Blue sky all day

A chill wind is tossing dead leaves back up to the trees.  A wren perched on the feeder while juncos foraged below.  A pelican passed downstream while reddish ducks paddled up.  I think they were female red breasted mergansers.  A heron waded up to its tail feathers while a great black backed gull also fished on the low tide. Downstream an egret was also wading far from shore. 

The wren must have found the last seed. After K refilled the feeder, sparrows, juncos, finches, and cardinals appeared.  A song sparrow ran off a white throat.  Crows hassled something across the creek.  Later a juvenile eagle swooped through and landed over there.  The crows did not seem to notice.  There are ducks out, but difficult to identify.


The squirrel with the white spot on its hip is female.  It is nursing babies.  A turkey vulture sailed overhead.  A cardinal and later a dove appeared to be moulting.  The dove may be the victim of pecking - another chased it off.  A sharp-shinned hawk suddenly appeared and flew over the house to the front yard. 

A different squirrel raced all around carrying something white in its mouth.  Another squirrel followed it around.  It looks like a tissue or a piece of cloth.  Nesting?

A kingfisher flew upstream. Later, it hung out on a piling. Hooded mergansers paddled downstream in the late afternoon light.  More herons flew upstream, low to the water.