Gale!

The wind-driven tide flooded parts of Hampton Roads. A High Wind Warning was issued through Sunday and coastal flooding into Monday.  Traffic on the CBBT was restricted according to a sign I saw on the way home.  A light mist collected on the windshield.  WaPo had a nice diagram of the storm.

A downy woodpecker, titmice, and a couple of white throated sparrows wanted breakfast. 

Afterward, I looked across at the lake where a half dozen egrets and cormorants were sheltering from the wind.  Down on the creek (not very far down with the height of the tide), hoodies hugged the bulkhead where the wind had less force.  One male had to do the hoodie strut, but the low light ruined my picture.  I counted nine drakes and only five females, but others might have been under water. 

The parking lot at the Larchmont Library was half flooded.  I was puzzled because it didn't seem to be overwash from the wetland, but when I left, I saw a storm sewer manhole cover leaking onto the street.  So the tide backed up the pipes. 

As we ate lunch, a red-winged blackbird joined the feeder crowd, but he didn't eat anything.  A Carolina wren  perched on the bench with too much foliage in the way of the camera.  But the foliage was taking a beating, both from the wind and the frost a day ago.