Day 15.233: Two more birds in the woods

A male hairy woodpecker - spotted by E5N1 thanks to the wonderful sound he was making pecking at a resonant tree. My first (incorrect) impression was that it was so big it must be a pileated woodpecker, but here is (1) a fairly decent photo and (2) one showing the two distinguishing features - the divided red patch on its head and the white back between the wings:

And secondly, this black-and-white warbler. Never sure how these photos of skittish birds in gloomy locations will come out - but these were quite successful:

Day 15.232: Osprey calls

I've been pretty lucky with osprey sightings over the last few weeks, so I wasn't too disappointed to not see the ospreys at their nest near the trails where we'd seen them on our last visit. A little later we did see two ospreys perhaps having some kind of dispute - quite near us but through the trees so not a good photo opportunity. Before we saw them, we heard them - making a piercing high pitched sound and once we'd identified the sound we heard it several more times as we walked.

We also heard what we assume were chicks calling from this - a different nest from the one we'd seen before, but no adult came while we were there:

Here is an audio clip of the osprey calls - with a photo of the first nest:

Day 15.231: On the trails at Wolfe's Neck

Some pictures from the trails yesterday morning.

Day 15.230: Exile #2's Sunday Column #406

Exile #2 writes...

We’ve been pretending to be on vacation this weekend, so this morning we headed off to Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park for a walk. It’s a very lovely park with a shady path along the rocky coast and through some sweet smelling hemlock woods. It also has some great views across Casco Bay to some of its many islands. I read for the first time the other day that the islands of Casco Bay have at some times been called the calendar islands - because there are as many of them as there are days in the year. I don’t know if that is remotely close to being true but it makes for a good story and a very pretty coastline.

Rocky shoreline and islands in the bay (near and far)

A sailing boat near two small islands near the horizon

Day 15.229 The Wadsworth-Longfellow House

We visited the Wadsworth-Longfellow House in central Portland today. It has been owned by the Maine Historical Society for over 120 years having been poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's childhood home. His younger sister lived there after being widowed in her twenties until she died when she donated it to be preserved as a museum - as a result it is delightfully well-preserved. 

The furnishings are not just period, but original to the house - including some interesting style choices:

As a result, there are signs ensuring that everyone remembers not to touch anything. Many are humorously worded - like this one:

Sign on a wooden chair reads, "Everyone who ever sat on this chair is now dead. Play it safe and remain standing." 

Day 15.228: Home testing

Everyone expects to do their testing at home these days - whatever the tests are for:

(Spotted in the discount section at the supermarket by Exile #2)

Day 15.227: Live music (again)

Exile #2 and I went back to The Middle East in Cambridge to see The Collection (North Carolina) supported by Begonia (Manitoba). It was a great night. 

The Collection

The Collection

The Collection

Begonia and band

Day 15.226: Is it really called peanut bread?

Peasant bread in packet creased so the writing - at a glance - to me at least - appears to say "Peanut Bread"

Day 15.225: Forky - is that you?

Part of Lake Street Dive's stage setup was a small table with a Toy Story character on it. My best guess is that it was to identify whose towels and water cups (which arrived later) they were:

Another table had a tiny fluffy toy kitten on it.

Day 15.224: More live music

…not another day of attending gigs - but another activity from yesterday where we did some special music together at church - live and in person - for the first time since pre-Covid times (I think). 

As for today, it has rained all afternoon and all evening so it would not have been a good day for outdoor concerts. Fortunately, indoor office work kept me fairly dry. 

Day 15.223: Getting back to the point

We actually had tickets for both nights of this mini concert series by Lake Street Dive and Madison Cunningham - for reasons related to this weather-related disappointment - which meant that E5N1 could come and see the show. 

The second support act was different tonight - local favorite Lady Lamb. Madison Cunningham seemed happier and more relaxed and Lake Street Dive brought more of the rock so E5N1 was happy all round. 

Here are some pictures including when MC joined LSD for their “Neighbor Song”

Lady Lamb

Madison Cunningham 

E5N1 and the crowd

Lake Street Dive

Lake Street Dive and Madison Cunningham 

Day 15.222: An evening at Thompson’s Point

We had tickets to see Lake Street Dive at Thompson’s Point in Portland tonight - but mostly because the support act was the wonderful Madison Cunningham. 

The “Special Guest” was a wonderful surprise too - the lovely Alisa Amador who won the NPR Tiny Desk competition this year. 

When Lake Street Dive pulled out some 80’s covers I commented to  Exile #2 that a band doing 80’s covers today is the same as a band doing 60’s covers in 2002 - doesn’t sound right but the math checks out. 

Alisa Amador and band

Madison Cunningham and band

Lake Street Dive

Day 15.221: Nerd school for nerds

Exile #3 refers to Exile #4's college as "nerd school for nerds". She's not really wrong and Exile #4 takes no apparent offense. This is a mug I saw in the campus store when we were dropping them off last weekend - solve each equation to realize you're enough of a nerd to go here - or something.

The chants for sporting events are not like other colleges either. This one, known as the "Fight Song" is painted on the wall of the cafeteria we used while we were there:

E to the X
D-Y, D-X
E to the X
D-X
Cosine, Secant, Tangent, Sine
3.14159
E-I, Radical, Pi
Fight ’em, Fight ’em, WPI!

Day 15.220: Not Tom Petty…

…but it was in the ballpark - Old Orchard Beach Ballpark to be specific. 

Our friends N & J invited us to join them to see Runnin’ Down a Dream - a Tom Petty tribute band. It was a perfect late summer evening and the band were great. 

Day 15.219: Dark; boats

As I mentioned, it got quite dark while we were walking on the beach on Sunday evening - a sign of the progression of the season.

Even when we reached mouth of the Saco River at Camp Ellis midway through our walk, it was already too dark for photographing the ducks:

but still OK for silhouettes of boats:

Day 15.218: Teen gulls

Sunday's episode of fully-grown kids still need their parents to feed them (evening on the beach edition) - featuring seagulls:

There were three youngsters although only two made it into these photos, and - as we know - three kids is a lot of kids.