Hail!

At breakfast, a fledgling bluebird roosted on the seed feeder perch with its back to the food.  Clueless!  When it finally left, a brown headed nuthatch took over.  Then an adult male bluebird arrived.  The fancy ruffled daylily put out a flower and the orange daylily was still blooming.  I left for a meeting followed by a picnic.  We had sunshine, low 80s, and a stiff breeze which I think kept the mosquitoes away.  In fact, I didn't see any insects except for the ubiquitous cabbage white.  

Cumulus clouds boiled up across the sky after mid day.  A male cardinal was on the feeder when I got home, seeming anxious.  And no wonder because another male showed up and kicked the first one off.  It appeared to me that the dominant male was beginning to go bald.  A brown headed nuthatch waited for a turn.  Then a female bluebird wanted to know why the dish feeders were still empty.  I referred her to the National Weather Service. 

Fortunately the bad weather held off till late afternoon.  But the storm at supper was very impressive.  It came in waves with peanut-size hail.  I thought it was clearing at sunset but another wave came through growling with thunder.  The temperature dropped fast as well, but the storm seems to have moved off to sea. 

Morning rain

I could see a brown headed nuthatch and a bluebird but all the camera could see was rain.  A cardinal went a-courting but the female made it very clear she was not in the mood.  Around 9:30am, we began to have moments of sunshine and the day warmed more than the last several.  By lunch, heavy clouds floated across the blue sky.  The creek was flat and shiny.  A monarch and a skipper feasted on butterfly milkweed.  I finally found a spear of buds on the gladiolus.  

Blue dasher dragonflies perched on rose twigs and wasps hunted through vegetation.  Clouds thickened in the afternoon and the wind grew stronger.  The nuthatch and bluebirds returned.  A red bellied woodpecker found the suet.  The NWS issued a tornado watch for the evening but it didn't even rain.  

Humid

Bluebirds were really hungry after two days of rain.  A Carolina wren dug into the suet along with chickadees.  A great blue skimmer perched for the camera while a cabbage white just kept flitting.  I saw a great egret flying upstream but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.  And there was no rain though the air was damp and the sun struggled to penetrate the cloud cover.  

More Rain

A couple of deluges interspersed with light rain filled all the containers outside.  A Carolina wren ate suet in between the downpours, as did chickadees.  I learned that this page on iNaturalist lists local species by frequency of reporting. 

 

Rain

The rain was light and didn't refill the ant moats.  Chickadees and cardinals came to the seed feeder anyway.  A female bluebird was disappointed that the dishes were empty.  

Gloomy and chilly

The early bird was a brown headed nuthatch.  A Carolina wren also wanted breakfast.  Then bluebirds arrived.  At lunch the wren shared suet with a chickadee.  Three other chickadees congregated on the dish hanger.  

Again there was a bar cloud across the Northeast.  Someone on a downstream dock was trying to discourage geese.  The geese behaved as though they were trying to rescue a gosling.  I don't know if he saw me watching but the man quit and went away.  A little later I noticed a heron on one of the pilings.  The light was poor but I believe it was a little green heron.  

Great crested flycatchers

A blue jay was up early as was a Carolina wren.  Bluebirds arrived a little later.  An American crow made several visits during the day.  A male great blue skimmer used one of my dragonfly perches.  The wind was still gusty but the creek was unruffled.  The sun felt strong despite a hazy, milky sky.  There were three orange daylily flowers today and the milkweed was an orange blaze. 

In the afternoon, I saw two great crested flycatchers, and heard them too.  They are as raucous as blue jays.  A clump of dried leaves in the oak might have been a nest, or maybe just a broken branch.  A brown headed nuthatch returned to the seed feeder.  I counted at least four chickadees on the feeders and drinking from the ant moat. Their behavior made me wonder if they were siblings.  

Strong sun

A male bluebird started the day with seeds and a female with barkbutter balls.  A Carolina wren chose suet.  A blue jay also had barkbutter and got into an argument with another blue jay.  The other bird might have been its parent.  Teenage birds are pushy.  

There were fewer soaring dragonflies and more perching.  I think one with blue eyes and a yellow abdomen was a female great blue skimmer.  A male perched part way up a more distant bamboo stake.  A red eyed female bar winged skimmer used a smaller stake until it was in the shade.  Then she moved to the rose where the female great blue had been.  I tried to photograph wasps but they mostly did not cooperate. 

One or more brown headed nuthatches kept the seed feeder occupied.  A skink roamed around the dry birdbath.  The wind strengthened in the afternoon again.  Despite the intense sunshine, the temperature stayed in the 70s.  Wispy cumulus passed East in an intensely blue sky.  In the evening something more like a bar cloud picked up sunset color.  

Still cool

A Carolina wren was up early.  An orange daylily opened.  Dark clouds passed by looking full of rain, but none fell.  I thought I saw a bunny but it was a squirrel in an odd pose.  Out front, the lantana started to bloom.  White lilies, orange daylilies, and pink rain lilies put out flowers.  A strawberry plant popped up beside the dry stream bed.  A slaty skimmer used a perch outside my window.  

Bluebirds were busy so I thought they might still be feeding offspring.  A variegated fritillary fed on the butterfly milkweed.  Every so often it remembered that it needed to move around to confuse predators, but soon it was back at the milkweed.  The wind was much harsher than predicted and hard on small flying critters.  While cutting back the cinquefoil, I found some more wolf's milk slime mold.  I cannot imagine how it got that name.  

K hung more suet.  While pruning I surprised a blue jay.  An odd wasp-like flier wandered on the window.  It might have been an earwig.  A brown headed nuthatch came late to the seeds.  A couple of chickadees considered the dish feeders.  My impression was that one was a parent and the other a fledgling.  The bird certainly seemed clueless but eventually discovered the food.  

Pleasant

A Carolina wren worked on the last of the suet.  The wind, haze, and passing clouds made the day seem cooler than the temperature would suggest.  K put chlorine shock in the pool and it became blue again.  I rescued a camel cricket and a wasp from the water.  A bar-winged skimmer dragonfly used a perch.  A chickadee and a titmouse were each feeding another bird of their respective species, but I don't know if either one was a fledgling or a mate.  The tide ran high for the 3rd quarter moon. 

Rain fell, tide rose

It was a very dreary day, chilly too.  The rain made bubbles and splash drops in the birdbath.  A wet bluebird came for seeds anyway to keep feeding the offspring which perched on top of the post.  A Carolina wren pecked at the nubbin of suet..  

The tide flowed quite high considering that we are midway between full moon and new moon.  A mallard drake rested all alone on the dock which was partly submerged.  A brown headed nuthatch wanted a place at the seed feeder but the bluebird on the perch didn't cooperate.  A red bellied woodpecker showed up but either disdained the remnant of suet or else spooked. 

Blue water

The temperature was quite a bit cooler, though less windy, and the sun shone in a white sky.  A pair of Carolina wrens joined us for breakfast.  Blue jays showed up even before I put more barkbutter balls in the dish.  Birds rock just like kids on the swinging feeder dishes, but I think one blue jay was pumping the swing, not just rocking with it.  Another blue jay, up in a tree, appeared to have recently bathed, though I don't know where. 

I glimpsed a tiger swallowtail.  The dragonflies mostly disappeared.  A squirrel seemed to wonder if another orange would be forthcoming.  Finally the pool was opened but the power switch failed so the water started reverting to green.  A pair of geese escorted three goslings.  Two night herons argued about territory.   

Squirrels like oranges

It was lunchtime before I got to see any wildlife.  A brown headed nuthatch ignored me.  Wasps hunted, as did dragonflies.  The only way I could catch the fliers in a photo was against blue sky.  One was a twelve spotted skimmer.  Others had unmarked wings.  A beautiful painted skimmer, Libellula semifasciata perched briefly  

A commotion in the trees heralded a great crested flycatcher.   A bluebird found the barkbutter balls.  A cardinal male perched on the feeder hanger and fluttered his wings like a fledgling asking for food.  A skink scampered out of sight. 

I cut away the moldy half of a clementine and put the nice half outside for the birds.  Instead, a squirrel discovered it.  The rodent would eat a bit then wander off then come back.  Eventually nothing was left but fragments of rind. 

Streaming dragonflies

Breakfast was overcast and we didn't have sunshine till about 10am.  Humidity brought out the little biters and the dragonflies followed.  They appeared to be flowing around and over the house in a loop.  I think at least some may have been darners.  Other dragonflies perched and darted.  I believe those were great blue skimmers, slaty skimmers, and bar winged skimmers.  Wasps were also hunting but I think they wanted larger, meatier prey to feed their larva.  The only butterfly was the ever-present cabbage white.   A bumblebee fed on the rue.  The creek was placid in the morning but after lunch, the wind picked up. 

As I watched the dragonflies I also saw a couple of swallows hunting bugs higher in the air.  A gorgeous male hummer came to the feeder as I was sitting beside it.  He seemed very affronted but the juice had gone off anyway.  I replaced it and K spotted his return.  Brown headed nuthatches ignored me.  A titmouse was hungry and wary, but hunger won and it got some food.  Cardinals and bluebirds were too wary too eat.  A boater scared off a heron.  Something flew high over the trees, probably a buzzard.  The horse nettle bloomed and, finally, some of the milkweed buds opened..As the afternoon went on, the sky grew more hazy and bigger clouds passed.  By 4pm it was mostly overcast again.  A Carolina wren came for supper. 

 

Windy

Another morning meeting kept me from seeing anything till lunchtime.  The wind was very strong, thrashing the trees and blowing deTREEtus on me.  A brown headed nuthatch was busy with seeds.  The milkweed appeared ready to bloom any minute.  I saw an osprey circling.  A great blue skimmer dragonfly used one of the garden stakes but the wind battered at it and eventually it flew away.  A cardinal got in the nuthatch's way but the little bird did its ninja act.  Eventually the cardinal discovered he'd been flanked and forced the nuthatch to leave.  A minute later the cardinal was eating barkbutter balls and the nuthatch was back on the seed feeder.  

I found some more of the peculiar orange spheres that I identified as wolf's milky slime mold.  Wispy clouds turned pink at sunset.  

Buggy

The first daylily flower appeared.  Hibiscus and cannas popped up.  I had a morning meeting.  After lunch, the air was muggy, hot and humid, and the sky was hazy.  Thankfully, there was wind.  I glimpsed dragonflies, cabbage whites, and an orange butterfly.  A hummer checked to see if the milkweed buds had opened.  They hadn't.  A seven-spotted ladybird beetle rested on a cinquefoil leaf.  Wasps lurked around the rue.  Tiny bugs and mites kept walking on me which was unwise of them.  I tried to just flick them away but I think some did not survive it.  What we thought was a turtle was just a black trash bag floating on the creek.  It rained again in the evening.  We are rapidly catching up after a dry April. 

Humid

I sat outside after lunch.  The sky was hazy blue and the air humid.  I saw the same butterflies and big dragonflies.  The brown headed nuthatch scoured the seed feeder.  The Carolina wren was back at the suet.  The cardinals were still making kissy-beak.  In the front yard there were buds on the lilies.  The false indigo was lovely.    Lots of blueberries were ripening.  Mosquitoes were biting.  There was a very small, ripe pepper.  

Fledgling bluebird

The rain had stopped though everything was wet and the sky was gray.  Papa bluebird hit the seed feeder because the barkbutter was still covered.   Then his offspring showed up,  just as big as Dad but pretty clueless.  I imagined the fledgling thinking, "the world is so big and smells so good, after spending my whole life in a box."  But Papa still needed to feed the youngster.  

The cardinals were still courting.  A persistent brown headed nuthatch stuffed itself with seeds and threw rejects down for the squirrels.  I mostly got pictures of its rear end.  A Carolina wren worked on the diminishing suet.  Curiously, there haven't been any woodpeckers recently. The sky cleared at lunch and I spent some time outside. I saw a large dark butterfly, a small pale butterflu, a small brown skipper (I think), and the ubiquitous cabbage whites.  Dragonflies flew over, including one so big it had to have been a darner.  Polistes wasps roamed the vegetation.  Little red mites roamed on me.

The skink with the blue tail section crossed the patio.  Geese paddled downstream with goslings in tow.  I couldn't get a count through the screen of vegetation.  A dark object just below the water's surface was a turtle.  I'm afraid it was foiled by the goose excluder, though maybe it was following the geese in hopes of catching a gosling.  An egret flew downstream.  Clouds gathered as the afternoon went on and when it was fully dark we had a loud thunderstorm. 

Deluge

I had a morning meeting and got pretty wet on the way back to my car.  Then on the road home, the clouds really let go.  As usual, the roads were slow to drain and cars left rooster tails and wakes.  But I did get home.  I noticed that rain lilies had popped up only to be beaten down by the rain.  The birds mostly didn't venture out, but a wet squirrel did.  The newspaper said we were experiencing an "atmospheric river," just like California.  The National Weather Service said we got over an inch of rain. 

Avian love

Like yesterday, the light was dull and the air cool.  First a bluebird, then a wren picked up seeds.  A second wren had suet and was soon joined by the other one.  Carolina wrens hang out together all year but they were really obvious today.  A brown headed nuthatch took advantage of the unoccupied seed feeder.  When the bluebird returned, he made the rounds of all the foods.  A nuthatch was frustrated by this.  A blue jay wanted barkbutter balls.  K said a male hummer came to the window, but I missed it.  In the afternoon, the overcast produced a light rain.  The clouds over the lake appeared layered. 

Dull day

Bluebirds mad frequent trips to the buffet.  A squirrel did prairie dog popups in the cinquefoil.  Brown headed nuthatches packed off a surprising amount of seeds.  The cardinals were courting again.  Blue jays ate barkbutter balls.  A couple of great blue herons went chasing upstream.  A titmouse joined the barkbutter queue. 

The Southern magnolia trees have started blooming.  The sakaki was covered with buds.  The creek was placid in the morning, but there was more wind inn the afternoon.  I noticed trash afloat on the water.  Also, the sky became overcast and the temperature dropped from its noontime peak on 81°.  

Fritillary

Bluebirds were up early.  I think the nestlings are waking their parents and demanding breakfast.  A chickadee shared the feeder.  A Carolina wren decided to go for suet instead.  The roses exhausted their blooming.  I deadheaded in the hope of a repeat set of buds. At lunch, a lovely variegated fritillary, Euptoieta claudia, rested in the cinquefoil.  I saw wasps and flies and some other butterflies.  A young skink hid in a shadow.  It was growing a new brown tail but there was still a short section of blue which looked odd. 

An eagle passed overhead being chased by a crow.  Either the brown headed nuthatch was very hungry or there were several of them but I only saw one at a time.  A Carolina wren decided it wanted seeds too.  The bluebirds continued their visits.  A female hummer fussed at her reflection then darted to the feeder but decided it was no good.  Maybe the rain got in yesterday.  I put a fresh feeder out but I didn't see her again.  A crow found the barkbutter balls I dropped.  Blue jays and a red bellied woodpecker got away without photos.  

Afternoon rain

Overnight rain had left everything wet.  The crow returned but there was no fallen food because the dishes were still covered.  More rain was predicted.  Meanwhile the sun shone and a bluebird sang.  The brown headed nuthatch (which has a very pale head) also returned and claimed the perch from bigger birds.  Chickadees got into a fight with each other but did not challenge the nuthatch.  I spotted a bird circling very high that I believe was a black vulture.  

Lots of skinks were out but only a couple posed.  One climbed around a window.  Another actually ran between my feet, too close for the camera.  A dark paper wasp with yellow legs harvested wood pulp.  A white breasted nuthatch came for seeds and a Carolina wren for suet.  Soon the brown headed nuthatch was back.  

Dark clouds began to overtake the sky in the mid afternoon.  Birds flew across the creek but I wasn't fast enough.  I think they were crows chasing a hawk.  Strange riffles appeared on the creek but I couldn't tell if they were caused by wind or a school of fish.  I did manage to catch some egrets.  Then the rain came in  and soaked the ground.  It was gone by the time I ate supper and that persistent nuthatch was back.  

Fearless nuthatch

I saw a brown headed nuthatch first.  It would not give way to a cardinal.  A Carolina wren came next.   And then my morning got busy.  We had lunch at the Leaping Lizard but the only reptiles I saw were handicrafts.  When we got back, a red bellied woodpecker was eating seeds.  Bluebirds were having anything they could find.  I went outside which upset most of the birds but not the brown headed nuthatch which squeaked and kept on eating.

Butterflies frustrated me.  I saw a brown one and the little pale blue ones, and a tiger swallowtail and of course cabbage whites.  The only one I got photos of appeared to be a red spotted purple.  I also saw dragonflies, but none that would perch and be identified.  Wasps also flitted around. 

After I refilled the dishes, blue jays came.  A crow scavenged what the other birds dropped but did not try to reach the dish.  Still, its presence intimidated the blue jay.  A Carolina wren was more wary than the nuthatch but still ignored me.  So did a young squirrel.  But the bluebirds were not willing to come near me at all.

Warm

At breakfast, the creek was smooth and reflective but the surface seemed dull, perhaps from pollen.  A brown headed nuthatch was an early visitor to the seed feeder.  Its feathers looked slept-in -- maybe it was molting.  A male red bellied woodpecker came next.  The nuthatch made repeat visits.  At lunchtime, a mockingbird wanted suet.  A bluebird went for barkbutter balls as did a blue jay.  A crow stuck to suet crumbs.  I found a good sized bird nest in the crape myrtle which I suspect might belong to mockingbirds.  A Carolina wren wanted barkbutter balls bad enough to ignore me as I sat outside. 

A little orb web had picked up all manner of dust and detritus which made me think it was abandoned.  There was a cast exoskeleton in the corner.  The rue was blossoming and a Guinea paper wasp, Polistes exclamens, was feeding.  As usual, cabbage whites roamed the yard, but I also glimpsed a brownish butterfly and a couple of smaller butterflies that might have been Spring azures.  The sky was very blue in the morning, hazy with clouds streaming East after lunch and overcast by suppertime. 

The beard lichen continued to reassure me about air quality.  Hickory leaves were an incandescent chartreuse.  Yellow and blue irises, yellow coreopsis, and little coral lilies bloomed in the back yard.  In front, the false indigo sent up spikes of pea-like blossoms.  Plenty of berries bent the blueberry canes.  A mushroom emerged next to the juniper and the cap cracked, exposing the gills.  It has not been a good Spring for mushrooms.