Icy creek

The creek was frozen under a blue sky. Fortunately there was less wind.  Something (a cormorant?) landed, skidded, and took off again, but my view was screened by brush.  A turkey vulture circled with the sun picking up the red of its head. Juncos and white throats were out along with chickadees and cardinals.  The feral cat scared all the birds till I scared it. 

At lunch the great blue herons went back and forth along the creek.  It looked territorial to me.  Yellow rumps also disputed a place at the suet. 

The temperature finally rose enough for the puddle on the pool cover to melt and open water to flow under the bulkhead in the sun.  Geese and mallards paddled along the edge of the ice.  Songbirds drank from the pool cover because the birdbath in the shade was still frozen.  Thin cloud cover rolled out in the afternoon till the only blue was East, then that was gone.