March weather

From 72° at breakfast we dropped to 38° at supper, accompanied by rain and wind.  I was pleased to discover that the orioles hadn't deserted yet.  

The rain slacked off in the late afternoon and the sky began to clear around sunset.  

 

85°

Today the birds were lively.  White throats and maybe more than one song sparrow foraged.  A brown thrasher visited early. 

In the late afternoon I tried to seduce a squirrel with peanut fragments.  Meanwhile a downy fussed because it wanted suet and thought I was too close.  A mockingbird found the mealworms in the glass dish.  

The high temperature was another record.  

 

HOT!

Over 80° with bright sun!  I saw a cabbage white and a small orange butterfly, many bees and a wasp flying.  NWS Wakefield said it was 83 and broke the record for March 10°.

 

Still warm

The fog finally cleared by lunchtime (which was earlier than last week because we are saving daylight).  While I was outside a big carpenter bee buzzed around.  

 

Overcast

Occasional sunshine and more frequent wind gusts punctuated a mostly overcast day.  I saw 78° on the thermometer again.  The pileated woodpeckers made repeated visits to the suet.  White throats polished off some barkbutter but there was plenty for a pale pine warbler.  

Daffodils were in full bloom, not just the dwarf clumps.  Other bulbs were sending up leaves.   A pelican flew upstream past the silent dredge equipment.  I noticed that the Argiope egg sack looked deflated so perhaps the spiderlings took advantage of the warm wind to spread out.  

The male red bellied woodpecker returned but spooked before he got any suet.  Then the female pileated showed up, so maybe that's why he left.  A cormorant paddled past the dredge barge.  Others flew to their roost under heavy clouds.  

 

Fog

Yesterday evening's mist was thick fog by this morning.  A starling showed up early.  A myrtle warbler lurked at the edge of visibility.  White throats foraged in wet mulch and a song sparrow got up on a dead vine for a better view.  A Carolina wren ate barkbutter scraps.  A goldfinch just observed.  Bluebirds were around in the fog but I only got photos once the sun had cleared the vapors away.  I heard a pileated woodpecker calling and saw it land but I was in another room.

 

Spa time

Morning was sunny.  The male pileated was an early visitor.   To my surprise, a mockingbird partook of the jelly.  Bluebirds and Carolina wrens wanted barkbutter balls.  Later, so did a myrtle warbler, then a blue jay, then a white throat.  Meanwhile other sparrows took advantage of the warmth for a bath.  One was a song sparrow.  

A starling looked beautiful in the sunlight, even if it was eating way too much.  The sky was hazy and clouds came and went.  Cardinals also wanted a bath.  A brown headed nuthatch just wanted seeds.  The female pileated got a turn at the suet.  A dove searched through the mulch.  In the afternoon, the temperature dropped and the sky got gray, then misty.