South wind

A very warm day despite clouds and wind - the thermometer hit 80.  The creek was rumpled and gray.  Big birds I think were pelicans flew over the water.  The mockingbirds were hungry again and visited feeders all through the day.  They lurked in the Carolina jessamine and in the cedar out front.  I could see a nest in the cedar, but not whether it was last year's or this.  The crossvine had a bud ready to open.  Wood hyacinths were beginning to bloom.  There were moments of sunlight and also times that looked like immanent rain, but no rain fell and the sunshine was brief.  

A pine warbler visited the suet.  The female red belly defeated me again.  A white throated sparrow scrounged seeds from the mulch.  A brown headed nuthatch tried to sneak past a house finch.  Then a bluebird ate seeds.  (I put out barkbutter balls at breakfast and mealworms at lunch but they got eaten when I wasn't watching.)  A white breasted nuthatch showed up at suppertime. 

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.  

Butterflies

Temperature over 80° hatched out butterflies and also brought up the first skink of the season.  I saw small, beige lepidoptera in addition to a tiger and a black swallowtail, but only the black swallowtail stayed put long enough for me to focus.  The crossvine bloomed. 

Hot!

Clouds streamed past in a hazy sky.  The temperature climbed into the mid 80s.  Maybe that was why I didn't see any feeder birds.  I took pictures of the flowers out front, especially the crossvine, Bignonia capreolata.