Windy and wet and woodpeckers

The creek was, at last, clear of ice.  I could see open water on the lake above the dam though I think there was still some ice there.

A brown thrasher paid a breakfast visit to the soggy mulch.  Juncos and white throats also poked through the litter.  Yellow rumps continued to chase each other off the suet.  And the notch-tailed squirrel continued to steal nibbles off the suet.  A woodpecker landed on the post and flew off.  I thought it was a downy.  Then I saw a red bellied woodpecker on the redwood, so I don't know what the first woodpecker was.

The landscape folks were finally able to come.  They showed me a lot of broken limbs in the wooded corner that I couldn't see without going outside, which I'd been reluctant to do in the snow.  The ground was spongy and slick but I survived.  They told me that while they were pulling out the dead wood a raccoon dropped out of the magnolia into their midst.  Wish I'd seen that!  Ruddy ducks were out on the water.

At lunch, a downy woodpecker visited.  I saw hooded mergansers out on the water.  The sun came out in the afternoon.  Herons were about but I did not see yesterday's.  I did see one with a long piece of lunch - eel?  Several buzzards were circling and there was a black back gull on the water.  A pine warbler came to the suet, only to be chased off by a butterbutt.  A blue jay flitted around the edge of the yard. 


The day got very warm.  On the way into Norfolk this evening I passed the 264/64 intersection at 6:20 and there was the swarm of crows wheeling above the highway.  Coming home, I saw the moon in a halo of clouds but they seemed to be moving off to the Northeast.