Blue sky

White throated sparrows were up early.  The seed eaters were too.  I saw a male cardinal on the feeder and another on the ground beneath.  That thirsty mockingbird was back.  The black cat sauntered past the bird feeders.  I thought I saw another cat on the dock but it was a sleeping mallard drake.  Hoodies came paddling upstream along the shoreline.  Then an egret flew upstream.  

At lunch I saw at least three bluebirds.  Two males shared the feeder.  Brown headed nuthatches asserted their rights and scared off a chickadee.  A Carolina wren picked at the barkbutter dust.  A pine warbler joined a bluebird on the seed feeder, then decided he preferred suet, then barkbutter crumbs.  This time of year the barkbutter dish is backlighted in the afternoon, so the bird's silhouette is the primary clue.  

I got a few minutes outside to enjoy the crystalline blue sky.  Leaves  on the domestic cherry were turning orange.  A big clump of berries hung from the hackberry outside my window.  Later I saw a squirrel eating them.