Cooler

A heavy dew beaded on the step railing and the mealworm dish, and dampened the concrete.  Out on the creek, a hooded merganser slipped out of sight before I could get the camera focused.  A pine warbler attacked the suet.  Titmice wanted sunflower seeds.  So did white throated sparrows, but they were willing to kick the mulch to find fallen seeds.  Then a bluebird landed on the feeder and poked through the seeds!  I had put mealworms out but he ignored them.  He also was rude to other birds like the yellow rumped warbler. 

Juncos joined the white throats foraging and making occasional forays to the feeder perch.  A blue jay arrived and ate mealworms in the suet rather than in the dish.  Two Carolina wrens landed on the feeder which upset a house finch.   A couple of warblers tried to share the suet.  One was a butterbutt and I think the other was an orange crowned warbler.  Later the orange crowned warbler shared with a chickadee. 

Wispy, unraveled threads of cirrus clouds slid East.  Leaves fluttered down without much wind.  A couple of squirrels foraged and one kept shoving the other.  Perhaps they were siblings?  After lunch, I wanted to try the camera in my new phone but no birds were in sight.  Except, across the creek, a red tailed hawk was perched high up in one of the pines.

Sunset seemed to come very early with pink bars of cloud above the Southern horizon.  The moon was nearing full but was haloed with mist.