Sunday, May 31, 2026

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.

Saturday, May 30, 2026

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 

Friday, May 29, 2026

Day 19.139: It’s artificial anyway

This is your reminder that AI doesn’t always get it right:


No papercraft - intricate or otherwise - was used in that video. Or maybe it was and I didn’t have “intelligence” enough to detect it. 

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Day 19.138: Memorial Day (part 2) birds

Here are some of  the birds we saw on our Memorial Day afternoon outing to Biddeford Pool including South Point Sanctuary and East Point Preserve.

Northern yellow warbler

Northern yellow warbler

Gray catbird

More common eiders with chicks

Eastern kingbird

House finch

Brown thrasher

Common eiders

Double-crested cormorant

Common tern

Double-crested cormorant

House finch

Great Snowy egret (almost unrecognizable with the naked-eye with its neck so retracted)

Much easier when it extended it again

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Day 19.137: Memorial Day outing (part 2)

After our soggy outing first thing on Monday morning, we had resigned ourselves to an indoor day, but the sun came out in the early afternoon, and we decided to go out again to the same area. This time, Exile #4 joined us.


We saw some birds, but here are some of the other things we saw:

The beach steaming in the surprise sunshine

A few hardy beach visitors

Sea pea

Some impressive waves

Northern crescent

Apple blossom

Some Irish moss and a piece of (red pine?) bark

Some very orange wood (we think it's a piece of pine root)