Flocks

 A titmouse snatched a seed for breakfast.  The orioles and warblers had suet.  A Carolina wren went to the seed feeder and then to the suet.  But the female downy hopped on the suet cage and the pine warbler left.  So did the wren after a moment.  Then an oriole joined the downy.  Eventually the male oriole ventured out and the suet looked like a circus.  But the female oriole had a hissy fit and got the whole suet to herself, at least till another female hopped on.  White throats stayed on the ground.  A goldfinch made a brief visit but ate nothing, like a vegan at a barbecue. 

 A hoodie drake sailed downstream.  At least a dozen crows took over the yard.  Five lined the roof like a bad omen come to roost.  They took off and starlings arrived.  I scared them off and both flocks gathered in the oak.  I sat close to the glass to keep them away and saw red breasted mergansers and other fishing birds chasing a school of fish upstream, then back down.  They churned a path through the middle of the creek, but the vegetation kept throwing the camera focus off.  On the way back they were slower so I could plan for gaps in the twigs. Pelicans flew over their wake. 

I put out jelly in a separate dish from the fresh tub of bark butter.  It took the orioles less than five minutes to find the dish.  The clouds broke up and let the sun through in the afternoon.  But I decided I had to catch up with my responsibilities so what the birds did, I do not know.  The night ski was clear and the air was sharp.  Half a moon, stars, and a planet watched me get lost and retrace my steps in the dark.