The temperature sneaked above 70° at lunch before dropping back to the upper 60s. The sunshine felt warm but the breeze did not. While I only saw a bumblebee, I expect the birds found more to eat. The regulars visited the feeders but didn't seem especially hungry. Annoyingly, a brown thrasher on the barkbutter dish kept its back to me.
Today the bluebirds and the red bellied woodpecker arrived early. White throated sparrows soon followed. Blue jays flitted through the trees. Carolina wrens shared the barkbutter balls. The song sparrow got up a bit late. So did a myrtle warbler. I didn't get any more photos after breakfast. Morning was sunny but by evening the sky was clouded.
Spring arrived as this was the equinox, although there were twelve hours and eight minutes between sunrise and sunset according to NWS Wakefield. (Sunrise at 7:09am, sunset at 7:17pm.) I do not understand. I attended online the Reed Environmental Writing Award presentation which was exceptional. I signed up in order to hear the keynote by Christian Cooper who was very moving, but the two award recipients were also very good.
I was away for meetings, morning and afternoon, in the windy, chilly sunshine. At breakfast the male red belly ate seeds while the downy had suet. Blue jays focused on barkbutter balls. A brown thrasher also visited the glass dish of barkbutter balls. The song sparrow stayed busy under the feeders. White throats were up and down, to the feeders then foraging under them.
At lunch time a mockingbird headed for the grape jelly dish. I started offering grape jelly the first time I saw an oriole, but now warblers snack on it and even the mockingbird has discovered its sweetbeak. A Carolina wren perched on the chair by the window. Bluebirds ate seeds. Doves foraged and flirted on the ground. A crow had something way up on a tree limb.
Today looked lovely but it was cold to the touch. I had meetings morning, afternoon, and evening so I only saw birds at mealtimes. K kept them fat and happy with mealworms and barkbutter balls. A white throat sat on a chair arm until we got the point. The red belly male just worked on seeds. A white breasted nuthatch stopped me as I came in the door. Bluebirds showed up at lunch. A male downy ate seeds just like the red belly. A starling wasted barkbutter balls.
In the afternoon, a mockingbird couple checked out the menu. Trying to get them both in the frame, I got overexposed blurs. One monopolized the suet and the other seemed agitated. Later The male pileated landed so it was a three woodpecker day, all males.
The storm went with the night and morning was full of sunshine and birds. The temperature had dropped to 40, but not to the predicted freeze. Sparrows foraged with a couple of doves. A Carolina wren ate barkbutter while a myrtle warbler waited. A female bluebird chose seeds but a blue jay stayed with barkbutter balls. Then the bluebirds wanted barkbutter balls too.
The male pileated came for lunch. I hope he takes some back to the female. Then a starling found the barkbutter balls almost gone. So it tried the suet the pileated was eating. The woodpecker didn't seem bothered but the starling was taken aback, literally.
Surfaces were wet and the sky overcast, though the sun occasionally found a tear in the clouds. I glimpsed a bufflehead on the creek. Because of the predicted storm, K left the dish feeders covered. That didn't bother the seed eaters, though the white throats missed their barkbutter snacks. The song sparrow foraged on the ground with a squirrel and bluebirds ate seeds at the feeder trough. But a brown thrasher was left with nothing but the suet. It gamely tackled the suet block but was almost too big to get both feet and beak on the cage.
At noon the air was quite warm and surfaces had dried so I scattered some barkbutter balls on the ground under the dish. A crow and some sparrows were happy to find them. Bluebirds lunched on seeds. Several white throats took a bath on the pool cover. Rain began shortly after 1pm. The wind was gusty but not fierce. The rain trailed off after an hour then returned after another hour. It was off again at supper time. We got no hail and no strong winds, just a good soaking.
It was a typical March day with the usual birds. Bluebirds showed up first. A dove drank from the pool puddle. A Carolina wren dug into the barkbutter balls. A myrtle warbler was next. The yellow long haired cat hung around bothering the birds. Blue jays wanted their barkbutter balls. The myrtle warbler cleaned up what fell. The song sparrow looked for fallen suet crumbs. Both Carolina wrens returned for second helpings. A couple of chickadees shared the seed feeder.
At lunch time a white throated sparrow tried to bully a warbler off the glass dish but the warbler held on. The sparrow flew to the seed feeder instead. A blue jay got a drink from the pool puddle. A starling came for lunch. Two doves foraged together. One acted horny but the other didn't catch on. Some violets bloomed. A crow poked through the mulch.
