The sky was orange when I woke up but it soon went gray. The creek was gray too, and rough. I believe I saw two pileated woodpeckers early in the morning, but they were in the trees and they soon flew off in opposite directions. I suppose they could have been crows, but they moved and perched like woodpeckers. Mid morning, the overcast started tearing apart and pretty soon birds arrived at the feeders. I wonder if a hawk had been keeping them in hiding. Like yesterday, bluebirds and pine warblers came first. Unlike previous days, I got the mockingbird. The diffuse light helped the camera focus on the foreground, but it failed me on the red bellied woodpecker.
A male Baltimore oriole showed up. I couldn't tell if it was the same as the one I saw a week ago. It seemed interested in the grape jelly but then something spooked it. I did not see it again. Blue jays couldn't stay away from the barkbutter balls. A Carolina wren investigated all the food except the grape jelly. The wren got into and argument over suet with a pine warbler. Then the warbler fussed at a titmouse. What a grump - maybe it was the molting feathers.
I snapped a shot at a bird in a tree that turned out to be a brown thrasher. The camera gods were with me on that one. There were sparrows around but I missed them. One butterbutt still had its Summer bandit mask. A female cardinal on the seed feeder was rude to a brown headed nuthatch. Wind from the West pulled clouds into elongated sausages.
We went for a short walk with the dog in the afternoon. A buzzard monitored our progress. I saw mistletoe loaded with berries. I was looking for lichens to identify with my new book. I also saw some fern moss, family Thuidiaceae. Gulls circled against a background of cotton puffs.
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