New year

The prediction was for cloudy all day.  Instead, we had rain before 10am and sunshine in the afternoon. Wrens and orioles appeared as soon as I had their breakfast laid out.  Nuthatches and both kinds of sparrows were up early too.

Somewhat later, the red bellied woodpecker arrived.  An egret fished below the dam.  Then I noticed a gathering of vultures across the creek.  Seven sat in a tree while three more circled in the sky - an unnerving omen for 2017.  Then the rain started.

Around noon a handful of goldfinches showed up.  A yellow rumped warbler joined them.  And the sky began to clear.

As we had lunch, so did titmice.  Ducks appeared on the creek.  There were hoodies and buffleheads and a couple of female red breasted mergansers.  The red bellied woodpecker got competition from a downy.  Juncos returned after being missing for several days.

I got caught up in work and missed the rest of the daylight.