Bye, blue water

Today the pool was covered for the winter.  Morning was chilly despite the bright sun and even after lunch I stayed in the sun.  A dark butterfly kept moving so I couldn't be sure of its identity.  After errands, I saw chickadees and cardinals eating seeds.  Then I caught a flash of kingfisher wings so I moved to the back window.  Not one, but two kingfishers were competing for a good vantage point to watch for fish. back and forth among the dock pilings they chased each other until an egret swooped in and sent them both away.  

Cool and damp

Slowly, surfaces dried and faint shadows sometimes showed when the sun found a thin place in the overcast.  Occasional wind gusts brought down more leaves.  A female cardinal hopped around in a dogwood.  

Rain

Sometimes it was just a mist and at other times it pounded the pavement.  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.