Gray

A warm South wind pushed the temperature up into the 60s.  There was intermittent sun in the morning but complete overcast by afternoon.  No birds fished or visited feeders.  The warmth lured out some insects which probably kept the birds fed.  I saw a Carolina wren on a dogwood branch.  Some Canada geese paddled down the creek.  After dark, a little crambid snout moth landed on the window.  And that wrapped up November.

 

More fish

After lunch, I noticed that egrets were congregating below the dam.  Soon they were flying upstream, joined by diving ducks and cormorants.  I went outside for a better view but the wind was too much for me.  There were fewer egrets than yesterday, I think, but just as many cormorants.   Unlike yesterday it was low tide and the fishing seemed to last longer.  I believe the ducks were all hoodies.  

Up on the patio, a Carolina wren made the feeder rounds and tossed a barkbutter ball down to the patio.  An oriole got a drink.  A couple of juncos hunted food scraps on the concrete.  The sky was blue with passing clouds.  

 

Fishing

The sun shone, but a cold wind kept me inside.  Small clouds drifted across the blue sky.  I glimpsed the first bufflehead of the Fall migration.  Unfortunately it was just passing behind a tree and it didn't reappear.  The feeders were busy.  Cardinals, chickadees, and titmice wanted seeds.  A pine warbler ate barkbutter balls and an orange crowned warbler ate jelly.  Then a female oriole had some jelly and a drink.  

A female kingfisher rested on the back of the dock bench.   A different yellow cat showed up on the patio.  It wasn't as long-haired as the other.  In the late afternoon, a fishing frenzy began with cormorants, gulls, and great egrets.  One great blue heron and a couple of crows followed the action.  I counted a couple dozen egrets resting in the pines after fishing.  Oddly, I didn't see any fishing ducks  

Thanksgiving

The temperature dropped a lot over night and the day only got into the mid 50s.  Morning light bounced off the creek to play across the bulkhead.  A crow investigated the stale barkbutter I had dumped.  The yellow cat investigated something under the wind cherry.  A pair of hoodies paddled downstream.  

At lunch, a Carolina wren dropped bits of suet then hustled down to pick them up.  A white throated sparrow came no nearer than the dogwood on the far side of the lower patio.  The wind brought down leaves and pine needles.  A great blue heron flew up into the pines but I lost sight of it.  The sky which had been a clear, dark blue began to be freckled with cumulus.  

I went outside to make some vitamin D and caught sight of the orange crowned warbler.   The dredge was taking the day off.  I heard a kingfisher but didn't see it.  The wind was too cold for me so I retreated indoors.  Then all the birds that had hidden reappeared.  The wren came back for more suet.  Chickadees were thirsty and hungry.  A male downy landed on the post but flew away to the dogwood.  I don't know if it felt too exposed or didn't like the looks of the suet.  

Bluebirds flitted around in the dogwood.  A football-shaped object floated downstream.  I could see labels on it but not well enough to read.  Several egrets flew around, maybe settling territorial rights.  There was always vegetation in the way.  The same was true for the gulls I saw.  Then a flock of cormorants flew downstream.  Enough leaves were gone that I could see the lake again but nothing appeared on it.  I am thankful to live here where I can see all this.  

Midday shower

The morning shifted between sun and clouds, then there was a shower right after lunch.  Soon the sun was back and the temperature  went up to 70.  I saw a great blue heron, some Canada geese, and of course cormorants.  A big flock of small birds flew over the lake.  In the late afternoon, the sky was clear and I got some pictures of pink clouds and the crescent moon.  

Warm

Despite the clouds there was more sunshine than predicted and the day got quite warm -- 69°.  I believe an orange crowned warbler nibbled barkbutter balls at lunch, but my hands were dirty.  A leaf-footeed bug hiked across a window.  I didn't see much else.  iNaturalist sent me my "Year in Review."  I need more mammals and reptiles.  

 

More birds

While the sun was still bright, today was cooler than yesterday.  That might be why more birds visited in the morning.  Titmice competed with the house finches.  The long-haired yellow cat watched the feeder which agitated the birds but they refused to leave.  Earlier, the black cat walked past without stopping.  A blue jay flew across my field of view but didn't come close.  Brown headed nuthatches bullied the chickadees.  A downy woodpecker stayed in the trees.  Then a Carolina wren poked through the seeds and the barkbutter balls.  The last bird I saw was a female oriole with a barkbutter ball.  

Sunny

The sun was back.  I glimpsed what I thought were two winter ducks but too much vegetation was in the way.  Mallards were easier to see.  At lunch, a bird, probably a warbler, visited the barkbutter balls but my hands weren't clean and anyway it was in shadow.  As the sun got low, the cormorants flew to roost.  

Weather, assorted

Mist or light fog greeted me when I got up.  A pair of house finches were on the seed feeder.  Then there was sunshine at breakfast.  It didn't last, but the temperature climbed into the mid 60s.  Before noon a light rain started and the temperature dropped slowly.  When the rain stopped, wind picked up.  The sky stayed overcast and darkness came early.  Birds didn't appear for any of the weather variations, but neither did I. I didn't see anything yesterday either.  

Nuthatches

Yesterday, I didn't see anything.  The yellow rosebuds beginning to unfold were the brightest sight on a gray day.   A dredge was visible around the bend below the dam.  The male pine warbler returned for barkbutter balls.  First a white breasted nuthatch, then a brown headed nuthatch showed up at the seed feeder. Squirrels made the leap between pine and redwood.  One got an aerial drink from the ant moat.  

Possum

At breakfast, a squirrel performed acrobatics to reach food in a dogwood, but I couldn't tell if it was eating berries or something else.  I was going to report a nothing day and then, after dark on the way to a gathering, we saw a possum cross the road.  It was hustling but even so it was not very fast.  I didn't have my camera along so you'll have to take my word for this.  

Juncos!

Despite sunshine, the day was much cooler.  Two juncos popped up at breakfast.  At lunch, the brown headed nuthatches were back.  So was the pine warbler.  

Unpredictible weather

I saw a wasp flying mid morning.  A titmouse got a drink.  The day was supposed to be warm and sunny, and so it was till lunch.  The temperature had risen to 73° when we began eating but then a dark cloud appeared in the North.  As it swept over us, the temperature dropped ten degrees but not a drop of rain fell.  

Afterward, wind gusts peeled leaves off the trees.  The sun returned and then birds began to arrive at the feeders.  Brown headed nuthatches occupied the seed feeder.  I had put out some barkbutter balls which got attention from pine warblers.  The first Baltimore oriole arrived and quickly found the barkbutter balls.  The orange crowned warbler was back at the jelly.  A Carolina wren considered suet. 

Betwixt seasons

Winter migrants mixed with summer insects.  More white throated sparrows arrived.  A white throat ate beautyberries which looked past their prime.  An orange crowned warbler showed up and made straight for the jelly.  A goldfinch that was dressed for winter looked at the menu and left.  A Carolina wren popped up under the beautyberry bush.  Except for its eye, it completely blended in with the leaves.

But I also saw a leaf-footed bug that was missing a leg and a cucumber beetle on a rose.   The temperature rose into the upper 60s, but the sky clouded and partly obscured the sun.  At least three hoodies paddled together.  Egrets jockeyed for good fishing spots.  A kingfisher streaked past in a gray and white blur.  A half dozen mallard drakes paddled along the bulkhead, feeding.  Both domestic and wild cherry leaves turned fall colors.  

Migrants arriving

Yesterday I saw nothing but one chickadee.  Today, the weather was just about the same as yesterday - upper 50s and sunny with a strong, chilly breeze, but something changed. A blue jay came by and apparently didn't want the mealworms that were in the barkbutter dish.  It tried the birdbath but that had more leaves than water.  

A flurry of birds arrived after lunch.  I saw at least two of chickadees, titmice, brown headed nuthatches, pine warblers, and one bluebird.  Nuthatches took precedence over the larger chickadees but deferred to the titmice.  A pelican flew upstream.  I caught a fuzzy picture of a white throated sparrow and another bird that appeared to have a rusty cap.  There were many birds flitting through the trees that I couldn't pin down.  

Four buds on the yellow rose looked about to open.  There were buds on the moonflower vine but I question whether we will have a warm enough day for them to open.  The redwood turned bronze.  

Wind shift

The West wind emptied the creek in the late morning.  In the afternoon, I spotted a couple of hooded mergansers newly arrived from the North.  Later, four egrets took over the big dock downstream to sunbathe, I think.  Commuting cormorants flew past rose-tinted contrails at sunset.  

Frigid wind

The overnight temperature almost dropped to freezing and, despite the sunshine, the day never got very warm.  The pine warbler returned along with chickadees and titmice.  The birds were puffed up very round against the cold.  Dry leaves snowed out of the trees.  A squirrel spoke a lot of tail language.  The beautyberries lost some color and all their leaves.  As I was driving, I saw starlings attempt a small murmuration. Shadows were long by 3pm.  

Cold

The temperature took a dive which squeezed out some early morning precipitation.  But the day was mostly sunny with lots of fat cumulus clouds.  Chickadees and titmice came early.  A pine warbler visited and discovered the mealworms.  The creek, however, was boring.  Some egrets flew by.  Mallards preened on the dock.  

Cormorant flock

The day began overcast and wet but the sun was out by noon.  The wind wasn't as strong.  The temperature rose into the lower 70s and wasps feasted on the camellia flowers.   I counted six buds and three open flowers on the yellow rose.  An insect was investigating the buds but wouldn't stay put to be identified.  Chickadees and a couple of titmice ate seeds.  A squirrel cleaned up below.  

I must have missed them pursuing fish upstream but around 2:30pm a big flock of cormorants came paddling and flying downstream, some bathing or churning up the water.  They streamed past for several minutes.  One pelican photo-bombed a picture and several gulls circled over the creek.  Mallards watched from the bank.  

Creek action

This was a lovely day, warm and sunny, and not too windy.  The creek was busy but the feeders were not.  I saw some bees, or perhaps yellow jackets, buzzing around the roses.  Trees were coloring up and beginning to lose leaves.  The solomon's seal turned hay-color.  Pelicans fished but I got no pictures.  A kingfisher landed on a dock post but saw me first and flew away.  Cormorants didn't care.  K cleaned the guano off the window.  

In the late afternoon, something plunged after a fish and, while the photos were overexposed, it looked to me like a black crowned night heron.  Then an egret flew across the creek.  Cormorants commuted to their roosts and sunset arrived at 5pm.  

 

Splat

A couple of days ago a bird flying over the patio splattered it with guano and caught the bird feeder.  Titmice ate anyway.  Then yesterday, another guano drop hit the window.  I guess a gust of wind helped.  

 

Much the same

The black cat passed through in the morning.  A mourning dove landed on the patio during lunch.  I saw an egret fly downstream.  The sky was intensely blue but the day was mostly without birds.  

Windy

The day looked beautiful until a gust thrashed the trees.  The thermometer showed upper 60s but not with that wind chill.  Most birds stayed out of sight but I  saw a couple of crows rowing hard to keep from being blown backward.  Yellow roses continued to bloom, one by one.  I noticed some flowers lingering on the lantana while just above buds swelled on the jessamine.  A bee or wasp visited a camellia.  The trees were beginning to get serious about fall.  

 

Lovely Election Day

At breakfast there were at least three titmice, probably more, wanting seeds.  Eventually a cardinal and a chickadee joined them.  I was cooking when I saw a pelican fly upstream.  The sun shone all day and left a lovely afterglow in the evening as a fat moon rose.  We are surrounded by too many trees to get a good view of the moon near the horizon.  But I saw it as I drove home from my shift handing out information at the polls.  

 

Rain

Though the rain ceased early, the day remained damp and gray.  There were brief breaks in the overcast in the late morning.  At lunch I saw some activity in the dogwoods that I attributed to a mockingbird and a bluebird.  A male pine warbler ate suet because the barkbutter was covered to keep out the rain.  He even considered seeds

 

Pelican

Yesterday, a pelican fished in the creek but I missed getting a picture because at first I assumed I was seeing a heron fly past.  But when it plunged, I knew better.  It looked quite brown to me so maybe it was young.  Birds flitted among the trees but I couldn't identify them or catch them on camera.  House finches visited the feeder which was nearly empty.  Scattered leaves began to turn on the oak and the maple.  Today all I saw were mallards and cormorants.  The morning sky was very blue but later it grew hazy and then became streaked with clouds.