Morning wren

When I came out to the kitchen, the Carolina wren perched on the chair arm and sang to me.  A squirrel was the only other patio visitor.  Geese flew past and a pelican finally checked out the ice-free creek.  The sky is gray but the sun is sneaking underneath the cloud cover to light up the pines.  Everything is damp.

Chickadees and titmice came later.  Then around 9am the rain began. It slacked off eventually and mid-morning brought lots of little diving ducks.  Cardinals and both kinds of sparrow joined the chickadees and titmice. 

A female towhee came for lunch, along with finches.  Out on the creek, a flock of ruddy ducks paddled and dived.  There was a flurry of splashing at one point, but I couldn't see why.  Cormorants were fishing too.  The rain comes and goes but never quite stops.  The squirrel with the white spot on her hip showed up.