Swelling buds

Yesterday,it looked like the blueberry bushes were about to bloom.  The tide was quite low again. 

A brown thrasher was after bark butter balls, but it spooked and I didn't see it return.  A Carolina wren hung around.  The female red bellied woodpecker came back but the downy still got a turn. 

I saw a junco at lunch but she hopped down the steps.  An oddly faded white throated sparrow did the same. 

Then a great blue heron landed on a dock post.  The wind gave it a crest.  A hoodie drake seemed to be all alone on the water. 

Crows were still acting up chasing each other in circles till there was a call to go after a hawk across the creek.  I spied a blue jay up in the pines but it didn't come down. 

K put up two new, large shepherd's crooks to replace the flimsy ones that served bark butter.  I wonder if they will be too high for any of the birds? 

Thieves

It was a day of much running around town while the temperature climbed.  The birdbath was frozen when we got up.  Birds were plentiful for a while, then they vanished.  The brown thrasher was particularly gifted at vanishing and I never got a picture.  The blue jay, however, did get caught on camera raiding the bark butter balls. 

The female downy woodpecker was about to take her turn at the suet when the female red bellied woodpecker barged in. 

Female buffleheads paddled through rough water.  Two egrets waded below the dock next to the dam.  One took off upstream and the other flew downstream.  The tide was very low. 

A Carolina wren was in its favorite spot in the dogwood.  Crows were acting strange, perhaps courting?   One carried a twig around and another tried to take it away.  

Chilly sunshine

After a cold front roared through at midnight, morning was bright and crisp and washed clean.  The creek looked rumpled all day.  Hoodies fished in the early sunlight.  Geese above the bulkhead watched.  The day got quite windy. 

The possessive myrtle warbler was up early protecting the suet.  But soon the downy woodpeckers took over.  A white throat prospected under the bark butter balls.  There are drain holes in the hanging dipper-shaped cup that I swapped for the glass dish.  So fragments might sift down.  The Carolina wrens were very much present all day.  One perched in the dogwood.  The other snatched a bark butter ball and carried it off to the grill where it scooted underneath.  

When I went out at dusk to brick the sunflower feeder, The crescent moon and Venus were brilliant together. 

Misty

It was warm but the wet air felt clammy.  The fog made the light level low.  A wren ate suet.  A great blue heron perched on a snag in the lake. 

Quiet rain

Drops fell like they were really tired, one by one, and hung from every twig and pine needle. The light was very poor for photography.  A mallard pair inspected the property.  The drake was certainly too big for the birdbath. 

A Carolina wren worked on the suet while a cardinal reflected on the sunflower feeder.  The brown thrasher wanted more bark butter balls.  A white throated sparrow looked grumpy at the wetness. 

Downstream, the kingfisher returned to his favored perch. 

Gray day

There was a bit of sunshine at breakfast, but not for long.  The downy and red bellied woodpeckers and the butterbutt argued over the suet. The brown thrasher found the new barkbutter ball feeder.  But I was too slow to get photos.  Fortunately, the cat was too slow as well.

By lunch, raindrops were falling slowly.  The birds came back, including the brown thrasher and the red bellied woodpecker.  Gallantry had not yet arrived for the cardinals - he insisted on eating first.

A great blue heron perched on the dock post again. Toward evening, it or another heron perched high up in a pine tree.  

Warming

We began with ice then rose into the 50s.  I even saw midges or something flying around.  The sky was a glorious, bright blue.  The male pine warbler got up early to eat suet in peace.  Then a couple of starlings arrived and ate suet like barbarians. 

An egret fished under the dam.  A hoodie pair preened on the gently rippled water.  Gulls monitored the creek from above.  A heron stood on a dock post.  And I spotted an eagle soaring very high.  A row of turtles basked on their favorite log. 

The downy woodpeckers eventually arrived, followed by a female red bellied woodpecker.  Later on she checked out different spots on the oak trunk. 

A blue jay pretended it wasn't interested in bark butter balls.  When it thought it was unobserved, it stuffed its beak full like a row of peas in their pod.  Then a white throat checked to see if anything had fallen out. 

Frigid

The temperature dropped down into the 20s overnight. There was ice on the creek in addition to the frozen birdbath, but the channel along the bulkhead was kept open by the current.  Still, I was surprised to see a pelican fly upstream, and even more surprised at how long it was before it returned. 

The red bellied woodpecker visited the suet at least twice, but not when I had my hands on the camera. Downy woodpeckers were better at posing. In the afternoon, a male pileated woodpecker flew to the oak. 

The myrtle warbler scavenged fallen tidbits along with the white throats.  A small flock of goldfinches drank from the pool cover.  One was beginning to molt into summer color. 

A brown thrasher came out for bark butter balls.  So did a blue jay.  Another little flock turned out to be bluebirds.  A pine warbler and a song sparrow joined the afternoon cleaning crew.  A Carolina wren kept watch.  This should have been a bird count day.

Snowless

The alarmist prediction of 4-6" of snow came to nothing.  There was a tiny bit of ice on objects in shade and inch long, pencil thick icicles off the edge of the shingles.  But it was very cold all day and windy in the morning.  A hoodie drake floated and preened on the rough water.  A mallard drake slept on the dock.  An egret stalked along the edge of the dam. 

A song sparrow and a white throat scurried around the patio. The myrtle warbler did the same when it wasn't protecting the suet. But it could not keep the downy woodpeckers away. 

Snow at last

The brown thrasher got away again.   

The snowfall began about 2:30pm and lasted for at least an hour but it all turned to water on contact. It streaked the North-facing windows making it hard to get a shot of the feeders. 



Interesting date today: 02/20/2020 or  20.02.2020 depending on how you order the month and day. 

Pelicans

It looked like there was rain overnight.  The two Carolina wrens were very hungry at breakfast.  They shared suet with each other and with the female downy woodpecker.  The brown thrasher thrashed the leaf litter under an azalea bush.  A white throated sparrow checked out the bark butter balls. The myrtle warbler was late.  In the afternoon, a red bellied woodpecker visited. Then the cat came back. 

I saw one egret below the dam. After breakfast, at least two pelicans plunged after fish right off our shoreline.  Several cormorants were fishing there too.  A flock of gulls spun in circles as though they rode an invisible tornado. 

Uneventful

The day began with fog.  An egret haunted the dam.  There were pelicans but I didn't get get a clear shot.  Cormorants were also fishing.

A male pine warbler slipped in early to get some suet before the downy woodpecker took over.  Too soon, the myrtle warbler showed up.  A brown thrasher hid in the sakaki.

A hoodie pair paddled upstream on glassy water but I couldn't et a clear shot.  A great blue heron ornamented a dock post, its feather queue blowing downstream. 

Harrier

Blue sky and quiet water made lovely abstract paintings.   A kingfisher perched on a branch I could barely see through the trees.  There were plenty of geese across the creek.  A pelican splashed close to our bank, bathing perhaps.  An egret prowled along the dam.   Toward evening, a great blue heron joined the fishing.

Despite the right kind of weather, my count of birds was disappointing this year.  Today I saw what might account for it.  Nothing was moving closer than the creek.  Then a hawk swooped across the yard from Southwest to Northeast and landed on a pine limb in the shade.  As it passed, I noticed it had a white rump so I am claiming it as a female Northern harrier. 

A myrtle warbler perched on a cherry twig to keep an eye on the suet.  Downy woodpeckers planned their suet forays from the dogwood. 

Too quiet

There was no suet at all left this morning.  I thought that explained why I saw so few birds.  Carolina wrens did pop up periodically throughout the day. The butterbutt chased a pine warbler away from the empty suet cage. The cat came by  in the morning but was disappointed. 

But K hung a fresh block (last one!) after lunch and it only enticed a brief visit from a downy woodpecker.  There was a brief flurry of other birds to other feeders at that time, 1:45pm, then hardly any since.  Those others included the regulars, titmice, song and white throated sparrows.

There weren't many water birds either.  A heron flew past a couple of times but I didn't see any egrets.  A cormorant paddled back and forth.  Ducks were scarce.  It was warmer, not windy, and overcast so pelicans probably were out on the bay.  If a predator was responsible for the scarcity of birds to count, it didn't intimidate the squirrels. 

Red cedars were budding. 

Counting birds

Cold, sunny and not too windy - perfect for birds.  I counted as I ate breakfast.  The only infrequent visitor was a goldfinch that was disappointed to find the birdbath frozen.  I hustled hot water out later and that breeze felt very cold indeed.  I counted a cardinal pair, a titmouse, a pair of Carolina wrens, a pair of downy woodpeckers,a chickadee, and three squabbling myrtle warblers.  Later in the morning, a song and a couple of white throated sparrows enjoyed the seeds I scattered. A male red bellied woodpecker took over the suet. 

One pelican flew past. Around 9am cormorants dimpled the creek as they chased a school of fish upstream.  In the early afternoon, five egrets lined up along the dam.  A lone Canada goose paddled upstream. 

The squirrels entertained me during lunch.  One scooted, then sprawled on the pool cover.  Another had a terrible flea as it sat atop the sunflower seed feeder.  After dark, I watched the GBBC reports come in on a world map.

GBBC began

At breakfast two Carolina wrens ate suet.  A brown thrasher  picked at the soggy bark butter ball fragments. A couple of geese flew by and I spotted a bufflehead drake.  Egrets fished below the dam. Then the cat putt an end to watching songbirds. 

We spent the day elsewhere.  On the way back from the Peninsula, I saw a buzzard, a flock of about twenty crows hanging around a hamburger joint, and many gulls.  The sky appeared to be clearing in the morning, but in the afternoon it was full of heavy cumulus that focused sunbeams through the gaps.  Back on our side of the bridge tunnel, the clouds were fewer.

I was home in time to see a wren  and then a pine warbler on the nubbin of suet.  Four egrets congregated around the dam outfall and I believe I saw a diving duck paddle past them, but too much foliage grew up in the neighbors' yards last year.

Wet day

A light, off-and-on rain kept me inside even though it was still quite warm. The male red belied woodpecker devoured suet to the dismay of the downy woodpeckers.  A brown thrasher was interested  in the dish of soggy bark butter balls but so wary that I could not get a decent shot.  A female junco foraged for a short while.  She was joined by a white throated sparrow. A female red bellied woodpecker showed up at the suet!   The warbler seized a moment between bigger birds.   A song sparrow popped up in the wet mulch.  I glimpsed a hoodie drake on the creek.  An egret haunted the dam outfall.  And the caat sauntered through like he owned the patio. 

Overcast

Another trip to Richmond and no pictures to show for it.  Again there was a fiery sunrise over the Chesapeake Bay before the clouds blocked the sun. In Richmond I saw a flock of English sparrows.  ON the way back a half dozen buzzards circled above the highway.  Gulls slept on the street lights on the bridge tunnel.  I left well before dawn and returned shortly before dusk.

Rain

The rain was never heavy but there was plenty of it. And the air was very warm, peaking at 70 and still 60 when I headed home at 8pm.  It dropped to 55 by the time I reached home, but I've noticed we are always cooler than the city.  Meanwhile the rain had turned to fog.
I didn't see much outside even though it wasn't really windy.  Downy woodpeckers were undeterred. I saw a few yellow jackets attracted to the juniper foliage, i presume by the resin. 

Warming

The hazy sky clouded over as the day warmed.  The water glittered with motion under a burnished surface. 

The red bellied woodpecker settled a squabble over the suet.  Carolina wrens that would not give way to downy woodpeckers left when the red belly arrived.  The myrtle warbler got its share.  White throated sparrows foraged and titmice hammered seeds. 

Bright sun

It was a beautiful day, but I was very busy and mostly inside.  The temperature was back to winter normal.  The creek was placid and the sky blue. A variety of birds joined us for breakfast.  A Carolina wren  investigated every cranny.  The red bellied woodpecker frustrated the downy.  White throated sparrows hid under the furniture.   A blue jay watched from a distance.  A female oriole came for suet and bark butter.  The myrtle warbler reclaimed the suet from the bigger birds. 

Calm

The morning began cold and bright, but with only a light breeze.  I found that the rainwater in the barkbutter ball dish had acquired a clear ice lid.   There was no ice on the creek though it was as flat as a mirror and as full of reflections.  The warbler and the downy woodpeckers were back to their dispute over the suet. Carolina wrens and song and white throted sparrows returned. 

When I got back at noon, I went around the front yard picking up sticks and other fallen stuff.  Some fallen branches had jelly fungi and one had the beginnings of a polypore, I think. Moss had sent up setae with capsules atop.  Daffodils were recovered from the thrashing the wind gave them.  The warmth before the wind had also brought the red witch hazel into flower along with the Carolina jessamine.  While driving I noticed maples, callery pears, and one purple magnolia in bloom. 

The morning's blue sky was beginning to get hazy.  At lunch, a pine warbler entered the suet stakes.  I also saw the red bellied woodpecker.  By mid afternoon the sky was gray and the sun gone.  But after dark the full moon was bright despite clouds.

 

Gale

The prediction was cloudy, but the wind blew both rain and sun, and a very high, choppy tide.  Hungry songbirds tried to get breakfast but the seed feeder blew shut with a chickadee on it.  And a downy woodpecker clung tight to the swinging suet.  White throats gave up even though they were already on the ground.  Titmice and the warbler tried to eat between gusts.

NOAA said the wind was 30mph with gusts up to 60mph.  Also the 60° in the morning was to drop to freezing overnight.  This was all because the jet stream looped down to the Gulf of Mexico before howling up the Atlantic coast.  And, of course, inside the loop is Arctic air. 

Storm

In the morning, a kingfisher perched on a dock piling.  Herons flew up and down the creek.  Hooded mergansers paddled on the creek.  The downy woodpeckers were not deterred by the wet.  Neither were song and white throated sparrows. 

Mid day, there were some breaks in the rain and even a brief flicker of sunlight.  The house finches squabbled over the seed feeder.  The myrtle warbler did not slack off on guarding the suet.  But a Carolina wren ignored the warbler.  I glimpsed a goldfinch in the dogwood.  The dish for bark butter balls was empty because I didn't want them to become mush.  A titmouse sampled suet.  Ii think they have learned to disregard the warbler too. 

It was mostly drizzle till around 4pm when wind and rain slammed into the house.  Apparently much of Virginia was affected and the governor declared a state of emergency. 

A two-fer

I spent yesterday, from before dawn to nearly dusk, on a trip to Richmond.  A spectacular sunrise was followed by drizzle and an hour-plus traffic backup due to a crash.  Richmond was very warm with flickers of sunshine.  The temperature was still around 70° when I got back.

Today began mild and dropped from there, culminating in cold rain around 4pm.  The sky war full of clouds but it didn't become overcast till mid day.  The creek was rough all day.  I saw but got no photo of a brown thrasher, a blue jay, a red-bellied woodpecker, a pelican and a male kingfisher.  But I made up for that with other birds. 

The Carolina wrens were sticking together.  I'm pretty sure there were two song sparrows as well.  The downy woodpeckers and the myrtle warbler continued their power struggle.  A new element disrupted that dynamic: the white breasted nuthatch came back.  It shared with a downy and ignored the warbler after one ambush. 

The male oriole took a turn at the bark butter dish.  The wrens preferred suet.  Four squirrels also displayed their hierarchy.  A crow explored the bank beyond the pool.  The warbler chased titmice and chickadees.  White throated sparrows stayed focused on their foraging. 

Pileated woodpecker!

Morning was cloudy but with enough sunshine to cast a shadow.  The profusion of birds made up for yesterday.   First I saw a kingfisher on a dock post.  The myrtle warbler resumed guarding the suet.  The downy woodpeckers tried to ignore it.  Suddenly, a white breasted nuthatch appeared on the suet but it didn't stay.  I also saw song and white throated sparrows and that pesky brown thrasher. 

Titmice ate a little of everything.   The male oriole landed on the feeder hanger line a miniature sun.  Then the  male pileated woodpecker landed on the post and all the other birds fled.  Woody studied the situation but couldn't figure out how to reach the suet from the post.  Last year, a pileated did a back bend and ate with its head upside down. When Woody left a female oriole took his place.  She shared the suet with a female downy, but soon left. 

I got a blurry glimpse of what I think was a female wood duck on the creek.  It disappeared so fast I wondered if it was a diving duck instead.  The red bellied woodpecker showed up long after the pileated left.  A few turtles basked on their log on the lake.  The squirrel with the sore on her hip was just about healed. 

Windy

The sun was back and the temperature was nice, but the wind grounded the birds for much of the day. I did see a bee poking around the camellia. The creek was unruffled in the morning.  The sun cast plenty of shadows but we don't have groundhogs.  We haven't had real winter either this year. 

A white throated sparrow foraged around the birdbath.  The downy woodpeckers argued over turns at the suet.  The myrtle warbler continued to drive off rivals, if they were small enough.  The downy was not impressed.  A titmouse perched in the cherry tree, The water got quite rough in thee afternoon. 

Overcast

Rain fell over night but it tapered off around sunrise. (Not that I could see the sun.) In fact, it was after breakfast before there was enough light for the camera.  A brown thrasher was up early but didn't return. The barkbutter ball dish was empty but I though it was too wet for a fresh batch.  The downy was already on the suet. 

A female oriole liked the idea of suet for breakfast.  The female downy objected.  White throated sparrows looked for what fell from the feeders.  Titrmice at a bit of everything.  The myrtle warbler asserted possession of the suet.  The Carolina wrens ignored that.  And then the red bellied woodpecker put them all to flight. 

I glimpsed a female hooded merganser on the creek.  Later a patch of water seemed to boil and cormorants popped to the surface from what I guess was a school of fish.

A couple of white throats decided this was a good day for a bath.  A song sparrow poked around the steps.    Doves wandered around and roosted in the dogwood.  Then the male oriole showed up for suet.  A junco hurried past the mulch. 

A flock of red winged blackbirds descended on the feeders while I was busy in the kitchen.  They spooked and then waited in the trees.  There were robins and starlings in the flock too.   The red bellied woodpecker was big enough to dissuade a blackbird from the suet but a starling was more aggressive. 

I had an afternoon program and by the time I got home, the light was going.   I saw a kingfisher land on a dock piling but all the camera got was a blue blur.