Thunderous

At breakfast there was some blue sky and brief sunshine but by 10am thunder was grumbling and the light dimmed.  The rain started hammering the pavement not too long after that.  

 

Kingfisher

The sky cycled from hazy to overcast and back, and I felt tiny sprinkles in the afternoon.  Two mallard drakes were hanging out together on the dock while the kingfisher perched above them.  The maple tree was so bright it looked like it was plugged in even when the sun wasn't shining. 

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.