More mist

Moisture gathered in beads and drips that couldn't evaporate in the high humidity.  The temperature was nearly flat like the creek.  But the early fog did not deter a Carolina wren from the suet.  

By lunch, the fog thinned but the overcast remained and the light was poor.  I replenished the barkbutter balls and, as soon as I closed the door, birds arrived.  The female red bellied woodpecker tried a barkbutter ball, then went on to the suet.  Bluebirds and pine warblers flocked to the food.  A male bluebird tried the beautyberries.  

A couple of females confronted each other over the barkbutter balls.  I spotted a yellow rumped warbler in the oak.  Some squirrels were feeling romantic and slow-motion play-chasing.  An egret landed downstream.  A great blackback gull floated on the water opposite us.  Mallards dabbled on the creek.  Toward evening the pied bill grebe paddled swiftly downstream.  

This year, the rainfall was only 38.92" compared to a normal year of 49.18".   On the other hand, there has been no frost yet this fall and early winter. .And that concludes the year 2021.  

Foggy mist

There was drizzle at first, then mist so thick it might as well have been fog.  The creek was flat.  The moisture made lichens vivid.  A brown thrasher threshed the mulch under the sakaki.  Pine warblers tried to occupy the suet.  I noticed that one of them seemed brown, though paler than what I saw yesterday.   Still I suspect it was the mystery bird.  Bluebirds wondered why I didn't put barkbutter balls out to become mush.  Red bellied and downy woodpeckers managed to get some suet. 

The cat settled in by the corner of the house but seemed to be after something on the ground.  Finally it gave up.  A Carolina wren was content with barkbutter in a tub.  Then a white breasted nuthatch came for suet.  It was quite determined and returned each time another bird left.  Yellow rump warblers were not about to be left out.  I saw a white throated sparrow up in a tree. 

An odd looking duck landed on the water and turned into a female bufflehead.  A great blue heron swooped past to land on a downstream dock.  A Northern shoveler floated on the lake.  A hoodie drake sped upstream and al I got was a blur. 

A very large bird landed fairly high in the trees.  Unfortunately, twigs closer to me confused the camera.  Its silhouette seemed to have a full sized head, not featherless, but the beak was wrong for a raptor.  It might have been a black vulture. 

Mystery bird

I woke up to a spectacular sunrise and a crescent moon. And then the sky turned heavy gray for the rest of the day.   It was very warm, over 70°, and humid with a light breeze from the Southwest.  The creek was rough at dawn but calmed later.  I think all the waterbirds were out in the bay since the day was so mild.  

A goldfinch visited for a drink from the icky ant moat.  In winter drab, it wasn't nearly as gold as the pine warbler that followed.  

Then a turkey vulture landed on a branch and the song birds decamped.  Three more vultures arrived and they all sat on posts and branches, waiting for what?  Most of them flew away but one lingered for a long time on a downstream dock.  

Later, there was some conflict over the suet between pine warblers and a downy woodpecker.  A butterbutt stayed out of it and just watched.  Bluebirds cleaned me out of barkbutter balls.  I got very frustrated trying to photograph the brown headed nuthatches.  A red bellied woodpecker stayed in the trees.  A Carolina wren popped up amid the camellia blossoms.  

I got a photo of a bird I didn't recognize in the cherry tree.   It appeared to have a solid brown head and breast and two white wing bars.  Nothing matched that description but if the brown look was caused by bad lighting, it could have been a female Baltimore oriole or a male pine warbler.  I thought it was more warbler sized but there wasn't anything to compare the size against. 

After dark, a lacewing landed on the window.  I guess the warmth brought it out, but I doubt it will last very long.  Although with climate change, who knows?  

Frustrating

I saw a Carolina wren, a mockingbird, and a red bellied woodpecker in addition to the warblers and bluebirds and blue jays, but I got exactly one blurred bird photo.  If it hadn't been such a pretty dawn that I abandoned my breakfast for it, I'd have very little record of a lovely day.  The crescent moon looked like a ring on pink cloud fingers. 

Red-winged blackbird

Today was overcast with occasional rents in the cloud cover showing a bit of blue sky or even a flicker of sunshine.  While the effect was dreary, the diffuse lighting was great for photos.  The creek was calm with muted reflections.  Pine and yellow rumped warblers were everywhere.  Blue jays and bluebirds devoured barkbutter balls. 

I went to the library to pick up books only to discover they were closed.  Fortunately I brought the camera so I took the opportunity to get pictures of the lichens on the weeping cherry trees in the drive-thru island.  Had they been open, I'm not sure they'd have let me.  From the drive-thru I could see the trunks were festooned with foliose and fruticose beard lichens, possibly Usnea strigosa.  Both kinds were loaded with apothecia disks ready to reproduce.  I left when the camera battery gave out.  

As I came in the house, I saw out the window a pileated woodpecker on the suet.  But it was gone before I got the battery swapped for one that was charged.  So you'll have to take my word for it.  I did get a red bellied woodpecker and, of course, downy woodpeckers.  I believe I got a glimpse of a flicker too, but no good photos of any of them.  So I really appreciate the visit from the red-winged blackbird.  He had his epaulets in full display mode, but also a broken feather sticking out sideways which did not seem to interfere with his flying.  He had a white spot on his head and remnants of brown patterning on his back, causing me to wonder if he was hatched this year.  After foraging for seeds under the feeder, he got a drink, then flew up to the feeder perch for more seeds. 

I got a glimpse of the song sparrow, at least I think it was a song sparrow.  I was looking through furniture.  But bluebirds and warblers dominated the feeders.  Every time I thought a new bird had showed up, it turned out to be a pale warbler. 

Monarch butterfly!

Since we had not yet had a freeze, a little green pepper was still slowly growing beside the garage.  In fact, the day was quite warm and I found I was overdressed and sweaty when we went for a walk at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. There were plenty of roses still blooming at NBG so I guess my yellow rose was not an anomaly.  I looked for lichens to test my new field guide.  There were some but not the profusion I expected, perhaps because of the proximity to the airport.  An orange crustose lichen had colonized the bridge.  I thought there was also a surprising lack of wildlife - no ducks, songbirds, or squirrels that I noticed.

We took a different route that ran on a boardwalk beside a lake. The lake margin was swampy and there were some young bald cypress.  I found a lovely white flower on a leafless plant.  When the walkway left the lake, it passed by a little pond stocked with Sarracenia pitcher plants.  Then we came out into an open expanse and that's where I saw the monarch.  It flitted across the field and I didn't see it land, so no photo proof.  On the walk back I spotted some mushrooms with pink gills.   

At home, I wandered around the yard, still seeking lichens.  A squirrel sunbathed on an oak limb.  Turtles did the same on their log.  A pelican flew upstream but I missed it.  I found a wasp's fuzzy gall on an oak leaf.  A small spider with red legs waited on the front door frame. (I need to clean the webs off the door.) I wondered if it was alive but when I blew on it, it moved.  The fatsia was blooming and feeding honeybees and yellow jackets.  I found a Guinea paper wasp Polistes exclamans resting on a fallen leaf.  All the invertebrates might explain why the birds weren't as interested in the feeders. 

Warblers, pine and yellow rumped, sought suet while white throated sparrows scrounged what fell.  Bluebirds got their share of barkbutter balls.  A squirrel posed and begged.  

Still warm

The sky was orange when I woke up but it soon went gray.  The creek was gray too, and rough.  I believe I saw two pileated woodpeckers early in the morning, but they were in the trees and they soon flew off in opposite directions.  I suppose they could have been crows, but they moved and perched like woodpeckers.  Mid morning, the overcast started tearing apart and pretty soon birds arrived at the feeders.  I wonder if a hawk had been keeping them in hiding.  Like yesterday, bluebirds and pine warblers came first.  Unlike previous days, I got the mockingbird. The diffuse light helped the camera focus on the foreground, but it failed me on the red bellied woodpecker.  

A male Baltimore oriole showed up.  I couldn't tell if it was the same as the one I saw a week ago.  It seemed interested in the grape jelly but then something spooked it.  I did not see it again.  Blue jays  couldn't stay away from the barkbutter balls.  A Carolina wren investigated all the food except the grape jelly.  The wren got into and argument over suet with a pine warbler.  Then the warbler fussed at a titmouse.  What a grump - maybe it was the molting feathers.  

I snapped a shot at a bird in a tree that turned out to be a brown thrasher.  The camera gods were with me on that one.  There were sparrows around but I missed them.  One butterbutt still had its Summer bandit mask.  A female cardinal on the seed feeder was rude to a brown headed nuthatch.  Wind from the West pulled clouds into elongated sausages.  

We went for a short walk with the dog in the afternoon.  A buzzard monitored our progress.  I saw mistletoe loaded with berries.  I was looking for lichens to identify with my new book.  I also saw some fern moss, family Thuidiaceae.  Gulls circled against a background of cotton puffs.