Flurries

Flakes of snow blew around in the morning but didn't stick to anything.  The birdbath was frozen solid and the creek had a flexible skin of ice. There was sun when I first got up, but the clouds merged and the sky was mostly gray in the morning.  The temperature never rose out of the 20s Fahrenheit all day.  We poured hot water into the birdbath repeatedly throughout the day. 

The cold made the birds hungry and thirsty and brought the shy ones into view.  The red bellied woodpecker pair were after suet and bark butter balls.  A Carolina wren started with bark butter balls but had some of everything.  The white throated sparrows were especially grateful for water.  The downy woodpecker pair also alternated on the suet.  But at least three pine warblers wanted their share of suet and bark butter and tried to share space with the woodpeckers.  A flock of doves foraged with the white throats. 

A yellow bellied sapsucker appeared on a dogwood trunk but didn't stay long.  Three blue jays were really into bark butter balls.  A male towhee put in an appearance for the first time in months.  An industrious butterbutt still retained some summer feathers.  K and I believe we saw an oriole, so I put grape jelly out, just in case.  I got a photo of a female in the camellia.  Titmice were quite late to the party. So were juncos.  A couple of song sparrows joined the white throats, but also got interested in the bark butter balls.  For some reason, the song sparrow preferred to climb the hanger to the feeder instead of flying in like every other bird. 

I saw a bufflehead where the current had kept part of the creek ice-free. I saw pelicans in the afternoon, but got no photos.  A flock of hoodies glittered in the late afternoon sunlight, but again no photo.  Egrets were more cooperative.  There were squirrels around, but they didn't do anything interesting.  Sunset turned the few remaining clouds to coral.  I saw the half moon in the afternoon and meant to get another look after dark, but missed my chance.