Waterfowl

The butterbutt appeared to be cheer leading as it picked up a mealworm and waved it left and right, but I suppose it was just checking for threats.  The creek was quite glassy in the early morning, but that didn't last.  The sky clouded over and cleared repeatedly. 

A flock of juncos descended on the patio at lunch. A white throat did the cheer leading with a mealworm.  Downy woodpeckers continued their excavation of the suet.   A Carolina wren visited the mealworms in the afternoon. 

Wood ducks appeared briefly in different spots up and down the creek.  The red breasted mergansers hung around along with a few buffleheads.  A pair of crows stationed themselves on the arms of the dam outfall like sentinels.  Herons and pelicans kept watch for fish.  By the time a grebe appeared, the sky had become overcast and the light was going.  One merganser seemed considerably bigger than the others - I wonder if it was a common merganser.  Geese disrupted the duck feeding with a domestic drama.  An egret with flowing aigrette plumes looked like a ghost haunting the dead trees.

The first batch of daffodils were about done but the dwarf daffodils were going strong, as were the hyacinths.  Not only were dogwood buds opening, the twigs were blushing red. 

I put out some grape jelly in a dried orange peel cup which I stuck on the hook above the mealworm dish.  That disturbed the birds for a while.  I also cleaned the birdbath as best I could and hung the redecorated birdhouse in the camellia.   I tried to make bark butter.  Squirrels ate my test batch but they weren't enthusiastic about it and the cayenne made them drink water and wipe their mouths. One squirrel was quite reddish.