Morning rain

It streaked the windows and made focusing difficult.  But there wasn't much to photograph, just the regulars, a titmouse, the downy woodpeckers, and, of course, geese.  It was the family with six goslings.   Their wet down made them look punk. 

We went out for lunch with a side trip to the hardware for a plant pot.  When we got home, a male bluebird was sitting on the feeder post.  It flew to the wren's house and poked its head in.  Then it and a female flew away over the house.  A dove poked around in the mulch, and briefly a house wren did the same.  A hummer flew up to the feeder but sheared off.  The geese made another try for the new grass.  This group had only one gosling.  My camera was at the other end of the house. 

The evening clouds crowded the horizon, but after dark the stars and sickle moon were bright and clear. 

Hazy

Downy woodpeckers came for breakfast. Then the dredge started up.  Later on, I saw a question mark butterfly land outside the window.  It folded its wings and became a dead leaf.  There were other butterflies around.  I saw a tiger swallowtail, a painted lady, and I think a spring azure. 

After lunch I spent time outside.  The Christmas fern survived trampling when the window was installed last winter. A queen yellow jacket hunted for a home site.  Two great crested flycatchers flew around, wheep-wheeping.  A red-bellied woodpecker pounded on the oak.  The house wren surveyed the yard from her porch.  I rescued a bee from the water.  And chased off goslings repeatedly.

A couple of male house finches tussled and while they were occupied, a male cardinal took over the feeder.  There's a moral in that somewhere.  The haze thickened and by the time the dredge crew quit the sky was white, darker to the East.  But sunset turned gold.

Breezy

Sunshine competed with cloud cover and the wind seemed stronger than the weather service reported.  The catbird and the house wren were up early, or perhaps I was up late.  Lots of egrets were out fishing and a great blue heron battled a headwind going upstream.  Squirrels were getting into trouble.  Downy woodpeckers, titmice, Carolina wrens, and hummingbirds visited the various feeders.

This was the second day I saw small, pale birds fling fast and low, and acrobatically over the creek.  I don't know if they were terns or swallows or what.  I saw a couple of skinks, but got no photos.  Butterflies flitted around but I'm not sure what all of them were, besides a cabbage white and a palamedes swallowtail.    A female common whitetail dragonfly landed on the patio. 

I believe I heard a mockingbird pretending to be a host of other birds.  A male hummer tasted the flowers outside my window, then whizzed away.  Goldfinches found something interesting in the salt bush.  A yellow crowned night heron stalked along the bank. Yesterday, someone said they heard a blackpoll warbler, and today I believe I saw it. The house and Carolina wrens and the catbird hung out together in the late afternoon.  The sky went from hazy to white but there were flashes of sun from the West. 

While we ate supper, a tufted titmouse and a downy woodpecker had a claws out fight over the feeder perch.  And the titmouse won!  Heretofore, titmice have given way to every other species, even smaller birds like chickadees.  A small egret fished below the dam around sunset.  I could not tell if it was a snowy. 

Wet morning

Some sun and some rain but mostly clouds filled the morning sky.  The creek was placid.  Downy woodpeckers and tufted titmice joined the regular seed eaters.  A couple Carolina wrens picked re-hydrated mealworms out of the rainwater in the glass feeder.  A catbird flitted through the shrubbery.  And a male towhee foraged in the mulch.  A mourning dove would have liked to, but the squirrels chased it off.

Two egrets disputed over who got to fish in the dam outfall.  The Canada geese with four goslings put in an appearance.  And the wretched husky got loose for the first time in several years and shook water all over our party preparations. 

We ate lunch outside and I had left the camera at the other end of the house so I wouldn't be tempted to take photos instead of talking to company.  A white breasted nuthatch came to the feeder at least five times while we ate.  So frustrating!  Woodpeckers and titmice were also hungry enough to come despite our presence. After we went inside, the towhee came back. About the time people began to arrive, a male goldfinch landed on the feeder post, but it didn't stay.  Downy woodpeckers got up the courage to visit while the party was in full swing.  The afternoon stayed dry with passing clouds.  It got a bit buggy toward evening. 

Soft rain

The male downy woodpecker discovered what the female had been up to and joined her on the seed feeder.  They edged back and forth on the perch - I don't know if that was courting or intimidation.  The house wren investigated the feeder too and all around the patio.  A titmouse came out in the rain for seeds, along with the usual feeder birds.  The dredge was right in front of us and the tide was up into the yard.

At noon the Carolina wren was contemplating mealworm soup, thanks to the rain.  The woodpeckers were still stuffing themselves with seeds.  The dredge was nearly out of sight and the tide had dropped a foot.

The rain let up in the afternoon and there were brief moments of sun.  The dredge moved upstream out of sight before quitting time.  An egret was fishing near the dock till the barge went by.  A catbird hopped around in a dogwood.

At supper, titmice were back.  The male downy was stared off the feeder perch by a female cardinal.  The sky seemed to be clearing as the waterfowl flew home for the night, but fresh clouds blew in before dark. 

Gray

Several downy woodpeckers discovered the sunflower seeds.  One had a staring contest with a male cardinal that was on the feeder roof while the woodpecker clung to the perch.  The cardinal won.  Titmice and the regular three species competed for room on the feeder. Two Carolina wrens enjoyed mealworms.  I may have glimpsed a house wren underneath the mealworm feeder.  An egret fished at the dam outfall which was flooded by high tide.  Osprey flew over but the dredge discouraged them from trying to fish.

Mist

Two Carolina wrens were in the camellia outside the kitchen window looking at the birdhouse.  One also looked at the mealworm soup the rain left behind.  The downy woodpecker had some seeds and a pileated woodpecker landed on the post, looking for suet I suppose.  All the regulars appeared but the chickadees were particularly busy, eating seeds and inspecting the wooden birdhouse to the consternation of the house wren.  Titmice came for seeds.  An egret fished at the dam outfall, ignoring the clanking dredge.  

At lunch time, I saw a great crested flycatcher.  I'm pretty sure there were two catbirds lurking in the shrubbery.  The cardinal pair continued to court while the titmouse stuffed itself.  The dredge was nearly up to our yard.

A little spider showed up on the kitchen table.  I was unable to persuade it to go outside.  Later, after the dredging stopped,  a yellow crowned night heron stalked along our bank.