The sky was gray, the air chilly, and the water rough. When the male downy woodpecker discovered the suet cage was empty, her reluctantly settled for barkbutter. Maybe the problem was the feeder, not the barkbutter, because he had some difficulty perching. Bluebirds had no problem. A dove watched the goings on from the top of the post. Then the cat came back.
When it left, disappointed, a mockingbird took a turn at the barkbutter. Next on the barkbutter, the myrtle warbler with the dark mask looked a bit like a smaller version of a mockingbird. Other myrtle warblers do not give that impression at all.
Juncos foraged with the sparrows. K changed the nasty water in the ant moat and I hung a new block of suet. A very hairy starling waited on the seed feeder for a turn at it. A pair of Carolina wrens followed.
But you want to know about the jelly mystery. Orioles like it so I repurposed a hummer feeder to hold jelly. A couple of weeks ago something took it down and the brass screw-threaded hook disappeared. I jury-rigged a replacement by threading a weight below and a key ring above for a hook. Today I discovered that the plastic dish was on the ground again and this time the key ring was gone. This was frustrating both the orioles and me. So today I just dumped some jelly in a plastic lid and left it on the ground. A mockingbird found it but didn't like it.
In the afternoon, I decided to take a chance on no rain and put out some barkbutter balls. Instant blue jay magnet. Then a flock of cormorants came swimming upstream, I assume, following a school of fish. An egret relocated to our dock but by then the fish were gone.
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