Day 19.234: Rockport, MA

After I got home from work, Exile #2 and I left Exile #3 home alone for a few days to explore Cape Ann about 60 miles down the coast as the crow flies (more like 100 miles by road). This evening, while waiting for a table for dinner, we walked around Rockport. This is some of what we saw:

We look forward to exploring some more tomorrow.

Day 19.233: Other nature at St. Joseph’s

Some other photos from the cemetery visit on Saturday:

Monarch 

Peck’s skipper

Common boneset

Painted turtles

American pokeweed

Weeping willow

Day 19.232: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #564

Exile #2 writes…

We recently discovered that Santa spends his summers in Maine. He lives around the corner from us, and drives a red pick-up truck with a suitably appropriate plate. We see him walking by sometimes pushing his grandchild in a plastic car, and Exile #3 has noticed that even his summer wardrobe shows a strong tendency towards red and green.

I assume he is the genuine article, although he’s not the only one we have known during our time in Maine. We are acquainted with at least two others who serve as Santa on occasion. Perhaps the frigid winters encourage a proliferation of impressively white bearded gentlemen. You’d think they might be tempted to disguise themselves in the off season but our local one, at least, is definitely not a secret Santa!

Exile #2 challenged me to find a suitable photo. This is not from one of our Maine Santas but from a parade in Oxfordshire in 2013 but I’m still claiming success. 

Day 19.231: Birds at St. Joseph's Cemetery

Our nature group gathered at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Biddeford today. Here are some of the birds we saw:

Turkey vulture

Little blue heron (best ever views)

It was surprisingly well camouflaged considering its striking color

I suspect he also had some good views of us

Mallards

Eastern phoebe

Very fine looking song sparrow

Wild turkey

Chipping sparrow

Cedar waxwing peek-a-boo

Black vulture

Day 19.230: Eagle Marsh revisited

I made two other brief visits to Eagle Marsh - one at sunset on my way back to the hotel and the other in the morning on my way to the airport. Here are a few photos from the evening:

Sunset meadows

Great egret

American black duck

American robins

And some more from the morning:

Eastern cottontail

House sparrow

Song sparrow

Northern cardinal (state bird of Indiana)

Eastern phoebe

Common starling

Gray catbird

Double-crested cormorant

Mallards

Purple martin

Great egret

Gray catbird

I think this might be a young swamp sparrow