Overcast and mild, then sunny

Not much was going on at breakfast. Later a downy woodpecker left the suet and a pine warbler tied to get a quick snack but a yellow rump asserted status and displaced it.  A bluebird observed from the trees. 

At lunch the creek was full of ruddy ducks and a lone hooded merganser male.  There weren't so many ruddy ducks in past winters.  A song sparrow scurried across the patio.

Sunlight began to leak through after lunch and by mid afternoon the sky was clear.  I sat on the dock and saw about a hundred ruddy ducks up and down the creek.  Pelicans and herons were flying and roosting.  One of each shared a dock.  Another pelican preened on the boathouse roof.  Among all the ruddy ducks there was a gadwall and I think a couple of females.