Icy wind

I put out lots of bird food against the cold.  Nuthatches were already eating when I got up.  A "murder of crows" flew over several times.  Their shadows were quite creepy.  A couple of doves foraged in the mulch.  The female pine warbler also wanted suet.  The jelly dish was on a patio table where I put it yesterday out of the way of the leaf blower, but an oriole found it.  I later returned it to the spot under the rosemary.  A Carolina wren appreciated the mealworms I put out at the same time.

At lunch, the oriole decided to have some more of the clementine.  A downy woodpecker was working on the suet when there was a commotion that moved too fast for me, but I think involved a pine warbler and the woodpecker.  White throats were everywhere on the ground.

Three goldfinches came to the birdbath right after I pulled out all the leaves that had blown in.  Then something scared all the birds away, except the woodpecker which froze to the suet cage, relying on camouflage. 

Out on the creek, two male buffleheads tussled over a female.  I saw a pelican and a great blue heron fly past when I didn't have the camera ready.   And as I was downloading photos a flock of hoodies paddled upstream while an egret flew downstream. 

In my afternoon meeting, I watched the sun descend into a beautiful rose and golden glow behind bare trees.   But the flags standing straight out from their flagpoles reminded me of the wind.  The car claimed it was already down to 31°F.