Summery

Yesterday provided fair weather for the election, though people have been voting since mid September.  I enjoyed the warm sunshine but didn't see much.  I missed a mockingbird in the beautyberry.  Small insects, about half the size of the cabbage white I saw, flitted through the opening over the pool.  An orb web snagged seed fluff from the saltbushes and a magic leaf.  I saw other spider threads but no actual spiders.  Yellow jackets explored the camellia.  

Today continued warm and mostly sunny and more humid.  At breakfast, a flock of birds hunted dogwood berries.  I saw a mockingbird and a blue jay and a flicker and something I couldn't identify because the birds were obscured by leaves.  Meanwhile the creak mirrored the early light that had not yet reached its surface.  The red maple flamed and the oak shed gold leaves.  Clouds blew from the Southwest and mid afternoon congealed into a threatening mass, but it dissipated.  After dark, a moth was lured to a window.  

 

Squirrel love

It's not just for Spring any more!  Squirrels were Fall-ing in love.  But that was all I saw today.

Tufted titmice

We breakfasted on Standard Time with titmice.  After lunch, I saw a brown headed nuthatch and a downy woodpecker.  A brief flurry of birds left me an impression of yellow which might have been a pine warbler, or a trick of light.  Fluff blew from the saltbushes.  And it was dark by 5:30pm.  

A question that nagged me was whether we could have an Election Day fall during Daylight Saving Time.  I think so because the Election rule is first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.  Daylight Saving ends on the first Sunday of November.  So in a year when November 1st is a Monday then Tuesday would be Election Day but Daylight Saving would not end till the following Sunday, November 7th.  

 

Ups and downs

Yesterday was sunny and unseasonably hot - the Weather Service said 80° which was not a record.  However the warmth did not result in much to see.  Chickadees visited the feeder.  Geese paddled by.  Flying insects caught the light but I could not tell what they were or get a picture.  Mint moths and yellow jackets and seed fluff flew around.  I thought I saw a butterfly but it might have been a leaf.  Overnight, the temperature dropped.  

Today was still sunny but about twenty degrees cooler with a Northeast wind.  A flock of birds zipped around the trees too fast for the camera, but at least one was a bluebird.  Brown headed nuthatches dodged chickadees on the feeder.  Earlier the chickadees had dodged house finches.  A kingfisher shot down the creek in a blur.  Then after sunset we had all manner of strange beings come knocking.  And tonight we sleep long.  

Wakefield reported that the precipitation for October was ab inch and a half compared to an average of nearly four inches. For the year, we are down a foot from an average of 42.8".  Blame El El Niño.  

Lovely sunset

I saw nothing but vegetation till evening.  Then the cormorants flew North to roost.   In the Southwest, an array of little cumulus puffs caught a lot of color from the setting sun.  

Wind shift

Yesterday there were squirrels and chickadees.  The wind and sun popped more milkweed pods but the fluff wasn't ready to let go.  A yellow jacket got a little too friendly.  I didn't stay outside long.  

Today was again sunny and breezy but the clouds rushed from East to West across the sky.  Down where I was, the wind seemed to come from every direction.   Gulls played with the gusts.  Milkweed seeds tried to escape.  Nothing was visiting the goldenrod when I checked.  The sky clouded over in the late afternoon.  Out on the creek, a great blue heron hunched on a post.  Then it stretched.  Cormorants commuted.  

Mockingbird

Yesterday was still too windy. It was still when I first got up but that didn't last.  I tried to spend time outside in the sunshine but I got too cold.  Finally, today there was just a moderate breeze.  At breakfast, the creek was a mirror.  The sky was very blue all day.  

I went out in the afternoon and found that squirrels were up to all sorts of things, leaping and tail waving and scolding.  The trees were still mostly green, partly because the wind stripped leaves away as fast as they turned.  Chickadees did not let my presence keep them from the seeds.  A mockingbird feasted on beautyberries.  

The mockingbird landed briefly on the feeder post and then on the barkbutter dish.  A couple of vultures soared in circles.  A downy woodpecker was hungry enough to overcome my presence.  Later, cormorants flew home in the low angled sunlight.  

I went around to the fig trees to see if the spiders were still hanging on the wall.  They and their webs had disappeared but I saw single threads glinting all over the fig trees.  However, I did not see any spiders there either.  In front of the house, the purslane had a small flower but it looked about done for the year.  The goldenrod by contrast was in full bloom.