Glorious blue sky

We were off to the hospital before dawn and I really had no time to appreciate the beauty of the day till mid afternoon.  I sat outside for a bit but the wind was chilly.  Ospreys were having some luck fishing.  A pelican and a couple of herons went by, low over the water. The oaks are beginning to blossom. 

Chickadees were quarreling in the bushes and the butterbutts were at it too.  White throats were more interested in foraging under the feeder, which K refilled this morning before we left. A downy woodpecker prospected on the dogwood.  Then a hawk swooped past the neighbor's feeder and all the chickadees came streaking for cover behind me.  The woodpecker went very still and relied on camouflage.  I would have gotten a photo of the hawk but the camera argued about focus. 

When I went out to get the mail, I heard a lot of rustling under the azaleas.  I copied the woodpecker's strategy and pretty soon a male towhee emerged.  The sky stayed crystalline right through sunset when Venus was sharp and bright in the West and an oval moon was rising through the trees to the East.