Still cool

The Carolina wren checked out the buffet early this morning.  Then we rushed off to a meeting.

When we arrived home I saw the bluebirds, and also a butterfly on the indigo.  But after I got the camera, nothing.  A squirrel worked on the neighbors' bird feeder.

A female hummingbird tried out the feeder.  A small blue tailed skink crossed the steps.  The downy woodpeckers were willing to try sunflower seeds now that the good suet was gone.

Toward evening when the light was poor, I saw something drop from the trees.  It turned out to be a mockingbird.

Cooler and windy

Brown debris from the trees' flowering coated the creek in the morning.  At lunch time, I saw dragonflies.  A female amberwing perched.  A different dragonfly with clear wings hung from the middle of the daffodil leaves.  I believe it was a common baskettail.  I also saw a butterfly, but it got away as did a damselfly. The cat sauntered through the yard in the bright sunlight.

An odd bee, or possibly a bee fly, sipped and hovered around an azalea. Turtles were out n the lake logs.  A paper wasp worked on the bench.  I saw a bluebird go into the nest box. but missed the photo. 

Warm and sunny

Downy woodpeckers wanted the last bits of suet.  They were confused when I took that suet cage down to get ready to hang a hummer feeder.  A Carolina wren checked out the feeders.  Then a crow awkwardly helped itself to the mealworms.  Blue jays, on the other hand, watched from the trees.  The warbler and the white throats were still here.  The goose families made several attempts to move in.  The first flycatcher of the year hopped around branches.  A house wren sang in the late afternoon. 

Lots  of spider threads were scattered randomly.  Bees and wasps were after nectar.  A blue tailed and a mature skink came out into the sun. The blue eyed grass had a couple of flowers.  Fiddleheads were unfurling.  Clouds at sunset turned a pastel orange.

Goslings

A few drops of rain fell in the morning, then the sky cleared.   The summer outfitted yellow rumped warbler was still around.  Downy woodpeckers worked on the last bit of expensive suet.  The cheap suet was only about half nibbled. I saw a red bellied woodpecker and a bluebird up in the trees.  Crows were hanging around for some reason.   Two goose families visited, one with the Muscovy nanny. They left a lot of poop, mostly where it would be annoying. 

Bees were flying and I thought I saw dragonflies, but they didn't land.  They certainly zipped around like dragonflies.  Yellow jacket queens searched for suitable nest sites.  A wasp visited azalea flowers.   Lots of turtles were out on logs catching the sun. 

Missed opportunities

A house wren hopped all around the feeders then departed just as I was getting focused. An adult cormorant studied the water from the neighbors' floating dock.  A juvenile perched on a lake snag, ignoring a turtle.  I was away for the middle of the day. 

It was a beautiful day that I spent too little time appreciating. I went outside intending to plant seeds in anticipation of rain tomorrow.  But I got caught up in looking around and never got to the seeds.  The coral honeysuckle was covered with flowers.  The pink azalea had a patch of magenta flowers and another patch of white.  Yellow jackets were more interested in nectar than color.  The purple iris had only four buds left. 

Unfortunately, I discovered the tall red cedar is infected with something that causes swelling and then bursts through in rusty orange lines. And a veil of clouds poured East bringing a chill that drove me back inside

Toward evening, I saw the first hummingbird of the year, his ruby throat flashing as he tried to get nectar from the blue wood hyacinths.  Not only was I not fast enough with the camera, I had taken the feeder in to clean and hadn't got around to putting one back out.  A female red bellied woodpecker didn't wait to be photographed either. The bluebirds dashed in and out of the nest box so I assume the eggs have hatched. White throats poked around and a summer-suited yellow rump warbler visited.  I don't know if it was a migrant passing through or one that wintered here.  The cat came with the dusk. 

Wet day

There was fog in the early morning but that lifted and we had sunshine.  White throats didn't wait for breakfast.  Nor did the male red bellied woodpecker.  All the many shades of spring green glowed in the sunlight, washed clean of pollen.  The creek was placid but clouded with silt. 

In the afternoon, threatening clouds built up.  Geese brought their goslings to help fertilize the lawn.  Lightning cracked and soon rain fell - blindingly for a short time, then very lightly till sunset.  The sinking sun made a rainbow.  Later, the moon had a ring.

Rain

Dawn was pink, then misty.  It soon turned to rain, sometimes light, but all day and into night. I saw white throated sparrows, downy woodpeckers, cardinals and chickadees.  Coming home from the morning meeting, I annoyed the bluebird who popped out of the box and flew off. The wild cherry was beginning to flower.  Slugs climbed the windows. 

White sky and sunshine

Again, I didn't see much. The cat showed up and kept the birds away.  The azaleas were coming on strong.

The creek was calm at breakfast.  By lunch time it was making waves.  On the lake, I saw a cormorant and several turtles.

Earth Day

Sunshine started the day beautifully.  The mealworms I put out were devoured by starlings and squirrels.

By noon, the sky was white but the sun penetrated it.  The wind was much more gentle, but there still was not a lot of activity.  Red bellied and downy woodpeckers came.  White throats got seeds.  So did at least one titmouse. 

The cat showed up at supper time just like it lived here.

Busy

I missed all too much of a pretty day. Downy woodpeckers were busy too, eating suet.  White throats scurried around like sparrows.  A squirrel posed.  A pair of mallards hung out by the creek edge.  One cormorant and many turtles occupied the lake logs. The last thing I saw was a bluebird up in the hackberry. It was being followed by a smaller bird that was probably a butterbutt. 

Chilly wind

A blue jay was displeased that I ate my breakfast before serving his, or hers.  Downy woodpeckers were satisfied with suet.  Then the starlings came.  When I chased one off, it would perch in a tree and watch me.  It became a contest to see who would get bored first.  A pair of geese wanted to use the pool puddle but K escorted them back to the creek. 

A very ragged looking warbler came for lunch.  It was shedding to make way for summer plumage.  A cardinal ejected a pair of finches from the seed feeder. 

A thin crescent of moon rose in the afternoon sky.  The a black swallowtail fought the wind to land on a mint, not the nearby parsley.  After it moved I was trying to locate it again, and discovered a skink basking in the sunlight.  A big bluebottle fly watched me water the portulaca I planted the other day. The moon appeared in my West window around 10:30pm. 

Passing clouds

Blue jays grabbed beak-fulls of mealworms. Titmice, warblers, white throats, downy woodpeckers, and the regulars found reasons to visit. 

After lunch, an osprey landed in the pine between the creek and the lake, but pretty soon a crow noticed and the osprey didn't wait to be harassed. A heron waited by the dam outfall. 

In the afternoon the clouds thickened and looked about to burst.  But they cleared without shedding a drop of water.  A flock of crows descended on the pines across the creek.  An egret flew over to our side of the creek.

Planting time

A mallard couple snoozed on the dock while a cormorant looked around from the neighbors' dock.  A titmouse abandoned the seeds for suet. One lone turtle was sunning on the log in the lake. 

A romantic triangle developed among the geese, who staged their drama in the back yard, and pooped everywhere.  I hope it's good fertilizer.  I planted the carrot top, not to grow a second carrot, but in the hope the foliage will attract swallowtails.  I planted a variety of lavender with scalloped leaves that I hope will please hummingbirds.  The day had warmed enough that I was able to do this in just a sweatshirt. 

As I sat recuperating, I saw red bellied and downy woodpeckers, and a brown thrasher with nesting material.  A bumblebee worked over a money plant.

A male cardinal took over one of the dock pilings.  Then a little green heron seized the other.  The cardinal apparently tried to drive of the much bigger heron. Strange. Later, an egret paced along under the bulkhead. Cormorants clustered on the dead snags on the lake. 

In the early evening a red fox visited.  It ran across the yard down by the creek.  A pair of brown thrashers ignored it.  The fading light and intervening twigs defeated me. 

New moon

A couple of geese marched onto the patio after breakfast.  Despite still being in my robe, I went out to chase them.  The breeze was chilly under a cloudless sky.  Downy and red bellied woodpeckers also visited.

The summer-suited, yellow rumped warbler returned before lunch.  So did the red bellied woodpeckers.  Titmice were after seeds, as usual, but also had a little suet.  One sat on the mealworm dish rim, but I think it had brought a seed over to  work on.  The house wren reappeared and again checked into the suet cage.  By that time there were lots of clouds.

Later in the afternoon, two female read breasted mergansers plowed through the water chasing something.  A brown thrasher lurked briefly in the dogwood.  It's been months since I last saw one.

As I came out of my meeting downtown, the new moon and an evening star were close to setting. The "star" was of course the planet Venus.

Cooler

The wind was definitely chilly and the creek was rough.  Menacing clouds flowed across the sky but no rain fell.  The downy woodpeckers were at the suet again. 

I went plant shopping in the afternoon and saw a red admiral butterfly plus many cabbage whites.  The wind took the red admiral out of sight before I got my camera out of my pocket. I did get pictures of a pair of crows apparently courting.  One picked up fallen twigs to wave at the other.  Later one tucked something white into the gutter and the other crow fished it back out. 

Rain

The sun was out at breakfast, perking up the flowers.  The wind wasn't so strong and the creek was, if not quiet, at least not choppy.  Downy woodpeckers showed up right away.  An osprey landed in the pines across the creek.  I caught it taking off again. 

During the morning, clouds flowed up from the South.  A little before noon, rain began to fall gently.  It lasted a couple of hours. White throats and the usual three were untroubled by it.  The downy used the suet as shelter.  I saw the warbler that has mostly changed to summer feathers.

There was intermittent sunshine and dark clouds during the afternoon.  A starling came for suet but was easily scared off.  A tiger? beetle clung to an azalea leaf.  Pollen made swirls on the creek surface.  The male red bellied woodpecker tok a turn on the suet.  A downpour around 5pm struck the North windows.

Still hot & windy

A house wren came to breakfast.  Only, I am not sure if it was pecking the suet or checking the holder as a potential nesting site.  The downy woodpecker knew what suet was for.  White throated sparrows were plentiful on the ground.  I think some arrived from further South along with the wren. A monarch butterfly fluttered around the birdbath and was gone.  But it and the wren indicate migration underway.  A squirrel and I had words over the mealworms.  As I was leaving, I was buzzed by a bluebird that then popped into the nesting box.  I was worried that they had disappeared, but there was no need.

Between the wind and the heat, water disappeared out of the birdbath very quickly.  En the late afternoon, a warbler drank for the pool cover.  I think it was in yellow rumped's summer plumage.  A cardinal did the same.  So I added water to the birdbath and a white throat bathed. By then the light level was dropping, and the crepuscular cat appeared.  (That sounds like something Edward Lear would say.) There were just enough clouds to make sunset interesting.

Hot!

Still too much wind for good bird watching. The white throats stayed low to the ground.  One of the white morphs looked very spiffy while a tan morph looked like it needed new feathers.  Downy woodpeckers didn't let the wind stop their visits to the suet. 

The money plants were blooming like mad and the azaleas started. The turtles were out basking.  Again, I saw two female red breasted mergansers hanging out together. I was away most of the day.  On my way across the HRBT, I saw a swallow gleaning insects close to the road.  On the way back somewhere around Lightfoot I saw what I think was an eagle.  In neither case could I take a photo. By the time I got home the light had gone.  The white throats were still scurrying around and a male cardinal was eating seeds from the feeder.

Warm wind

The mapped sightings of hummingbird migration suggested I'd better get the feeder out today. However, the wind was so strong, it grounded much larger birds and even pummeled crows.  Osprey tried to fish but I don't think they were very successful.

Chickadees and downy woodpeckers were better off under the suet.  I saw blue jays but mostly when screened by vegetation.  It's a wonder the trees were able to put out leaves with squirrels eating buds.  Red bellied woodpeckers were nervous but suet tempted them out.

The feral cat came around and lurked waiting for a white throat to come close enough.  The bird did, and the cat pounced, and I clicked, but I must have moved because this blur is what I got.  Plus it was twilight.

When I went out to close the feeder, moths got in.  I'd gotten unused to coping with insects at the door.  During the day there were lots of bees and other fliers.  At lunch, I also glimpsed a skink, but it was faster than I. 

Sunny day

Still cool but temperatures are predicted to go up after today.   Leaves emerged on the fig.  Buds were swollen on the hackberry outside my window.  The red bellied and downy woodpeckers were back at breakfast.

Osprey were fishing.  Squirrels were making out and nibbling hickory buds.  Turtles hauled out even before the sun lit their log. I guess that's the way to get a good seat.

At lunch, two doves spread their wings out to get as much sun as possible. But they quit before I got the camera ready.  A downy worked on the suet.  Then the male red belly showed up and took over the suet.

I caught a male kingfisher on the neighbor's dock but it quickly flew into the trees.  A few wisps of cloud caught the sunset and turned gold or pink. 

Gray sky

A female red bellied woodpecker breakfasted on suet.  Then the downy got a turn.  White throats foraged on the ground. A couple of female red breasted mergansers paddled and dived their way upstream. Telltale paw prints on the pool cover let me know a raccoon had visited, probably for a drink. Flower stalks emerged on the purple iris.

There were lots of busy birds in the front yard, but it was hard to get them to pose.  Cardinals stayed in the evergreens.  A yellow rumped warbler hopped past the car.  Another, much further along toward summer plumage, flitted from limb to limb in the juniper.  I saw a flower bud on the clematis.  And the chionodoxa was flowering.  Bumblebees were at work making blueberries.

Cloudy

A friend sent me a fascinating article about plants and animals falling out of sync in their responses to climate change.  We had a hot February and a cold March.  And high winds - a local article said osprey were having trouble nesting because of the winds.  At breakfast, a downy woodpecker worked on the suet from beneath while a very ragged butterbutt perched on top.

The mallard pair were dozing by the creek again after lunch.  I weeded more leucojum and verified that the purple flowers were spindly money plants.  Turtles were out on the logs again despite the lack of sunshine. Toward evening, a great blue heron perched on the back of the neighbors' dock bench.  A titmouse teased me by flitting around outside the window.

Sunny, still cold

White throated sparrows were not cooperating at breakfast.  downy woodpeckers and chickadees were willing to be photographed, but they always are.  I saw a couple of osprey flying over Broad Creek on the way to church.  A blue jay landed almost beside me, though outside the window I was inside, but when I tried to get the camera going, off it flew. Despite the cold, turtles were soaking up the sun in the afternoon.  A cormorant pretended to be a figurehead on the prow of the log. 

A pair of mallards napped by the water's edge in our yard. The Muscovy was still hanging out with the geese only on the other side of the creek.  Toward evening, I saw something that looked like a kingfisher take off from the neighbor's dock.  Red breasted mergansers were still diving in the creek.  In the twilight, a great egret was visible at the dam outfall.

Cold rain

It was predicted, but there was no sign at sunset yesterday that today would be so different. The rain fell and the temperature fell all day long.  But as I was mostly busy indoors, there is little to tell.  When we finally got home, a poor little yellow rumped warbler was trying to feed underneath the suet.  Then darkness fell, but no snow fell despite alarmist meteorologists.

And warm again

The weather has been yo-yoing as the wind shifts around the compass.  The tide got quite low at mid day and the temperature quite high. A thin smear of cloud kept the sun from burning and high winds also prevented me from feeling hot even though I was staffing a voter registration table in the middle of a field.  Gulls and crows circled hoping for wasted food.  The laughing gulls had their black head feathers on for summer. At home, turtles and cormorants basked on the lake logs.  Azaleas were just beginning to bloom.

Cold wind

The cat came by, its belly hanging low.  Pregnant?  After it disappeared the white throats reappeared.  A male downy worked on the suet.  A blue jay got away without a photo.  So did two ospreys that zoomed upstream.

A red breasted merganser paddled downstream.  A yellow rumped warbler was growing a black mask for breeding season.  Another still had a gray face.  I chased, with the camera, a gnatcatcher through the trees. 

A different kind of hawk was run off by crows.  It had a pale underside with no markings that I could see.  And it had a stick in its beak.  I did some weeding and seeding and then came back in to get warm.  The wind grounded all the insects except flies. 

April showers

A male downy came for a breakfast of suet.   One band of rain passed through after lunch.  The rain was light until suddenly it became a "frog strangler."  And then it was over.  The sky stayed threatening, but I did not get wet.

One redbud started blooming.  Violets, azaleas, sassafras, jessamine, narcissus and money plant flowers all awaited pollination.  Turtles and cormorants were warm enough not to mind the rain.  A yellow rumped warbler looked a little bedraggled as it ate suet.

A couple of geese came up the slope nibbling grass and accompanied by a Muscovy duck.  I stood up and they saw me and scuttled back down to the water.  I think I saw them last year with that duck,  I wonder if the duck hatched in a goose nest?  Some Muscovy ducks "dump" eggs in other nests and I did find accounts of geese raising ducks.

Warmer

Under a gray sky, I saw a crow chase an osprey downstream.  Earlier, two ospreys tussled over a perch in one of our pines.  Red bellied and downy woodpeckers came for suet.  A starling was disappointed to find an empty mealworm dish.  A yellow rumped warbler was into everything and white throated sparrows forsook foraging to eat from the seed feeder. A blue jay only watched from the trees.  The temperature peaked around 70 and the sky cleared in the afternoon but I only got glimpses between meetings.

Changeable

The temperature dropped and rain began around 10am.  By early afternoon there was sunshine and a chill North wind.  Then it got gray again.  Juncos, white throats, and yellow rumps were not ready to migrate, though I detected the beginnings of breeding plumage on the warblers.  Titmice, chickadees, and cormorants will not be leaving.  I counted at least 16 cormorants bunched up on the logs by the lake, a veritable gulp of cormorants.

April fools

Morning was nice for Easter services.  The weather played some tricks as the wind shifted from the Southwest to the Northwest bringing chilling clouds in the late afternoon. Insects of all sorts awakened and emerged. I saw (and was too awestruck to photograph) a mourning cloak butterfly with its gold trim blazing in the sunlight.  A cabbage white, wasps, tiny moths and midges flew around me. 

A male downy woodpecker went to work on the suet.  The yellow rumped warbler made do with the mealworm dish.  I saw what might have been a least flycatcher.  A blue jay was busy with something at the base of the cedar by the dock.  Another was under the neighbors' feeder.  Then I definitely saw a bluegray gnatcatcher, maybe more as it never stayed put.  White throats hopped through the understory trees and bushes.  A house finch defied a cardinal and won, but eventually they compromised. 

The sunnyside narcissus opened.  The sassafras started to bloom only to have a squirrel eat the flowers.  The cherry had scattered flowers.  Some ajuga popped up where I thought it was long gone. Periwinkle snails were abundantly visible as the tide was blown very low.  It exposed the trap that worried me last year, but a couple of girls retrieved it.