Bold catbird

 The cat came back.  A finch family ignored their offspring's begging as it hopped around on the feeder cluelessly.  A blue jay was disgusted that I didn't have its breakfast ready, but when I put mealworms out, a squirrel got them all.  Downy woodpeckers were still working on the last suet block.  A pair of goldfinches drank from the pool puddle.  So did a male cardinal who then proceeded to bathe.  A hummingbird paid a very brief visit to the feeder.  And then the catbird appeared.  It hung around all day and ventured out in the bright sunshine.  I tried to get photos of the bluebirds, but they got away again.  So did a couple of ospreys flying upstream, a titmouse, and a wren. 

Insects were everywhere.  A crane fly scrabbled on the window glass.   Yellow jackets searched for a place to nest, paper wasps scraped the wooden bench, and bumblebees fed on the money plant.  Tiny flies sent ripples across the pool puddle, laying eggs or eating larva?  A different paper wasp was attracted to the hackberry, possibly to its tiny flowers. 

One goose family after another invited themselves and their offspring, and had to be sent packing.  For reasons that were not apparent, two adult geese took off flying, leaving their goslings bobbing in the water.  Like a folktale illustration, an egret decked out for mating shared a log with a cormorant that looked ready for a funeral.  They were watched by turtles.  A little green heron rested on top of a dock piling.  It preened and scratched and posed.