The temperature was still icy at breakfast and the birds were still hungry. Pine and myrtle warblers were already at work on suet and bark butter. White throats hunted seeds. A junco went straight to the feeder. The orioles, male and females, were after suet, bark butter and jelly, but the jelly dish was not only empty, it was on end. I refilled it to their joy. A downy finally woke up and wanted her suet.
Robins were thirsty but the pool cover satisfied them. I poured hot water into the birdbath. A flock of red wings landed on the pool cover anyway. Later a blue jay drank there too. Geese landed on the creek ice and plunged right through, making potholes of water that slowly refroze.
In the afternoon, a goose came for a drink. Two Carolina wrens tried every feeder but the jelly dish. Doves get amazingly puffy in the cold. A myrtle warbler discovered the suet in the front of the house.
Pelicans flew upstream and down and occasionally dived. Herons also flew past presumably to try other fishing holes. Cormorants and hoodies paddled around. Later a pair of hoodies pretended to be dabbling ducks. A male kingfisher perched on a piling for a while, then moved to the purple martin house. The tide was way out when a great egret came stalking along the shallows. It was finding something in the water, but I could not see what. The light and my battery failed around the same time.
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