Mist

Not quite rain or fog. The newspaper shows a 3" rain deficit for 2011 so far, so this is probably good weather.

Such a wet day was good for discussing sea level rise. There was a good turnout for the afternoon session, maybe 30 people at the Bayside Recreation Center.

The egrets and herons were undeterred by the wet, and I could hear geese honking.

Dull gray and quiet

Rain is predicted. The osprey are still fishing here and perching in the pines across the creek. One hovered, then plunged right in front of us - about half the splash that a pelican makes. It caught something compact, maybe a crab instead of a fish?

The photo is from yesterday. Today's sky is gray, not blue. And now it's raining just as predicted. Wet noon and wetter afternoon.

Sun's back, so's the cold

A morning star trailed the crescent moon before dawn. The oaks are blooming.

At lunch, the ospreys put on quite a show, hovering, perching in the pines across the creek, and were they chasing each other? There were at least three different birds.

We cleaned out the feeder and I bought more seed, but how will we prevent the same critter from raiding it again? Noise, lights, stinky perfume? Wire the clasp shut? So, the feeder sits empty waiting for human brains to exercise their alleged superiority. I'm pretty sure it's a raccoon because last year's yellow jacket nest has been excavated, again!

Despite the lack of feeder, the yard was visited by a sapsucker, a flicker, many robins and chickadees. In the late afternoon, juncos came to investigate the empty feeder sitting on the patio.

Frost on the dock

No other sign of freezing, even the birdbath water is fluid. Still, it is probably good that I haven't planted anything yet.

A chickadee checked out the feeder and left. I think whatever opened it emptied it. So, I'll have to buy more seed.

An osprey was circling. Does indirect light (cloudy, early morning) make the fish easier to see?

Around noon snow, or at any rate white granules, were falling from the clouds.

Feeder mystery

Again we discovered the feeder open when we got up. I noticed a flower pot at the base of the pole was also moved. Raccoons? If a squirrel did it, it should happen in the daytime. The usual visitors used the perch anyway - cardinals, chickadees and titmice. It is raining and that seems to have discouraged the squirrels. It's discouraged me from going out to close the feeder. And I'm wondering how wet the seeds have gotten. Will they go moldy?

Later it cleared and I saw a pelican cruising downstream.

Hovering osprey

It was working hard to stay over one spot, but apparently there wasn't anything worth a plunge.

A cardinal was on the feeder at dawn. Chickadees and titmice followed.

I was out of town for two days but saw nothing of note.

The first spot of red

When there's barely enough light for color vision, I saw the male cardinal perched in the cedar. A little later, there was a flurry of wings as he drove juncos off the feeder. Now no one is feeding. So far the sky is overcast and warmth and rain are predicted.

No rain so far. And the last bit of color in the dusk was that same cardinal at the feeder.

Gray sky didn't last

Lots of lightning last night but it seems rained out now. Chickadees and titmice came for an early breakfast. Then mist moved in and now there is some sunshine.

There is still at least one junco hanging around. The cardinal pair visits regularly. Squirrels are chasing and squabbling and still trying to break into the feeder. Down on the creek an egret is catching the late afternoon sun.

Thunder

And the rain begins. I think everyone was just waiting as I've seen little action so far. It cleared off in the afternoon, but I didn't get much time to observe.

Equinox

A bright first day of Spring. The full moon was bright too, but I didn't see it fully till it was well up. So much for it looking bigger than normal because of it being at perigee.

Birds were out early while it was still dark enough that I had to by size and shape, not color. Cardinals and chickadees.

The newspaper has an interesting article about how signs of Spring are coming earlier. That is part of my purpose in keeping this record - to see when the seasonal signs change. The arrival of a bird or blossom is fairly easy. It's the last sighting I'm hoping to catch.

Clouded over

There were even a few drops of rain. The early light revealed a finch on the feeder and a squirrel in the flowerpot. Then the cardinal and chickadees arrived. I think the cardinal is nesting in the red cedar.

Tonight is supposed to be a spectacular full moon. And by 10am the clouds had moved on and the feeder got busy. Robins are busy too.

The first dogwood buds are open.

Beautiful dawn

Streaky pink clouds and an orange glow to the East. It is supposed to get hot today. So far crows and an osprey are all I've seen, though I hear a lot of singing. Now that I've seen eagles flying, it is easy to distinguish osprey - the wings are a different shape and osprey have a lot more white.

The peach sapling is blooming.

Also out on the creek are egrets, geese and cormorants. The birds are cautious when I am outside but eventually they visit the feeder. I saw the white-throated sparrow again, along with juncos, finches, chickadees, titmice, and cardinals. I kept hearing jays and red wing blackbirds.

Early bird is a cardinal

His eminence showed up as soon as it was light. Later the finches and titmice came to feed.

Late afternoon brought a food fight to the Sunflower Seed Diner. A junco and a finch had had a midair battle which the finch won. Then a cardinal showed up and chased the finch off the feeder. And more juncos, finches and both cardinals continued to shoo each other away. Chickadees sneaked in whenever they could.

It has been a beautiful, warm St. Patrick's Day. The groundhog may have been right this year!

Misty with occasional pelicans

Drippy with moments of real rain and not much going on. Fishing birds - pelicans and herons - are cruising the creek.

Occasional sunshine later. The cardinal came to the feeder. Even later it was pretty much clear and juncos showed up. Around sunset a large flock of large birds passed overhead. I couldn't make out what they were, but they went north then east then north as though they were following the creek.

Beautiful sunrise

Thanks to Daylight Savings, I have caught back up with dawn. This morning was streaky pink. Waterbirds were flying but songbirds still slept. A squirrel was up early.

Robins are all around.

Cooler

The morning is bright so far. Patchy cloud cover is breaking up. Osprey and pelican at the same time! Geese on the far bank.

Turns out the feeder was empty.

Gray and still

Except for the surface of the water and the honking of passing geese. Now the clouds have broken and we have sun and gulls. But, not for long. Sigh. The sun was in and out all morning but it is warm.

Then the afternoon turned lovely just as I went to hear Doug Tallamy speak on landscaping with native plants. He says that biodiversity means redundancy - a healthy ecosystem has several species for each task. Ecosystems are responsible for making oxygen and sequestering CO2, holding soil and moderating weather. He mentioned Louv's theory of nature-deficit disorder. Plants determine the carrying capacity of the place where they grow. Almost all birds depend on insects to feed nestlings even if they winter on seeds or berries, so a landscape that doesn't support bugs doesn't get nesting birds. And native plants support far more insects because they've co-evolved the plant's chemical defenses and the bug's digestion. He noted that domesticated food plants have often been bred out of their defenses in order to taste better, which is why they are more vulnerable to bugs. Also, many species of birds and plants rely on leaf letter, preferring it to mulch.

On the way out of the lecture, I saw wasps and a ladybug! At home a bumblebee was working on the rosemary. And an osprey passed overhead. The earliest of the oak trees is beginning to bloom.

The sun returns again

With a pelican in flight, followed by a heron.

It's warm, the bradford pears are blooming, and the robins are foraging - a beautiful day.

Sun is back

A small flock of hooded mergansers landed in the creek in the early light. Later a jay and robins visited the front yard. The jay was posing in the sweet gum, but I had an appointment.

Clouds moved in after noon and now it looks stormy. The pelicans are fishing and the crows are flying around. Something crow-size flew by making a sort of skee-skee sound. Maybe a hawk?

The trees are well and truly budded and the ornamentals are starting to bloom. Field pansies have joined the birdseye, henbit, dandelions, and field cress. Snow bells and the smallest daffodils have been joined by the dutch hyacinth. The forsythia along the fence are blooming.

Just dripping

The leaves, the roof, and the sky are all dripping rain. An egret flew downstream, much whiter than the gray sky behind it. Nothing else is stirring.

Early egret

The egret was the brightest thing on a gray morning as it fished along the bulkhead on the other side of the creek. Cormorants were also fishing and I caught a flicker of a kingfisher. Meanwhile, only the chickadees were hitting the feeder.

Lots of pelicans fishing at noon. Most of the early flowering trees have swollen buds. The bradford pears have turned a disgusting greenish gray.

Cold wind, warm sun

Squirrels and chickadees, geese and herons.

Curious titmouse

As I was working at the sink, a tufted titmouse was watching from the camellia bush outside the window. It hopped around to get a better look at me. Unfortunately, there's a screen on that window, so no photo.

The sun has returned and grebe and a cormorant were on the creek, and a chickadee on the feeder. Later, the creek was visited by pelicans and a kingfisher, as well as gulls, ducks and geese. At dusk a black and white bird bigger than the Canada geese paddled upstream. A part-Muscovy duck?

The snowbells are beginning to bloom. We inherited them with the yard and I've never been able to nail down their proper name, but Googling "snowbells" brings up the right images.

Very March

Heavy clouds, then a brief gleam of sunlight. It's wet but not so much as to make a puddle in the birdbath. A rusty-colored hawk plunged at something around the bend of the creek, but I couldn't tell if it had success. A pelican, a heron, a goose and a black backed gull spent time on the creek.

Finches, chickadees. and squirrels visited the feeder early. Then the rain began. It comes and stops and comes again, heavy at times.

Heavy clouds

It's quite warm and will probably rain later. The feeder has had all the usual visitors, chickadees, titmice, house finches and cardinals, plus a goldfinch. The female cardinal seems willing to share. Juncos are still hunting food on the ground and on the feeder. They were joined by robins on the ground. Some insects are flying and a mosquito landed on the window frame.

And I saw a woodpecker in silhouette but couldn't tell what kind. It was the right size for a red bellied, but mainly it hitched itself up the trunk of the sweet gum in a characteristically woodpecker move.

The maple across the creek seems to be enveloped in a red fog. And some other trees are budding - oak, gum, hickory. On the creek I saw geese and mallards, and a kingfisher on the piling. Crows were calling but a gull flew overhead making a "caw" sound that was more crow-like than the crows. I believe some doves flew overhead too.

Blue sky

Brisk with a breeze, but nice. Juncos, finches, chickadees, and titmice on the feeder. Herons, gulls, and pelicans on the water. Camera out of commission.

Gusty and cold

Not much moving despite the sun. More tree buds are beginning to swell.

In the afternoon, several herons followed some gulls upstream. I saw at least one pelican. The finch pair hung out on the feeder with a chickadee making occasional forays. Juncos and squirrels picked up what dropped to the patio. The cardinal pair were also feeding, one at a time.

Frost

The dock and the wood retaining walls are white but the ground is not. Chickadees are up and feeding. Juncos scurrying about. A sunny day with less wind.

Geese paddling on the creek. I saw a pair of robins. Maybe the flocks are breaking up?

Squirrel windfall

Last night's temperature drop was accompanied by rain and wind. The wind may explain how the feeder roof got tipped vertical exposing the seeds. Finches were undisturbed and continued feeding on the perch. The chickadees only returned after it was closed.

But, a squirrel noticed the opportunity and got into the inside of the feeder. Clearly nervous about being in such a potential trap, the squirrel kept popping up for quick check for danger. After we closed the feeder, the squirrel was all over it, trying to figure out how to make its windfall reappear. Suddenly, a crow dive-bombed the squirrel who fled down the post, but later returned to the puzzle.

Despite the continued wind, a pelican and a cormorant were out on the water. The female cardinal visited the feeder.