Windy with flakes

Cumulus clouds are moving fast and the sun comes and goes.  Trees are thrashing and roaring.  A chickadee braved the gusts to reach the feeder.  A pelican paddled on the creek.  There's no sign of precipitation and the wind has dried out the birdbath.  So much for the predicted flurries.

By late morning, birds were venturing out.  The towhee pair, white throated sparrows and juncos were kicking mulch while Carolina wrens rode the feeder.  There are three birds around the birdbath - the white throated sparrow is on the left. 

At lunch, fat, linty flakes of snow drifted on the wind. The nuthatch showed up.  It's new trick is tucking seeds into the shingles.  House finches continue to feed each other, getting ready for lovemaking.  Cardinals also braved the wind. A chickadee found something to eat on a rosebush.

Ospreys soared over the creak and one plunged in.  Pelicans continued to fish.  A buzzard circled.  When the osprey tried to land in the pines, crows drove it off. 

Mid afternoon, some more flakes fell, and around 6pm when I was at the library, there was a sudden short blizzard.  Nothing stuck to the ground and it didn't amount to enough water to moisten the birdbath.