Hot!

If the car temperature sensor is to be believed, it got up to 80°F.  Since this was the last weekend of car access to Mackay Island Wildlife Refuge, we made an expedition South to N.C.

People were out fishing and photographing in the glorious weather.  Turtles abounded in the waterways, particularly Northern red bellied cooters  (Pseudemys rubriventris) and yellow bellied sliders (Trachemys scripta scripta).  Insects were flying and the car gathered several mosquitoes.  A female kingfisher perched in a dead tree.  Ducks, coots, geese, and swans paddled and fed.  A large flock of white ibis hung out on and below a dead tree.  This was a new bird for me.

We had lunch at Blue Pete's on the way back, a nice opportunity to visit a place too far for usual days.

When we got home, a Carolina wren was waiting. A buzzard circled in the hazy sky.  Downy woodpeckers visited the suet while a female red bellied woodpecker stuck to the trees.  Chickadees and other birds scooted between bushes.  A great blew heron flew upstream and cormorants flew and paddled in the creek.  But the daylight was all too short.

Stars glittered in the night sky, untroubled by cloud or moon.  The day set a record with an official temperature of 77°F.