Day 18.269: Elevated baking (turkey)

I think Exile #3 took these, although it could have been Exile #2.

A short stroll on the shed roof

A sunny spot for a little sit down

Wild turkeys generally roam around on foot during the day. We rarely see them fly even enough to get onto a shed roof, but they are capable of strong and sustained flight. Once while I was out running early in the morning, a small group flew over my head which was quite an impressive sight. 

Day 18.268: A few plants

Last update from Saturday morning. Here are a few of the plants that caught our eye:

Bright stems and flowers of American pokeweed

The chicory flowers were closed-up as we walked down the trail, but on the way back after the first few minutes of sunshine had reached them, several had opened

Straw-colored flatsedge

Day 18.267: Weekend update (with insects)

No Sunday Column today: Exile #2 is in the UK visiting with family and - amazingly - Exile #3 and I are managing to eat and keep the place in working order without her (but we're very glad it's not for too long!)

Here are four more pictures from yesterday morning - the trail (with some of our group), a view over the river and a couple of interesting insects.

Saco Riverwalk

The Saco River

Autumn meadowhawk (dragonfly)

Familiar bluet (damselfly)

Day 18.266: Saturday morning birding

As usual, our nature group paid attention to plants and insects as well as birds, but I'll make a start with the birds we saw along a section of Saco Riverwalk starting at the Hall Ave parking.

Song sparrow

American goldfinch

Northern flicker

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Double-crested cormorant

Great cormorant

Double-crested cormorant

Song sparrow

Black-throated green warbler

Great egret

Day 18.265: Crewe Center for the Arts

I attended the opening of this wonderful new building on the Portland campus of USM today. It has spaces for music, theater, dance and visual arts. 

One of the guests at the opening was Governor Janet Mills.

Somewhat boldly, in front of a crowd of musicians and musically-minded people she decided to break into song - and carried her tune rather well. 

Another famous guest was a USM drama alumnus (class of ’77): actor Tony Shalhoub. 

I also saw E5N1’s high school band teacher who performed for the moment of the ribbon cutting which also involved some impressive giant party poppers:

After that we got to go inside and look around where I found this chap taking a shift as a room monitor for the percussion studio.

Day 18.264: Whale-watching sights

Last post about last Saturday’s boat trip (I think). Some other things we saw:

Lobster boat

Boon Island

Coastguard

Another view of Boon Island

Another boat

Gray seal

Day 18.263: The rest of the birds

We've had whales, a shark, life-list birds and here are some more bird photos from our whale-watching adventure.

American herring gull - I rather like this photo

Peregrine falcon on the rocks at the base of Boon Island Lighthouse

Gulls and cormorants 

A few cormorants chose loftier perches

... and a few were great cormorants (most were double-crested cormorants)

This warbler joined us for a while when we were way out off shore. We thought it might land on the boat, but it didn't in the end

Shorebirds as we neared the mouth of the river at the end of the trip

I'm not sure what this gull had, but it seemed to think it was edible

Double-crested cormorant

Common loon

Greater yellowlegs as we navigated the tidal estuary