It was another hot, windy day with an intensely blue sky. There were quite a few dragonflies but the big darners never stopped flying. I got a single shot of what I think was a female blue dasher. A damselfly was more cooperative. It appears to be some kind of pond spreadwings. There were lots of paper wasps and carpenter bees. Finally, I found a narcissus bulb fly. They were thick last year.
The suet was going fast. Do I want to keep feeding the birds suet @ $2.50/day? But I love seeing all the woodpeckers. The downy, the red bellied, and the pileated all came today. The pileated got into a staring duel with a crow. Bluebirds also craved suet. The brown thrasher pair enjoyed each other's company as they foraged.
In the morning the crew came to get the pool ready. It looked lovely but the water was very cold. And the fierce Southwest wind blew all sorts of tree trash into the water. The wind grounded most of the birds in the afternoon but a female hummer visited her feeder. I had brewed a fresh jar of sugar water that seemed to be acceptable. I think the whole previous batch was contaminated.
Insects also found the wind tough going but a large dragonfly, probably a darner, banged into the window several times. I also saw butterflies and wasps, and too many houseflies. A honeybee was working on the last azaleas. Skinks enjoyed the heat and one with a red head posed for me.
I saw an egret land. Later a yellow crowned night heron perched on the pine branch that hangs over the creek. The strawberry that lost all its leaves and flowers looked like it might still be alive. And there was a sprout by last year's milkweed stalk. The wind pushed the tide very low. Ducks and a cormorant usurped the turtle log. The newspaper claimed the temperature reached 90° but that wasn't a record.
The wild cherry looked foamy with flowers. The dark azaleas were beginning to fade and the white bush was in full bloom. The suet cage was empty! Where did it all go? -- A block of suet in two days is not sustainable consumption. Each bird had to check it out, some several times. The brown thrashers scoured the ground beneath. I saw a tiger swallowtail in the pink azalea bush.
The potted strawberries were blooming and berries were starting to form. I dealt with the pot of dead celosia and discovered a skink was napping inside. It almost got squashed escaping. The clematis had a flower and the crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) I bought two years ago at the Farmers Market put out its first flowers. A patch of white clover was in bloom but I didn't see any bees.
There was a lot of scurrying around the pool puddle and in the bushes. A Carolina wren and a white throated sparrow hunted on the pool cover while a brown thrasher stayed under cover. A bluebird perched on the topmost pine candle. The female red bellied woodpecker sunbathed on a limb of the oak tree. Then she preened for a while. Eventually she found the barkbutter balls. Titmice were thick at the seed feeder.
The cardinals were finally courting. I glimpsed a warbler but I don't know which kind. A white breasted nuthatch was the final visitor in search of suet. Since the sky was clear, I took advantage to get photos of the full moon.
A cloudy morning turned to rain mid afternoon. At that time we were down by the Dismal Swamp Canal but I didn't see much wildlife in the tall trees. Squirrels scampered and a few birds flitted. I believe one was a robin.
Carolina wrens were hungry early and late. The creek was placid as the sun gradually illuminated it. But I had a meeting. After lunch I got outside with a timer to warn me to come in for the next meeting. But I didn't hear it. I saw two dragonflies and maybe a damselfly. Both dragonflies were fuzzy as though they were moldy. I wasn't able to identify them as a result.
Bees were at work on the azaleas. Crows hung around the yard as usual. Haze started to ripple across the sky. A red bellied woodpecker fussed because I was sitting too close to the suet. A skink that was using the retaining wall as a pathway froze as I focused on it, then slipped into the vegetation. It had a regrown tail.
The pecan finally began to leaf out. At supper, a brown thrasher checked out the fallen suet crumbs and the barkbutter balls. The sky was nearly overcast by then.
I was busy much of the day. Turtles basked on their logs. An egret prowled at low tide. A mallard led her ducklings away. She had a drake escort which was rather unusual. A cormorant popped up like a periscope. Later, egrets rested and preened on the lake snags.
A yellow crowned night heron perched just above the water on a saltbush limb as the rain fell. Afterward, a great egret preened on a fallen tree on the lake. The sky cleared before sunset.
A dark butterfly egged the wild cherry, which suggested it was a dark morph tiger swallowtail. I saw a smaller brownish butterfly on a dogwood flower, but it got away. Several skinks ranging from a skinklet that peeked out from the pool cover to red faced adults were awake. Turtles basked on the lake snags.
By mid afternoon the crescent moon was above the trees, but Eastward flowing haze and cloud wisps kept confusing the camera. My best shots scarcely revealed the man-in-the-moon, much less craters. One small fiddlehead finally came up on the Christmas fern. Perhaps the Winter was not cold enough? I found more mutant four petaled violets. I think the fifth petal shrank rather than disappearing.
Speaking of hummingbirds, I spotted a patch of red across the yard and got excited only to discover it was the head of a red bellied woodpecker. A male brown headed cowbird perched on the feeder hanger but did not partake.
There were simply a lot of interesting sights today and I completely missed photographing the skink, the dragonfly, and the maple pinwheels. The sky rotated through cycles of sunshine and clouds which kept the temperature in the 60s. At breakfast, we were joined by the pair of mockingbirds, a brown thrasher, the female pileated woodpecker, and briefly a bluebird. I spotted a yellow rumped warbler in the trees.
The Solomon's seal popped up and immediately dangled flowers.I mean, the plants were not even visible on Wednesday. Poison ivy shot up several tree trunks. I think everything had leafed out except the hackberry. The turtle log looked like a commuter train.
Crows called my attention to an unfortunate fish lying many feet from the water. I assume they had harassed an osprey or eagle, or possibly a heron, till it dropped the children's lunch. The soft parts were gone and the crows picking at the fish were having difficulty penetrating the scales. My best guess is that it was a spotted seatrout.
The crows and fish attracted the attention of a green heron, the first I saw this year. With a shovel I carried the carcass down to the water and dumped it for the crabs to enjoy. It was beginning to smell pretty strong and attract flies. Besides, the crows certainly did not catch a fish that size so they weren't entitled to it.
Along with disposing of the fish, we hung the new birdhouse. I owe K for the knots, but I believe it was a two-person job. The birdhouses are assembled from sheets of recycled plastic printed by a company that called them Tweet Tweet Home. I thought they were out of business but Amazon still listed some for sale. Lots of negative reviews by idiots who expected wood or didn't have the gumption to hang it securely. Harrumpf.
I plopped down outside which frustrated the birds that wanted suet. A mockingbird got bold. White throated sparrows ignored me as they gleaned fallen crumbs. A tiger swallowtail ignored my frantic chasing after it with the lens. But the wretched tease would not land anywhere. I had better luck with an odd bee, at least I think it was a bee. It was small and black and appeared to have yellow pollen bags. Wasps don't collect pollen.
I went indoors and that brought the bluebirds, at least two males, and a starling. A brown thrasher appeared to clean up the starling's mess. A pale pine warbler and a goldfinch watched a bluebird eat suet. And then a female hummingbird sailed in to the hummer feeder. She didn't stay long because the blasted feral cat showed up. (Where was it when the fish was lying in the grass, just waiting?)
After the cat gave up and left, a brown headed nuthatch came for supper. It couldn't get a seed because a cardinal was on the perch so the nuthatch had suet. But as son as the cardinal left, the nuthatch abandoned the suet for a sunflower seed. A couple of egrets fussed at each other for encroachment. Great egrets invented social distancing. A blue jay hunted crumbs on the steps where occasionally I saw its head bob up. And that was almost twelve hours after the beginning of this photo safari.
The daffodils were nearly finished, but blue hyacinths and azaleas had begun to bloom and the Carolina jessamine and the money plant were still going strong. The witch hazel looked like it was recovering from its drastic pruning. Cilantro had already bolted. And the pecan buds burst. I planted some more seeds. But I didn't do much because I wasn't feeling well.
The Carolina wren wanted some suet. A brown thrasher scampered around the patio, seeming to have difficulty making up its mind.
Rain fell overnight but the sun had emerged by breakfast. Pollen coated the flat water in the creek. Nothing much happened while I read the paper. Crows gathered again and I think they disapproved of my new feeder arrangement. A red bellied woodpecker had no problem. The hickory buds opened.
A skink slipped through a crack before I was ready, but in a little while it emerged again. Bumblebees and paper wasps were busy. I saw a tiger and a black swallowtail and, of course, cabbage whites. The purple iris had three flowers. Some azalea buds had opened. The sky was hazy with additional cumulus clouds flowing by on a West wind that pushed the temperature over 80.
A sparrow kept its back to me so I don't know if it was a song sparrow or an immature white throat. A brown thrasher stayed behind vegetation. An egret showed the green skin around the beak that means it's ready to mate. It was fishing successfully.
Leaves were wet. Another hummer showed up, silhouetted against the sky, before I got the fresh feeder hung. A pair of goldfinches visited briefly. The male was just beginning to have a shadow where his black cap will be.
Then the pileated woodpecker appeared. It's strange that she seems to prefer the suet cage nearly empty.
Pollen made streaks on the water. I spotted a kingfisher way upstream and an egret downstream. A cardinal gleaned nest material at the edge of the water. A little chipping sparrow came hopping across the patio, then flew before I was ready.
A dark butterfly, maybe two, and one or more cabbage whites flitted around. Bumblebees congregated around the redbud flowers. Gnats congregated above me for their mating dance.
I rearranged feeders but blue jays and red bellied woodpeckers had no difficulty finding what they wanted. A brown headed nuthatch visited several times and I missed every time. A white throated sparrow hunted through the grass. A brown thrasher sat on a dogwood limb and inflated itself, then began to preen.
The hummer was glorious in the sun but he turned up his little beak at the feeder. I guess I should have changed it sooner. Anyway, he flew off before I could get the camera aimed, alas. I can't blame the camera because earlier I figured out how to fix the problem I'd been having. At least the brown headed nuthatch was more cooperative.
A blue jay lurked behind the bare beautyberry branches. A male house finch wanted to be seen. A brown thrasher perched and preened. An osprey circled over the creek. Pollen coated everything and the brown strings of spent oak flowers blew everywhere.
Some of the new oak leaves were very reddish but others were golden. The one dogwood that has bracts that stick too tightly was again full of box-like flowers. The rust problem on the cedar was back. The purple iris sent up buds. So did azaleas.
Today was much like yesterday though I wasn't outside as long. I saw actual dragonflies zipping over the puddle on the pool cover. Of course that means they were seeing mosquitoes. In fact, I caught a slow one trying to get a meal on my arm. I saw a cabbage white and a yellow swallowtail when my hands were full. An earwig crossed my path paying me no attention. A big bumblebee circled me slowly but I still never got a photo. It disappeared under leaf litter.
And an insect landed on a narcissus flower but paid no attention to nectar or pollen. I think it was lurking to ambush some other bug. At first I thought it was a lacewing but the body was humped like a robber fly and it had feathery antennae like a midge.
Pelicans were back in the morning, fishing successfully. So was the egret, though it caught many small fish instead of the frying pan size the pelicans eat.
A brown thrasher and a mockingbird begrudged my resting beside the barkbutter balls. The mockingbird defaulted to suet. The brown thrasher flew away. Warblers were around but on the whole, I did not see many birds. Maybe they were busy catching insects.
I got really frustrated with the camera's insistence on focusing on anything but the subject. I missed a red breasted nuthatch, a mockingbird, pelicans, and I forget what else. Other than that, it was a very lovely Easter, warm and sunny. The pileated woodpecker visited during breakfast, but the camera focused on the dogwood in the background. A red bellied woodpecker followed, and a downy after that. I did get a photo of the rear end of something on the seed feeder, maybe the brown headed nuthatch.
Crows were still hanging around. The brown thrashers found the new location of the barkbutter balls. The Carolina wrens divvied up the feeders. Pine and yellow rumped warblers stayed with the suet.
Squirrels were in love, wrestling and play chasing between the cedar and the dogwood. Occasionally one would get the munchies and stop for a snack.
A great blue heron stalked along the bulkhead. A great egret hunted below the dam until a heron usurped its fishing hole. An osprey circled overhead. Crows investigated something in the dam spillway. The spartina was sprouting along the shore. I pulled out a lot of leucojum but there was plenty more.
I was afraid the warm spell a few days ago meant the end of winter waterfowl, but the creek was busy today. At breakfast it was calm but later wind roughened the surface. Mid morning, a bufflehead drake escorted two females downstream. Around lunch time, I spotted two ruddy ducks, the first this winter. One ruffled its feathers oddly.
Then a pelican crashed into the water and the ducks disappeared. The pelican was an adult in breeding plumage. It turned in slow circles and then grabbed a huge fish. For some reason the bird then left the fish floating on the surface. A short while later a juvenile pelican spotted the fish and landed beside it. It got the fish into its pouch and seemed about to swallow. But the adult pelican returned and slammed into the juvenile's back, apparently dislodging the fish. The juvenile sulked at a distance while the adult seemed to meditate over the fish. Finally the adult got the fish mostly into its pouch and drifted behind a dock where I lost sight of it. The juvenile gave up hope and flew away.
A pine warbler came early again for suet. Four crows explored the patio. Turtles piled up on the lake, shells shiny in the sun. And egret stalked below the dam and later another rested on a dead limb above the turtles. A female hooded merganser fished near the returned ruddy ducks. Two more paddled past.
There were lots of clouds but blue sky between them and the wind from the Northwest kept them moving. A pine warbler got up early to have time with the suet. Then four starlings showed up to fight over the suet and all the respectable birds left. Brown thrashers had some of everything except seeds. White throats helped with the crumbs. A pair of Carolina wrens were also willing to try every feeder.
Egrets hunted small bites in the shallows. A couple of herons flew upstream. Osprey were around off-and-on but harassed by crows. The cat was around too. The male red bellied woodpecker had suet for lunch. So did downy woodpeckers. Yellow rumped warblers were at different plumage stages between winter and summer.
I moved the barkbutter cup over to the corner of the house and hung the hummingbird feeder where it had been. Crows showed up frequently when they weren't harassing an osprey. One of the wrens shared suet with the red belly - bold little bird! The brown headed nuthatch returned and finally I got proof. Clouds that had been blowing through all day blushed in the evening light and the sky was mostly clear at twilight.
The temperature kept dropping down, down, down, as rain fell and wind blew. A pair of Carolina wrens poked through the barkbutter mush the rain left behind. A pine warbler managed to get some time with the suet. The brown thrasher pair split up between suet and barkbutter. A yellow rumped warbler wasn't sure what to eat. Meanwhile, a red bellied woodpecker landed on the suet. The female showed up first and the male came later.
We got some sunshine mid day but it didn't last. A bluebird hid behind a tree trunk. A mockingbird visited the suet. White throated sparrows cleaned up the crumbs that fell. The sweet gum unfolded its leaves and flowers. Hickory buds were swelling.
