The sky was gray when I finally got up but the overcast began to tear apart mid morning and by lunch the sky was blue. The temperature climbed and finally melted the birdbath ice.
A great blue heron assumed its beak pointed skyward
territorial posture under the bulkhead. The tide was quite low. A couple of geese splashed down, then paddled fast with their necks stretched out level with the water.
Buffleheads, ruddy ducks, and hoodies were joined by female mergansers
that were probably
red breasted because
common is less common here.
Cormorants joined the fishing. Pelicans flew by a couple of times.
Up at the feeders, birds were competitive too. The yellow rumped warbler guarded the suet, driving off chickadees and harassing downy woodpeckers and titmice. Many white throats foraged under the feeders and occasionally didn't wait for food to fall. The oriole dug into mealworms. The female red bellied woodpecker continued to act more timid than smaller birds. Nuthatches dodged the fierce warbler. A pine warbler slipped in briefly. Eventually the butterbutt discovered mealworms which gave it two feeders to monitor. In the afternoon, two Carolina wrens came for mealworms. I gave the oriole some jelly.
In
the late afternoon, a female kingfisher sat on the dock bench to swallow
a sizable fish which went down slowly and swelled her throat. Hoodies, buffleheads, and ruddy ducks bobbed on the water while a heron watched from the neighbors' floating dock. Up on the lake a "gulp" of cormorants perched all over the dead snags with an egret above.
A great blue heron assumed its beak pointed skyward
territorial posture under the bulkhead. The tide was quite low. A couple of geese splashed down, then paddled fast with their necks stretched out level with the water.
Buffleheads, ruddy ducks, and hoodies were joined by female mergansers
that were probably red breasted because common is less common here.
Cormorants joined the fishing. Pelicans flew by a couple of times. 
Up at the feeders, birds were competitive too. The yellow rumped warbler guarded the suet, driving off chickadees and harassing downy woodpeckers and titmice. Many white throats foraged under the feeders and occasionally didn't wait for food to fall. The oriole dug into mealworms. The female red bellied woodpecker continued to act more timid than smaller birds. Nuthatches dodged the fierce warbler. A pine warbler slipped in briefly. Eventually the butterbutt discovered mealworms which gave it two feeders to monitor. In the afternoon, two Carolina wrens came for mealworms. I gave the oriole some jelly. 
In
the late afternoon, a female kingfisher sat on the dock bench to swallow
a sizable fish which went down slowly and swelled her throat. Hoodies, buffleheads, and ruddy ducks bobbed on the water while a heron watched from the neighbors' floating dock. Up on the lake a "gulp" of cormorants perched all over the dead snags with an egret above. 
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