Mackerel sky

The heat wave continued and the humidity seemed higher too. The West wind brought cirrus and altocumulus clouds making a classic "mares' tails and mackerel sky."  Some of it coalesced around contrails.  K said the sky was red at dawn.  Rain would be welcome but it wasn't in the forecast. 

I saw another butterfly but it was only a cabbage white.  A red spider mite scuttled around my chair arm.  Titmice and chickadees ate seeds.  A couple of tree swallows hunted aerial insects. 

Butterfly

A cloudy morning gave way to a beautiful Election Day, but the temperature went back up and the birds disappeared.  Squirrels were busy preparing for the cold days ahead.  Just when I thought there would be nothing to report, a red admiral landed on a pale leaf.  I have noticed that red admirals like to land on white or nearly white surfaces.  

Even more birds

The sky was more white than blue and the creek was gray.  A Carolina wren scolded me but I didn't have the camera because my hands were full.  It didn't wait.  A mockingbird was more cooperative.  The first white throated sparrow of the Fall foraged on the steps.  A mourning dove stayed below.   Two cardinal pairs tried to stake claim to the feeders.  I think the dominant pair was older, possibly the parents?  White breasted nuthatches came for seeds.  Then a hawk swooped across the yard and everything got very quiet.  

Several squirrels argued about precedence as they hustled after seeds and nuts.  Titmice wanted barkbutter crumbs as well as seeds.  (I had not refilled the dish.)  Brown headed nuthatches joined the white breasted.  Then pine warblers arrived.  The downy woodpeckers grudgingly shared the suet.  Meanwhile, the mockingbird tackled the dry, shriveled, and not very beautyberries.  

More birds

A blue jay foraged in the early light and found an acorn.  Cardinals, house finches, chickadees, and titmice ate seeds.  One house finch had white spots on her head.  The downy finally noticed the suet.  I swear that hammering addled that bird's brain.  A brisk wind stirred the creek. It lodged a dead leaf in the chain holding the suet and made it peck and flap like a bird.  

The late afternoon striped the opposite bank with long shadows.  The black cat prowled across the lower patio and the gang of crows showed up to call it bad names.  Cumulus cloud puffs blushed peach and smoke as cormorants flew past.  

Back to autumn

The heat blew away over night.  Wind made temperature in the 60s feel chilly even in the sun.  Contrails left white welts on the sky from NNE to SSW.  Cardinals, chickadees, geese, and mallards were all the birds I saw.  Squirrels were busy but not very visible.  The dogwoods, maple, hickory, and sweet gum turned for fall but the wild cherry, oak, and hackberry were still mostly green.  Toward evening the cormorants commuted back to their roosts.  And so the saving of daylight ends. 

Heat wave

We had a hot start to November with overcast skies and a brisk wind.  I saw nothing but geese and mallards and one egret.  There was no rain here the entire month of October.  The last rain fell with the passage of Hurricane Helene.  The newspaper weather chart for Oct. 31 had .06" of rain but we saw none of it.  And yet we're still above "normal" thanks to a couple of soggy months in the first half of the year.