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.  

Elusive butterflies

It was another scorcher so I swam in the morning.  Floating in the water were a queen ant,  a robber fly, a firefly, a woodlouse hunter spider, a largus bug, and many more ants, flies, little wasps, and mulch roaches.  I thought the spider was a goner but when I next checked it had disappeared.  I complained because there weren't any butterflies or dragonflies, but they appeared in the afternoon.  I think I captured a wasp killing another insect, but it might have been mating.  

A blue jay came for barkbutter balls and brown headed nuthatches for seeds.  The sakaki was nearly finished blooming.  A great crested flycatcher made a commotion chasing something through the oak leaves.  A skink wanted to get behind my chair and made a detour through the grass.  A female downy had a go at the suet.  A pair of geese with three half-grown goslings paddled upstream while a fish jumped in the background. 

A tiger swallowtail and a dark butterfly proved impossible to photograph.  Wasps and bees were more cooperative.  A very dark skipper visited the mountain mint.  I could see insects going to the asters but I couldn't tell what they were.  One might have been a Southern purple mint moth and another some kind of beetle.  Prince baskettail dragonflies patrolled the hazy sky.  A different dragonfly perched on a dead twig at the top of the wild cherry.  And a Needham's skimmer used one of the perches.  

Gloomy and chilly

The early bird was a brown headed nuthatch.  A Carolina wren also wanted breakfast.  Then bluebirds arrived.  At lunch the wren shared suet with a chickadee.  Three other chickadees congregated on the dish hanger.  

Again there was a bar cloud across the Northeast.  Someone on a downstream dock was trying to discourage geese.  The geese behaved as though they were trying to rescue a gosling.  I don't know if he saw me watching but the man quit and went away.  A little later I noticed a heron on one of the pilings.  The light was poor but I believe it was a little green heron.  

Blue water

The temperature was quite a bit cooler, though less windy, and the sun shone in a white sky.  A pair of Carolina wrens joined us for breakfast.  Blue jays showed up even before I put more barkbutter balls in the dish.  Birds rock just like kids on the swinging feeder dishes, but I think one blue jay was pumping the swing, not just rocking with it.  Another blue jay, up in a tree, appeared to have recently bathed, though I don't know where. 

I glimpsed a tiger swallowtail.  The dragonflies mostly disappeared.  A squirrel seemed to wonder if another orange would be forthcoming.  Finally the pool was opened but the power switch failed so the water started reverting to green.  A pair of geese escorted three goslings.  Two night herons argued about territory.   

Fledgling bluebird

The rain had stopped though everything was wet and the sky was gray.  Papa bluebird hit the seed feeder because the barkbutter was still covered.   Then his offspring showed up,  just as big as Dad but pretty clueless.  I imagined the fledgling thinking, "the world is so big and smells so good, after spending my whole life in a box."  But Papa still needed to feed the youngster.  

The cardinals were still courting.  A persistent brown headed nuthatch stuffed itself with seeds and threw rejects down for the squirrels.  I mostly got pictures of its rear end.  A Carolina wren worked on the diminishing suet.  Curiously, there haven't been any woodpeckers recently. The sky cleared at lunch and I spent some time outside. I saw a large dark butterfly, a small pale butterflu, a small brown skipper (I think), and the ubiquitous cabbage whites.  Dragonflies flew over, including one so big it had to have been a darner.  Polistes wasps roamed the vegetation.  Little red mites roamed on me.

The skink with the blue tail section crossed the patio.  Geese paddled downstream with goslings in tow.  I couldn't get a count through the screen of vegetation.  A dark object just below the water's surface was a turtle.  I'm afraid it was foiled by the goose excluder, though maybe it was following the geese in hopes of catching a gosling.  An egret flew downstream.  Clouds gathered as the afternoon went on and when it was fully dark we had a loud thunderstorm. 

Not so cold

Yesterday's clouds were gone and morning was chilly.  The creek was mostly iced.  A blue jay stared at the barkbutter dish before settling in to eat.  White throats kicked mulch throughout the day.  At lunch, a bluebird was disappointed to find the barkbutter balls gone.  A pine warbler pecked at the empty suet cage and a downy glared at it.  They were left to make do with seeds. 

Ice still covered a lot of the creek and I didn't see ducks or pelicans, just geese.  A great blue heron chased another.  At dusk, the cormorants and egrets flew to their roosts. 

Cold wind

A flock of Canada geese paddled in the dawn-gilded creek.   White throated sparrows kicked mulch under the seed feeder.  The mockingbird returned to the ant moat and the birdbath.  A Carolina wren poked through the seeds.  Both red and yellow roses had buds but the cold air should slow down their unfolding. 

I saw a kingfisher on the dock but my hands were full of tea and, by the time I traded that for the camera, it was gone.  After I refilled the barkbutter dish, two blue jays got into a fight.  They finally, warily agreed to take turns.  At least three bluebirds visited.  A warbler eating barkbutter balls was backlighted but I think it was a pine warbler.  The white breasted nuthatch(es?) found it difficult to get time on the seed feeder.  A chipping sparrow joined a finch on the seed feeder.  

Sunny and dry

Yesterday, the kingfisher was back on her post, but not for long.  Maybe I bothered her?  The domestic cherry leaves began to turn.  Saltbush fluff was snagged everywhere. 

There was still not much to see today beyond the turning leaves and pretty reflections under a beautiful blue sky.  In the afternoon, faint cloud ridges formed.  

Tufted titmice visited the barkbutter balls.  A Carolina wren scurried under a chair.  A blue jay and some gulls flew overhead.  The three regulars -- cardinals, house finches, chickadees -- ate seeds.  

A Canada goose stood on the back of the dock bench.  I spotted a pied bill grebe in the water with a mallard for scale.  

Gilded creek

The sun was back today.  It was the new moon so the tides were stronger but the creek was placid in the morning light.  Later the surface became crepey like old skin.  In the afternoon, an egret chased off another.  The winning bird took up a post on a post at the end of the dock.  Later the egret fished while mallards paddled past.  Squirrels played follow my leader (my pheromones, more likely) from the redwood to the hickory and on around the other trees.  A flock of geese paddled upstream through golden reflections of the oaks above the dam.  

New beetle

I was afraid it was an emerald ash borer but it matched the red-legged metallic wood boring beetle, Buprestis rufipes.  Wood boring beetles are often beautiful and destructive but this one apparently prefers dead wood.  I suspect it might have come from the oak limb that fell in the storm.  Several blue mud daubers,Chalybion californicum, fed on the rue.  They seemed smaller than usual.  Paper wasps bustled all around the flowers and plants.  I saw honeybees on the mountain mint, and leather wing soldier beetles, of course. 

Blueberries began to ripen and the recent rain made them big and fat.  I picked quite a few of only the largest.  On my way, I found raised ridges in the grass and especially in mossy areas. One of them moved as I watched, which was kind of creepy.  I suppose they were dug by moles. 

At lunch, a mockingbird attacked a crow.  The mockingbird kept up its harassment until the dog noticed the crow and scared off both birds.  I suppose the crow got too close to the mockingbird nest.  A brown headed nuthatch slipped in among the chickadees to get a sunflower seed.  A hummingbird decided to risk my presence. 

I need to report that the goose excluders failed.  I had to chase four geese out of the spartina planting.  A yellow crowned night heron preened on a dock post.  Vegetation hid the bird's head.  

Drying out

The predicted rain showers never showed and we had some sunshine.   Both pileated woodpeckers were back for fresh suet.  A hungry female bluebird scared off the female pileated.  Blue jays found the fresh barkbutter balls.  The mockingbirds were more interested in the suet.  A male bluebird and a female downy woodpecker grudgingly shared the suet.  

Two half-grown goslings and their parents paddled past without entering the yard.  

Cold wind

A bit of early mist created an illusion of distant hills that were really just tall trees.  More daylilies bloomed, a bi-color and a.classic orange.  A goldfinch visited.  A goose family thought they could get away with trespassing but I told them otherwise.  

One of the rain lily bulbs popped up a bloom.  The other lilies had buds.  I went down to the dock to get a better view of the living shoreline.  A spider had already made a snare connecting posts.  Stormy looking clouds flowed out of the Northeast.  I also saw one of the pileated woodpeckers, some kind of heron, and a mockingbird.

Yellow crowned night heron

Blue jays and bluebirds sought barkbutter balls for breakfast.  A male red bellied woodpecker wanted suet. 

I was shocked to see an entire family of goslings squeezed into the birdbath like it was a kiddie wading pool.  The parents were supervising this silliness but I sent the whole family scuttling. 

At last, a yellow crowned night heron arrived to prowl the shoreline.  I wonder if it missed the fallen pine tree?  Or if it wondered about the strange "logs" paralleling the shore?  

The male pileated woodpecker wanted suet for lunch.  A bluebird disapproved.  Two blue jays foraged around the birdbath.  A mockingbird dived onto the barkbutter balls.  

In the mid afternoon, the night heron preened on a post.  A few turtles and a young cormorant rested on the lake logs.  Later. a brown headed nuthatch took over the seed feeder from house finches twice its size.  A mockingbird tried acrobatics for food.  

Cooler

The mockingbird got a meal.  I think they are nesting somewhere in the front yard.  A brown headed nuthatch carried off sunflower seeds, one at a time. 

Turtles enjoyed the sunshine.  Geese paddled downstream with a two-gosling train.  Another goose pair had four goslings.  Bluebirds cleaned up the food dishes.  A blue jay and a Carolina wren foraged.  On the way to the school board, I saw a rabbit.  

Cloudy

Threatening skies didn't actually result in much precipitation.  The mockingbird continued its fly-by attacks on the suet.  Bluebirds were more sedate but they too wanted breakfast.  I was a bit late with the refills today.  Blue jays stuffed their beaks with barkbutter balls.  

A skink with a very long blue tail showed startling dexterity with it.  I should have taken a movie.  The lizard curled the tail back and forth in loops and squiggles.  I was amazed it had never lost any of that enticingly wriggling tail.  A cabbage white flitted around.  

The brown thrasher was back to hunt for spills from the feeders.  A pair of geese brought six goslings to eat grass.  One of the six was an explorer who has to run to catch up when the rest of them moved on.  Myrtle warblers found something in the saltbush.  

Sunny

We got a good soaking but it finished before I got up so I put out fresh mealworms and barkbutter balls.  It did not take long for the word to get to the bluebirds and blue jays.  

The pileated lady was back which frustrated a downy.  Crows watched closely and one tried to feed on the suet but it was too awkward.  A squirrel foraged under the seed feeder.  The all-black cat visited and tried to catch the squirrel.  The cat was also fascinated by something in the water.  Later I removed a drowned skink.  I saw a living skink in the front yard.

Brown headed nuthatches took turns at the seed feeder.  A black swallowtail and a cabbage white flitted around.  I finally got my pimento peppers potted.  A mockingbird supervised.  A pair of geese brought their two goslings to nibble on the lawn.  

Pileated woodpecker

The sun was back but the air was no warmer and the wind was stronger.  That may be why the songbirds stayed away.  I didn't put any food out, either.  The male pileated woodpecker, a female downy woodpecker and a starling were all I saw.  Of course, songbirds are busy mating and nesting at this time of year.  The downy looked damaged but it might have just been rumpled feathers.  

When we got home, geese had come right up to the back door.  The dog put them to flight.  I hope the lesson lasts - we don't need their poop on top of the dog's.  

No bunnies visited. 

April showers

A cold front came through in the evening and rain began around breakfast.  It streaked the windows so even if there had been birds I wouldn't have gotten pictures.   All day, all I saw were a cardinal. a chickadee, a titmouse, and a downy woodpecker.  The rain was mostly gentle and there were lulls but the temperature continued to drop all day long.  The pecan buds opened and the crossvine bloomed. 

On the gray creek, a cormorant fished.  A couple of mallard drakes rested on the empty turtle log.  Two geese invaded the yard but I scared them off.  

Poop!

Between flies and storms, I thought morning would be the safest time to be outside.  The sun was scorching but the water was refreshing.  Unfortunately, geese had pooped everywhere.  It took too much time in the sun cleaning up their mess.  I pried a June beetle off the skimmer handle and saw a couple of Japanese beetles and some sweat bees in the water, but mostly goose feathers.  The mountain mint was very busy.  A fiery skipper darted in then as quickly left.  But there were all kinds of bees everywhere.  Wasps were present but not as many as the bees.  When I sprayed the hibiscus I scared something away.It might have been a hummer or a hummingbird moth, or possibly a cicada.  

A tiny skink scampered into the shade.  Later I saw an adult.  So far I haven't had any in the pool.  A black swallowtail passed through without stopping at the rue, so I figured it was a male.

A female cardinal chased another that had the nerve to visit the feeder.  One of them chased something in the rue.  The brown headed nuthatch was back.  The male hummer was back.  I still haven't got a picture of his ruby throat catching the sun.  

Still cool

The goldfinches have been dropping by daily.  Mockingbirds have also become recent regulars.  The daylilies have put on an impressive show this Spring and there are still many buds for Summer.  

Dragonflies found my perch convenient.  My view of the lake was no longer obstructed so I could see turtles.  A cormorant preened.  Goslings were beginning to look like small adult geese.  

A venusta orchard spider constructed an orb web outside my window, presumably to take advantage of my light attracting insects after dark.  Leatherwing soldier beetles were more attracted to the mountain mint, at least by day, when they could get a meal and find a mate there.