Fog, then sun

Fog drifting upstream early.  A cardinal and a squirrel came for breakfast.  Then the fog lifted around 9am.  The rosemary is nearly finished blooming.  A wren played peek-a-boo in the redwood.

A strange cloud showed up in the north around noon.  It was a lenticular over a classic cumulus.  The wind has shifted and in coming out of the SE after days of NE wind. There are cumulus moving fast while higher ice clouds are nearly stationary.  The sun cast a halo briefly. 

After lunch, it was quite warm.  The usual species  came to the feeder. A dark bodied, clear winged dragonfly circled over the lower patio without perching.  My photos are all blurs.  Later I saw a very small damsel fly.  Also real flies - a greenbottle and a biter. The next generation of black swallowtails has hatched. A young skink darted into a crack. 

I went out on the dock in hopes of photographing the swallows.  Instead, I watched as an osprey with a fish landed in the pines the crows have claimed. One soon spied the diner.  It left to recruit others but came back alone, possibly so it wouldn't have to share the fish.  The osprey fled and the crow pursued down the creek and out of sight. 

Earlier I thought I saw a snowy egret take flight - yellow at the rear, not front.  Then later a very small white heron-type bird landed below the dam.  It was maybe half the size of the great egrets I see there.

The sky clouded back up later and I think a little rain fell but the sun broke through before setting.  It was chased by more dark clouds.  In May, the sun sets behind the pines across the creek upstream, not at the head of the creek as it did at the solstice.  Still, there was drama, and later, wind and rain.