Early birds & late

The sun rose in a blaze of red clouds.  It highlighted the tops of the pines and the commuting cormorants before rising past the crack in the clouds that let the light through.  Four or more juncos were up early hunting breakfast in the mulch.  A finch and a white throat went to the feeder.  A male cardinal gleamed in the bushes.  Then they all left.  The sky settled into a dirty white. 

Egrets appeared later.  Two took up positions on the bulkhead.  Later three flew together downstream.  Then a song sparrow perched atop the ceder at the corner of the patio.  A pelican cruised over the creek.  Then everyone arrived.  Four titmice alternated feeders.  The downy woodpeckers took turns.  White throats and the regulars also spent time on the feeder.  A fox sparrow poked through the mulch under the cedar.

Before noon, the overcast broke into a mackerel sky and not too long after the sun burned through while patches of blue appeared in the North.  When we got home, the sick finch was sitting on the feeder perch and the feral cat was underneath watching it intently.  I yelled at the cat who fled but the finch paid me no attention.  Once the cat was gone, it got a drink then flew off into the sakaki.  Cormorants and mergansers were out on the creek.

Later, the regulars, white throats, juncos, and downy were all present.  I ran errands while the sky continued to clear, but when I got home it was time for the cormorant commute. Sunset was orange with streaky clouds.