Sunny and warmer

Crows and cormorants were the only sights at breakfast. A squirrel tried to puzzle out the bird feeder with the usual lack of success.  Later white throated sparrows foraged in the mulch.  Pelicans cruised the creek and some great blue herons soared over the trees. Bees visited the rosemary despite a stiff wind. 

A male bufflehead dived and just as I thought it would reappear, a goose paddled into view.  Then a whole flock came downstream with one brown duck in their midst. 

Frozen

The sky was hazed with streaky clouds.  Rainwater in the birdbath had turned to ice and there was frost on the mulch and dock.  The creek was clear, however, and placid.  Hooded mergansers, buffleheads, and Canada geese were out early.  This rather Goth female spent considerable time bathing and preening. 

A fox sparrow hit a window in the front of the house.  It staggered off a little and slowly recovered.  I left it alone aside from photos. 

As I was cooking, I saw a dark eyed junco foraging in the mulch with a white throated sparrow.  Chickadees were busy with the feeder.  The temperature already rose quite a bit and the birdbath melted.  The hermit thrush reappeared briefly.

Chickadees continued to visit through lunch.  We spent the afternoon at a party and when we returned home is was cold again.  The first quarter moon was bright overhead, undimmed by the clouds flowing out of the West. 

Blue sky

There were buttery cotton clouds at sunrise but they cleared off.  The water made rippled reflections of the sunlit bank.  Buffleheads and geese were out on the water and a flock of small ducks flew downstream.  An egret fought the wind to go North. 

A cardinal pair visited early, then a white throat.  Finches joined in.  Squirrels had a fight on the far side of the pool.  A hawk shot past the feeder and behind the house. 

Titmice visited the feeder in the late morning.  A pelican swooped through.  Then mallards and female pintails appeared on the creek. 

I went outside in the afternoon but the cold drove me back in.  The regulars were at the feeder and white throats in the mulch.  Cormorants were fishing and flying. 

Rain

At least the wind has calmed.  A few regulars came to the feeder.  The rain lasted into the afternoon.  While dinner was cooking, a flotilla of geese passed in review. 

As we ate Thanksgiving dinner, glimmers of sunlight drew birds out of hiding.  In addition to the regulars, there were white-throated sparrows, three titmice, and a mockingbird. The mockingbird found something of interest in the dogwood.  But the sun didn't last. There were ripples on the creek made by something close to the bank that I could not see. 

Northeaster

Strong winds and cold rain made a nasty morning.  I saw a bufflehead dive on the creek but no other water birds.  Chickadees, a titmouse, and finches were hungry enough to visit the rocking feeder. This one kept a weather eye out. 

On our way back from lunch as we passed Lake Smith I saw cormorants and mallards.  At home, the wind drove water up to the top of the dock. White throated sparrows hunted in the mulch while cardinals joined finches on the feeder. 

Rain

Today began cooler than yesterday and kept going down.  The raindrops plopped individually at breakfast but came faster by mid-morning.  Chickadees visited the feeder while white throated sparrows foraged.  The creek and the sky were empty of life.

And that's how the day went: chickadees and squirrels and early dark. 

Buffleheads have arrived

Fat, wooly clouds, the early ones tinted yellow, streamed East.  Overnight rain filled the birdbath and fogged the windows so I could not get photos of the early-rising white throats in the mulch.  Then wind ruffled the creek and dried the glass so I saw geese and two female buffleheads on the water.  A pair of cardinals visited the feeder. 

The sky cleared to blue at lunch but the wind kept birds under cover except for a turkey vulture.  The maple tree went red since Saturday.  Then more clouds rolled in from the SW and it looked like rain.  It was shirt-sleeve warm and very humid - the patio never dried out despite the wind.

At dusk, the clouds broke apart but more were coming, smoke gray against a silver sky.  The crickets sounded loud and fast.  I think the last caterpillar has gone. 

Overcast

Chickadees and titmice visited the feeder at breakfast.  I caught a hermit thrush (I think) perching in the dogwood.  The creek was flat till a boat went out but even that didn't scare up any birds.  Meanwhile, the squirrels are getting amorous again. 

I put some peanut bits out for the wren and one male squirrel gobbled most of them.  It nosed a sluggish wasp that staggered off.  A few bees and one small tan moth flew around.  I did see the wren later, singing in the sakaki.  Chickadees and titmice were back on the feeder.  Geese and cormorants were out on the creek.

Ice on the creek!

While I didn't see frost, the ice showed that there'd been a real freeze.  Interestingly, the thin skin of ice (thin enough to ripple) seemed to be spreading as the morning progressed.  Some mallards paddled in the clear areas.  The air was still and the sky clear.  Then a boat came through and churned the ice to slush. 

Up in the yard, a blue jay and other birds flew among the trees.  White throated sparrows visited the feeder first, then the regulars.  A dove poked around.

At lunch, titmice competed for a place at the feeder and I saw one down in the mulch.  Then the !#$% cat showed up and everyone went into hiding.  A big bird I think was an osprey soared in circles above the creek. 

In the afternoon we went out to Pleasure House Point.  As we were walking out a pelican passed overhead.  Out at the Center low tide exposed bars where gulls rested.  On the way home I saw a sundog, probably an indication that the weather won't be as nice tomorrow.

Since I was already bundled up I decided to spend the rest of the sunlight in the back yard.  A kingfisher saw me first and took off.  Cormorants and gulls flew over and ducks paddled around what was left of the creek in a very low tide.  The ducks nibbled at the barnacle encrusted pilings.  At least one caterpillar is still alive, though very sluggish. 

Cold wind and sun

Only a few chickadees and one female finch visited the feeder while I watched.  Geese and mallards paddled while pelicans and egrets flew over the creek. Despite the wind did, the creek surface was glassy at times.  I think I saw a ruddy duck but the photo's a blur. 

More cold sunshine

Lots of fisher birds showed up this morning: two pelicans flying high, cormorants, and hooded mergansers on the water.  And the time matched the newspaper's "Solunar table" of peak fish feeding times. 

But the feeder was vacant.

And I spent the rest of the day inside away from windows, alas.  The temperature got up into the high 50s but there was wind chill. 

Sunny but frigid

We think the thermometer dropped into the 20s overnight though the plants weren't showing evidence yet.  I only saw chickadees and a finch on the feeder - the action was all out on the creek.  There wasn't the frenzy of yesterday, at least while I watched.  But pelicans, cormorants, herons, egrets and gulls were active.  A turkey vulture circled and its red head caught the sun.

Ducks appeared in the afternoon.  The water sparkled.  A squirrel sat on the birdbath and fluffed its tail like a pillow, very funny to watch.  Another came to the glass and peered in to see why peanuts were not forthcoming. 

The fox came back

I left for a meeting before sunrise which was quite colorful.  When I got home, birds were having a fishing frenzy.  A pair of pelicans, gulls, cormorants, egrets, and herons all followed the fish upstream.  Unfortunately there was still enough foliage to make photography difficult. It was cold and windy but beautiful. 

At lunch a full grown gray fox walked from one corner of the house to the other right in front of the glass.  But fast as I snatched the camera, I only caught its rear end. Very little happened at the feeder, just a finch and a few chickadees.

The sky clouded over in the afternoon though the wind blew the clouds apart every so often.  Squirrels chased each other around the yard.

After dark the temperature dropped to 34° by 9pm.  I wonder if I'll see frost in the morning? 

Busy birds

The temperature went back up so, of course, it rained.  But the clouds thinned around 8:30 and there was intermittent sunlight.  Both song and white throated sparrows foraged under the feeder while all the regulars competed for space on the perch.  A male cardinal pushed a female off.  Later titmice joined in.  A noisy flock of crows left the pines and flew overhead.

Meanwhile out on the creek pelicans and cormorants fished.  Egrets preened on the dock.

At lunch, chickadees tried to get past a female finch who played king of the feeder.  A titmouse flitted between bushes.  A pelican preened on a dock piling.  Sunshine gave way to threatening clouds that roared out of the Southwest.  It was warmer outside than in, but very damp.  At least two black swallowtail caterpillars were still alive but the portulaca was half freezer-burned. 

Gray and chilly

All the regulars were back at the feeder, joined by a Carolina wren and a tufted titmouse.  The creek was empty except for occasional cormorants.

At lunch, a yellow-rumped warbler hopped about in the sakaki bush.  The Carolina wren came back for the dregs of my trail mix.  Cormorants flew on high in every direction while geese just flew downstream close to the water.  A squirrel also got interested in the trail mix till something sent it scurrying for cover under the chair.  It waited several minutes before venturing back to the peanut bits.  I figure the predator must have been a bird.

The day was so dreary I decided to forgo the grand opening of the Brock Center at Pleasure House Point. And rain began shortly after dark. 

Heavy clouds from the North

I saw the waning moon when I got up.  Though there were breaks in the clouds, the sun didn't seem to line up with them very often.  The wind made it even colder.  Finches and chickadees visited the feeder.  Cormorants paddled downstream.  A brown pelican made two passes upstream and back.  Several large dark birds, at least one of which was an eagle, circled high above the dam.

The clouds finally cleared in the afternoon but it was still cold and windy.  The caterpillars on the parsley hardly moved.  A yellow jacket landed on the sunny side of the oak and a lacewing (I think) landed on the window.  Ducks paddled around the creek but I couldn't make out any but mallards.  Cormorants were in the air instead of the water.  The surface of the creek looked dusty with floating bits of vegetation. 

I wonder if we'll have frost tonight? 

Brrrrrrr!

Heavy clouds flowed down from the NNW.  Gulls and an egret played on the wind.  A flurry of finches descended on the feeder.  This one seems possessed.  I mistook a couple of male mergansers for buffleheads on the creek.  With frost a possibility tonight, I brought in the flowerpot.

Glimmers of sun appeared in the late morning, along with chickadees.  A buzzard swooped overhead.  Then a flock of geese did the same.

Though the sun shone in the afternoon, the wind pealed the heat off my camera fingers.  A variety of ducks were out on the creek - mallards, mergansers, and maybe pintails and ruddy ducks.  Cormorants flew high and low.  Dark clouds continued to flow from the North below high white cirrus brush marks out of the West. I meant to check on the caterpillars but I got too cold to remember. 

Overcast

Apparently a cold front is passing through and the temperature is predicted to drop tonight.  Birds were busy this morning.  Finches and chickadees competed for the feeder while three doves and two white throated sparrows foraged below.  A female cardinal and a titmouse visited very briefly and a Carolina wren flitted around the grill.  On the creek, Canada geese cruised by.

By lunch they were all gone.  A couple of egrets flew high over the trees.  Geese returned upstream.  The clouds thickened but the wind dropped.

A light rain began in the late afternoon.  Six mourning doves and a pair of cardinals came to the mulch under the feeder.  I wonder if they sensed the impending cold?  I hear it is snowing in Ohio. 

Fog burned off

It was misty over the creek but an absolute whiteout on the Lesner Bridge.  By my return, the fog had lifted but I could see it as a solid layer over the Bay.  It was all gone by 10:30am.  Finches came to the feeder early.  Later it was chickadees.

After I got all my errands done, I sat outside and heard lots but saw little.  An egret circled over the trees.  A kingfisher zoomed downstream.  Hooded mergansers sailed by on the glassy creek.  Black swallow caterpillars were still growing and bees were busy.  The puffballs doubled in size. 

At lunch a crow chased off a red tailed hawk but I couldn't get the camera operating fast enough. The sky stayed clear through sunset.  At dusk, a katydid showed up on the window along with the ubiquitous little beige moths.  Overall, it was very pleasant with a light breeze. 

Light rain

I could have sworn the prediction for today was sunshine.  Instead a very misty rain began at breakfast.  Chickadees came to the feeder anyway.  I saw a male merganser hanging around the dock.  Something hawk-like flew over the house with a beak full of something.  I thought it was a crow till it was too late to take a picture. 

The rain stopped after lunch but the day stayed wet.  A titmouse visited.  Cormorants commuted across the sky in the late afternoon.  The lowest level of clouds streamed West and I saw a few breaks as the light was going.

Glassy creek in the morning

A dove was the first to appear.  Then white throated sparrows scurried around the patio and one flew up to the feeder.  Three blue jays flew across the yard to the maple and a minute later flew back behind the bedrooms.  Chickadees and finches took over the feeder perch.  Something big landed up in the neighbor's pine but flew back the way it came and all I got was a sense of size.  The sunshine leaked through the clouds and the creek was as flat as a mirror.

By afternoon, the creek surface was ruffled.  A flock of about a dozen hooded mergansers fished up and down the creek followed by some cormorants.  I could hear a kingfisher but never glimpsed it.  The crows were upset at something over by the water tower. I took some pictures of the spider egg sacks hanging like a string of pearls.  It was very hard to get them in focus in midair.  The black swallowtail caterpillars were still chowing down. 

Cloudy with filtered sunshine

Chickadees came to the feeder but didn't hang around.  I finally saw a female cardinal and a male house finch but they didn't stay.  Unidentifiable birds flitted through the trees.  I glimpsed a hermit thrush poking through the mulch by the kitchen wall.  First I saw its brown back and wondered what it was. A few minutes later, it came back and I saw its spotted chest, but it saw me, so no photo.

At lunch, white throated sparrows made hurried visits to the mulch below the feeder.  Chickadees and titmice competed with finches on the feeder itself.  Cormorants flew every which way. The clouds broke apart but sunshine was still intermittent. 

Upstream behind the pines was a rosy sunset.  

Visit to new park

A male Northern Pintail duck paddled downstream at breakfast.  On election day I saw what I think was a female who looked very different.  The early morning reflections on the creek were lovely but I had to leave for a meeting.  

On the way there and back I passed the new park at Lake Smith and in the afternoon we came back for a walk.  The fall colors reflected nicely in the lake but the traffic roaring by was distracting.  Farther into the woods we encountered a female pileated woodpecker.

I also saw a cabbage butterfly at lunch.  Sunset comes so early now that we barely beat it home. 

Sun's back

The first white throated sparrow has arrived.  A dove also poked around the mulch.  No one visited the feeder.  This is getting strange.

Chickadees did come to the feeder at lunch.  They were even joined by a titmouse.  But I have not seen a cardinal all week, and only a few finches.  Out on the water Canada geese continued to slurp something off the surface.

Gloom

Dark wisps hustled East under the overcast.  A cormorant paddled upstream.  Squirrels investigated the patio.

Rain fell in the late morning.  When it stopped around noon, chickadees flocked to the feeder.  A Carolina wren visited its favorite spots.  The birds still seem very wary so I suspect the hawk scared them while we were gone and the back yard was left to wildlife. Two buzzards circled in between bouts of rain. 

The rain returned in bands all afternoon and evening, clouds streaming East as though it were time-lapse photography. There was a brief clearing at sunset, but it did not last. 

White sky

The first pelican of fall sailed upstream at breakfast. Not much else happened in the morning.

In the afternoon, birds flitted all around the edges of the yard while only chickadees ventured out to the feeder.  A brown creeper hitched its way up and around the oak trunk.  It was two far to get a good photo of such a small bird.  A yellow rumped warbler landed among red dogwood leaves.  Mallards dabbled in the creek while a flock of cormorants came over the dam from the lake.  Gulls were wheeling over the lake as well. 

The ugly lump in the grass softened enough that I broke it open and proved it was a puffball. The day was warm but I felt chilled, perhaps by the lack of sunshine. The overcast showed pleating at times.  A basilica orb weaver left a strand of pearl egg cases dangling in a different dogwood. 

The nearly full moon looked misty as it rose. 

Fair weather for voters

Honking geese flew in and splashed down on the creek.  A honeybee sunned on the feeder post.  Gulls circled very high over the creek.  Egrets hung around the dock.  Mallards and friends paddled and dabbled in the creek. I think one was a Northern pintail duck.  I think I heard a kingfisher, but far off. 

At lunchtime a dove arrived.  Then four blue jays appeared and one tried the beauty berries.  A red bellied woodpecker investigated the dogwood.  A hawk hung around the creek.  A flock of cormorants drove fish upstream, then down. A great blue heron stalked around the dock across the creek - the tide was very low.  The heron caught at least one fish. 

The yo-yo temperature has the Carolina jessamine blooming.  I hope it saves some buds for spring!  Some small honey-brown mushrooms popped up since yesterday.  And a mahogany bracket is growing where the front yard oak was.  Some kind of big raptor sailed overhead, maybe a juvenile eagle?  Those ubiquitous little beige moths flitted everywhere.  The sky got fairly white as the afternoon wore on and the wind got colder. 

Cold and bright

Probably, I should have brought the flowerpot in.  But it's clear the portulaca seeds survive the winter so maybe I won't.  Little was stirring at breakfast. 

The afternoon was warmer so I walked around.  I found some puffballs in addition to the mushrooms I mentioned a few days ago.  There are a lot of black black swallowtail caterpillars on the parsley seedlings and one green caterpillar on the rue.   The dark ones seemed big for their color.  Gnats danced above my head and unidentified little bugs flitted around. 

Out on the creek a pair of mallards stalked a lone goose that finally chased them off. A squirrel buried a nut while keeping an eye on me.  And I saw my first yellow rumped warbler of the fall migration.