Juncos!

Once again, the clouds thickened and the day went from sunny to gray.  Carolina wrens were early birds on the suet.  The cat showed up and pretended to leave but hid. Birds stayed away and the cat gave up.  Downy woodpeckers ignored it.  House finches were starting to court!

The myrtle warbler was very frustrated by the competition for the suet.  A goldfinch visited but didn't eat anything.  Hungry titmice were bolder than usual.  A female oriole challenged the warbler too.   White throated sparrows stayed busy on the ground.  A couple of male pine warblers visited.  The red bellied woodpecker was big enough to discourage all the birds.  And finally, we had juncos.  More of the daffodils were blooming and the last pink camellia still held on.   A brown thrasher tried to slip by unnoticed and snatch bark butter balls. 

Below the denuded dam, a great blue heron fished.  Hooded mergansers floated by.   A female bufflehead was with them.  I think a grebe was out there but it dove just and the camera snapped. 

Cold wind

I saw two red tailed hawks circling in the sky.  Were they courting? 

Like yesterday, the sky clouded over in the afternoon but the sun reappeared and set the West afire as it sank below the horizon. 

Chilly

White throated sparrows were thirsty.  Downy woodpeckers focused on suet.  The block was almost gone and hard to reach.  The yellow rumped warbler was frustrated by the bigger birds on the suet.  Then the red bellied woodpecker took over the suet and frustrated them all.  Peculiar bars of thicker cloud seemed to radiate from the North. 

Doves were courting.  The Carolina wren pair don't interact much but they're almost always together.  A song sparrow watched from the dogwood by the pool steps. Then red-winged blackbirds landed for a drink  Robins were with them. 

A flock of hoodies floated upstream.  And a buzzard flew over. 

Dull day

The obnoxious butterrbutt continued to protect the suet.  I didn't see much else in the morning.  Clouds gathered on the horizon when we wen out to lunch and when we came back, the sky was covered.  The creek was quiet all day.  A pair of Carolina wrens checked out everything on the patio. 

As I headed into Norfolk, the edge of the overcast lifted in the West and the sun blasted through, stopping traffic.  Once it sank, the sky glowed rose and gold for a long time.  After my meeting, the crescent moon was sharp and clear so the clouds must have rolled away. 

Four-and-twenty blackbirds

The creek seemed polished as it reflected the sunlit tree trunks.  Clouds started out wispy.  Downy woodpeckers made the suet disappear.  Then a flock of blackbirds swooped in.  A red-winged blackbird replaced the downy only to be shoved off the suet by a starling.  Meanwhile a blue jay had been making off with bark butter balls.  But they all left when the cat came up the steps.  I told the cat to scat, but the birds stayed away.

Lovely weather

I was in virtual meetings morning and afternoon, but at breakfast I saw blue sky with wispy clouds and placid water reflecting sunlit trees.  The yellow rumped warbler continued to defend the suet from any bird it could intimidate.  That did not include the downy woodpeckers who also believe the suet belongs to them.  

A gray squirrel sunbathed on the pool cover.  White throated sparrows poked around in the mulch.  Leaves from bulbs were popping up through the pine bark and I found a couple of daffodils blooming.  I thought I glimpsed an osprey flying upstream.  The clouds got thicker and darker after lunch.  I went outside and tried to be inconspicuous, but the woodpeckers and a Carolina wren were not convinced.  A turtle also came up for some sun.  A pied bill grebe swam upstream, mostly under water. 

Wet morning

The bully butterbutt actually chased a female oriole twice its size.  On the other hand, the Carolina wrens and downy woodpeckers just ignored the greedy warbler.  But the titmice were  somewhat intimidated. 

I put out a fresh cup of bark butter and dumped the rainwater out of the barkbutter balls dish.  But I didn't put any more in the dish because rain still threatened. White throated sparrows foraged in the wet mulch. 

The sky began to clear before noon and the afternoon sun was reflected in the pooled water on the streets.  Drips spangled the rue which put out a small flower cluster.  Just as I was leaving, the red bellied woodpecker took a turn at the suet.  I was gone from late morning to late afternoon.  And I didn't see any wildlife when I got home in the hour before twilight.

Gone fishing

The myrtle warbler and the white throated sparrows were early risers  Downy woodpeckers were not far behind.  A Carolina wren took a turn at the suet.  And a brown thrasher squeezed into the barkbutter balls dish.  The male red bellied woodpecker couldn't stay away from the suet.  To my surprise, I saw a squirrel eat morning glory seeds. 

In the afternoon I watched hooded mergansers apparently herd a school of fish.  A few buffleheads joined in.  Cormorants took advantage and sliced through the crowded fish.  Pelicans dropped in wherever they felt like it.  And great blue herons waited at the water's edge for their chance. A male hoodie and a female bufflehead floated beside each other as they preened.  Sunset tinted clouds reflected in the creek after the fishers left  

Graying

The morning sky was hazy.  Somehow the jelly dish had arrived upside-down on the lower patio.  The birdbath was frozen again.  Pelicans were fishing on the creek.  Mourning doves visited.  Downy woodpeckers single-mindedly focused on suet.  Carolina wrens were busy in the mulch, then gave it up for suet.  But the warbler was on patrol, even harassing the house finches that had no interest in suet.  White throats stayed on the ground.  A brown thrasher was attracted to the barkbutter balls. By mid afternoon the haze had thickened and the sun was only a brighter spot in the overcast.

Gone away

I left well before dawn and got home at sunset.  We were on the Peninsula when the sky began to lighten and I saw the waning crescent moon preceding sunrise.  It was very bright and cold in Richmond.  While crossing the HRBT on the way back, I saw a pelican crossing overhead.

Red tailed hawk

Downy woodpeckers, Carolina wrens, and white throated sparrows came for their favorite foods.  Then I spotted the hawk up in the pines across the creek.  The songbirds knew it was there too.

After the hawk flew away, the bossy yellow rumped warbler popped up.  The birdbath was a block of ice  but the creek was too choppy to freeze.  Gusts of wind got under feathers and blew them out like skirts.  The orange crowned warbler got ruffled while eating suet.  Even on the ground, a song sparrow's feathers were disarrayed.

A flock of hoodies bobbed on the wavelets.  The ice finally melted in the afternoon, but then it refroze.

Frozen

The birdbath was ice but the creek was open, probably because the gusty wind kept the surface in motion. Sunrise tinted fat cumulus clouds that son spread over the sky.  The weather prediction was for full sun and instead we got full overcast with a few bits of snow in the morning. A Carolina wren looked where I put out the grape jelly but I hadn't taken it outside yet.  The myrtle warbler went straight to the suet, soon followed by a downy woodpecker. 

I hustled more bark butter balls and grape jelly outside, along with hot water to melt the birdbath and a scattering of seeds for ground feeding birds.  Squirrels got into the seeds, the jelly, and the water.  A song sparrow liked the little millet seeds the squirrels left.  The birdbath began to refreeze, but didn't finish before it began to melt again.   White throated sparrows stuck to what fell into the mulch. 

The cat returned to its sunning spot but that didn't make the sun return.   A squirrel with bent whiskers bullied the squirrel with the bare spot on its hip.  It groomed its whiskers so they were all bent! 

There were a few buffleheads on the creek including a female.   Wind gusts made the water turn white.  I finally caught a pelican in flight.  Around 2pm the sun began to find rents in th clouds.  The sasanqua camellia has almost finished blooming, without the buds getting frozen for the first I can remember.   I missed pictures of a brown thrasher and a kingfisher. 

Red-winged blackbirds

It was damp and mild when I refilled the bark butter dish before breakfast.  But the temperature dropped steadily all day. Pelicans patrolled the creek.  The feeders attracted a wide range of birds. Carolina wrens had some of each. Bossy butterbutt was back.  Downy woodpeckers got their suet back, until the red bellied woodpecker arrived. The house finches fussed over precedence while a white throated sparrow cleaned up below. 

I spotted some robin scouts in the trees  Then a flock of red-winged blackbirds descended on the suet, but soon spooked and did not return.  Meanwhile, the pale female oriole watched and titmice visited the seed feeder. A pine warbler tried to have a little bark butter.  The myrtle warbler celebrated the departure of the blackbirds by indulging in suet.  A blue jay got into the bark butter balls. 

Buffleheads bobbed on the choppy creek.  A raptor circled and everyone went into hiding.  The orange crowned warbler showed up at last.  The feral cat seemed more interested in soaking up sun than preying on songbirds.  The birds ignored it, except they stayed off the ground.  A pair of hooded mergansers floated in the late afternoon sun.  It's been a poor year for winter ducks thus far, just buffleheads and hoodies and not many of them. 

Gray

Sunless, cold, and windy, just the day for pelicans, but I only saw one and it got away.  A white throated sparrow and a downy woodpecker came to breakfasst, but there wasn't enough light.  Then I was gone all morning.  At lunch, I saw Hoodies and buffleheads fishing with cormorants, but they too disappeared. A orange crowned warbler competed withe the downy for suet.  The  bossy butterrbutt tried to chase other warblers away.  The Carolina wren ignored it. 

Gusty

It was a sunny day, but cold and windy.  Pine warblers were everywhere.  The orioles insisted on their share of suet and bark butter balls.  The downy woodpeckers acted very put upon but the red belly was just anxious.  I saw a couple of egrets flying downstream. 

 A song sparrow came to see what had fallen from the feeders.  A white throat followed.  Crows assembled in the trees.  The orange crowned warbler finally arrived.  A Carolina wren got away without a picture. 

Climate change

Another warm winter day - I found a money plant in bloom.  There were heavy clouds and occasional wind gusts in the morning, and not many birds.  The downy woodpeckers continued their assault on the suet. 

Squirrels got frisky.  When they weren't chasing around, they wrapped up in their tails as the wind blew the clouds away.  The sky was clear except for a few colorful streaks of cloud in the West at sunset.  The afterglow lingered till nearly 6pm. 

Clearing

The morning was gray with orange birds.  Low light defeated me again, especially as the birds were in motion.  The orioles and the downy and the warblers all wanted suet.  Both pine and orange crowned warblers joined the dance around the suet.  Carolina wrens were late to the party.  Even a titmouse got some suet. 

A goldfinch couldn't find anything it wanted. On the ground, a white throated sparrow poked through the mulch.  The song sparrow went for bits the suet lovers dropped.  The feral cat was attracted by  the birds on the ground but they got away. 

The creek was placid all day but I didn't see any ducks.  In the afternoon, the clouds parted and the sunshine pulled turtles out of the water and onto their favorite log. 

Rain

Since the dish feeders were flooded, the orioles competed with the woodpeckers for suet.  The male downy was quite annoyed at the male red belly.  Three female orioles finally got the big woodpecker to leave.  Then a female downy joined the party.  And the orange crowned warbler tried to get a bite in between.  The light was so poor in the morning that I couldn't take any close ups. 

The rain picked up and chased all the birds under cover.  When it slacked off, the male oriole came out.  The orange crowned warbler was back too. 

After lunch, I saw two mockingbirds in the front grass.  They seemed to be mirroring each others moves.  I don't know if that was courtship, territorial negotiation, or something else.  They held there tails elevated.  By this time the rain had stopped and the sun was almost visible.  A squirrel checked out the dreys in the pecan tree.  

The light was much better and the orange crowned warbler posed on the suet.  A squirrel got into the barkbutter dish, literally.  I guessed that the rainwater had covered the ingredient that was supposed to deter squirrels.  And the squirrel left quite soon.  Then the Carolina wren pair shared the suet.  The OC warbler tried to share with a downy woodpecker.  Titmice and the seed trio were busy shelling sunflower seeds but one titmouse added suet to its diet. 

Meanwhile, the feral cat watched from the bench.  I didn't realize till a paw swiped at a low flying bird.  It missed.  A pine warbler came for suet.  They've been less common this winter while the orange crowned warbler has visited frequently.  I wonder if that's connected?  The cat gave up and settled on the pool cover. 

Drizzle

It was still quite mild and calm, but wet.  A pair of Carolina wrens didn't like the wet but were hungry for suet.  Titmice came for seeds. 

A hooded merganser and perhaps a bufflehead floated by.  A yellow crowned warbler landed on the suet.  Then the male red bellied woodpecker arrived.  

Crows gathered for some reason.  Something kept touching the creek surface from beneath and making ripples.  Eventually a cormorant emerged. The day ended in dense fog,

Gray

The warm wind from the South was fierce from yesterday afternoon through this morning.  Rain fell over night but quit after we got up.  The sky stayed gray and we even saw a sprinkle mid morning. 


A pelican flew reconnaissance over the creek after lunch despite the warmth, perhaps because of the wind although it was slacking off by then. Not too long after, the male kingfisher returned to its spot on the dock post, this time with a fish.  A boat chased it off but it returned without the fish.  Down the hatch?  The sky began to clear and the tide receded quite far by dusk. 

Hawk?

The red bellied woodpecker took over the suet but the downy woodpeckers finally got theirs. 

A brown thrasher was tossing mulch at lunch time. But before I could get a photo, the bird hopped down the steps and out of sight. I turned my attention to a cardinal drinking from the birdbath,  He flew upward toward the feeder, then dropped when something shot through the air so quickly that all I saw was movement and a couple of contour feathers floating in the air. That scares all the birds into hiding. After a while, a song sparrow came out to forage while a Carolina wren watched from behind a screen of branches.  Eventually the wren ventured to the birdbath. 

A male kingfisher perched on one of the posts for the floating dock. 

And back to warm

Orioles fussed that there were no bark butter balls for breakfast.  I hustled some out, but the birds had left.  The suet was almost gone too.  The creek was rippled, but not rough, under a hazy blue sky.  

My car claimed 70°F at noon.  That's hard on insects and on plants.  It may have made the birds testy because two white throats got into fights at least twice.  It happened so quickly that I didn't think to get a picture as they rose into the air while clawing at each other and buffeting with their wings.  The orange crowned warbler noticed the new block of suet.  So did an oriole.  A song sparrow was thirsty.  The male oriole settled on the bark butter balls, except they were too big.  A Carolina wren watched from one of the dogwoods.  Then it too needed a drink. 

The tide was very low toward evening.  The haze thickened and clumped.  I found raccoon tracks marked by mud. 

Still cold

The orange crowned warbler was up early.   There wasn't much suet left.  A Carolina wren poked around in the mulch.  The male downy was too much for a smaller bird on the suet.  I think it was the kinglet but it was on the far side of the suet so I don't know for sure.  Then the downy lost out to the red belly.  The orange crowned warbler returned and shared with the red belly, briefly. 

Two doves pecked through the ice on the birdbath.  The two downy woodpeckers landed on the post at the same time and had to settle whose turn it was.  I noticed it's always the male's turn first.  A white throated sparrow foraged with the song sparrow.  The creek was choppy. 

In the afternoon, a pine warbler visited the suet. 

Ice

Long crystals covered the surface of the water in the birdbath at breakfast.  The sky was a cloudless robin's egg blue and the creek was full of wavy reflections. A Carolina wren was up before there was enough light for pictures.  A song sparrow was glad I scattered some seeds.  A white throated sparrow was able to get some before they were all gone.  Soon the downy woodpeckers arrived.  The red bellied woodpecker lurked in the trees before venturing to the suet.  A goldfinch seemed uncertain what was edible. 


By lunch time, the creek was no longer calm.  Clouds sped across the blue sky and occasionally blinked the sun.  A female oriole slipped in for a bark butter ball. A Carolina wren had the same idea.  The the male oriole had to have some.  The orange crowned warbler preferred suet.  And the ruby crowned kinglet went for the dish of bark butter.  A song sparrow waded in the cold birdbath water looking for dropped seeds. 

A female oriole tried to share the suet with a downy but it didn't last.  A hooded merganser drake bobbed on the water.  The sparrows, kinglet, and warbler hung around into the afternoon.  So did I but eventually I had to do other things.  The nearly full moon was up before sunset.  

Frost

There was no ice, not even on the grape jelly dish, but the dock was white. As the sign says, bridge freezes before road.  At breakfast, a Carolina wren and a pine warbler got away without a picture.  Only a female downy woodpecker stayed put long enough.  Something I couldn't see made a V track in the flat water.  Clouds moved in from the West. Around mid morning, a brown thrasher tossed mulch in its hunt for food.

By lunch time the Northwest sky had gotten dark and the sunlight was gone.  Sprinkles of rain disturbed the birdbath about 2pm. Just before 4pm rain pounded on the windows. Then the sun returned for a few minutes till more clouds blew in and dark fell.   In that interval. a bufflehead drake preened and cormorants flew to their roosts.  A great blue heron lurked by the dam outfall behind a screen of twigs. 

Yellow birds!

And no cat, as far as I could see.  Instead, the male red bellied woodpecker came to breakfast, followed closely by the downy woodpecker pair.  A Carolina wren, or maybe two, popped up.  Several blue jays tried to snatch a meal without getting caught on camera.  I did catch a white throated sparrow and a titmouse.   A female Baltimore oriole visited the suet and bark butter balls.  A male pine warbler wanted suet.  A goldfinch landed on the suet but remained a vegetarian. 

A squirrel had a terrible flea that required great contortions to chase.   The same squirrel stretched out on the pool cover in the afternoon sun, just like a certain cat.  And then that very same squirrel raided the grape jelly I'd put out in case the orioles returned. 

A song sparrow appeared at lunch.  The ruby crowned kinglet visited the bark butter.  A white breasted nuthatch was lured by the suet.  It picked out and dropped bits it didn't like.  The downy woodpeckers weren't going to tolerate that.  The oriole came back, along with the male, before the jelly was all gone.  Another, paler female also appeared and had some jelly too.  A white throat and a wren also returned.  A myrtle warbler watched for a moment. I spotted a turtle on a log in the lake soaking up the afternoon sun.

The yellow birds:

North wind

The sunshine was back but the price was chilly wind.  During breakfast a flock of cormorants chased fish up the creek.  Eventually they came straggling back downstream.  

When we came home after lunch, the feeder birds were busy.  Some of them seemed anxious to stay out of sight like the song and white throated sparrows that never let me get a picture.  Downy woodpeckers had competition from the male red bellied woodpecker.  Then the orange crowned warbler wanted some suet too. 

Hooded mergansers paddled past.   Buds on the oak looked like they were beginning to swell.  After dark I found an unpleasant visitor in the garage. 

Wet

Rain came and went so everything stayed wet.  The Carolina wren was disgusted with waterlogged bark butter and tried suet instead.  Downy woodpeckers couldn't stay away from their suet either. 

Hooded mergansers paddled past without stopping to dive.  But the light was insufficient for the camera. 

Dark day

There was rain in the night and a heavy overcast all day, with a light mist in the morning.  A white throated sparrow poked around in the wet mulch.  Geese swam away when they saw me in the window.  A heron took off too.  I had a meeting that lasted all morning.

The air was drier in the afternoon, but it was gloomy.  A bufflehead pair paddled out of sight.  I saw a song sparrow and a Carolina wren but they disappeared.  Cormorants commuted to their night roosts.  And the rain started again after dark.

Clouding over

At breakfast, a heron fished.  The water was calm but the sky was hazy with wispy clouds. 

A blue jay flitted around the edge of the yard at lunch.  Then the ruby crowned kinglet came for bark butter.  A white throated sparrow foraged but a song sparrow went after bark butter balls.  A downy woodpecker surveyed the yard.  A Carolina wren investigated the birdbath. 

In the afternoon one turtle basked but the sun was often blocked by clouds.  Buffleheads and hoodies paddled on the creek. 

Another year

I'm beginning the tenth year of recording my observations of nature, mostly in the back yard. And this morning was exciting with a male and two female Baltimore orioles. Pine and myrtle warblers also came to feed on bark butter and camellia flowers.  They all wanted suet too but the downy and red bellied woodpeckers weren't sharing.  House finches and chickadees stayed with seeds and I didn't see any ground foragers.  A bufflehead drake fished up and down the creek. 

In the afternoon I finally saw white throated sparrows and Carolina wrens.  And that brought the cat.  Mallards were feeding on the creek and among them was a female bufflehead looking quite brown in the late afternoon sun.  The wind was chilly and the temperature closer to what we expect this time of year.