Beautiful day

Painted clouds at sunrise were followed by a glittering creek reflecting the gilded pines.  Most of the early action was on or over the creek.  Pelicans, herons, egrets, cormorants and ducks were all out fishing.  The hen party of four pintails was followed by a mixed flock hooded mergansers.

At the feeders, juncos, white throats, warblers, and woodpeckers joined the regulars.  A crow escorted a hawk off the premises, briefly scattering the songbirds.  There were long crystals of ice on the birdbath in the early morning but the air warmed and melted them. 

In the afternoon, an egret and a great blue heron each stood on one of the tall pilings while the wind tossed their chest plumes.  Hooded mergansers and cormorants dived as soon as I got them in focus.  At least four juncos perched in the dogwood and sakaki.  Toward evening, a heron got up on the bulkhead and started swaying back and forth, slow dancing.  Clouds coalesced in bars across the sky with little puffy shreds of cumulus in front.  Gulls played on the wind. 

The sky remained clear after sunset with a crescent moon and bright stars.