Gusty

Heavy, dark, wet clouds are moving through.  It rained briefly.  Gusts of wind whip the trees and birdhouse.  I should have put a weight on the birdhouse, I think.  A half dozen house finches, or more, mobbed the feeder.  I saw six at one time that had no red male feathers, then another wave with some males showed up.  I think some are this year's hatching and not necessarily female.  They were quite contentious about a place on the perch, even driving off a cardinal.  Midair battles and unlikely perching spots ensued.  A Carolina wren landed on my flip-flops.  Squirrels on the ground ignored the finch frenzy.

The wind out of the Northeast has dispersed the clouds.  A tiger swallowtail stayed close to the trees.  The house wren is singing and the finches and cardinals are out in the wind.  Clouds are moving so fast that their shadows strobe across the ground.

Now the clouds are gone and the wind is a bit chilly.  The creek is very high  - the floating dock is higher than the fixed dock.  Waves are flowing upstream.  A brown thrasher joined a squirrel under the feeder.  A hummer came by but flew off at the sight of me.  The chickadees, finches and cardinals are bad tempered and poke their beaks at each other on the feeder perch.