Day 17.127: Birding again

We joined the early birding walk at the cemetery again this morning. At first, we had to cope with hearing about all the many birds they'd seen last week when we hadn't been able to attend but once we got going we soon forgot about that.

Black-throated green warbler

Northern parula

Not a bird, but this woodchuck looked up at us looking over the bridge side at him for a quite a while before departing through a hole below our feet.

Red-eyed vireo

And then, shortly before I had to leave to get to work, I saw a large bird deep in the woods where we'd heard crows apparently very upset about something. I took a couple of quick photos but wasn't sure what it could have been. This is what it turned out to be:

Great-horned owl

 We're not sure what we're seeing on the left - maybe something it's carrying hanging from its beak? Sadly no-one else saw it and I failed to point it out before I lost track of it, so that feels like a bit of a group-activity fail, but at least it was a long-distance photography success.

Day 17.126: Choral concert

Yesterday, Exile #2 and I volunteered on the door for the first night of the school choral concert and then stayed for a preview of the show. This evening Exile #4 joined us and Exile #3 watched the livestream (and snagged a few screenshots along the way). 

It was a really great concert and - as ever - as another group of seniors near the end of their high school journey - quite emotional. 

Chamber Singers tenors and basses in barbershop style

Chamber Singers

Concert Choir

E5N1 had a solo tonight

Full Choir (including the middle school)

Day 17.125: Timber point

Apart from the birds, our walk looked like this:

The crew

Exile #4 is definitely taller and definitely not cheating

Wild strawberries

Tidal river estuary

Chipmunk

Day 17.124: Birds at Timber Point

On Saturday afternoon, Exile #2, Exile #4 and I decided on a walk at Timber Point. Since it was near high tide we were not tempted to attempt the crossing to Timber Island, but we walked to the causeway and back. Here are some of he birds we saw starting with some tiny shorebirds:

Least sandpiper

A reticent common yellowthroat

I never got a clear view, but enough for identification

This hawk (probably red-tailed) was being mobbed by a crow as we arrived

The very next thing we saw - on the other side of the trail was a crow being mobbed by several red-winged blackbirds. What goes around comes around I suppose.

Red-winged blackbird

Prairie warbler

Song sparrow

Magnolia warbler (quite distant - not a great photo)

Yellow warbler (rather more obliging)

Exile #4 spotted this interesting-looking black and white bird which we could not identify at first

But then  it identified itself as a rose-breasted grosbeak

Proudly displaying its rose breast and gros beak

White-throated sparrow

Gray catbird

Another yellow warbler

When we returned to the beach and saw some small shorebirds again, we assumed at first they were the sandpipers we'd seen at the start, but they turned out to be several of these:

 Semipalmated plover

Day 17.123: Mother's Day

We had a lovely day celebrating Exile #2 today.

Day 17.122: The Fogcutters

The outing that led to us returning home during the aurora was to The State Theatre in Portland to see The Fogcutters - a big band style ensemble with rockier leanings. The reason we were there is that one of the trumpets is E5N1’s band teacher. E5N1 has also had a couple of vocal lessons with one of the singers. 

It was a great night - with several guest performances from local artists (including one we had seen during another collaboration) and a general feel-good feel combined with excellent musicianship. 

Day 17.121: Unexpected riches

I expected to be posting about the reason we were out until just before 11 pm tonight, but instead, this is what we found when we got home - a display from the aurora borealis:

Four of us had a quick drive to Scarborough marsh to see more sky, but the intensity was fading by then: