Warm

Dawn had a hint of mist that didn't last.  The sun lit up reflections in the placid creek.  There was little activity at breakfast. 

After lunch, a song and a white throated sparrow foraged in the mulch.  For some reason, there seem to be only tan morph white throats this winter.  I know there was a white morph when they first arrived but I haven't seen it since. 

Downy woodpeckers worked on the suet.  K took the ant moat down and discovered the water had jelled somehow into a brown goo.  I think I've got it clean again.  A pine warbler tried to get some suet but a downy came flying out of the blue and batted the warbler away.  The downy didn't even stay to eat.  The warbler just transferred to the bark butter dish. 

Two myrtle warblers fussed over who got to eat first and went chasing around the yard.  One decided to eat camellia pollen.  A bluebird watched all this, then left.  A Carolina wren evaded the camera. 

Boaters disrupted the buffleheads on the creak.   I found a slime mold under the maple tree.  As I rested from clipping nandina berries, a downy worked up the courage to come to the suet.  I could hear it talking to itself softly.  Later I saw a bird in the oak that I thought was a downy, but it wasn't.  Instead, it was an immature male yellow bellied sapsucker.  Weirdly, it would fly away from the oak, hover flapping for a moment, then fly back.  I was unsuccessful in photographing that behavior. 

A few wasps were lured out by the day's warmth, but the solstice was only a week ago and the sun set before 5pm.  I forgot to look for the moon.