Chilly sunshine

The moon was past the first quarter and not obscured by clouds at bedtime but the sky was clouded when I got up.  During the morning, the clouds broke up but hung around on the horizon.  It got cold enough to ice the birdbath but not the creek.  Pelicans got an early start but most birds didn't appear till late morning. Then, white throats, chickadees, and a woodpecker had brunch.  A couple of ruddy ducks dived their way downstream. 

Lunchtime brought more birds, egrets on the creek and woodpeckers on the feeder.  The female downy got tired of waiting and perched on the post while the male was still on the suet.  Finally he got the hint.  A flock of mostly male hooded mergansers paddled downstream but stayed behind brush so that the camera couldn't focus.  A hawk swooped past the feeder too fast to identify.  Later pintails came paddling by.  Cormorants were out on the water too.

After lunch, I went outside and saw the hawk land in a pine upstream and across the creek.  A crow objected but there was no mobbing.  The hawk almost lost its perch in the wind and that's when I saw it was a red tail.  Then a male red bellied woodpecker came hunting among the pines.  A junco hung out in the redwood, then a blue jay joined him.  Ring bill gulls soared past the contrails that were blowing out to sea.

By this time I was frozen and came inside to watch.  A pine warbler stole the suet feeder from the downy.  A male flicker hopped around in the oak.  House finches were everywhere comparing reds with a cardinal.  A yellow rumped warbler attempted to hide among them.