More mist

Moisture gathered in beads and drips that couldn't evaporate in the high humidity.  The temperature was nearly flat like the creek.  But the early fog did not deter a Carolina wren from the suet.  

By lunch, the fog thinned but the overcast remained and the light was poor.  I replenished the barkbutter balls and, as soon as I closed the door, birds arrived.  The female red bellied woodpecker tried a barkbutter ball, then went on to the suet.  Bluebirds and pine warblers flocked to the food.  A male bluebird tried the beautyberries.  

A couple of females confronted each other over the barkbutter balls.  I spotted a yellow rumped warbler in the oak.  Some squirrels were feeling romantic and slow-motion play-chasing.  An egret landed downstream.  A great blackback gull floated on the water opposite us.  Mallards dabbled on the creek.  Toward evening the pied bill grebe paddled swiftly downstream.  

This year, the rainfall was only 38.92" compared to a normal year of 49.18".   On the other hand, there has been no frost yet this fall and early winter. .And that concludes the year 2021.  

Foggy mist

There was drizzle at first, then mist so thick it might as well have been fog.  The creek was flat.  The moisture made lichens vivid.  A brown thrasher threshed the mulch under the sakaki.  Pine warblers tried to occupy the suet.  I noticed that one of them seemed brown, though paler than what I saw yesterday.   Still I suspect it was the mystery bird.  Bluebirds wondered why I didn't put barkbutter balls out to become mush.  Red bellied and downy woodpeckers managed to get some suet. 

The cat settled in by the corner of the house but seemed to be after something on the ground.  Finally it gave up.  A Carolina wren was content with barkbutter in a tub.  Then a white breasted nuthatch came for suet.  It was quite determined and returned each time another bird left.  Yellow rump warblers were not about to be left out.  I saw a white throated sparrow up in a tree. 

An odd looking duck landed on the water and turned into a female bufflehead.  A great blue heron swooped past to land on a downstream dock.  A Northern shoveler floated on the lake.  A hoodie drake sped upstream and al I got was a blur. 

A very large bird landed fairly high in the trees.  Unfortunately, twigs closer to me confused the camera.  Its silhouette seemed to have a full sized head, not featherless, but the beak was wrong for a raptor.  It might have been a black vulture. 

Mystery bird

I woke up to a spectacular sunrise and a crescent moon. And then the sky turned heavy gray for the rest of the day.   It was very warm, over 70°, and humid with a light breeze from the Southwest.  The creek was rough at dawn but calmed later.  I think all the waterbirds were out in the bay since the day was so mild.  

A goldfinch visited for a drink from the icky ant moat.  In winter drab, it wasn't nearly as gold as the pine warbler that followed.  

Then a turkey vulture landed on a branch and the song birds decamped.  Three more vultures arrived and they all sat on posts and branches, waiting for what?  Most of them flew away but one lingered for a long time on a downstream dock.  

Later, there was some conflict over the suet between pine warblers and a downy woodpecker.  A butterbutt stayed out of it and just watched.  Bluebirds cleaned me out of barkbutter balls.  I got very frustrated trying to photograph the brown headed nuthatches.  A red bellied woodpecker stayed in the trees.  A Carolina wren popped up amid the camellia blossoms.  

I got a photo of a bird I didn't recognize in the cherry tree.   It appeared to have a solid brown head and breast and two white wing bars.  Nothing matched that description but if the brown look was caused by bad lighting, it could have been a female Baltimore oriole or a male pine warbler.  I thought it was more warbler sized but there wasn't anything to compare the size against. 

After dark, a lacewing landed on the window.  I guess the warmth brought it out, but I doubt it will last very long.  Although with climate change, who knows?  

Frustrating

I saw a Carolina wren, a mockingbird, and a red bellied woodpecker in addition to the warblers and bluebirds and blue jays, but I got exactly one blurred bird photo.  If it hadn't been such a pretty dawn that I abandoned my breakfast for it, I'd have very little record of a lovely day.  The crescent moon looked like a ring on pink cloud fingers. 

Red-winged blackbird

Today was overcast with occasional rents in the cloud cover showing a bit of blue sky or even a flicker of sunshine.  While the effect was dreary, the diffuse lighting was great for photos.  The creek was calm with muted reflections.  Pine and yellow rumped warblers were everywhere.  Blue jays and bluebirds devoured barkbutter balls. 

I went to the library to pick up books only to discover they were closed.  Fortunately I brought the camera so I took the opportunity to get pictures of the lichens on the weeping cherry trees in the drive-thru island.  Had they been open, I'm not sure they'd have let me.  From the drive-thru I could see the trunks were festooned with foliose and fruticose beard lichens, possibly Usnea strigosa.  Both kinds were loaded with apothecia disks ready to reproduce.  I left when the camera battery gave out.  

As I came in the house, I saw out the window a pileated woodpecker on the suet.  But it was gone before I got the battery swapped for one that was charged.  So you'll have to take my word for it.  I did get a red bellied woodpecker and, of course, downy woodpeckers.  I believe I got a glimpse of a flicker too, but no good photos of any of them.  So I really appreciate the visit from the red-winged blackbird.  He had his epaulets in full display mode, but also a broken feather sticking out sideways which did not seem to interfere with his flying.  He had a white spot on his head and remnants of brown patterning on his back, causing me to wonder if he was hatched this year.  After foraging for seeds under the feeder, he got a drink, then flew up to the feeder perch for more seeds. 

I got a glimpse of the song sparrow, at least I think it was a song sparrow.  I was looking through furniture.  But bluebirds and warblers dominated the feeders.  Every time I thought a new bird had showed up, it turned out to be a pale warbler. 

Monarch butterfly!

Since we had not yet had a freeze, a little green pepper was still slowly growing beside the garage.  In fact, the day was quite warm and I found I was overdressed and sweaty when we went for a walk at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. There were plenty of roses still blooming at NBG so I guess my yellow rose was not an anomaly.  I looked for lichens to test my new field guide.  There were some but not the profusion I expected, perhaps because of the proximity to the airport.  An orange crustose lichen had colonized the bridge.  I thought there was also a surprising lack of wildlife - no ducks, songbirds, or squirrels that I noticed.

We took a different route that ran on a boardwalk beside a lake. The lake margin was swampy and there were some young bald cypress.  I found a lovely white flower on a leafless plant.  When the walkway left the lake, it passed by a little pond stocked with Sarracenia pitcher plants.  Then we came out into an open expanse and that's where I saw the monarch.  It flitted across the field and I didn't see it land, so no photo proof.  On the walk back I spotted some mushrooms with pink gills.   

At home, I wandered around the yard, still seeking lichens.  A squirrel sunbathed on an oak limb.  Turtles did the same on their log.  A pelican flew upstream but I missed it.  I found a wasp's fuzzy gall on an oak leaf.  A small spider with red legs waited on the front door frame. (I need to clean the webs off the door.) I wondered if it was alive but when I blew on it, it moved.  The fatsia was blooming and feeding honeybees and yellow jackets.  I found a Guinea paper wasp Polistes exclamans resting on a fallen leaf.  All the invertebrates might explain why the birds weren't as interested in the feeders. 

Warblers, pine and yellow rumped, sought suet while white throated sparrows scrounged what fell.  Bluebirds got their share of barkbutter balls.  A squirrel posed and begged.  

Still warm

The sky was orange when I woke up but it soon went gray.  The creek was gray too, and rough.  I believe I saw two pileated woodpeckers early in the morning, but they were in the trees and they soon flew off in opposite directions.  I suppose they could have been crows, but they moved and perched like woodpeckers.  Mid morning, the overcast started tearing apart and pretty soon birds arrived at the feeders.  I wonder if a hawk had been keeping them in hiding.  Like yesterday, bluebirds and pine warblers came first.  Unlike previous days, I got the mockingbird. The diffuse light helped the camera focus on the foreground, but it failed me on the red bellied woodpecker.  

A male Baltimore oriole showed up.  I couldn't tell if it was the same as the one I saw a week ago.  It seemed interested in the grape jelly but then something spooked it.  I did not see it again.  Blue jays  couldn't stay away from the barkbutter balls.  A Carolina wren investigated all the food except the grape jelly.  The wren got into and argument over suet with a pine warbler.  Then the warbler fussed at a titmouse.  What a grump - maybe it was the molting feathers.  

I snapped a shot at a bird in a tree that turned out to be a brown thrasher.  The camera gods were with me on that one.  There were sparrows around but I missed them.  One butterbutt still had its Summer bandit mask.  A female cardinal on the seed feeder was rude to a brown headed nuthatch.  Wind from the West pulled clouds into elongated sausages.  

We went for a short walk with the dog in the afternoon.  A buzzard monitored our progress.  I saw mistletoe loaded with berries.  I was looking for lichens to identify with my new book.  I also saw some fern moss, family Thuidiaceae.  Gulls circled against a background of cotton puffs. 

Balmy

Lots of bluebirds and warblers visited throughout the day.  In the morning I saw more yellow rumped warblers.Occasionally a mockingbird sneaked in for a barkbutter ball.  Sparrows scurried around but never posed.  The red bellied woodpecker played hard to get.  Blue jays got stuffed.

The temperature was 60°F for several afternoon hours with mostly blue sky and a breeze..  I saw more pine warblers after lunch though there were still butterbutts around.  A female red-winged blackbird popped up but I only got one bad picture before she scooted back down to the shoreline.  Two turtles took advantage of the sunshine. 

I had hopes of taking pictures from the dock but the missing planks convinced me to turn back.  There were still a few colorful leaves on the blueberry bushes and the sweet gum.  I surprised a magnolia green jumper and a centipede but neither stayed for a photo.  The yellow rose, the paperwhite narcissus and, of course, the camellia were in bloom for insects lured out by the warmth.  

Cold and bright

The temperature dropped again.  Though I restocked feeders, I had no luck capturing bluebirds, Carolina wrens, or pelicans.  Blue jays were slightly more cooperative.  A pine warbler posed nicely.  A white throated sparrow peeked from behind a leaf.  A bufflehead drake kicked up a wake on his way upstream.  

Seasonable

The day began misty and gray, but birds were hungry.  Then the cat showed up. We chased it off only to discover it lurking in the shrubbery.  Finally it left for good and blue jays swooped in for barkbutter balls.  Brown headed nuthatches fended off chickadees and titmice to get their share of seeds.  The downy woodpeckers opted for barkbutter for once.  Bluebirds also wanted barkbutter, and suet.  Pine warblers headed for suet.  Winter-drab goldfinches poked around looking for vegan fare.  One went after the rue seeds. 

I saw the red bellied woodpecker watching from up in a tree.  Pelicans flew past screened by the trees.  Then a flock of cormorants chased a school of fish upstream.  The pelicans were right behind.  

In the late morning the sky began to clear.  In the sunlight, I saw two northern shoverlers on the lake.  Then a flock flew past and they joined it.  A great blue heron supervised the turtles.  The creek made beautiful reflections and a female hoodie paddled straight through them.. 

After lunch a friend called.  Frustratingly, while I was on the phone with no camera to hand, every bird in the neighborhood visited.  I saw a mockingbird, a song sparrow, white throated sparrows, a Carolina wren, pine and yellow rumped warblers, downy and red bellied woodpeckers, lots of bluebirds, pelicans, buffleheads, and a great blue heron.  

Gray solstice

This solstice was seriously lacking in Sol.  An all day overcast was not what I wanted on the shortest day of the year.  I continued to miss pelicans, and ducks too.  Squirrels put on a soap opera over a female who wasn't quite ready.  They courted with slow-speed chases and climbs.  A third squirrel just wanted to eat in peace. 

Meanwhile a downy hammered on the suet.  Then a red bellied woodpecker played peekaboo behind the post and I missed four shots.  Thank goodness they were digital!  

I caught the dog, Andy, in his Anubis pose, waiting for the car to pull in the driveway.  It appears that he thinks if he waits hard enough the car will come home.  

Ccccold

The North wind swept away the rain but kept the sunshine from warming us much.  At lunchtime, I finally got outside to dump rain water out of the dish feeders and refill them.  But birds didn't visit in the few minutes I could spend watching.  I saw  cormorants fishing and a few geese huddled together. When I had my back to the window I saw pelicans reflected in the computer screen.  Then the sky clouded over again toward evening.  It may have cleared after dark.  

Real rain

The temperature dropped throughout the day.  The rain wasn't hard but it was steady and heavy enough to overflow all containers.  Because the wind was from the North, the windows facing the feeders and the creek were too streaked for decent photography. And the light wasn't good either.  But the birds were hungry so I tried anyway.  

The first I saw was a downy woodpecker on the suet.  We forgot to open the seed feeder for business, so when K finally did, chickadees and titmice queued up.  Blue jays and a mockingbird tried for barkbutter or suet.  The female red belied woodpecker only wanted suet. 

Cardinals booted the other birds off the seed feeder.  White throated sparrows liked the millet I tossed under a chair.  A Carolina wren tried everything.  A song sparrow poked through the mulch under the seed feeder.  There may have been other kinds of birds that I couldn't identify. 

A squirrel hoped the rain would wash the pepper off the suet, but it didn't.  Serves it right for running off with my birdseed star.  Of course, it may have been a different squirrel.  

Fog

I remarked a couple of days ago that it had been a long time since we had a foggy morning,and lo, the weather gods listened.  Eventually, the fog turned to mist and then broken overcast.

Pelicans flew over the creek at lunch but not later when I had my hands on the camera.  Not that having the camera in hand helped when I saw a kingfisher - he saw me too.  Crows set up a hue and cry to harass a hawk and I missed that too.  I did not miss the turkey vulture that took a perch on the neighbors' dock. 

Paperwhite narcissus bloomed near the yellow rose buds.  Blueberry leaves were colorful but dropping fast.  Fern-like moss grew next to a smaller, simpler species.  While I was poking around in the yard, a flicker and a red bellied woodpecker had words.  A downy just grabbed a barkbutter ball and kept going.  I glimpsed a wren on the barkbutter too.  A squirrel tried panhandling and when that failed, feeder robbery.

Critters living dangerously

A female red bellied woodpecker had a go at the suet.  A squirrel worked on building another nest, this time with rattly magnolia leaves.  The temperature climbed past 70, but this was supposed to be the peak of the hot spell.  Yellow jackets took advantage of the temperature to feed on camellia blossoms.

I stole an hour outside after lunch and saw the sky getting cloudier.  On the creek there were a few buffleheads and a pied-bill grebe.  A squadron of geese flew downstream so low that one wing cut the surface.  An egret settled in at the lake.  

Crows screamed till they flushed some sort of hawk - the glimpse I got wasn't enough to identify it.  Actually, it was when the blue jays joined in that the raptor gave up.  A towhee tossed mulch behind the cedar then whistled as it ran down hill.  I think I heard another one in that direction.

After dark, a possum prowled around the birdbath ignoring us.  The dog slept through the visit.  K thought it was a very large possum but it looked normal to me.  Certainly it was a very bold and foolish marsupial. 

Even warmer

But alas, I had little time to enjoy it.  Between the warmth and the empty barkbutter dish, birds were scarce. I saw a warbler but it was in shadow against a bright background so I don't know which one.  Since there was suet, there were downy woodpeckers.  Turtles were out on their log.  

Warm

Cloud shreds were tinted at dawn.  The birdseed star did not even last the morning.  I assume it's giving some squirrel a tummy ache.  Speaking of which, a squirrel built an impressive news between the twin trunks of the pine. 

We were out taking care of some business in the late afternoon and I didn't even have the snapshot camera, so naturally sunset was spectacular.  There were rosy streaks in the West and pink tufts like fish scales across the zenith.  So I contented myself with moon shots later.  Though it was several days till the full moon, the camera pretended otherwise. 

Home

I got lost but finally limped home in the afternoon.  I'm grateful the birds waited for me!  I thought I saw a hoodie but it turned out to be a cormorant.  A female bufflehead lurked among the pilings across the creek. 

Brown headed nuthatches seemed to be everywhere, intimidating bigger birds.  (Everything is  bigger than a brown headed nuthatch.)  

Pine warblers seemed bolder than in the past.  They didn't give way to a butterbutt.  Even the bluebirds were feeling feisty.  

Baltimore oriole!

I persuaded K to hang a fresh block of suet and the oriole, a male, popped up within a minute!  I thought I glimpsed him yesterday but I wasn't certain enough to mention it.  

Also, I saw the first song sparrow in ages foraging in the mulch. A white throated sparrow ate beautyberries.  Pine warblers and bluebirds argued over the suet.  A blue jay grabbed some barkbutter balls.  

Cold front

I woke up to overcast, but the cloud cover peeled open from the North during breakfast.  That was the trailing edge of a fierce front that moved through last night.  Thankfully the storm was not still spawning tornadoes. It pulled the temperature back into the normal range for this time of year.  And it may have brought more birds, or perhaps the chill brought them to the feeders.  The camera missed an early bird Carolina wren, pelicans, and a flicker with designs on the suet.  

Titmice and chickadees had to contend with bold brown headed nuthatches.  Bluebirds were thick!  They competed for suet with the pine and yellow rumped warblers.  One bluebird investigated the seed feeder and must have found some hulled seeds.  She ejected a chickadee that wanted a place on the perch. The downy woodpeckers gave up and headed over to the barkbutter.  

A blue jay watched from the trees. The bufflehead drake fished.  A very red bellied woodpecker female dug into the suet.  At least one white throated sparrow foraged for what the other birds dropped.  A bluebird ate beautyberries until a mockingbird showed up.  I thought I saw an egret among the commuting cormorants at dusk.  

Very warm and damp

I was busy all morning and into the afternoon.  Meanwhile the temperature got up to 73 at least. But the sun was often veiled by thin clouds and it was quite breezy.  Corners stayed wet and the air felt damp.  I saw yellow jackets and a moth so the insect eating birds didn't need to come for suet.  The seed eaters showed up along with downy woodpeckers. I saw that lone bufflehead drake again.  At breakfast a pelican plunged into the water next to the duck.  It came up empty and the bufflehead ignored it.  Turtles basked in the warmth.  Now that the trees were leafless, I could see the drey for which the squirrel was industriously carrying mouthfulls of leaves. 

Rainy afternoon

In the morning, heavy clouds hung overhead like a soggy mattress.  Birds congregated shortly after I began breakfast.  Warblers were too fast for the camera in the gloomy light.  I did capture bluebirds, a downy woodpecker, a brown headed nuthatch, and then the feral cat showed up for a little birdwatching.  

Later, a blue jay sought some barkbutter balls.  A Carolina wren followed.  Early in the day, the creek was absolutely still but the reflections were gray in the low light.  After lunch, as rain fell a bufflehead drake floated motionless on the still water.  A great blue heron preened on the fallen tree in the lake.  Toward evening young cormorants and mallards gathered on the lake logs.  

Dry

I had a really busy day and did not see much.  Early morning light played on the bank across the creek.  The red bellied woodpecker spooked again but I got one shot of her up in a tree.  Time for the next rose, the petals fell off the one in the vase.  I caught glimpses of a bufflehead but never in the open.  

Rainy morning

The rain filled the birdbath but didn't do a lot for the ant moat.  It dripped off the leaves and hung on the tips of needles.   Titmice and downy woodpeckers were undaunted.  The rain drizzled to nothing mid day and more birds visited.  Again I missed the brown thrasher and the red bellied woodpecker.  The scarred sparrow foraged around the birdbath. 

Windy and cold

The morning was overcast in defiance of the weather prediction.  A pelican soared upstream but I wasn't ready for it.  I refreshed the barkbutter balls to the delight of titmice.  A squirrel liked Cinnamon Chex, unlike K and me. 

By lunch time the sky was clearing and feeder birds flocked in.  I missed shots of the brown thrasher and the red bellied woodpecker on the barkbutter but I got the white breasted nuthatch on the suet.  

Bluebirds continued to puzzle over the seed feeder.  They saw other birds eating but they couldn't find anything edible.  Pine warblers were surprisingly bold defending the suet, even facing down bluebirds twice their size. 

The evening cormorant commute had a backdrop of pink sky and blue clouds.  Alas, that was only 4:30pm.  For all my Scandinavian ancestry, I do not love the shortness of winter days.  I cannot imagine living 20 degrees of latitude further North.

Windy & warm

I missed much of the morning, but the sky cleared and both the temperature and the wind rose.  I took a picture of the thermometer to prove we hit 70.  Gusts created leaf flurries and stripped the maple bare.  I wasted pixels trying to get the leaves in flight.  Taking a movie would have been more sensible but I didn't think of it.  

Mallards and a pied-bill grebe were out on the choppy creek.  A downy woodpecker was not deterred by the wind but something else spooked it.  There was a second flower on the paper narcissus.  I checked on the spider egg sack and it looked like it might have been opened.  But I couldn't get close enough to be sure.  

Norfolk Botanical Gardens

Birds seem to know when I have my hands full.  During a phone call  at breakfast, a red bellied woodpecker and a brown thrasher visited.  Bluebirds and warblers lingered so I did get pictures of them.  One female bluebird tried to figure out where the edibles were in the seed feeder.  And I was amazed to see a junco this early in the season.  The creek surface was rough in the morning.  The blueberry leaves had turned red. 

We took the dog for a walk at Norfolk Botanical Gardens.  There were several little waterfalls where we walked  They fed a pond that offered reflections somewhat like Monet's garden.  The pond had a fountain, unlike Giverny.   The pink and red camellias attracted yellow jackets, but not the white flowers.  I found a live venusta orchard spider but surprisingly no birds or other wildlife. The spider was big for its species and looked well fed.  It was not easy to get it in focus. 

Lots of birds arrived in the afternoon to make up for that.  I saw a pelican but got no photo. I did get a white throated sparrow, pine and yellow rumped warblers, the bluebirds, and the brown headed nuthatches.  

The sky clouded over and pretended snow was coming but it was far too warm for that - upper 50s.  The creek, on the other hand, calmed and became reflective.  An article in the newspaper today suggested that we should have had a frost by now.  "By definition, we have just crossed the seasonal divide into meteorological winter, on Dec. 1. On Nov. 21 there was the exact same chance of our having recorded a freeze (defined as 32 degrees) in Norfolk. On Nov. 28 that probability had inched up, to 70%. And by Dec. 9 those odds go to 90%."

Birds!

The day was quite warm and lightly overcast.  A healthy white throated sparrow foraged under the seed feeder.  Chickadees, titmice, and downy woodpeckers came in a steady stream.  A female bluebird found something of interest on the roof of the seed feeder. Eventually she decided she preferred suet.  

Pine and yellow rumped warblers competed with the downy for suet. The azalea at the foot of the wild cherry started to get fall colors.  It's the only one that does - the others just shed old leaves.  A blue jay snatched a barkbutter ball but the camera decided I wanted the background in focus instead.  

In the evening I noticed something dark on one of the pepper leaves.  (The branch with the peppers broke off in the wind last week, so I was finishing its ripening in a jar of water in the house.)   The dark thing was a moth with a dramatic gold zigzag.  I released it outside.  

Yard work

It was another gorgeous day although the lack of rain was a concern.  I finally tackled the mountain mint and cut it all out down to the ground in the hope of getting rid of the spider mites that infested it last summer.  I wanted to do this months ago but life intervened.  Only the downy woodpecker was bold enough (or hungry enough) to visit the suet while I worked.  

The scarred white throat scrounged fallen seeds out of the dry birdbath.  Reflections in the creek were sharp and straight-edged.  The more sheltered hickory turned gold as the exposed one grew bare.  Lake turtles took advantage of the sunshine.  The paper narcissus put out a blossom.  I took a ridiculous number of leaf photos.  A great blue heron landed on a dock piling. 

Warm

The creek was rough today with no pretty reflections.  Instead, I noticed the rising sun hit the underside of branches and dangling leaves.  Chickadees and titmice ate seeds, as did a squirrel, while downy woodpeckers were faithful to the suet.  

Mallards slurped up something from the surface of the creek.  A few turtles crawled out on the lake logs to bask. 

The paper narcissus put up a bud and there were still five buds on the yellow rose.  Most of the deciduous leaves had turned but there were plenty of evergreens for contrast.  

Ice?

A white throated sparrow and two Carolina wrens visited at breakfast.  The creek behind them mirrored the trees so well I was confused.  But I thought I saw a little patch of floating ice.  The suet block shrank considerably since I last noticed it yesterday, but downy woodpeckers were soon back on the job.  

A great blue heron perched above the lake.  I glimpsed a shoveler as well as mallards.  Cormorants and geese joined them.  But I didn't see any birds on the creek.