Bitter wind chill

Outside the patio door the packed snow and ice was a miniature glacier that didn't even dent when I stepped on it.  Wind gusts made the low temperature even chillier.  But the bright sun continued to melt spots and lengthen icicles.

Over the course of the morning all the recent winter visitors appeared: cardinals, finches, chickadees, tufted titmice, white throated sparrows, juncos, yellow rumped warblers, downy woodpeckers, and starlings.  A male towhee took over the feeder and a brown thrasher foraged through the fallen hulls.  A squirrel did its very best to break into the feeder, but failed as always. Two butterbutts briefly shared the suet, then went back to chasing each other. 

The temperature in the afternoon got above 20°F and the pool cover continued to melt.  A little bit of the creek on the far side melted, though I could only tell by the way the light reflected onto the bulkhead.  A crow walked around on the ice by the dock.  An egret flew down to the dam where I assume it found sun without wind. 

The male towhee came back in the afternoon, as did a titmouse.  A female downy got some suet after I chased off starlings.  I will need a new block of suet very soon.  White throats, warblers and the regulars were back too. A dove stopped by briefly.  And I caught a brown creeper hitching up the pine trunk!

Butterbutt was the last bird feeding.  Puffy cumulus appeared and tinted rose at sunset.  The cormorants commuted to wherever they spend the night.