Three cat day

The last day of the year was beautiful, though cold.  I could see ice crystals in the birdbath but not on the creek.  The fishing birds, mostly egrets and cormorants, came back at breakfast.  Shortly thereafter the feral tux cat tried to catch a bird but only succeeded in scaring them all away.  It then made itself at home on the bench, grooming in the sun.  (The dog was busy sleeping off an early night.)  

Warblers were hungry enough to come back to the feeders that were out of the cat's reach.  I believe there was a female blackpoll among the pine and myrtle warblers.  A mockingbird foraged on the ground briefly.  Brown headed nuthatches owned the seed feeder.  Even a cardinal thought twice about arguing.  A white breasted nuthatch made a brief visit.  A song sparrow foraged under the mountain mint then hid in the camellia.  The orange crowned warbler got into the fresh jelly.  The male downy stuck around and traded off with the female for time at the suet.  And the cat, that had pretended to be asleep on the bench, made another dash toward the birds. 

Blue jays got excited about the fresh dish of barkbutter balls.  A red bellied woodpecker worked on one of the dead limbs on a pine tree.  I glimpsed a hoodie drake.  Bluebirds finally heard about the fresh food and came for their share.  The blue jays were not in the mood to share.  A female oriole noticed that there was jelly.  The long haired yellow cat joined the tux cat, but the dog sorted them out.  Then the all-black cat showed up and I gave up.  

I copied yesterday's weather statistics because there was no additional rain today.  The rainfall for December was more than double the average but for the year it was just an inch and a half above average.  I've read that rain in the winter refills aquifers and raises the water table, so that's good.