Petrichor

Word of the day, petrichor is the name for the smell after a shower or light rain.  I learned this from a children's book, After the Rain by Eleanor Spicer Rice, but I wasn't that impressed with the book otherwise.  There was rain overnight but the day was sunny.  Blue jays and the mockingbird didn't cooperate with the camera.  The female pileated came for suet.  The milkweed buds were turning orange and an orange butterfly flew through the yard.  A Carolina wren inspected the feeders.  K tempted crows with french fries.  I saw the little butterfly I think was a Spring azure.  A bluebird visited.but the red belly was not willing to come to a feeder while I was outside.  

 

Showers & sun

Yesterday was really busy.  I glimpsed a white  breasted nuthatch on the seed feeder but I've nothing to show for it.  Cabbage whites flitted around and I saw a blue jay.  A squirrel has been eating the suet that was supposed to be too hot pepper flavored for squirrels.  The temperature warmed up and the wind wasn't so fierce.  This is where we held our celebration.

We had a rain shower at breakfast today and visits from a blue jay and a crow.  Bluebirds and a mockingbird showed up at lunch. A titmouse joined the seed eaters.  I have been persuaded that the bush I've been calling sakaki, Cleyera japonica, is actually a cheap substitute, False Japanese Cleyera, Ternstroemia gymnanthera .  They are related and look very similar.  But I am not absolutely convinced.

Rainy day

A wet, dreary, chilly day brought few birds.  A male pileated woodpecker came for a late breakfast.  A Carolina wren joined us at lunch.  The camera fought with the water-spotted window.  

 

Gray

This day wasn't as warm as the last two but just as windy.  I saw bluebirds, blue jays, and not much else.  A squirrel ate "hot pepper" suet that's supposed to be squirrel-proof.  A left-over Cinco de Mayo squirrel, perhaps?

 

Windy

A mockingbird breakfasted on suet.  A squirrel coveted bird food.  Blue jays were thirsty.  I also saw a pine warbler and a bluebird drinking from the pool puddle.  A titmouse looked into barkbutter balls.  Our thermometer showed mid 80s but the wind kept it from seeming hot.  After lunch, I noticed that the hummer feeder seemed to be missing.  Somehow it had come unscrewed from the hook and fallen.  I put it back together and rehung it which may have been unwise.  A couple of hours later I saw a male hummer visit it.  I was too close to move and take a photo but the bird didn't stay long.  Was I too close or the sugar water gone off or the wind too much?  

Despite the wind, I saw a few butterflies, a dragonfly, and wasps.  Butterflies included the ubiquitous cabbage white, some kind of dark swallowtail, and some that were too quickly gone to guess.  Some kind of midge followed me into the house.  

Dragonfly

Today became sunny, quite warm, and very windy.  I was focused on getting photo proof that the white throats were still here and didn't realize I had chopped the head off a brown thrasher - I never saw it was there in the background.  A Carolina wren ate seeds and a bluebird ate what she found in the glass dish.  A blue jay picked at the barkbutter dust.  The bluebirds also ate seeds and the seed feeder perch kept rolling which flustered them.  The catbird was back.  So was the crow.  

A yellow dragonfly with rusty striped wings and matching eyes perched on a garden stake.   It was a painted skimmer, Libellula semifasciata, the first I've ever seen.  A very small butterfly kept circling the yard, never stopping for a photo.  I wasted many pixels.  My best guess would be a spring azure.  Wasps were flying around.  The male red bellied woodpecker ate mealworms while I was outside, a first.  A titmouse picked through the seeds.  

Migration map

Cornell says this week is the migration peak for our area.  Here is their map.  Meanwhile, the white throats have not left yet.  A crow paid several visits to the area where I sometimes spill food.  A mockingbird also joined the feeder crowd.  Blue jays were right behind.  A catbird returned.  Bluebirds were in a hurry.  

A tiger swallowtail flew around the trees, despite the wind.  The sunshine must have compensated for the cool air.   A cabbage white stayed lower in its flight.