At last the wind left us. The morning started off foggy, then cleared and the sun warmed us up to a reasonable May temperature, though humid. The tide dropped back into its normal range and the creek surface was glassy. Red bellied woodpeckers worked on the suet. Occasionally one would forget that only the bottom was accessible. The brown headed nuthatches took suet or seeds, whichever wasn't in use.
I felt sorry for the birds and put some barkbutter balls out hoping it would all get eaten before the predicted storm. Blue jays certainly tried! Bluebirds were more interested in defending the territory than eating. Titmice stuck to seeds. for some reason. A Carolina wren ate suet then hunted for any fallen barkbutter balls. The male pileated woodpecker had a turn at the suet but something disturbed him and he hiked down and up the post. I thought I saw an osprey but maybe the woodpecker knew better?
By noon the sky clouded over and the light dimmed. Around 1pm, the thunderstorm blasted through, followed by a drenching rain the likes of which we haven't had for weeks. Eventually the rain passed and the sun returned, but the humidity was horribly sticky. I dumped rainwater off the remains of the barkbutter and the female bluebird pronounced it acceptable. Slugs had ascended into the rue and were hanging out atop the flowers. I had never seen that before but it makes me fear for our strawberries. I found a glass snail among the pebbles in the french drain. Haze in the East reflected the sunset, which would really confuse a forensic auditor of photographs.
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