White sky

I was up before the sun and chased a bright planet into Norfolk.  When I got out of my meeting, it was just hazy, but by 11am the sky was white though there was sunshine.  I saw a bufflehead on the creek when I got home. Later there were ruddy ducks. 

We went out for lunch and when we got back white throats were scurrying around.  Wrens, nuthatches, chickadees, downy woodpeckers, and warblers were on the feeders.  And on the creek, a host of fishing ducks rolled through - diving splashing, and paddling.  I saw hoodies and what I think were red breasted mergansers, but the camera was in another room so I cannot be sure.  Pelicans flew over.  It had gotten windy, though warmer. 

Snow birds

There was a flurry of snow at breakfast, little pellets that melted quickly. The clouds kept the light level low and photos blurry.  But it brought out lots of birds:  robins, warblers, wrens, woodpeckers, sparrows, titmice, nuthatches, starlings, cowbirds, blackbirds, chickadees, and juncos.  There were ruddy ducks on the water and herons flying over the creek.  I glimpsed a flicker in the trees.

The sky began to clear around 8:30am.  A pelican cruised over the creek.  A blue jay raided the mealworms. A goldfinch was thirsty and the oriole was hungry for jelly.

The evening sky was gorgeous, a thin crescent moon trailed by a bright planet, with the afterglow of sunset in the West.  But it was cold and I didn't take a camera.

Bright morning, gloomy afternoon

It was not quite so cold as yesterday morning.  There was a little ice in the birdbath and none on the creek. K insisted something had finished the jelly that was left out overnight and I could see the dish had moved.  A Carolina wren was at work on the suet when I tottered out to the kitchen.  It was joined by warblers.  White throats foraged in the mulch.  Later, a titmouse joined the suet crowd.  The flock of ruddy ducks was back.

On our way to church we watched a half dozen crows harass a hawk all around the sky.  I only had my phone for a camera and it wouldn't capture flying birds.  When we got home, a nuthatch was eating suet.  Both kinds of woodpecker showed up: downy and red belly.  Juncos and doves mingled with the sparrows that now included song sparrows.  Blue jays lurked up in the trees.  Finally the oriole came for its lunch. 

As we ate, a carpet of white unrolled from the West across the sky.  And then thicker, darker clouds flowed underneath.  A female hoodie rose up and showed off her belly.  Several buffleheads fished while a great blue heron stood on a piling.  Egrets stalked under the dam.

Around 4:30pm the cloud cover moved away and we had sun again.  Ruddy ducks reappeared, and the buffleheads left. 

Cold Lunar New Year

There was some ice on the creek and more in the birdbath.  Despite sunshine, the air never got very warm.  Wind gusts hit occasionally.  The Lunar New Year tide sank very low.

The female red bellied woodpecker was back again, as were the downy pair.  Robins were thirsty.  A blue jay had a taste for mealworms.  And the first junco since the snow melted mingled with the sparrows.  Then the starlings came back.  They were pretty but I cannot afford the way they go through food. It's a good thing they don't get along.  Titmice and nuthatches waited till the coast was clear. 

Several snowy egrets and one great egret hung out at the dam outfall.  I saw a pelican, but it eluded the camera.  A flock of cormorants swam upstream while a great blue heron watched.  In the afternoon, a small flock of ruddy ducks bobbed on the water.   

K had put out fresh seeds and a squirrel was determined to break into the feeder. Both pine and yellow rumped warblers wanted suet.  The song sparrow joined the white throats.  Doves were around.  Finally the oriole appeared.  Several crows were around and one landed on the patio to work on an edible it had acquired.

A flurry of birds

The day began with sunshine but there were birds all over shrieking their version of "bread and milk!" There were robins, white throats, and a blue jay, before that feral cat showed up.  The birds seemed to think they were safe off the ground.  At any rate, they quickly returned to the feeders.

Yellow rumped warblers, titmice, and a male pine warbler were feeding when the starlings arrived.  The downy woodpeckers were intimidated.  Red winged blackbirds joined the feast.  Then four goldfinches appeared.  The starlings did not get along.  The oriole finally showed up, then the red bellied woodpecker.  Wrens got their mealworm snacks. 

A flock of ruddy ducks bobbed and dived below the dam.  Occasionally cormorants or buffleheads joined in.  A couple of great blue herons had a dispute over who was allowed at a favorite fishing spot.  Of course there were mallards and I got glimpses of hoodies.  An egret flew over the dam. 

In the afternoon I saw the female pine warbler.  The ruddy ducks came closer but because they are quite small, it wasn't close enough.  The setting sun glared off their lighter patches.

Early rain, then wind

When I got up (late), white throats and yellow rumps were hustling food.  They soon disappeared.  While a little rain had accumulated in the mealworm dish, what fell in the morning was negligible.  I'm concerned that the warmth has encouraged buds to swell.  Flickers of sun began to appear in the late morning.

Then a pine warbler arrived.  Titmice, downy woodpeckers, and chickadees made frequent feeder visits.  A fierce West wind drove dramatic clouds across the sky to the South of us but the view to the North stayed blue. The wind ruffled the birdbath, made waves on the creek, and set the trees to thrashing.  But the gulls seemed to like it. The temperature dropped throughout the day. 

Warm and sunny

I was welcomed home by a beautiful blue sky and warm, gentle air.  The creek mirrored the sun on the trees.  While I was gone, the birds just about finished the suet block. A male pine warbler moved on to the mealworm dish while chickadees tried to pry out the last morsels of suet.  White throated sparrows ate everything - seeds, mealworms, and whatever they found in the mulch.  A song sparrow stayed down in the mulch. 

Pelicans flew over and occasionally plunged into the water.  A flock of ruddy ducks paddled around below the dam outfall, but the sun glare and distance made them hard to capture.  Buffleheads and hoodies were out fishing along with cormorants.  A big commotion turned out to be Canada geese bathing. 

Downy woodpeckers came for lunch, as did titmice.  Like the white throats, the titmice discovered mealworms.  Red breasted nuthatches stuck to seeds and suet.  Finally the oriole showed up to enjoy some jelly.  A yellow rumped warbler showed up after lunch.  Crows were, as usual, ubiquitous.  A dove stayed high up in the oak.  It was plenty warm for bees to visit the camellia.

Around 3pm I decided to take a walk in the park up the street where I thought I had seen shovelers earlier.  There were a lot of them, along with a lot of geese and three perched cormorants.  One female hoodie was the only other kind of duck on the lake.

It was a wonderful day to be home.

Busy breakfast

The wrens reappeared, even though the mealworm dish was down to fragments and rainwater.  A male pine warbler tried to share the suet (which was disappearing fast) with a downy woodpecker but the female red belly displaced them both.  The oriole was back too, even though the jelly had turned to juice.  A nuthatch, four yellow rumped warblers and a female pine warbler, many white throated sparrows and a song sparrow all came for breakfast. 

And then there was a fish drive with many cormorants, circling gulls, cruising pelicans, and egrets and herons trying to keep up.  Soon they all came back downstream.

Then I had to leave to catch a plane. 

It wasn't supposed to rain

I got up late.  The sky was broken overcast.  The creek was quiet but I saw red bellied and downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, a pine warbler, titmice, and house finches.  A blue jay ate an acorn in the cherry.  I put out mealworms and jelly since I didn't see the oriole.  I'm pretty sure that only the more timid male is still around.  And then around 11, rain fell and probably turned the goodies to soup.

It rained again during lunch and the temperature dropped as a NW wind blew.  Nevertheless lots of white throats and a song sparrow foraged for lunch.  The song sparrow got into the birdbath again.  One of the white throats ate mealworms and another got on the seed feeder.  A yellow rumped warbler showed up.  A nuthatch worked on its seed in the dogwood.  The red bellied woodpecker inspected one of the neighbor's big pines.  But still no oriole or wrens.  The sun broke through around 2pm.

More gloom

Under the gray sky on a placid creek, a pelican slowly paddled downstream.  Geese also disturbed the dull reflections.  At the feeders, I saw the oriole, the red belly, a nuthatch, and many white throats.  One white throat continued to raid the mealworms.  Then they all cleared out. The squirrel that likes to make big leaps through the trees also had a taste for hickory buds. 

A crow stalked around the redwood as though it had lost something there.  The downy woodpeckers and the wrens arrived mid day.  By then the mealworm dish was empty so the wren had to eat suet.  A light rain began after 8pm with the temperature in the 60s.

Gray again

The light was quite low at breakfast - I could hear the camera shutter as two clicks instead of one.  It did not rain during the day but an overnight rain had left everything wet.  The male pine warbler could not wait for breakfast.  A wren came as soon as I put out mealworms.  Then the oriole remembered the jelly.  A white throat took an interest in mealworms and pushed the wren off.  Nuthatches arrived next, then the red bellied woodpecker.  Titmice had a hard time squeezing in.  A downy woodpecker replaced the red belly.  By the time the butterbutt showed up, every seat was taken. 

The pine warbler was back at lunchtime, as was the red belly.  Four doves showed up  and white throats were all over.

Lots of birds

An overcast sky meant low light again.  The female red bellied woodpecker was back almost as soon as I restocked the oriole's treats.  And the oriole soon followed.  Lots of white throated sparrows showed up for breakfast.  Titmice, nuthatches, yellow rumped warblers, wrens, and the usual cardinals and chickadees all put in a breakfast appearance.  A downy came late to the party.  Meanwhile, pelicans flew back and forth, but too often behind a branch or other obstruction.  Eventually one plunged where I could see it and took its time swallowing its catch. 

The clouds broke up around noon.  A couple of herons carefully spaced themselves along the creek.  Cormorants and fishing ducks began to join the pelicans.  I saw both hoodies and buffleheads.  Crows herded a hawk across the sky, then back the other way, and I missed it both times.  Then, a surprise: a brown creeper worked its way up the multiple trunks of the wild cherry, dropping to the ground to begin again.  A pine warbler shared the suet with a downy.  A blue jay took off every time I got it in focus.

Mid afternoon, the cormorants alerted other birds and herons, hoodies and a pelican joined the fishing.  Meanwhile on the lake, shovelers were joined by dark ducks I didn't recognize.  My best guess is common goldeneye.  An egret landed on the dead snag near them.  Down on the creek, a lone female bufflehead fished after the other birds left. The Western sky lit up with tangerine-edged clouds at sunset. 

Gray

The overcast made the light at breakfast too low for close ups.  I saw titmice, sparrows, a pair of downy woodpeckers, an oriole, pine and yellow rumped warblers.  Then I had to leave for a meeting.

At lunch,  I glimpsed a bufflehead and a heron.  Something that looked like a sheet of thin,clear plastic slowly floated downstream. A squirrel bounced around under the cedar, then dug up a nut.

Nuthatches came to both feeders.  The female red bellied woodpecker dislodged a pine warbler from the suet.  Titmice, the butterbutt, the oriole, and sparrows were back, but a female house finch drove off all that wanted seeds.  A song sparrow joined the white throats.  It was not intimidated by the bossy finch. 

Cooling down

The sky filled with clouds which then broke apart, then came back, repeatedly.  The temperature steadily fell.  I saw bees flying around the camellia in the morning but they were gone by noon. 

A half dozen sparrows scurried around hunting food on the patio.  The red bellied woodpecker breakfasted on suet.  Then the yellow rumped warbler did the same.  The creek was mostly quiet though fishing cormorants disturbed the reflections. Shovelers were back on the lake.

At lunchtime, the yellow rumped warbler drove off a pine warbler that wanted some suet too.  She sulked in the dogwood.  A titmouse took advantage of the distraction.  Later a nuthatch showed up.

I walked around outside and an egret flew over, but I was caught with the wrong focal length.  I also saw a heron fly by.  I had stayed in for days, first because of the snow, then because the ground was spongy.  There were a few fishing ducks out on the creek - hoodies and buffleheads.  Crows chased something big.

I put jelly and mealworms out and began to be concerned they'd had no takers.  Finally two wrens appeared.  Then the oriole found the jelly where I'd moved it to the birdbath.  A song sparrow arrived around then.

Windy

Wind from the SW brought the temperature up to 70°F and drove the water out of the creek. I believe I saw whitecaps, and even the birdbath had waves.

Sparrows were out scavenging what had been hidden by show.  Eventually, I put jelly and mealworms out, and the oriole was right there.  Warblers and woodpeckers attacked the suet while titmice weren't so picky.  The wrens took longer to arrive.  A large flock of crows wheeled around the sky dancing on the wind.  A buzzard flew fairly close.

The same birds were still around at lunch and a pine warbler joined them.  Then the red bellied woodpecker took over the suet.  A lone robin came for a drink.  The downy woodpecker pair shared the suet for a while.  The tide went as low as I can recall seeing it.  Up on the lake the water was high and a flock of shovelers strained it through their big bills.

Wispy clouds made a glorious sunset.

Sublime is a verb

The ice on the creek, and even the snow on the grass, was turning to vapor when we got up.  It made a dense, low fog.  Much of the snow was already gone, as were the icicles.

A pine warbler was already on the suet.  But the downy wanted in too.  I only saw the junior oriole today.  Carolina wrens and white throated sparrows soon arrived.

The ice fog dissipated by mid morning. At last, the heron was back on its favorite spot at the end of the dock next to the dam.  Buffleheads fished along the edge of the ice, sometimes surfacing through it.

The red bellied woodpecker came for lunch.  So did nuthatches.  The wrens wanted to know why their mealworms had nasty jelly on them.  A blue jay lurked but stayed away from the feeders.  A flock of crows carried on like they'd seen a dragon before heading off South.

Honeybees hunted for unfrozen camellia flowers.  Apparently some buds survived.   The rosemary had shed all its flowers.

A very round moon glowed through a thin cloud layer as I came home.

Warmer

Finally the temperature rose above freezing.  An oriole was up before me, working on the suet.  A downy woodpecker wanted to share.  A blue jay picked up what fell in the snow.  The song sparrow perched on the empty hanger for the mealworm dish.  Yellow rumped warblers wanted suet too. 

Someone fed a crow what looked like a stale roll, which it perched on our dock to eat.  The tide was very low and, where the current flowed near the opposite bank the creek, ice melted and I saw mallards and an egret taking advantage. 

I tossed out a small piece of orange but the oriole ignored it.  So, after lunch I put it and some jelly in the mealworm dish and dropped that back into the hanger.  The oriole found that quickly and gobbled jelly.  A pair of pine warblers showed up for some suet.  Juncos joined the sparrows.  Titmice and wrens were around as well.

Broken overcast came and went, and was thin enough for weak sunlight most of the day.  Icicles dripped and snow settled and leaked, but it was far from gone when the sun set.

Cloudy

I saw pink streaks in the sky from my cozy bed.  The sky grew more cloudy as the day went on which I hoped was an indication of a warmer South wind.  It was still way below freezing all day.  The entire creek froze overnight.  The birds weren't quite as frantically hungry today.  Sparrows were the first up.  I only saw one oriole at a time, but I think I saw both.  A cowbird pair made a brief return.  Two Carolina wrens ate everything.  Pretty soon juncos arrived.  Then a yellow rumped warbler and three titmice showed up.

While I was on the phone, I saw a crow chasing a hawk.  At lunch, a mockingbird appeared very briefly.  Three blue jays came close to get a meal.  The female red bellied woodpecker came back, then the pine warbler.  The downy woodpeckers also wanted suet but were willing to share.  It took me a while to capture a nuthatch.  

An egret landed under the bulkhead but didn't stay long.  I did some shoveling which uncovered bark butter bits that soon attracted birds.  Nevertheless, things got tense on the suet sometimes.  Thin clouds covered the sky. Late in the afternoon, I spied the towhee lurking under an azalea.  I grabbed the camera and he was gone.  Not long after that the light was gone too.