Rain

 A few seed eaters came despite the rain.  

Letdown

We flipped from September to November.  It was wet and gray and chilly compared to yesterday.  I stayed inside and saw no wildlife, just gray water under a gray sky.

Lovely day

Another summer day strayed into October, so I went swimming again and the cool, clear water sparkled.  A blue tailed skink perched on the handle of the skimmer waiting for rescue.  Its tale was not blue from the cold water but I let it warm up instead of posing.  I rescued some black ground beetles and a small brown click beetle.  A fat, tan spider lurked on the one remaining rescue twig.  When I came back with the camera it was hidden behind the stick.  A drowned wasp or bee floated amid bubbles.  Another big web was going up between the house and the dogwood where the birdhouse hangs.  

Chickadees came for seeds, blue jays chattered in the trees, and I heard a rattle that might have been a woodpecker.  The saltbush was budding and the milkweed seeds bobbed in the breeze.  

Big bird

The windows were very lightly fogged at breakfast but the sun was bright  I saw two sulphur butterflies that did not pause for a photo.  In the afternoon, the hot sun lured me back into the water.  It was "fresca" but not really cold.  I rescued a few black ground beetles but nothing more exciting.  The milkweed pods split and dangled seeds but didn't quite let go.  A big raptor photo-bombed a picture I was taking, possibly a young eagle?

Nothing much

I didn't see much yesterday and even less today.  The odd little fuschia plant had a second flower stalk.  Yesterday, the sky was cloudy with blue patches but today was sunnier albeit with plenty of clouds.  A crow watched a gull sitting on the navigation sign.  A spiderweb stretched from the house to a dogwood but it didn't look like it was in use.  I couldn't get the camera to "see" it.  K hung a block of suet in place of the hummer feeder.  

 

Warmer

The wind flipped around to the West and we had sun and clouds.  The high was in the 70s and the water was colder.  K noticed a spider thread between the camellia and the azalea but I couldn't find more web or a spider.  A monarch circled the water but paid no attention to the milkweed.  Titmice were hungry for seeds.  

 

Sunshine at last!

After four days of gloom with little rain to show for it, the sun's return was very welcome.  A chilly wind still blew and the tide still ran high.  We took down the hummer feeders.  I heard birds commenting in the trees.  Alas, I was in a meeting all afternoon and the sky clouded over by the time I got home.