Unleaving

Hopkins' poem came to mind as the leaves fall.  Actually, my favorite phrase from it is "wanwood leafmeal" which is the perfect name for what happens to the fallen leaves.   Anyway, today there are smudgy, soft, edgeless clouds and some sun.  It is windy though when I first got up the creek was glassy.  We are past the fall color peak and the dogwoods are nearly bare.

Today's birds so far have included: crows, geese, and cormorants; on the feeder, chickadees, cardinals, a wren and a nuthatch; underneath, a towhee, sparrows, and a half dozen doves. Sleepyheads showed up around 11am:  mallards, flickers, titmice and juncos. 

There are puffballs where the pecan tree used to be, uphill from the redwood.   The weeping conks on the oak stump seem to be finished.  Something left part of the yellow jacket nest on the stump - just like a honeycomb, only paper.  The nuthatch has been busy.  I saw it under the feeder poking through the mulch and taking a drink.  Later I came upon it doing the nuthatch thing on a pine tree, poking seeds into cracks then hammering them open.  It is only half the size of a junco.  The moon is at first quarter and well up in the afternoon. 

More gray

Juncos, white throats, chickadees, and finches. Doves prospecting on the far side of the pool.  A squirrel up to something in a dogwood.  One of the white-throated sparrows wanted a bath. A flicker passed by. 

The bluebird of frustration

Gray sky, no birds.

 Still gray at lunch, but a pageant of birds.  Chickadees and titmice, then cardinals, juncos, and white throated sparrows, and then...a bluebird stopped in for a drink from the birdbath.  My thrashing around to reach the camera scared it off.  Finally, for dessert, the nuthatch reappeared and had a drink from the hummer feeder.  By this time I had the camera, but I was behind the window screen, and only got a blur. The male house finches are much redder than at the end of summer. 

A rain of leaves

Crow voices, wind, and a white sky. The wind means that most motion that catches my eye is leaves flying or skittering across the patio.  A cardinal and a chickadee made it to the feeder briefly.  A bumblebee struggled to the rosemary - it is warm enough, barely.  A string of geese and a couple of kingfishers headed downstream while a buzzard circled above. Mallards are flying too.  A white throated sparrow is poking through the mulch.

Tide was high at lunch.  The daytime high tides have been over 3' for a couple of weeks - both sides of the new moon.  They're supposed to be lower hereafter, even with the full moon in about ten days.  Rain is spitting around 2pm.  A lot of birds stopped in for lunch, then left as soon as my hands were free to take up the camera.  I could become superstitious.  Anyway, titmice and juncos joined the cardinals and chickadees. Occasional patches of sky clear to the North, but not where the sun presumably is. 

Five mourning doves and a sparrow on the bird feeder

Like a variation on the partridge in a pear tree, the doves bustled around the sunflowers. They gave a bum's rush to a lone junco that had been foraging.  Two are napping now, all puffed out against the cold wind.  The wind is keeping birds off the feeder - only a cardinal has visited.

Bright sun is warming things up.  A towhee was riding the top of the feeder but saw me before I got to the camera.  A flock of white throats is busy in the mulch and finches and cardinals are visiting the feeder.  One sparrow got tired of waiting for food to fall.

The sun didn't last.   Apparently we are only having "intervals of sun."  A kingfisher just flew upstream and a lone goose paddled the opposite direction.  At dusk, a Carolina wren came to the feeder.  The cormorants did their evening commute. 

Birds

The birds were out in force: chickadees, titmice, cardinals, finches, a wren, juncos, sparrows, and doves.  A titmouse chased another around the feeder.  The titmice are getting bolder, I think.

A squirrel came to drink at the rain-filled birdbath.  The nuthatch has not appeared for several days so I guess it was a temporary visitor. The sky is gray with occasional breaks letting a trickle of sunlight through.

After lunch, a cold wind has kicked up, keeping the birds and bees at home.   Leaves have buried the pillaged yellow jacket nest.  I hear crows and see cormorants flying. Then, quite suddenly around 3:15 the cloud cover disappeared.

Bright trees, dull day

Juncos were foraging and I heard a cardinal outside the bedroom.  An egret sailed high on the wind.  I'm finding leaf legged bugs that have moved indoors. 

It got quite warm at mid day then chilled right back down.