Cold wind

A front came through around 6am with hard rain, strong wind, and falling temperature.  The rain stopped, but the wind and the cold kept coming. At first it was too dark for closeups.  A Carolina wren was up, hunting for food.  Song and white throated sparrows followed.  Downy woodpeckers went to work on the nubbin of suet.  The fierce butterbutt warbler harassed the downy but wasn't able to balance on the suet cage to get to what was left.  The wren did better at that.  Then the female red bellied woodpecker arrived and had no difficulty.

The oriole seemed puzzled at the lack of its treats - since they dissolve in the rain, we didn't put any out.  Doves joined the sparrows.  Brown headed cowbirds looked like gangsters. 

Ruddy ducks were out on the creek all morning but hoodies showed up when the wind blew the clouds away around noon.  A great blue heron was on its accustomed perch.  Pelicans occasionally cruised the creek.  I saw several times but was unable to photograph a hawk.  A cloud of crows swirled around the sky but not because of the hawk.  Titmice also appeared when the sun came out, and were able to work on the suet remnant.  There were nuthatches but they couldn't get past the bigger birds. 

In the afternoon, I noticed quite a few birds in the side yard through my West window.  A wren was digging into leaf litter trapped by a fence post.  Titmice and blackbirds were also over there and I saw the oriole hanging out in the neighbors' camellia which had a blossom.  The female kingfisher was back on the dock with a fresh fish.  This one looked flatter than yesterday's.  A flicker hid behind pine needles. One bufflehead fished on the lake while others stayed down on the creek.  A mixed flock of red winged blackbirds, cowbirds, and others descended on the slope down to the creek, only to startle and fly off repeatedly.  Robins perched and watched.

While the wind pushed clouds through all day long, the sky was more clear than not.  There were streaks in the West at sunset.  I saw a round moon above the trees around 7:30pm.   But it was way too cold to tempt me outside.