Polar gale

The wind gusts were roaring all night.  Apparently the wind kept the creek from icing over, but the birdbath and the pool puddle froze.  Usually wind keeps the birds away, but not this morning.  A flock of robins stayed in the yard the whole time I was counting for the GBBC.  I think there were a dozen.

The suet cage swung so wildly that the only birds who fed from it were two starlings.  A brown thrasher tried, but the wind was too strong.  Cardinals, chickadees, white throats, and a white breasted nuthatch visited the refilled seed feeder.  The butterbutts scurried around on the ground but still chased each other.  I saw squirrels but they stayed distant. Out on the creek there were geese, a dozen ruddy ducks, and a cormorant.  A gull tried to ride the wind. 

We were gone for most of this beautiful, if chilly, day.  As we were leaving, I saw a junco and a pelican.  I believe I saw a dear carcase on the road to Williamsburg.   Certainly there were vultures and gulls aplenty riding the wind.

When we got home in the middle of the afternoon the backyard was still full of birds so I did another count.  There were 14 red wing blackbirds, a brown headed cowbird, and 10 robins flocking together, drinking from the pool puddle.  A fox sparrow joined them.  Four starlings attacked the suet, scaring off the butterbutts and a downy woodpecker.  Pairs of cardinals, house finches, and towhees, and a lone chickadee came for seeds.  Under the feeders, a junco, a dove, and 3 white throats foraged. 

Out on the creek, the descending sun gilded a flock of a dozen ruddy ducks, 4 pintails, a pair of hooded mergansers, and 3 mallards.  I could see a great blue heron on a downstream dock.