Day 19.226: Whence?

It’s no secret that I flew to Indiana today, but where did I fly here from? And no, it’s not a trick question. I started my day in Maine, but where did I connect through?

Here are some pictures during the first few minutes of my second flight of the day:

Day 19.225: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #563

Exile #2 writes…

There’s a definite change in the air, in time for the schools to go back next week. Right on cue the Halloween candy has taken its place in the nearby stores (although I gather Christmas items have already begun appearing in the UK!). The message doesn't seem to have reached the crickets yet, however. For two nights running they have been singing so loud at night that we have had to close the back door for the sake of sanity!

Exile #1 is off to Indiana in the morning, so we are going through the usual checks - making sure he doesn’t have the keys for both of the cars, and that the car he plans to take is parked outside the garage. Our room is above the garage and it can be quite a rude awakening when the electric door opener is activated, even if his flight tomorrow is at the comparatively civilized hour of 6:30 am.

Day 19.224: Six

Our short series of seeing Pro Shots of musicals filmed in London continued this evening with Six - a fun pop concert show put on by Henry VIII’s six wives. Four of us went and had a blast. Music, history, feminism and comedy. What’s not to like?

As we arrived at the movie theater, the lobby was noticeably filled with smoke. We presumed some kind of popcorn machine malfunction. If anything, two hours later as we were leaving it was even worse so someone was having a bad day, but probably at least doesn’t have to worry about being beheaded for it. 

Day 19.223: Marbled godwit

Our nature group gathered in Biddeford Pool yesterday evening. The most exciting sighting was this marbled godwit. A life-bird for many including me and a rare sight for all of us. Most of the time it was resting on this rock just off the jetty:



But it did raise its head a couple of times. Here's a still from a very brief video of one such moment:

Day 19.222: Great Pond

Our last stop on Saturday was at Great Pond. Here is some of what we saw there:

Semipalmated sandpiper 

Great blue heron

Glossy ibis 

Double-crested cormorant 

Semipalmated sandpipers 

Day 19.221: South Point Beach

Although the beach was quite full of human occupants, there were a good number of birds too. Here is some of what we saw there:

Semipalmated plovers

Ruddy turnstone

Ruddy turnstone

Semipalmated plover

Bonaparte’s gulls

Semipalmated sandpiper

Common eider with duckling

Semipalmated sandpiper (I think)

We also saw a lot of terns on the rocks but I failed to identify any being anything other than common terns (uncommon terns you might say.)

Day 19.220: Down the coast and South Point Sanctuary

A few more sightings from our visit to Biddeford Poil. These are from our walk down to 7th St and then a short pause in the woods. 

Double-crested cormorant and common eiders

Common eiders 

Spotted sandpiper

Northern yellow warbler 

Northern mockingbird 

Eastern kingbird

Eastern kingbird

Downy woodpecker 

Cedar waxwing

Hovering - perhaps picking flies out of a spider’s web?

Gray catbird

Northern mockingbird 

I wondered if this was a rarer sparrow for a few minutes

…but decided it was almost certainly a song sparrow 

Peekaboo cedar waxwing