I don't know if people are being careless with their pets or if they are purposely dumping cats here, but this winter there have been cats I'd never seen before. One is all black and the other yellow and long haired. And the resident feral tuxedo cat showed up today too. Fortunately the two new ones don't seem to be birdwatchers.
Morning was cold, wet, and gray which didn't stop the downy woodpeckers. The rain washed pollen onto the pool cover and made strange patterns, but it didn't fill the birdbath. A white throated sparrow ventured out anyway, and I glimpsed a song sparrow. Starlings were back - why doesn't the cat watch those?
On the lake, shovelers were doing their carousel paddling trick to stir up the bottom. It was too cold for turtles. Down on the creek, a lone female bufflehead paddled upstream. Three female hoodies passed two mallard drakes headed downstream.
At lunch, the silly myrtle warbler was hovering at the suet again. A Carolina wren inspected everything till an oriole bullied it off the barkbutter balls that I put out when the rain stopped. The oriole filled her beak like a blue jay. A few juncos poked through the mulch. The sky gradually cleared. A pine warbler wanted barkbutter balls too.
Sunshine brought the turtles out. The household that built the new dock next to the dam finally set the purple martin birdhouse up but I don't think they mounted it high enough or in a good spot. A flock of red breasted mergansers fished up and down the creek and back again. I saw six females and one drake. Hoodies were also paddling around but diving less. Then a female kingfisher appeared. I might have stared too hard because she took off.
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