Hot New Year!

It was still misty and a sprinkle of rain fell in the morning.  The Southwest wind was gusty at times and the cloud cover only occasionally let sunlight through.  Bluebirds and warblers visited frequently.  On the suet, a pine warbler got on a downy woodpecker's nerves.  I finally saw two Carolina wrens together. I had been getting concerned that the happy couple had broken up.  The white breasted nuthatch came back.  

It looked to me like the house finches were courting, passing each other tidbits.  Perhaps the weather upset their hormones?  The finches bullied the other seed eaters, including a brown headed nuthatch, until a female cardinal shoved them off.  There were blue jays around but they weren't as interested in a free meal as they are on colder days.  The scarred white throat was foraging under the barkbutter dish.  

The temperature was almost 75° all afternoon, warmer outside than inside on New Years Day.  Out front, my lichen garden seemed OK.  Purslane seeds were germinating too soon.  The hanging basket with the native plant had yellow flowers.  I found a baby pimento pepper.  Stratus clouds veiled the sun that tinted them.  I glimpsed two shoveler drakes on the lake.