Out like a lion

The last day of March was much stormier than the first.  Rain began around 9am but didn't seem like much.  The North-facing windows stayed dry.  A heavier rain fell around mid day.  Then the sun actually came out for  a while in the middle of the afternoon.  But the real storm arrived around 5:30pm with lightning, hail, and a tornado warning. It lasted a couple of hours, then trailed off after dark.  It dumped a lot of water. The birds seemed frantic for food in between waves of rain.

White throats fed before the rain.  The female red bellied woodpecker ignored the light, early rain.  Robins hunted for worms escaping the saturated soil.  A titmouse came for seeds, as did a very wet female cardinal.  Downy woodpeckers had some difficulty sharing the suet. Buffleheads spent much of the day on the water.

Garden shopping

The day began sunny.  The red bellied woodpeckers did not agree on when it was her turn on the suet.  White throated sparrows foraged under the feeders and added mealworms to their diet.   The house finches looked very spiffy on the feeder.  Then I left. 

At lunch, downy woodpeckers were working on the suet which was disappearing fast.  In the afternoon, I saw wood ducks and shovelers on the lake, and buffleheads on the creek.  By then the sky had gone gray. 

When I went to McDonald's it was overcast and misting a bit and the breeze chilled.  As I thought, I did not have to contend with many other shoppers.  Since the fancy, new petunia cultivar I got there last year survived the winter, I got another, red this time.  The other was purple.  I bought what claimed to be a red ice plant.  The purple one I got many years ago, I cloned all over the front and back mulch beds.  But it finally died out.  I also got seeds and bulbs.  I did not find either chionodoxa or fuchsia. which were what I really wanted.  But they had amazing hanging baskets of nepenthes pitcher plants.

 I put the two plants on the front patio to get acclimated.  Then I had to peek in the old petunia pot and, sure enough, a wren whizzed out.  I hung two lovely birdhouses, just the right size, but no, the wren nested in the petunia.  When I came in, a downy woodpecker was hiding behind the post.  Later a male pine warbler appeared, and still later a mourning dove.  Down by the dam outfall, a great blue heron wrestled with something. 

Cooler

The rain was over before we got up but it was still pretty wet and cloudy.  The pair of red bellies showed up during breakfast.  A male downy tried to argue with them and finally got on with the female red belly.  A wren was very displeased to discover that the rain had flooded the mealworm dish.  The pine warbler was also up for breakfast.  White throats bounced in the dogwood.  I believe I saw the grebe again.

Clouds came and went and sunshine alternated with the threat of rain.  But late in the afternoon the sky was clear.  Cormorants gathered on the logs by the lake.  K chased the cat away from the feeders.

Long day

I was gone from before dawn to after lunch.  When I got home, the usual suspects were busy eating:   white throats, wrens, titmice, downy woodpeckers, etc.  The pine warbler was out and about in bright daylight and I did not see the butterbutt at all.  Buffleheads were bathing together.  The geese tried to invade the yard so I had to sit outside till they were convinced to go elsewhere. 

A wasp made a determined effort to get through the glass.  A small beetle got entangled in a bit of spiderweb left from last fall. A crane fly clung to window screen.  A honeybee worked on the rosemary along side the carpenter bees.  A cabbage white, a tiger swallowtail, and a spring azure butterfly all flitted through the yard, but I only captured the little spring azure. 

And I saw the first skink of the year!  That one, a bluetail, was followed soon after by a mature adult.  It was a warm day, albeit mostly cloudy.

The cherry that grew from a pit I spit had lots of flowers this year.  Last year it only managed a half dozen altogether.  The azalea bushes with small flowers were covered with blooms and the ones with big flowers had a few blossoms down low.  Flowers on the other dogwoods were beginning to open.  

I spotted a squirrel eating something pink, apparently a flower bud.  It then swiped a hickory bud.  Around sunset, a male happened on a female foraging around the birdbath and it was instant love.

 Sunset was colorful but, after teasing us all day, rain started before it was fully dark.

Too busy

Buffleheads were up and down the creek all day. Wrens came for a mealworm breakfast and a titmouse for seeds.  And then the cat came for a bird breakfast, which it did not get.

I glimpsed the pine warbler after lunch.  Then while I was on the phone, a couple of blue jays entertained me.  An egret posed among the dead trees along the lake.  A pair of wood ducks paddles up the creek.

At supper, white throats, doves, and downy woodpeckers joined us.  The sky was cloudy most of the time, though not overcast.  And it was very warm.  Sunset was golden. 

Yellow birds

The sky was cloudy but not overcast.  At breakfast, the creek was glassy smooth.  The male pine warbler was up early.  White throats followed soon after.  It was a while before the yellow rumped warbler arrived to claim ownership of the suet.  A Carolina wren was more interested in mealworms.

Buffleheads paraded at lunch.  An osprey circled and hovered.  A pelican plunged into the creek just upstream behind trees.  Later a pair of buffleheads preened and looked very silly. 

Then a couple of goldfinches visited the seed feeder.  They were beginning to shift plumage from winter to summer, so I can't be sure but I think one was male and one female.  The pine warbler showed up later, as if to show how different two yellow birds could look.

Bumble and carpenter bees nectared on the rosemary but I didn't see any honeybees.  I guess they have better flowers to visit in the Spring.  I did see a tiger swallowtail, flitting around the cherry, probably laying eggs.

The red bellied and downy woodpeckers appeared in the afternoon.  So did a titmouse.  At least one Carolina wren excavated a space and moved into the hanging petunia pot on the front patio.

Hazy

The Carolina wrens were busy at breakfast.  White throated sparrows bathed.  I was too busy to notice much else.  During a late lunch, I saw a yellow rump and a male pine warbler, white throats, downy woodpeckers, and the wrens again.

Later in the afternoon, haze muted the sunshine and a breeze tempered the warmth.  Turtles basked along the lake edge.  The tide was very low in the creek.  A cabbage white ignored the wind.  A Polistes wasp harvested some wood pulp from the bench.  The blueberry blossoms hummed with bees. Violets, an iris, coral honeysuckle, and most of the azaleas were beginning to bloom. 

A pelican crashed into the water where cormorants were fishing.  I think it got their fish.  It had a dark neck that indicated it was ready for breeding.    I glimpsed a kingfisher who saw me too and flew away.  Gulls and crows wrestled with the wind.  A heron flew over the house.  Another perched on a channel marker.  Buffleheads appeared to be pairing up. 

The male red bellied woodpecker worked on the end of an oak limb that had been pruned years ago.  The wrens and the downy woodpeckers kept an eye on me while I was outside.  A song sparrow chirped under the rosemary.  I came in because the haze got thicker and I missed the sun's warmth. 

Harbinger of warmer days

This morning I saw the first yellow crowned night heron of the year. The female red belly was up early.  A titmouse came for seeds.  And of course yellow rumped warblers were around.  A squirrel ate red maple seeds.  A few azalea buds had opened. 

The creek was very still at breakfast except when a bufflehead or a goose disturbed it.  All too soon the water ruffled from wind and current.  Buffleheads preened and showed off their pink feet. 

At lunch, I noticed a dark egret or pale heron, but it was too far away to be sure.  The two Carolina wrens shared the mealworms very civilly.  The male pine warbler visited in broad daylight.  Bees were busy with the rosemary and a cabbage white flitted around.  Feathers on a great blue heron perched on the boatlift fluttered in the wind.  The tide was quite low. 

I hung the new Home-Tweet-Home plastic birdhouse and the wind promptly buffeted it all around.

Cold and sunny

The red bellied male watched from the cherry for a while before venturing out to the suet.  White throats kicked mulch and argued over the seed feeder.  They were glad of the hot water I poured in the birdbath.  So were the wrens.  Yes, there was ice.  A blue jay was a glutton for mealworms.  Downy woodpeckers got their share of suet.  Again the butterbutt sat on the feeder perch like a dog in a manger. 

When I got home in the afternoon the wrens were still feeding.  So was the butterbutt.  Buffleheads floated on the creek.  A Muscovy duck occupied one of the turtles' favorite logs.  The turtles crowded onto the other.  Toward evening, they were replaced by egrets catching the last rays. 

Hummingbirds are beginning to move North according to this map of sightings.  I may need to put out a feeder next week.

Windy

The day began with overcast that cleared during the morning.  The sunnier the day grew the windier it got.  White throats and a red belly came for breakfast.  A female cardinal took possession of the seed feeder.  A yellow rumped warbler watched from the top of the post.  A wren worked on mealworms.  Squirrels were feeling frisky.  I went off to the pool.

A titmouse lunched on suet.  After lunch, a Cooper's hawk swooped past the feeders and almost got a titmouse on the suet.

Buffleheads paddled and dived and preened all afternoon. Cormorants and turtles soaked up sun on the logs lining the lake.  A ruddy duck floated on the creek.  The wind roughened the water till there were tiny whitecaps.  A gull landed on the creek and caught something.  Then a pelican landed on the lake to bathe.  It was in breeding colors, first of the season.  The cormorants ignored it.

Spring

The sky was overcast and the light poor at breakfast.  The male red bellied woodpecker traded with the female for time on the suet.  Still, a nuthatch slipped in and got some suet.  White throats were everywhere, as usual.   The clouds broke up by the time I was leaving and cleared off before I returned home.

At lunch time the red bellies were still working on the suet.  When K scared them off by coming outside, a pine warbler got to eat some too.  The temperature hovered just under 70, but a breeze felt chilly despite the warm sun.

After lunch I went looking for a place to put the new birdhouse.  A butterbutt followed me around.  The first branch I tried flung the house down the hill.  I fetched it back but decided to wait to hang the house.  Downy woodpeckers took over the suet.  Crows executed aerial maneuvers. 

A couple of egrets perched on the snags by the lake.  Buffleheads paddled and dived on the creek.  Then I had to leave for the evening meeting.  Wispy clouds were beginning to gather. 

Vernal equinox

Spring began with sunshine. The usual suspects came to breakfast: downy woodpeckers, white throated sparrows, Carolina wrens, and titmice.  I sat outside around noon which distressed the birds somewhat.  The butterbutt glared at me.  I learned that the titmouse was the source of the loud whistle repeated three times.  I spied a nuthatch upside down on the oak.  A blue jay hung around during lunch and, for the first time, I saw it go after suet. 

Hoodies and buffleheads were out on the creek.  Shovelers and other ducks stayed up on the lake.  Turtles basked on the logs.  I saw the grebe again.  An osprey hit the water but came up empty taloned.

Snow!

The morning rain turned to sleet then snow around 10am.  It couldn't stick because everything was a bit too warm.  And by 11am all forms of precipitation had mostly stopped.  But most of the pictures I took during the morning were ruined by the water on the windows. 

I saw a couple of buffleheads and a heron on the creek.  White throated sparrows were too hungry to be stopped by rain or snow.  However, they fought over the seed feeder.  The butterbutt braved weather too.  A downy woodpecker came once the snow started.  A titmouse slipped through to get a sunflower seed.  The wrens resorted to suet because we still didn't put out mealworms.  Then a female cardinal took over the seed feeder and refused to share. 

At lunch, a couple of starlings showed up for suet.  Robins scurried around once the rain stopped.  And then a junco tackled the suet, something I've rarely seen before.  A nuthatch tried to dodge the butterbutt to get some suet.  Blue jays flitted through the trees.  The colorless gray warbler returned for suet and that wretched butterbutt attacked it.

By mid afternoon the sun was shining.  An egret and a heron shared a snag on the lake while a cormorant perched on a lower log.  Pelicans flew over the creek as the sun returned.  Then two hoodie pairs paddled across the water.  The two wrens shared the suet and then a pine warbler had some.

Wet

I awoke to drizzle and poor light.  The female red bellied woodpecker was determined to get the last bit of suet.  The downy woodpeckers wanted to help.  White throated sparrows were after seeds so they didn't care.  A rumpled yellow rumped warbler watched.  I saw two wood duck couples on our dock when all I had in hand was the snapshot camera.  Then I left.

When I got home, a squirrel was having a quick wash.  A great blue heron and a crow were on opposite edges of the dam outfall which made me wonder what was down in it.  A wren kept checking the hanger for the missing mealworm dish.

Around 4pm the sky cleared some and I went out shopping.  When I got back, two brown thrashers were poking through the mulch around the red cedar.  A titmouse  came for the new block of suet K hung up.  I saw three shovelers on the lake, where a newly fallen tree was in the water.  Buffleheads busily fished on the creek.  A female kingfisher plunged without success then returned to a piling.  A pied bill grebe dived and popped up like a toy.  Clouds came back right after sunset and the last bird I saw was a pine warbler at work on the suet.

Warming

Again the birdbath was frozen at breakfast so I added hot.  The water attracted more birds than the food.  And I took way too many photos in the sunshine.  Robins and white throats wanted a drink right away.  A nuthatch had some suet first and a wren some mealworms.  The butterbutt got in everyone's way.  I got one photo of the back of a cedar waxwing before it took off and I saw no more.

Both woodpecker pairs - downy and red belly - breakfasted on suet.  A heron waded by the dam outfall.  Juncos were back.  The titmouse got a little bolder.  A flock of brown headed cowbirds descended on the birdbath.  Squirrels were still having romantic flings.  One of the robins sat in the birdbath and got quite hissy when any other bird came near.  Then a male red winged blackbird scared off the robins.  But they soon rejoined him.  And then a male oriole showed up.  I think it was the one we had a month ago.

Blue jays raided the mealworms a few times but never took much.  A pair of goldfinches came for seeds.  The male was molting into summer color but the female had not begun.  A female red wing also visited the suet. At lunch time, I caught sight of a flicker and a moment later a brown thrasher.  The song sparrow finally arrived. A large dark fly basked on the post.

After lunch I went outside.The wind was chilly though not as fierce as the last few days.  A brown thrasher sang its extensive repertoire from the top of the redwood.  A male kingfisher watched the water from its favorite post on the neighboring dock.  I found an opened leaf on the fig.  The purple witch hazel was blooming but the native was just beginning to bud.  The pine cones were really abundant this winter.  Two of the three redbuds were beginning to flower.  A carpenter bee was warm enough to feed on the rosemary.  I pulled out a lot of leucojum even though it was blooming - too invasive.  

After I came back in, the female red belly hopped onto the remnant of suet.  A starling tried to dislodge her and finally succeeded.  She called her boyfriend to the rescue and he dispatched the interloper.  The pine warbler watched all this from the post.  Better than television!

Around 4pm the sun went out and I realized the beautiful blue sky had turned to gray.  A midge landed on the window.  Warblers argued over the suet till a downy sent them both off.

Still cold

The birdbath was frozen again.  The creek was quiet but not frozen, and the tide was way out.  I wonder if these lower than I remember tides resulted from the dredging?  A snowy egret shuffled in the shallows below the dam spillway. 

The feral cat waited on the steps and made the birds late to breakfast.  The butterbutt was just as greedy as yesterday.  It lurked in the maple to guard "its" food.  A nuthatch breakfasted on suet and followed up with water that I had melted.  A downy then took over the suet.  A wren ate mealworms.  White throats ate everything.  The junco came back.  A titmouse escaped my camera.  As I was leaving, a brown thrasher sang in the top of the juniper. 

 When I got home at lunchtime, a pelican fished while floating instead of flying.  By this time the wind was back.  The female red belly dithered in the dogwood.  A half dozen robins hung out by the birdbath.  White throats bathed despite the chill and splashed the robins.  One sparrow had at least five rinses.  I glimpsed a song sparrow, but not bathing. 

Buffleheads were out on the water in the afternoon.  I caught a flash of bubblegum pink which turned out to be the drake's foot.  The snowy egret prospected along the mud flats when the tide went back out in the evening.  I saw the wood duck pair paddling in the creek.  A kingfisher watched from a post on the neighboring dock.  I think I saw the grebe again.  A shoveler was out on the lake which was otherwise deserted. 

I noticed the newspaper started reporting the pollen count today.  The oak flowers were nearly ready to add some to the air.  The dogwood bracts (which look like petals) were wide open but the real flowers were not yet.  And the maple has gone to seed.