Signs of Spring

The sun shone and the creek shone back.   Starlings came early to finish off the suet.  A yellow rumped warbler hung around hoping for a chance at the suet.  Then a fish drive swept through.  It was a flock of red breasted mergansers again.  Either they were all female or the males were in winter drab.  I didn't see any fish, though - maybe they swallow them under water?  There were well over two dozen ducks.  A cormorant that joined the fun was distinctly larger.  A little while later the flock came straggling back downstream. 

A white throated sparrow perched on a dogwood branch.  A brown headed nuthatch visited the birdbath for a drink before seeds.  It was very picky and tossed many away.   A Carolina wren worked on the remnant of suet.  A mockingbird wandered around the pool cover, then took a turn at the suet.  

A blue jay wondered if I had refilled the dish feeders.  I hadn't.  Downy woodpeckers worked on the suet.  Red bellied woodpeckers appeared and disappeared without eating.  A pileated woodpecker made a brief inspection.  That motivated me to get the dishes refilled.  Later. K hung another block of suet.

After lunch the temperature reached 78 but there was a cool breeze.  I went out and watched insects.  There were lots of Polistes wasps harvesting wood pulp.  Carpenter and bumblebees were hunting nectar.  Cabbage whites also sought refreshment.  Later I saw a dark butterfly.  A squirrel ate tender oak leaves.  Rusty-red ants roamed the concrete looking for food, I suppose.  And then ... I saw a skink!  It was an adult with a regrown tail. 

A white breasted nuthatch came for seeds despite my proximity.   I snapped a picture of glimpsed movement and got a blue gray gnatcatcher!  Along the creek shore came a yellow crowned night heron, first this season.  It tread delicately through the goose deterrents. 

The sky was mostly clear but at sunset a small cloud picked up the orange light.  The newspaper today discussed the warm winter and prognostications for outdoor planting.  Ken Spencer said, "December, January and February — was a warm one. The average high was 2.2 degrees above normal; the average low, 3.7 degrees above normal; and the mean, 2.4 degrees above, according to the National Weather Service, Norfolk. All three months were above normal. The highest recorded temperature for the period was 77, on Jan. 26; the lowest low, 22 on Jan. 17. I counted 22 days in which the temperature was 32 or below. And of those, only 10 days were 28 or below, the weather service threshold for a hard freeze. Seven of those days came between Jan. 16 and 23. That was our winter."  He also spoke about the rain and wind, and no doubt wrote before this past week's drenching.  For gardening, he echoed the advice I posted a couple of days ago.