Sunny

 I didn't see anything but a squirrel, maybe because it was windy.  

Cold wind

I didn't get outside but admired the creek reflections through windows.  Little flotillas of cormorants went by, so I assume the fishing was good.  Pelicans passed by as well. Mallards and geese were also plentiful but they weren't fishing.  Two egrets and a great blue heron rested above the bulkhead at lunchtime.  I also saw buffleheads and a grebe.  

And surprisingly, there were turtles sunbathing in the cold air.  

Pleasure House Point

We took the dog for a walk at Pleasure House Point Natural Area in the morning. Apparently it is more sheltered and South-facing despite being close to Chesapeake Bay and further North than our yard.  I saw several plants still blooming, goldenrod, white frost aster, sea lavender, and  golden-asters.   I learned that the tall grasses with sparkling fluff are switch grass.  Sumac berries looked ripe.  A couple of puffballs appeared to have been moved. 

I saw four butterflies.  The first was a buckeye and the last a monarch, but in between there were two together that were too fast from me to identify.  The monarch was feeding on creamy 4-petal flowers on a tree or vine, about 20' up.  I smelled a lovely fragrance that I assume came from them. 

Out on a sandbar, a flock of mostly gulls basked in the sun.  A larger, browner bird may have been a young blackback gull because I saw some adults.  A couple of pelicans preened while another fished.  Cormorants were still fishing too. 

The waning almost-crescent moon hung in the blue sky.   There was a breeze but it wasn't spinning the wind turbines.  

When we got home I discovered a male bufflehead had arrived and joined the female.  He fished and she watched.  Pelicans flew past and one plunged into the water while we were eating lunch.  Turtles shared their log with a young cormorant.  Yellow jackets had discovered the grape jelly and one bully was keeping the others away.  At dusk I saw what might have been the grebe, but might have been a cormorant instead.

Reflections

I love the glow of reflected sunlight on water that's still shaded.  The goose proved that the sunlight had not reached the water - it was just reflected light.  Mundane things made complex patterns in the creek.  Surface movement created abstracts. It wasn't as windy today.  The sky was intensely blue and the air was cold enough to turn me blue.  (When I was young, I would not have thought this was cold.)

The downy woodpeckers and chickadees made up most of the visitors, along with the half-blind sparrow.  I saw a female bufflehead again.  A great blue heron swooped low over the house too fast for my reaction.  But I think it was the one that landed on the bulkhead across the creek.  And there were mallards. 

I thought I caught a face looking at me.  It was a combination of dangling cedar in front of reflections on the creek.  Pareidolia.  

Leaf fall

There was rain overnight followed by a gray morning.  The overcast soon began to pull apart, but clouds hung around all day.  A squirrel in the hickory was nervously watching something, then the feral cat sauntered into my view.  I yelled at it to go away.  

I saw a pelican go by but it didn't return.  I'd seen one earlier in the week, but without camera evidence, I forgot.  A brown thrasher investigated the soggy barkbutter balls.  It was gone before the camera was ready.  Downy woodpeckers stuffed themselves on suet.  The scarred white throat was back.  The first bufflehead of the season, a female, paddled through the detritus on the creek. 

A gusty wind stripped leaves off the trees, tossing them up in the air and into the creek.  I found a seedling sunflower under the feeder.  It's probably doomed to be frozen or stepped on. Yellow jackets were at work on the camellia flowers.  One turtle enjoyed the sunshine despite the chilly air.  Eventually it was joined by another just as their log was becoming shaded. 

Toward dusk, the sky grew very picturesque as background for the cormorant commute home.  

Neighborhod park

We went for a walk in the park at the end of the street.  It separates a freshwater lake from tidal marsh.  However, there's a lot of privet, green briar, poison ivy, and even kudzu, that should be removed.  I didn't see any wildlife in the marsh, but the lake was populated with cormorants and ducks and one great blue heron.  Most of the ducks were mallards with a few hooded mergansers and at least one Northern shoveler. 

There were mallards and hooded mergansers on the creek at home, but they weren't interested in being photographed.  The regular feeder birds visited and the scarred white throat foraged beneath.  Yellow jackets fed on the camellia flowers.  I took lots of pictures of colored leaves.  And that was Thanksgiving. 

Three woodpeckers

There ought to be a folktale about Little Downy, Middle Sized Redbelly, and Great Big Pileated Woodpecker.  But they showed up at different times and didn't encounter each other so there's no plot to the story.  The pileated was a male, the red bellied a female, and I think both sexes of downy visited. 

A squirrel went out on some bouncy limbs after dogwood berries.  A Carolina wren poked through the barkbutter balls.  Titmice and chickadees carried off sunflower seeds to hammer in private.  White throats foraged on the steps for woodpecker crumbs.  

A wood drake paddled up the lake.  The cormorants commuted home in all directions past pink cloud streaks.

Cold and bright

Bright sunshine was belied by an icy wind that deterred feeder birds.  Titmice made forays for seeds but in between, they hung out in the camellia.  I didn't see any pollinators today 

Ducks were more sheltered on the creek.  Mallards slurped up wind-blown detritus.Hoodies and cormorants fished.  I don't know what the geese were after.  

The yellow rose buds and the pimento peppers looked hopeful.  

Twilight was glorious with vividly colored clouds, a vibrant afterglow in the West, and then two sharp-edged planets in the crisp, clear air.  

Rain

Rain fell through much of a gray day.  Cormorants and hooded mergansers pursued a school of fish, but the light was too poor.  The feeder regulars visited but no more interesting birds. 

Blah day

Morning was sunny but clouds moved in during the afternoon.  After all yesterday's excitement, it was a lull.  I think I saw a pelican and the mergansers again, flying over the creek.  

The temperature rose a little higher so bugs were flying - definitely yellow jackets in the camellia. The scarred white throat hid in the camellia before venturing out for food.  After a closer look, I think the scarring was from a predator, not disease.  

I spotted a pileated woodpecker mostly concealed by leaves

Persephone Period

According to the VA Pilot's gardening column, "Horticulture has the term “Persephone Period”: the time of year when days have less than 10 hours of sunlight...With fewer than 10 hours of light, crop growth more or less stops." And that was today, which I confirmed by checking sunrise and sunset times.  The Solomon's seal was fading toward dormancy. 

Anyway, I went a bit overboard with the camera.  The creek was rumpled, making reflections into abstracts.  A pine warbler woke up early to get a share of suet.  Chickadees, titmice, and house finches competed for seeds and a titmouse occasionally settled for a barkbutter ball.  

I took quite a few pictures of the feeder perch trying to catch one of the speedy brown-headed nuthatches.  Yellow rumped warblers showed up for lunch but the pine warbler stuck to the suet.  Downy woodpeckers needed a lot of suet too.  

Turtles basked in the chilly sunshine.  And I saw the first hooded mergansers of the season!  The pied-bill grebe returned later in the afternoon.  And of course there were mallards. 

In the middle of the afternoon crows gathered, cursing and screaming.  I looked where they were looking but the vegetation was too dense.  Finally they drove the hawk out into the open.  Its red tail was obvious and besides, it was BIG.  When it exploded into flight, I missed it.  

 

Clear and cold

A pine warbler tried the barkbutter balls.  Canada geese disturbed the morning reflections.  Last night's wind dumped trash in the creek. It also pealed twigs bare of a lot of colorful leaves. 

A yellow rumped warbler hopped all around under the feeders but vegetation kept photo bombing my pictures.  Downy woodpeckers were very possessive of the suet.  One ejected what I think was a white breasted nuthatch.  White throated sparrows came for lunch. 

I went for my booster in the afternoon and then stopped at the library for Doug Tallamy's latest book, Nature's Best Hope.  After that, I took the long way home past Witchduck Lake.  I think all the ducks were mallards, watched over by a statuesque egret.   

Toward evening, the feral cat dashed across the yard to the base of the cedar, but whatever it saw made an escape.  And then it was five o'clock and dark.  K moved the peppers inside for the night. 

Warm and windy

The afternoon was in the low 70s under a clear sky, but the wind thrashed the leaves off trees.  The only birds were ducks and when I looked closely, they were all mallards.  On my way home from a meeting, the moon rose big and round as the sunset after glow faded on the opposite side of the sky.  I waited an hour for the moon to clear the trees, then went out with the camera.  Two planets were bright, Jupiter high and South, Venus low in the West.  The wind drove tattered clouds across them and the moon.  I found a new website for identifying planets. 

Kingfisher

The sky was full of clouds at breakfast but the air was still. The creek reflected muted colors, but soon blue patches opened between the clouds.  

By lunch, the temperature had touched 70.  The volunteer domestic cherry glowed copper.  The oak had bronzed leaves.  I saw yellow jackets and bald-faced hornets on the camellia flowers but just then the camera battery died. 

Yesterday's cutting of the dam vegetation did open another view of the lake.  A couple of crows investigated the shorn bank.  The water level seemed high on the lake but several turtles found space to bask.  A buzzard circled over the house. 

A male kingfisher perched on the downstream dock post.  I saw it make one attempt to catch a fish but we both missed, him with the beak, me with the camera.  He lifted his tail a lot.  I'm not sure what that indicates, except defecation.   Other than him, mallards and cormorants were the only waterbirds.  Chickadees, titmice, and downy woodpeckers were the only feeder birds.  

Pied-bill grebe

It was still chilly.  The air was much calmer than yesterday so the creek mirrored sunlit trees.  Leaves were getting very colorful.  Downy woodpeckers were back at the suet. 

I found a mud wasp's nest underneath a little outdoor table.   A pine warbler briefly clung to the bark of the oak.  A bluebird blended in with the oak leaves. 

Canada geese glided through reflections.  It's time the migrant ducks arrived but all I saw for sure were mallards, some tipping head-down to feed.  I thought I glimpsed a merganser but I couldn't be sure.  Then a pied-bill grebe paddled downstream. 

Some idiot mowed the marsh grass on the dam with a small "Cat." I'm not sure what you'd call the device.  Despite the noise, turtles sunned themselves on the lake. 

Windy

No morning reflections on the creek - the wind made it choppy.  It even blew the fire out under our lunch.  Mallards bobbed in the water, looking for their lunch.  Woodpeckers had to have suet despite the wind.  

Chilly

A newly arrived white throated sparrow posed nicely.  A clump of leaves blew down behind another bird, looking like a gigantic jumping spider or a fantasy goblin.  That sparrow appeared to be blind in one eye as though it had recovered from conjunctivitis. 

Pine and yellow rumped warblers teased the camera.  It was a nice day but cold.

White throated sparrow

Although sunny, and technically warm, the wind made me uncomfortable outside.  But it also brought another winter migrant, a white throated sparrow.  

Turtles enjoyed the sun.  In the evening, a great blue heron took over their log.  A few mallards and a cormorant paddled around the creek - I was hoping for migrant ducks.  I found a corpse in the guest shower.  It's that time of the year when creepy-crawlies come looking for housing.  

Morning rain

The sky cleared earlier than predicted and the afternoon was fine.  A downy woodpecker had serious intentions with regard to the suet.  Other birds flitted through the trees but I couldn't identify them or get a picture. 

After dark the waxing moon was sharp and clear.  A planet was just far enough West of the moon to make it difficult to get both in the frame.  I tried to find out which planet it was and my best guess is Jupiter, but apparently other planets were also in the moon's vicinity.  I didn't see any others.  

Warbler flock

Streaks of thin cloud looked like someone had taken an eraser to the blue sky.  When they passed in front of the sun, it was visible through them, but blurred.  Nevertheless, the air was warm and the breeze light.  The dogwood, hickory, domestic cherry, and hackberry were vividly colored.  Only scattered leaves on the maple, wild cherry, and oak had turned.  

Something large and dark alighted in the neighbor's pine but I couldn't see enough to identify it.  The warblers didn't appear to be concerned.  The warblers were mostly, maybe all, butterbutts.  I don't know if they just migrated here or if hunger brought them out into the open.  They flitted back and forth constantly, sometimes making U-turns in mid air. 

Bluebirds went after the same snacks as the warblers, bugs and berries.  Rather than darting all over, they frustrated me by hiding behind vegetation.

A male Northern flicker visited the top of the oak.  It didn't seem to be doing anything up there and it didn't stay too long.  

What a view!

The weather made the more open view beautiful.  Reflections on the creek spread wider.  The lake and its turtles were easier to see.  An egret arrived to supervise them.  The only ducks on the creek were mallards.  I did see a cormorant later.

The feral cat showed up for a bit of birdwatching.  I had hoped it would avoid our yard now that we have a dog.  No such luck.  A pine warbler came for suet anyway.  Of course downy woodpeckers did too.  

There were bluebirds lurking around, sampling the beautyberries. At least one yellow rumped warbler was lurking as well.  A female red bellied woodpecker sunbathed on the bare oak limb.  Then a bluebird tried that spot.  

Two glorious days

I drove to the DC suburbs on Monday and back on Tuesday under clear blue skies.  And I hardly needed the jacket I took.  On the way up, pelicans were soaring over the HRBT but I only had the snapshot camera along so it was hard to get much of an image.  Trees along the highway shouted read and gold.  On the way back, I saw a Northern harrier identifiable by its white rump.  At the rest stop, a cloudless sulphur flitted past me and two ladybird beetles landed on my windshield. 

When I got home, the tree work was all done.  The views are much better, but more importantly, the marsh plants will get the sun they need.  The creek was a flat mirror.  Gulls played with the thermals rising from the asphalt street passing in front of the crescent moon.  

Gray

The wind howled and gusted all day and I think the tide may have been higher than it was for the new moon.  But the rain for today must have fallen yesterday.  I saw a few birds battling the wind but they were distant silhouettes.  It was a perfect day to stop saving daylight.  From the climate meeting in Glasgow this month comes a vocabulary for weather like this: dreich, meaning "wet, dull, gloomy, dismal, dreary or any combination of these." 

Two squirrels went tearing across the yard, then one pretended to be a bump on a tree.  I've no idea what that was about or, in fact, if the squirrel hiding was the chaser or the chased.  But it did not look like a friendly game of chase. 

The sky showed signs of clearing around sunset, but the wind did not slacken one bit.  

Pelicans?

This was not a day for reflections.  Instead waves rolled upstream driven by the wind.  At breakfast big pale birds soared low over the creek, upstream then back and repeat.  I was looking through the still-leafy trees so I could not be sure, but the only other possibility would be egrets and that didn't seem right.  A while later a couple of crows chased a larger bird, again behind the trees so I don't know if it was a hawk or an eagle, or even a buzzard.  But all I got a photo of was the feral cat.  I thought that having a dog would keep the cat out of the yard. 

A female downy woodpecker ignored the cat in order to get to the suet.  But the hawk, or whatever it was, troubled her.   Mallards bobbed on the incoming tide.  Light rain began in the morning and continued, off and on, all day.  But when I went out to buy bird suet and stuff, I discovered it was drier on the East side of town.  It was very windy though.  

High water

The high water was caused by a "king tide" that occurs when the moon is at its closest and it's also in a straight line with the Earth and sun.  And we had a Northeast wind pushing water up the estuaries.  Chickadees and titmice stuffed themselves at breakfast.  

We had mussels for lunch but a handful had broken shells, so I carried them down to the creek and liberated them to either heal or feed something else.   The wind blowing up the creek was really cold despite the sun.  A couple of mallards were out on the choppy water, but nothing else.  

I saw lots of berries on the Virginia creeper up in the leaning pine.  Too much shade made the goldenrod struggle to bloom.  Sunny morning, cloudy afternoon. I ran an errand and by the time I got back, the sky had gone gray.  

So November

Gray and dank with heavy clouds that didn't rain all that much but kept everything wet.  I saw one mallard drake.  The saltbush seeds were too damp for liftoff.  

Chilly breeze

The sun shone all day but failed to warm the air..  A downy woodpecker came to the suet and many chickadees and titmice frequented the seed feeder.  Milkweed pods burst and their seeds took to the air. 

Election Day

Morning was very nice and sunny but mid day a switch flipped and the day turned gray.  There were birds but I don't know what the were and I got no pictures. Finally, well after dark the promised rain came. 

Reflections

The creek was unruffled by wind but mysterious rings appeared.  Aside from that, all I saw was squirrels.