Overcast

24° the thermometer read!  The creak was almost completely ice covered.  The ant moat was frozen as well as the birdbath.  White throats busily hunted calories to keep warm.  I was not willing to venture outside at breakfast to feed the birds.  Starlings and warblers hoped anyway.  At lunch, a Carolina wren joined the white throats foraging.  Bluebirds chose seeds.   So did a red belly and a downy, both female.  The ice remained though by then the temperature was up in the 40s.  A female oriole couldn't even get a drink.  Since it was warmer, I restocked the jelly and barkbutter, but left the suet for another day.  Brown headed nuthatches came for seeds in the afternoon.  Blue jays, warblers, and bluebirds were happy to see the barkbutter balls.   The sky remained overcast all day as it tends to do when winter air gets warmer.  

 

Arctic air persisted

This morning's creek ice was not a solid sheet as it has been for a week. patches a few feet across were separated by threads of water.  A bufflehead took advantage to start fishing early.  The birdbath was unchanged.  A Carolina wren hunted suet crumbs.  A warbler went to work on the new block of suet.  White throats as usual poked through litter on the ground.  

At lunch there were brown headed nuthatches.  Three doves foraged under the seed feeder.  Too many starlings were everywhere.  Warblers fought over the suet which disappeared rapidly.  A mockingbird was too late for any barkbutter balls.  I chased off the starlings but they left sentinels that kept testing me.  I saw pelicans plunge into the creek but the only picture was a blur.  

Refills

An orange crowned warbler had jelly for breakfast.  Both suet and barkbutter were empty and I didn't refill them till after lunch.  In the meanwhile, birds closely checked both as though they hoped their view from further away had somehow missed something.  The sun shone and the wind was gentle but the thermometer stuck in the 30s.  Ice on the creek melted but the birdbath was still a dihydrogen monoxide rock.  After I refilled the two feeders, warblers, a bluebird, a starling, a blue jay, and even a downy woodpecker came for those delicious barkbutter balls.  There was an overhead heron chase.  

Melting

When I awoke, the rising sun had freckled the sky with pink clouds but by the time I had the camera, the light show was over.  A couple of hours of overcast ensued before the sky cleared.  The creek had re-iced overnight.  White throats searched for edibles on the ground.  They have no trouble flying and perching up in the trees but they want to eat on the ground.  Myrtle and pine warblers joined the hunt because the suet was nearly gone and so were the barkbutter balls.  Starlings claimed the last of the suet. 

At lunch I found the tux cat taking its leisure on the pool cover, soaking up the sun.   It was much warmer and the suet was gone so I replenished the barkbutter balls.  That caused the cat to make a quick exit.  It didn't take long for the blue jays to arrive.  Warblers got their share.  An oriole kept watch over her jelly from a perch in the trees.  The temperature nearly reached 50° and the birds were correspondingly less famished.  Snow lingered around and in the birdbath but the creek quickly melted.  

Warmer

The sun shone on the refrozen creek.  Up early were a starling, a bluebird, and a pine warbler.  The oriole made a beeline for the jelly.  Then an orange crowned warbler had jelly too.  Other warblers congregated on the suet.  Egrets flew over the creek. 

The male pileated wanted suet for lunch.  The oriole was back at the jelly.  A brown headed nuthatch lunched on seeds.  Warblers fought over the suet.  A mockingbird watched from the top of the post.  One pine warbler came to the window.  Perhaps it wanted me to drive off the starlings.  Despite the temperature rising to 40°, not all the ice melted.  A couple of egrets gathered at the lake. 

Some snow

There wasn't much snow and it turned to rain before I got up.  The white throats ran around trying to decide where the seeds were hidden.  Little was left of the suet and the dishes were still covered to keep the rain out.  The creek was iced with an odd crosswise break.  During a morning meeting online the clouds broke apart and sunshine melted more slush.  

By lunch, the suet was gone.  I took the lids off the dish feeders and K replaced the suet.  Warblers were right on it.  The yellow cat scared the birds away.   Soon a brown headed nuthatch was back at the seeds.  A starling noticed the suet.  Blue jays heard the call of the barkbutter balls.  

Buffleheads fished on the creek though the ice wasn't all gone till late afternoon.  A Carolina wren sunned on a dogwood branch.  A myrtle warbler did the same on a higher perch.  Near sunset, a kingfisher used the dock bench to tenderize her supper.  Certainly that was hard on the fish.  

Snowbirds

The creek was iced again.  Finally a couple of juncos showed up, albeit very briefly.  They must have heard the weather prediction.  White throats may have made them unwelcome.  A white breasted nuthatch got well fed today in repeated visits.  The tux cat, fortunately, did not get fed.  

Blue jays dug into the barkbutter balls and I saw the tailless blue jay again.  A myrtle warbler flaunted its butterbutt.  The mockingbird puffed up against the cold.  A bluebird observed from atop the post.  Starlings, warblers, and a Carolina wren ate suet which was rapidly shrinking.  Warblers also took barkbutter balls.  A great blue heron flew upstream.  The sky clouded over in the afternoon, maybe getting ready to snow.