Red-winged blackbirds

It was damp and mild when I refilled the bark butter dish before breakfast.  But the temperature dropped steadily all day. Pelicans patrolled the creek.  The feeders attracted a wide range of birds. Carolina wrens had some of each. Bossy butterbutt was back.  Downy woodpeckers got their suet back, until the red bellied woodpecker arrived. The house finches fussed over precedence while a white throated sparrow cleaned up below. 

I spotted some robin scouts in the trees  Then a flock of red-winged blackbirds descended on the suet, but soon spooked and did not return.  Meanwhile, the pale female oriole watched and titmice visited the seed feeder. A pine warbler tried to have a little bark butter.  The myrtle warbler celebrated the departure of the blackbirds by indulging in suet.  A blue jay got into the bark butter balls. 

Buffleheads bobbed on the choppy creek.  A raptor circled and everyone went into hiding.  The orange crowned warbler showed up at last.  The feral cat seemed more interested in soaking up sun than preying on songbirds.  The birds ignored it, except they stayed off the ground.  A pair of hooded mergansers floated in the late afternoon sun.  It's been a poor year for winter ducks thus far, just buffleheads and hoodies and not many of them.