Ice

The birdbath is frozen as is the rainwater on the pool cover.  There is frost on the dock and patchy skins of ice on the creek.  And I could definitely see my breath when I poured hot water into the birdbath.

A blue jay swooped through around 7:30 and all the birds appeared.  Juncos, a wren, and a sparrow were joined on the ground by whoever wasn't on the feeder, cardinals, finches, and chickadees.  Nuthatches arrived last.  Then they all left.

The day has gotten warmer, windier, and cloudier.  Twice, a flock of cormorants and mergansers has come diving and arcing upstream, driving a school of fish, I presume.  They go by before I can get the camera focused.  Crows found another hawk to harass.  A pelican passed through.

At noon a new shift came to the feeder.  This time a towhee joined in, maybe because the day was no longer bright?  Both song and white throats joined juncos, a cardinal, a wren and the towhee on the ground.  The wren got up on the feeder and shoveled out goodies to those below.  The nuthatches arrived to help.

A blue jay was working on something in the crotch of the dogwood across the pool when a woodpecker startled it off.  I cannot tell what kind of woodpecker as all I could see was a white tummy and black-and-white wing. When I looked at the photos, I discovered a cardinal in the bush next to the blue jay.

Toward evening, when the tide is low, a great black-backed gull was working at something in the mud under the bulkhead across the creek.  A great blue heron coasted in and landed next to the gull.  The gull lost the stare-down, but paddled around in the water nearby.  When next I checked, the heron was gone and the gull was back at work. There is a small moth on the window tonight, on the last night of the year.