackbird 

Black-crowned night heron

Northern yellow warbler

Day 19.142: Beach birding

Our nature group gathered an hour earlier than usual - at 6 am - on Sunday to see if we could see 75 species. In the end we managed 63 in a variety of locations around Biddeford Pool. Our time started and ended on the beach - here are some of our sightings there. 

Common terns with some of their catch

Common loon

Black scoters

Northern mockingbird

Semipalmated sandpipers

Killdeer

Piping plover

Spotted sandpiper

Semipalmated sandpipers

Spotted sandpiper

Northern mockingbird 

Killdeer chicks

Killdeer

Day 19.141; Exile #2’s Sunday Column #554

Exile #2 writes...

Exile #1 and I made the bold choice to get up at 5am to join our nature group at the coast for a couple of hours before church. I was not the only one to opt for a winter coat and nor did I regret it! Although we have not had any, there has been snow in the mountains, which is fairly unusual for Maine in May. It’s been pretty chilly though.

Afterwards, we swung by the house to grab the other Exiles and headed to church where Exile #4 joined the group of those being celebrated for graduating from college and high school.

Exile #4 then spent a bit of time catching up with a friend before we all settled down this evening to watch a movie. As always, we had a lengthy discussion about what it should be. Having enjoyed the very sweet Remarkably Bright Creatures last night, we opted for the grittier classic Fargo tonight. I hadn’t seen it since moving to the US, so I’m pretty sure I understood different things this time - but I thoroughly enjoyed watching it again and it seemed to be a hit with everyone.

Day 19.140: Scarborough Marsh

After a wild night with heavy rain and strong winds, the morning continued with fairly steady rain. When it eased off after lunch, Exile #2 and I went for a walk on the Eastern Trail at Scarborough Marsh. Here are some of the birds we saw:

Glossy ibis 

Snowy egret

Saltmarsh sparrow

Little blue heron and snowy egrets

Little blue heron

Saltmarsh sparrow 

Saltmarsh sparrow

Great egret

Barn swallow

Northern yellow warbler

Gray catbird 

Red-eyed vireo

Cedar waxwing

Launch!

Eastern wood pewee

Willet

Pretty good camouflage 

Bald eagle

Willet showing its flashy wing patterns

Snowy egret 

Song sparrow