Warmer

A Carolina wren was the early bird, sampling every food.  Then there were warblers.  A brown thrasher was hungry enough to experiment and forage under the seed feeder where it was joined by a white throated sparrow.  The female oriole reappeared.  

Hooded mergansers and buffleheads paddled around and something larger sent ripples across the creek.  I saw a heron on the neighbors' dock. 

I think I saw at least three red breasted nuthatches at the same time but they zip around so fast there might have been many more.  One may have been this year's hatching because it did a feed-me dance, upsidedown.  Chickadees, house finches, and downy woodpeckers showed up as usual.  Then the feral cat arrived and a worried squirrel shot up the post.  

At lunch time I finally remembered to take a picture of an early Carolina jessamine blossom and my late peppers.  

Something interesting was up in the trees.  It may have been the song sparrow I saw later.  That was the first song sparrow in a long time, but not a winter migrant.