Saturday, October 8, 2022

Spotted birds

Thanks to the drop in temperature, there was a lot of activity in the beautyberry bush, the dogwoods, cherry, and hackberry.  A thrush and a catbird were busy eating beautyberries.  A mockingbird ate dogwood berries.  I think something was even after the redwood cones, but I'm not sure what species were working on the others.  And there was enough cold North wind that sometimes I couldn't be sure if the movement was bird or breeze.  I think the blue jays were after acorns.

A squirrel showed up with a warble, just when I thought they'd escaped that misery this year.  Nuthatches were loyal to the sunflower seeds.  A flicker flew from the closest dogwood across the pool to the cherry but I saw no sign of snacking.  Its pompom rump displayed in flight and its yellow shafted tail at rest.  And it was the second spotted bird I spotted. 

A great egret perched on a dock piling while two drakes and a female mallard dabbled.  Mysterious ring ripples popped out of nothing and spread across the creek.  I think the fallen pine shifted because it looked like more of it was on the dock.  A great blue heron landed on the neighbor's floating dock, claimed ownership, then went stalking downstream. 

The now moldy fungus looked sinister and skull-like - triceratops skull, that is.  Apparently the weather was right for milkweed seed dispersal.  I collected some.  The camellia opened its first flower.  The saltbush was frosted with feathery white flowers.  


No comments:

Post a Comment