Monday, March 11, 2024

Four woodpeckers

Some fishing occurred at dawn.  I saw cormorants for sure.   The creek surface was roughened.  Up on the patio, a myrtle warbler wanted a drink from the drying birdbath.  The male pileated tackled the suet.  I got a glimpse of a white breasted nuthatch but it did not return. 

In the late morning, red winged blackbirds came back along with starlings and cowbirds.  By then the temperature had climbed enough that I refilled the dish feeders.  This time I put out barkbutter balls for a change.  A bluebird was watching.  A female yellow-shafted flicker landed in the dogwood but came no closer.  

A handful of hoodies paddled by on the far side of the creek.  A pine warbler studied the menu.  By this time the wind had grown very gusty and was waving whole pine trees.  The wind, or something, made birds cautious and easily spooked.  The red bellied woodpecker, for example, snatched a barkbutter ball and was gone.  I had to lie in wait for her.  Blue jays were even worse. 

A few white throats came to forage along with a song sparrow.  The male oriole finally settled in for some jelly.  A Carolina wren also poked through the mulch.  Downy woodpeckers squeezed in whenever the starlings left the suet.  That made four woodpecker species today.  Buds on the dogwood and the oak seemed to be swelling.  The newspaper started reporting on pollen last Friday. 


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