Frigid

The temperature never got up to 32 though the sun melted the ice on the pool cover and the current did the same for the creek. I figured the birds needed food, and they agreed.  The orioles packed on the calories between suet, bark butter, and jelly. Oddly, the female oriole with the most colorful feathers is not high in their pecking order. The warblers also went for the first two, and added seeds.  Downy woodpeckers were single-minded about suet.  At least two red breasted nuthatches also wanted seeds. 

Doves soaked up sun on the pool cover.  Other birds tried to get a drink despite the ice.  I saw warblers, orioles, robins, and bluebirds.  That caused me to put out some mealworms, but I don't think the bluebirds got any.  I also melted the birdbath again.  White throats hurried around the patio.  Two blue jays visited the bark butter.  Later a Carolina wren went back and forth between bark butter and suet.  The wing caught the wren's feathers and flared them out. 

There were a few ducks out on the ice-free parts of the creek.  The lake appeared to be completely frozen.  Sunset  was very orange but the clouds to the Northeast turned pink.

Sunny

In the morning, there were ice crystals in the birdbath.  I saw pelicans and buffleheads but didn't get pictures.  A female hoodie paddled out of sight on the lake. 

Life on the patio took my attention.  Pine warblers searched everywhere for food.  Myrtle warblers seemed uncertain how to get a share.  The male and three female orioles squabbled a bit over jelly.   A blue jay checked out the bark butter.  White throats stayed with the mulch.  The downy woodpeckers wanted the suet all to themselves. 

A flock of blackbirds worked its way along the yards across the creek and finally came over to my side. After lunch, a Carolina wren joined the buffet line. 

Civic duties

I left before sunup and returned long after dark.  And as I was the driver, there was no opportunity for pictures on the way.  All I saw was a hazy third quarter moon and several buzzards.  The only wildlife at the Capitol was political.  Rain began some time after lunch and followed me home. 

Gray

A flock of crows came hunting handouts and overturned the jelly dish and broke the rubber band on the bark butter dish. A half dozen white throats dashed around the patio.  One took a bath.  A myrtle warbler went around from suet to steps where the fragments land to bark butter dish, and back to suet. 

Pelicans flew by frequently, but never where I could get a clear shot.  Oh well, yesterday's excursion provided plenty.  Then, after lunch, one caught a fish in plain view of me. 

In the afternoon, a pine warbler and a Carolina wren competed for bark butter.  Then the orioles came.  There were at least three, all female.  A robin watched from the dogwood. 

Boat excursion

Again everything was frosted and the birdbath a bowl of ice when I got up.   Since yesterday's Winter Wildlife trip was on land, I picked water for today.  At 8am, a fishing charter boat took about two dozen people out to the tunnel islands of the CBBT.  There was heavy equipment on the first two where a second tunnel is under construction.  The Northern pair of islands were less disturbed. The sea was quite calm. 

The sun was bright but it was freezing when we started.  The temperature rose and clouds formed as the morning progressed.  Gulls and cormorants perched all over the rocks.   A few ducks bobbed in the water.  I recognized the buffleheads but the long tailed ducks were new to me.  Gannets were impressive in flight.    When we came back by the Southern islands, a deck hand tossed fish heads into the air over the wake to attract the birds.  Several pelicans appeared. 

At home in the afternoon, the sun was gone and it seemed chilly even though it was much warmer.  Maybe I was still chilled?  Downy woodpeckers, titmice, warblers, juncos, a nuthatch, and the seed feeder regulars visited.  They scattered frequently as though a hawk was around.  A goldfinch popped in but didn't see anything to suit a vegetarian.  Pelicans fished on the creek.

Winter Wildlife Festival

The mulch was frosty and the birdbath solid ice, but there was open water on the creek.  The water at dawn mirrored the sun on the far bank.   White throats were undeterred by the frost as they kicked the mulch to reveal fallen seeds.  The female downy was already eating suet.  Titmice must have been hungry because they started raiding the feeder earlier than usual.

Blue jays came to see if there was more bark butter, but pecked at the leftovers.  Some robins just wanted water.  A myrtle warbler experimented with seeds.  A heron fished below the bend in the creek. 

Another heron waited for a fish in one of the shallow ponds around the Back Bay Wildlife Refuge office as I embarked on the Back Bay/False Cape Terra-gator and Tram Tour.  The bigger impoundments had geese and tundra swans.  Our ranger said they were Canada geese but they were silhouettes to me.  I saw a turtle sunning on a limb fallen into the ditch, but it slid into the water before I could focus.  Taking pictures while riding in a tram on a dirt road wasn't easy. 

Since birds were scarce I took a lot of photos of vegetation, especially when we got out and walked in False Cape State Park.  Some fellow travelers found an owl hairball full of bones including a jaw I believe belonged to a muskrat.

Then we boarded the Terra-Gator and came back along the shore.  Alas the windows were filthy and also picked up fragmented reflections.  There were great blackback gulls and I think lesser as well, herring and/or ring bill gulls, some kind of sandpiper, and I believe terns.

Sunset came soon after we got back.  It was all glow and cloudless.  The derth of birds in the woods illustrated a point form last night's lecture - that suburbs have far more species of birds than nature preserves, at least in the temperate zone.

Lovely day

Myrtle and pine warblers and downy woodpeckers took advantage of the sunshine on the suet.  White throats and juncos sneaked up to the seed feeder perch.

The reflections in the creek showed how still the surface of the water was.  Buffleheads and geese briefly disturbed it.  Pelicans flew over the water and, at sunset, turned colors to match the clouds.

In the evening I went to a lecture by John Marzluff about his book Subirdia.  This was the start of the Winter Wildlife Festival.