Still windy

The sun was bright in a cloudless sky. White throated sparrows, Carolina wrens, starlings, red bellied and downy woodpeckers, and a blue jay came seeking breakfast. Fishing birds congregated at the dam outfall.  I saw red breasted mergansers, gulls, cormorants, and pelicans.  A charred log jammed against the dock. 

At lunch, a yellow rumped warbler gave up on the flat-hung suet and worked on the bark butter balls.  After lunch, a dead heron floated by in a raft of leaves and trash.  I couldn't tell if it was tangled in the trash or killed by the wind, or possibly something else.  Live gulls, mergansers, and a pelican fished further downstream. A lone goose stayed on the lake with the turtles. 

Later I saw a few hoodies among the red breasted mergansers. Some buffleheads were also attracted by the fishing. At times one bird tried to steal another's catch.  A live heron paced along the marsh grass.  The coot was after something along the edges of pilings and dock floats.  Algae or crustaceans?  Pelicans passed by repeatedly. A bit of cloud rimmed the sky at sunset. 

Howling gale

The March lion was a day late. The noise of the wind was constant all day even though it was gusty.  It was like being right beside a jet runway.  But there was more sunshine than had been predicted. At breakfast I saw starlings, yellow rumped warblers, white throated sparrows, a Carolina wren, doves, chickadees, cardinals, downy woodpeckers

The creek was very choppy and even the lake water was splashing.  Gulls and buzzards played with the winds. A couple of egrets soaked up sun above the bulkhead across the creek.  Below them in the water was a small flock of red breasted mergansers.

Before lunch, I tossed out a peanut that had fallen on the floor and the squirrel who found it was not content with one.  A larger flock of mergansers gathered at the dam outfall.  It included both hooded and red breasted.  Rafts of leaves floated on the creek.  A pelican landed on the water.  I had expected to see more of them here to escape the worst winds out on the bay. 

Sunset was fiery with storm clouds flying across the sky.  Homeward commute for the waterfowl was a struggle.  The coot reappeared just as the light fell too low for the camera. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel recorded 75mph sustained winds with gusts peaking at 84mph.  That is equivalent to a Cat. 1 hurricane. Yesterday was also a full moon, but the tide was not unusually high. 

Wet

The weather folklore was that if March came in roaring like a lion, it would depart as gently as a lamb. However, this March arrived more like a wet dog shaking himself off. Red breasted mergansers bathed and preened.  A few buffleheads, a coot, and numerous gulls were afloat fishing.  Later a heron used the floating dock to watch for fish.  Two cormorants perched on the lake snag but the rain was like fog for the camera. 


Despite the wet, there were feeder visitors.  Red bellied and downy woodpeckers took turns withe the suet.  The cardinals were courting again - she's a pretty high-maintenance bird.  I finally caught the white breasted nuthatch sneaking a seed.  Even the white throats got up on the feeder.  One starling was able to get some suet.  A winter-drab goldfinch joined a female house finch and gave me a good comparison shot.  Blue jays preferred the dish of bark butter balls but a squirrel got into the dish and ate the mealworms. 

More fishing

The red breasted mergansers were back.  The coot was with them.  So were some female hooded mergansers.  One male red breasted merganser was surrounded by perhaps 20 females. Gulls and mallards were also out on the water. 

A downy woodpecker earnestly pecked at the suet.  A white throated sparrow moved up to the seed feeder.  I glimpsed a warbler that might have been a female pine warbler or some other kind.  Then the warblers moved up into the top of the redwood to catch flying insects. 

Gray

The day was warm but mostly overcast.  Not much happened in the morning while I cooked.  The starlings were frustrated by the suet so went for the bark butter instead.  A pine warbler was also unhappy with the suet arrangement.  Hooded and red breasted mergansers paddled on the creek. Rain fell very briefly around 1pm.

A female oriole appeared in the dogwood right after the rain.  She landed on the suet while the female downy was eating.  The downy made a threat display and the oriole flew away and never returned, even though I rushed grape jelly to the scene.  A squirrel helped itself to the jelly.  Titmice joined the regulars at the Sunflower Cafe.  White throats popped up all over.  Blue jays wanted bark butter.  A yellow rumped warbler investigated the empty feeder outside my office. 

The red bellied woodpecker seemed unsure of the new suet arrangement even though she easily ate previous suet blocks from beneath.  I counted five female hoodies on the creek, and later saw a drake.  Three buffleheads, one male, were in the vicinity.  I'm not sure if there was more than one red breasted merganser.  And there was one coot.

Then a wood duck pair came up the creek, perhaps looking for a nest site. There were turtles out on the log by the lake, but not nearly so many.

Fog

A cold front moved through overnight dropping the temperature into the 40s and making a thick mist.  The first bird I saw was a pileated woodpecker.  It saw me going for the camera and flew off.  But it came back repeatedly and brought its mate.  I finally got pictures through the window over the sink. 

In between, we had red bellied woodpeckers and downy woodpeckers, and of course starlings.  Blue jays emptied the dish of bark butter balls.  A flock of juncos joined the white throats on the ground.  The yellow rumped warblers yearned after the suet and chased each other away. A Carolina wren showed up very late in the day.  And a pine warbler also slipped in late. 

On the creek I saw gulls, red breasted mergansers, and pelicans.  Cormorants and shovelers were up on the lake. Later I saw a coot. The mist which had thinned out in the afternoon returned in the evening. 

Overnight rain

I saw a bufflehead before there was enough light for a decent photo.  Apparently the songbirds did not party last night because they were up for breakfast.  At least two red breasted nuthatches alternated between suet and seeds.  So did chickadees while a Carolina wren and the downy woodpeckers stuck to the suet.  A female oriole also wanted suet.  Rain dissolved the jelly and mealworms so I dumped the residue and refilled them.  The male oriole must have been watching.

By lunch time the sky cleared. Warblers (pine and yellow rump) were interested in suet.  A song sparrow and a junco foraged on the ground.  The nuthatches and chickadees kept coming.

In the afternoon, a great blue heron caught some rays along the bulkhead.  I saw a "duck" that I'm pretty sure was a coot.  And a kingfisher dived but I could not see if it caught anything.

Bars of cloud picked up color at sunset though overhead the sky was nearly clear.  A dark bank of cloud to the NE was probably headed our way. After dark when I went out to close the feeder, I saw a fuzzy crescent moon overhead. 

Hot!

If the car temperature sensor is to be believed, it got up to 80°F.  Since this was the last weekend of car access to Mackay Island Wildlife Refuge, we made an expedition South to N.C.

People were out fishing and photographing in the glorious weather.  Turtles abounded in the waterways, particularly Northern red bellied cooters  (Pseudemys rubriventris) and yellow bellied sliders (Trachemys scripta scripta).  Insects were flying and the car gathered several mosquitoes.  A female kingfisher perched in a dead tree.  Ducks, coots, geese, and swans paddled and fed.  A large flock of white ibis hung out on and below a dead tree.  This was a new bird for me.

We had lunch at Blue Pete's on the way back, a nice opportunity to visit a place too far for usual days.

When we got home, a Carolina wren was waiting. A buzzard circled in the hazy sky.  Downy woodpeckers visited the suet while a female red bellied woodpecker stuck to the trees.  Chickadees and other birds scooted between bushes.  A great blew heron flew upstream and cormorants flew and paddled in the creek.  But the daylight was all too short.

Stars glittered in the night sky, untroubled by cloud or moon.  The day set a record with an official temperature of 77°F.