Signs of Spring

The sun shone and the creek shone back.   Starlings came early to finish off the suet.  A yellow rumped warbler hung around hoping for a chance at the suet.  Then a fish drive swept through.  It was a flock of red breasted mergansers again.  Either they were all female or the males were in winter drab.  I didn't see any fish, though - maybe they swallow them under water?  There were well over two dozen ducks.  A cormorant that joined the fun was distinctly larger.  A little while later the flock came straggling back downstream. 

A white throated sparrow perched on a dogwood branch.  A brown headed nuthatch visited the birdbath for a drink before seeds.  It was very picky and tossed many away.   A Carolina wren worked on the remnant of suet.  A mockingbird wandered around the pool cover, then took a turn at the suet.  

A blue jay wondered if I had refilled the dish feeders.  I hadn't.  Downy woodpeckers worked on the suet.  Red bellied woodpeckers appeared and disappeared without eating.  A pileated woodpecker made a brief inspection.  That motivated me to get the dishes refilled.  Later. K hung another block of suet.

After lunch the temperature reached 78 but there was a cool breeze.  I went out and watched insects.  There were lots of Polistes wasps harvesting wood pulp.  Carpenter and bumblebees were hunting nectar.  Cabbage whites also sought refreshment.  Later I saw a dark butterfly.  A squirrel ate tender oak leaves.  Rusty-red ants roamed the concrete looking for food, I suppose.  And then ... I saw a skink!  It was an adult with a regrown tail. 

A white breasted nuthatch came for seeds despite my proximity.   I snapped a picture of glimpsed movement and got a blue gray gnatcatcher!  Along the creek shore came a yellow crowned night heron, first this season.  It tread delicately through the goose deterrents. 

The sky was mostly clear but at sunset a small cloud picked up the orange light.  The newspaper today discussed the warm winter and prognostications for outdoor planting.  Ken Spencer said, "December, January and February — was a warm one. The average high was 2.2 degrees above normal; the average low, 3.7 degrees above normal; and the mean, 2.4 degrees above, according to the National Weather Service, Norfolk. All three months were above normal. The highest recorded temperature for the period was 77, on Jan. 26; the lowest low, 22 on Jan. 17. I counted 22 days in which the temperature was 32 or below. And of those, only 10 days were 28 or below, the weather service threshold for a hard freeze. Seven of those days came between Jan. 16 and 23. That was our winter."  He also spoke about the rain and wind, and no doubt wrote before this past week's drenching.  For gardening, he echoed the advice I posted a couple of days ago. 

Cold wind

The cat came by, its belly hanging low.  Pregnant?  After it disappeared the white throats reappeared.  A male downy worked on the suet.  A blue jay got away without a photo.  So did two ospreys that zoomed upstream.

A red breasted merganser paddled downstream.  A yellow rumped warbler was growing a black mask for breeding season.  Another still had a gray face.  I chased, with the camera, a gnatcatcher through the trees. 

A different kind of hawk was run off by crows.  It had a pale underside with no markings that I could see.  And it had a stick in its beak.  I did some weeding and seeding and then came back in to get warm.  The wind grounded all the insects except flies. 

April fools

Morning was nice for Easter services.  The weather played some tricks as the wind shifted from the Southwest to the Northwest bringing chilling clouds in the late afternoon. Insects of all sorts awakened and emerged. I saw (and was too awestruck to photograph) a mourning cloak butterfly with its gold trim blazing in the sunlight.  A cabbage white, wasps, tiny moths and midges flew around me. 

A male downy woodpecker went to work on the suet.  The yellow rumped warbler made do with the mealworm dish.  I saw what might have been a least flycatcher.  A blue jay was busy with something at the base of the cedar by the dock.  Another was under the neighbors' feeder.  Then I definitely saw a bluegray gnatcatcher, maybe more as it never stayed put.  White throats hopped through the understory trees and bushes.  A house finch defied a cardinal and won, but eventually they compromised. 

The sunnyside narcissus opened.  The sassafras started to bloom only to have a squirrel eat the flowers.  The cherry had scattered flowers.  Some ajuga popped up where I thought it was long gone. Periwinkle snails were abundantly visible as the tide was blown very low.  It exposed the trap that worried me last year, but a couple of girls retrieved it.

Hot!

The day began with some mist and less than the usual birdsong.  White throats were out in force and warblers were battling over the suet.

The sun burned through by mid-morning.  At lunch time a black swallowtail and a cabbage white flitted around.  The swallowtail spent her time egging the rue as there isn't much parsley after the hard winter.  Canada geese had a commotion that involved a threesome.  The temperature aspired to summer heights.

The noon haze congealed into afternoon overcast with occasional moments of sun.  A gusty wind moderated the humid heat.  Even though it's been dry I found a mushroom.  I've never seen sassafras blossoms before, so here they are.   The red maple has gone to seed.  Money plant blossoms peeked out of the azaleas and violets poked up out of the grass.  Bees swirled around the Carolina jessamine.  Two kinds of paper wasp nibbled on the wood slats of the bench - red with yellow trim and black with red.  A yellowjacket looked for a nesting spot.  The wind grounded a black swallowtail, maybe the same one as earlier.

Downy woodpeckers got up the gumption to ignore me.  I saw a kingfisher streak by and heard it thereafter.  A flock of birds in the trees made a more musical rattle.  Unfortunately they were always back-lighted so all I know is they were dark birds with lighter beaks.  Then a little bluegray gnatcatcher started zipping around across the pool from me. 

There were lightning flashes after dark but no rain. 

Birdhouse visitor, new bird for me

A great blue heron swooped in and landed on the dock bench as I was coming into the kitchen.  Today, the creek is ruffled, not reflective at dawn.  Nuthatches, finches, and cardinals visited the feeder while white throated sparrows and Carolina wrens joined squirrels on the ground.  The birdhouse has attracted a possible tenant! 

Some dogwood blossoms have opened.  Violets and vetch are blooming.  The fried egg narcissus is beginning to bloom but the early yellow daffodils are done.  The sky is not a clear blue this morning but more like someone started to erase it and left white areas.

A flock of small gray birds moved around in the bushes.  After looking at numerous photos that caught different details, I think they were blue headed vireos migrating through. They have a very definite eye ring, a bluish head, a white belly and a bit of white on the wings, and they are about the right size. The Backyard Birdcount group on Facebook corrected me.  It was a blue-gray gnatcatcher. 

Meanwhile, cumulus clouds moved in and created drama.  An osprey circled.  It is very warm. I saw several cabbage butterflies during the course of the day and one tiger swallowtail.  By evening the clouds were gone and sunset was just a golden sky.