Rain

Everything was wet when we awoke (late), but there were some blue tears in the cloud cover.  Birds took advantage to come for a hearty meal. An egret rested briefly high in a pine across the creek.  Later a pelican surveyed the creek.  Carolina wrens, orioles, red breasted nuthatches, and white throated sparrows were all busy with the smorgasbord we provide.

A little after 10am, as I was on the road there was a deluge.  It slackened in a few minutes, but I got pretty wet before ever getting into the pool. At lunch, titmice and a female pine warbler joined the others.  By then it had gotten quite warm for December.  Bugs were flying though I was not able to see any clearly. The clouds blew away leaving muted sunshine in a sky glazed with thin cirrus. 

I ran some errands and saw the resident mockingbird at the library and a buzzard flying low over the hospital.  When I got back, the two male orioles were having another dominance challenge.  one occupied the feeder while the other sulked in the camellia.  In the late afternoon, egrets and cormorants gathered at the lake.