Misty, moisty

A very gray day condensed on surfaces rather than falling from the sky.  While warm, the day was so gloomy that we needed lights indoors.  I saw some white throats, a blue jay, and a Carolina wren.  

Warm

The white throated sparrows were up early again but they didn't hang around.  Mid morning, the nuthatches arrived, brown headed, then white breasted.  In the afternoon, a strange object floated on the creek.  It appeared to be a sphere, green on one side, pink on the other, with yellow around the middle blending into the other two colors, and spotted with black pentagons.  

The temperature got up to at least 71° and the afternoon grew cloudy.  A Carolina wren sampled the feeder foods.  A pine warbler also had some barkbutter crumbs.  The mockingbird made its daily visit to the water cooler, aka ant moat.  The sapsucker reappeared on the wildcherry.  Maybe the warm day made the sap flow?  I think it was the same bird I saw with something in its beak, but it could have been a downy.  

Blue sky

White throated sparrows were up early.  The seed eaters were too.  I saw a male cardinal on the feeder and another on the ground beneath.  That thirsty mockingbird was back.  The black cat sauntered past the bird feeders.  I thought I saw another cat on the dock but it was a sleeping mallard drake.  Hoodies came paddling upstream along the shoreline.  Then an egret flew upstream.  

At lunch I saw at least three bluebirds.  Two males shared the feeder.  Brown headed nuthatches asserted their rights and scared off a chickadee.  A Carolina wren picked at the barkbutter dust.  A pine warbler joined a bluebird on the seed feeder, then decided he preferred suet, then barkbutter crumbs.  This time of year the barkbutter dish is backlighted in the afternoon, so the bird's silhouette is the primary clue.  

I got a few minutes outside to enjoy the crystalline blue sky.  Leaves  on the domestic cherry were turning orange.  A big clump of berries hung from the hackberry outside my window.  Later I saw a squirrel eating them.  

Hooded mergansers arrived

At breakfast a white throated sparrow ate suet which was unusual.  They typically forage on the ground at this time of year and only start visiting the feeders in the Spring.  Meanwhile, a Carolina wren did forage on the ground.  Then it got up on the bench to take a look around.  The tide was still running high but the creek was unruffled. 

A flurry of birds visited at lunch.  A bluebird took over the seed feeder.  When he left, the white breasted nuthatch returned, soon followed by its brown headed cousin.  A warbler worked on the far side of the suet.  I saw a yellow rumped "myrtle" warbler on the step.  The female oriole returned.  A mockingbird investigated and then got a drink.  The white throat was joined  by a song sparrow.  A myrtle warbler was eating hackberries.  It was hard to get a good look at it through the window screen. 

A goldfinch in winter drab landed on the step, briefly.  Then I saw the first hoodie drake come paddling downstream.  Another followed, then a whole flock including females.  There seemed to be a lot more drakes but the females were harder to see.  

Oriole!

At dawn, the water looked like molten copper.  It was reflecting light that fell on the pine needle carpet on the bank above.  Not too long afterward, a female Baltimore oriole landed on a garden stake.  She looked at the barkbutter dish where other birds were grabbing breakfast but didn't join in.  After she flew away, a hawk swooped down on the feeding birds.  I don't think it caught one, but it certainly scared them.  The tide ran high again. 

Blue jays got over their shock and returned to the barkbutter balls.  Brown headed nuthatches wanted seeds and water.  The rust-colored squirrel was not put off by the hot pepper suet.  A Carolina wren checked out the seed feeder.  White throated sparrows hunted whatever fell to the ground.  A white breasted nuthatch grabbed big peanuts from the seed feeder.  

There were more clouds than the prediction called for, but nothing came of them.  A pine warbler landed on the barkbutter dish.  The male downy tackled the suet.  A junco foraged around the birdbath.  I kept watching for migrating ducks but all I saw was a plastic bottle.  A few cormorants fished off our shoreline.  More flew across the sky.  A bright, fat, just past full moon rose through the trees but I wasn't ambitious enough to go outside for photos. 

I sprayed the crevices of the chair where I thought the thing that bit/stung me so badly was lurking.  Afterward, I teased a dead bug out of a seam and took pictures of it.  Unfortunately, it looks like an earwig, Forficula auricularia, and those are harmless, so I don't know if the chair is safe or not.  What also puzzles me is what the biter/stinger was living on for weeks in the upholstery, besides me. 

Windy

The Northeast wind combined with the full moon to drive the tide over the bulkhead across the creek and over our dock.  I hoped that in compensation the wind would bring us migrating ducks, but not so far.  

Morning was wet but by lunch we had some sun.  Still, the wind discouraged songbirds.  I saw titmice, a thirsty mockingbird, a warbler briefly, a white breasted nuthatch, a downy, and on the ground a couple of white throated sparrows.  The usual seed eaters came out too.  A squirrel imbibed from the ant moat. 

Cormorants and an egret flew to roost against a  dark wall cloud.  The setting sun lightened and colored the scene. 

Rain

Morning was gray, afternoon wet.  I believe it was a bit warmer.   A flurry of birds accompanied lunch.  Nuthatches, both white breasted and brown headed, competed with house finches for seeds.  At least three bluebirds made the rounds of feeders.  I saw a yellow rumped warbler on the back of the bench.  After dark, a moth landed on the wet window.