Bitter wind

It's freezing but the wind prevents ice, except in the birdbath.  The gusts are tossing birds in flight.  Gulls seem to enjoy it but a flock of little birds barely made it across the creek.  A lone cormorant is fishing.  The feeder is busy despite the wind with both song and white throated sparrows, cardinals, chickadees and house finches.  A Carolina wren scurried around the patio.  Leaves skitter and make me think a bird is there. 

A glimmer of sunlight slipped between the clouds for a moment.  The wind has blown some juncos in!  By 9:30 the clouds have definitely broken up and are sailing swiftly toward the Southeast.  The creek is high which I didn't expect with a wind from the Northwest.  At ground level the wind blows every which way.  The juncos have departed. 

By lunch, the pelicans were out.  A raptor of some kind swooped into the pines.  Geese and a bufflehead paddled.  A robin scuttled across the patio.  The feeder is busy.  The wind is still roaring but the tide has come down somewhat. 

Toward evening, the wind slacked off some.  Hooded mergansers were out on the creek and egrets passed on the way home.  The sky was cloudless and the moon was a bright sickle.