Siesta time

Can a frog look sheepish?  When I took the lid off the skimmer, two frogs were crammed together in a corner, blinking at me.  One hopped away but the other dodged around to dive into the water.  I caught them both several times before they took the hint.  Aside from that, I fished out dead June beetles and a drowned woodlouse hunter spider.  

After lunch I spent some time outside.  Despite being 90°, it was pleasant in the shade with a breeze.  The sky was cloudless but hazy.  I saw a few skinks, a hummer, a blue dasher obelisking, and a tiger swallowtail.  A Guinea paper wasp prowled through the mountain mint.  An osprey flew up the creek and a hawk flew across the yard.  

After the hawk was gone, a couple of mourning doves landed in the shade of the sakaki. A male cardinal tried to discourage his son from following and begging.   A small black bee landed on the concrete at the edge of the house shadow and appeared to do a honeybee dance.  I didn't watch it continuously but I think it staggered into the sunlight, keeled over and died.  I came inside not long after.  

Rainy

Morning was overcast and drizzle began before lunch.  I submitted three more bird counts.  The first was unsatisfactory, I felt, only 15 birds.  The mockingbird, song sparrow, wren, and pine warbler made me happy.  I did another short count mid morning when I picked up bluebirds, the red bellied woodpecker and a pelican.  

After lunch, drizzle turned to rain.  Despite that, and the hawk that swooped past the feeders, I saw more birds and more species.  The towhee came back.  The male oriole put in a brief appearance.  Nuthatches made it out of bed.  But the weather was dreary without making much of a dent in the drought. 

GBBC start

A sunny, breezy morning, just above freezing, brought plenty of birds to count.  I was glad to see the song sparrow again.  A Carolina wren pecked suet.  The bullying myrtle warbler was ever-present.  Bluebirds came for the barkbutter balls.  A goldfinch dithered before sampling seeds.  Then the red bellied woodpecker took over the seed feeder.  I spotted a downy up in the wild cherry.  She soon flew down to the suet.  A myrtle warbler got into the jelly.  Blue jays raided the barkbutter balls.  The bluebirds moved on to seeds and a mockingbird picked at the barkbutter balls.  .  

I counted birds again at lunch, starting with a pine warbler.  A Cooper's hawk hid in a knot of branches.  I saw it land or I would never have noticed it.  The tangle of branches made getting a picture impossible but the birds knew.  Nuthatches arrived after the alarm faded, first brown headed, then white breasted.  I didn't count it, but I caught a squirrel in flight!  

 

Predators

The sun was back but a skin of ice floated on the creek at breakfast.  As usual, the chill made birds hungry.  A Carolina wren started with suet where it was joined by an orange crowned warbler.  Meanwhile, blue jays cleaned out the barkbutter balls.  The orange cat wandered through but didn't come close.  A goldfinch was tempted by the suet but didn't succumb.  The red belly returned.  A myrtle warbler scurried around the patio and finally got a chance at the empty dish.  The wren was disappointed too and glared at me.  Even a cardinal, a bluebird, and warbler had to see for themselves that it was empty.  

White throats stayed on terra firma.  A great blue heron landed in the pines.  Pretty soon another came along and chased it off.   A goldfinch tried mountain mint seeds.  A second Carolina wren joined the first.  I refilled the dish, this time with mealworms.  At lunch, we saw another Cooper's hawk.  It was sitting on the fence so I had a much better view, but of its back.   

Once the hawk flew, hungry songbirds returned starting with pine warblers.  Bluebirds followed.  Brown headed nuthatches went after sunflower seeds.  The female oriole was attracted by the mealworms.  A myrtle warbler looked into grape jelly.  One yellow rumped warbler had some yellow on its throat like it might be a mix of myrtle and Audubon varieties.  The red belly came back but he also went prospecting up the trunk of a dogwood.  

Bufflehead drakes bobbed up and dived in the creek after the ice was gone.  I think there were three of them.  They kept it up as the sun went down.  

 

Hawk again

The sun shone and the creek was placid.  I was gone till mid morning and when I returned there weren't any birds.  But at lunch we had a show.  K saw a hawk again but still screened by twigs.  I don't know if they forgot it was there, but after a while, songbirds came to the feeders.  The boldest was a Carolina wren that wanted suet.  White throats began to forage.  Eventually the hawk left.  

The red bellied woodpecker returned to the suet.   Some yellow rumped warblers searched for fallen food.  One sampled the goodies in the dish but was soon supplanted by a bluebird.  A pine warbler asserted rank on the warbler pecking order.  Both brown headed and white breasted nuthatches visited.  A goldfinch looked around but settled for water.  

Hawk

The morning sky was gray and threatened rain.  Below, the creek was dull and quiet.  K pointed out a possible hawk, but I thought it was too small.  However, the songbirds agreed with K and hid till it flew away.  From the blurry photos, it appears it was a Cooper's hawk sitting in the sweet gum tree.  It flew down toward the creek and disappeared.  

About six minutes passed and then the feeders were full of birds.  Pine warblers and bluebirds argued over the barkbutter balls.  The female bluebird pooped orange.  A yellow rumped warbler scavenged food I'd dropped for the ground feeders.  Juncos stuck to dropped seeds.  A brown headed nuthatch got a turn at the seed feeder.  A song sparrow also foraged in the leaf litter.  A Carolina wren got up on a chair to peer at me, then went to the barkbutter.  Then the orange cat showed up.  

After I shooed it off, the finch family monopolized the seeds to the disappointment of a titmouse.  A butterbutt and a white throat hunted a meal on the ground.   Up in the wild cherry, a squirrel washed itself.  The butterbutt finally got a chance at the barkbutter balls.  The clouds rolled away without doing anything and we had sunshine and a warm afternoon.  The only waterfowl I saw all day was a lone cormorant.  

Hawk

In a change, the morning Carolina wren went for barkbutter balls instead of suet.  A blue jay had the same idea.  One of the spiders disappeared.  The other was in the web by the side window that the bigger spider had built.  I could not be sure which it was.  Meanwhile, K found another egg sack attached to a front window frame.  The third spider in the web behind the bench was quite still.  

Now I know why all the birds disappeared!  A very streaky bird that was clearly some kind of hawk landed on the patio.  The streaks suggest it was a juvenile bird. and It seemed about the size of a Cooper's hawk.  Pictures on Cornell's site match up.  

I rescued another young skink.  An orange butterfly crossed the yard without pausing and a skimmer dragonfly tried to perch on the crook from which the feeder dishes hang.  A weevilish beetle hiked across the concrete.  The chrysalis looked more golden today.  A pals silver-spotted skipper appeared to find nectar on a rose.  

Skinks and squirrels

It was a beautiful day in the shade.  The sun was intense but a nice breeze cooled the air and kept the bugs down.  Clouds floated out of the East.  I swam in the morning to have shade on the water.  The only critters I rescued were some ants, mainly so they wouldn't bite me.  The Argiope spider was in the same spot.  The widow skimmer and other dragonflies hunted from the perches I provided.   Note the pruinose abdomen on this male widow.  A female showed up later.  

A monarch battled with bees and wasps to lay eggs on the butterfly milkweed.  A black swallowtail flitted around but didn't try to lay eggs, so I suspect it was a male cruising for a girlfriend.  Fiery skippers also had to compete with the bees and wasps.  A tiger swallowtail was impossible to catch in a photo.  

I think I saw six skinks of various sizes.  One hungry skink dashed out of cover to snatch something off the concrete practically in front of me.  Another moseyed out from under my chair.  This one had a recent narrow escape.  The squirrels were all tracking their lady love through the trees. 

Cardinals, titmice and one blue jay enjoyed barkbutter balls.   A hummer hunted for a source of nectar in the rosemary.  Then it came for the feeder but I was sitting beside it at that time.  I froze and couldn't roll my eyes far enough so I don't know if it drank from the feeder or not.  Most of the hummer-friendly flowers were done blooming.  In fact, the only flowers left were canna, milkweed, and mountain mint.  A hawk swooped through the yard and I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture.  I think I caught a barn swallow in flight.  

Hawk

I was late getting up so the two wrens eating suet weren't really early birds.  White throats still hunted seeds in the snow but the juncos were gone.  So was much of the snow.  The orioles were still enthusiastic about suet and jelly.  A bluebird came for seeds.  Four squirrels poked through the snow under the feeder.  Patches of ice floated on the creek but it was mainly open water. 

Competition at the feeders wasn't so fierce and a brown headed nuthatch got some seeds.  A pine warbler got some suet.  Some time after lunch, a hawk flew across the yard.  This time I saw its buff belly clearly but not in time to grab the camera.  There was no prey in sight and it was flying too high to be hunting around the feeders anyway.  I suspect the birds had known it was around and that's why they weren't.  Curiously, it was not pursued by crows.  

Daffodils

It was a lovely day to finish the GBBC, though a lot colder and still windy.  A female oriole greeted the dawn.  White throats got up on the furniture.  A pelican flew upstream over low tide.  A myrtle warbler was puffed up very round.  It came for a drink in the birdbath.  Bluebirds posed.  A solitary junco joined the white throats.  A squirrel tried to rob the seed feeder.  The female pileated woodpecker ignored a starling while eating suet. 

At lunch the suet was gone and the male pileated was disappointed.  A mockingbird wedged itself onto the seed feeder perch.  A wren poked into everything.  A ruddy duck floated by.  Then a small flock of hoodies went past in the opposite direction.  Nuthatches came for lunch, both kinds.  A downy woodpecker ate seeds but a red belly left in disgust.  Bluebirds ate seeds too.  A song sparrow showed up after months of not seeing one.  Then a red winged blackbird visited all by himself. 

Daffodil sprouts emerged from the mulch in several spots and one clump even had buds.  In the late afternoon, I saw two hoodies on the creek.  A large buff-colored bird flew past which I believe was a Cooper's hawk.  A great blue heron crossed the creek and four egrets flew North.  Cormorants began to head home.   

Cold wind

The clouds cleared but the sun failed to warm and the wind was harsh.  Birds were so hungry they came anyway.  Blue jays, then an oriole and a mockingbird were first.  In a flurry about 9am I saw bluebirds, warblers, too many starlings, a female pileated, and a Carolina wren.  One warbler defied the much bigger pileated. 

I waited till the temperature got above freezing to refill the barkbutter and jelly dishes.   A Carolina wren came around to forage with white throats.  Then the mockingbird, warblers, bluebirds, starlings, and even the pileated returned.  A pine warbler tried to share the suet with the pileated.  A pair of buffleheads paddled upstream.  The crows chased a hawk away.  

Hungry birds

The songbirds were very hungry all day.  I refilled the barkbutter despite the cold air and rushed back indoors.  Blue jays and starlings must have been watching.  Goldfinches were still wondering what to eat but never looked at the seeds.  Bluebirds had some of everything.  The mockingbird was still after water but discovered the jelly dish.  The brown headed nuthatches ate strictly seeds but the white breasted had some barkbutter balls too.  Chaff or anything the nuthatch didn't want got tossed. 

Pine warblers alternated between suet and barkbutter balls.  The Carolina wren ate everywhere.  Starlings preferred barkbutter balls but also ate suet.  If it was on the ground, the white throats would consider it food.  A pelican cruised over the creek. Crows escorted a hawk out of the area.  Vegetation was in the way but the hawk didn't appear bigger than the crows and appeared to be a light tan without markings so I'm guessing Cooper's hawk. 

Two pairs of cardinals reluctantly shared the area though one pair clearly dominated.  Squirrels also had a "pecking order."  Occasionally they also harassed the birds on the ground.  With bluebirds, I wasn't so sure.  Several doves showed up at lunch.  The oriole arrived after all the barkbutter balls were gone.  I did not refill the barkbutter balls again - once a day's the limit.  In the afternoon, there were flurries of birds competing for a place at the seed feeder.  I spotted a bufflehead on the creek, first I've seen this season. 

Bluebirds!

The thirsty mockingbird arrived first.  The female downy wanted seeds for breakfast.  So did the white breasted nuthatch.  The male downy, however, insisted on suet.  White throats came to forage under the feeders.  A blue jay was not pleased with only barkbutter crumbs.  

Then a flock of bluebirds landed.  I counted at least three males but I think there were more.  Did they flock together because they were related, or just because it's not breeding season?  They popped around so much, it was hard to get good pictures.  But they came back later when the light was better.  There was plenty of sunshine but also many clouds, some dark and threatening. Harsh wind gusts made it tough for small birds.  The wind peeled off leaves that had turned, keeping the trees looking green. 

I refilled the barkbutter dish and the blue jays returned.  In the distance , I saw crows chase a hawk, but I couldn't identify it.  A couple of female juncos joined the white throats foraging.  Pine warblers came back for more barkbutter balls.  The brown headed nuthatches took the afternoon shift.  Birds landing in the pine turned out to be, what else, pine warblers.  I was surprised to see a goldfinch and a brown headed nuthatch join a bluebird at the birdbath.  

Oriole!

At dawn, the water looked like molten copper.  It was reflecting light that fell on the pine needle carpet on the bank above.  Not too long afterward, a female Baltimore oriole landed on a garden stake.  She looked at the barkbutter dish where other birds were grabbing breakfast but didn't join in.  After she flew away, a hawk swooped down on the feeding birds.  I don't think it caught one, but it certainly scared them.  The tide ran high again. 

Blue jays got over their shock and returned to the barkbutter balls.  Brown headed nuthatches wanted seeds and water.  The rust-colored squirrel was not put off by the hot pepper suet.  A Carolina wren checked out the seed feeder.  White throated sparrows hunted whatever fell to the ground.  A white breasted nuthatch grabbed big peanuts from the seed feeder.  

There were more clouds than the prediction called for, but nothing came of them.  A pine warbler landed on the barkbutter dish.  The male downy tackled the suet.  A junco foraged around the birdbath.  I kept watching for migrating ducks but all I saw was a plastic bottle.  A few cormorants fished off our shoreline.  More flew across the sky.  A bright, fat, just past full moon rose through the trees but I wasn't ambitious enough to go outside for photos. 

I sprayed the crevices of the chair where I thought the thing that bit/stung me so badly was lurking.  Afterward, I teased a dead bug out of a seam and took pictures of it.  Unfortunately, it looks like an earwig, Forficula auricularia, and those are harmless, so I don't know if the chair is safe or not.  What also puzzles me is what the biter/stinger was living on for weeks in the upholstery, besides me. 

Even more birds

The sky was more white than blue and the creek was gray.  A Carolina wren scolded me but I didn't have the camera because my hands were full.  It didn't wait.  A mockingbird was more cooperative.  The first white throated sparrow of the Fall foraged on the steps.  A mourning dove stayed below.   Two cardinal pairs tried to stake claim to the feeders.  I think the dominant pair was older, possibly the parents?  White breasted nuthatches came for seeds.  Then a hawk swooped across the yard and everything got very quiet.  

Several squirrels argued about precedence as they hustled after seeds and nuts.  Titmice wanted barkbutter crumbs as well as seeds.  (I had not refilled the dish.)  Brown headed nuthatches joined the white breasted.  Then pine warblers arrived.  The downy woodpeckers grudgingly shared the suet.  Meanwhile, the mockingbird tackled the dry, shriveled, and not very beautyberries.  

Hawk

The sky was clear and deeply blue.  The creek surface was too agitated to reflect more than color.  The red bellied and downy woodpeckers visited.  A mockingbird came to see whether I'd gotten around to refilling the dishes.  A great blue heron shot over the house and up the creek.  There was an abundance of warblers.  The dog had to chase a squirrel.  

A starling came by, but all it got was a drink of water.  Then a Cooper's hawk swooped through.  I heard a bird hit the window but I think it escaped.  The hawk landed in the maple.  I didn't have a good angle for pictures and there were a lot of branches in the way.  The hawk glided back my way but I missed the shot.  The birds were scarce after that.  

Hard freeze

Our thermometer read 26° at 7:15am so the birds had to wait a while till I was willing to set foot outside.  But the sun was shining, the air was calm, and the blue sky paid no attention to the forecast. The birdbath and the ant moat were solid ice, but the creek was open water.  

Warblers puffed up like butterballs.  The red bellied woodpecker scraped the bottom of the barkbutter dish.  A hawk perched high in one of the pines across the creek.  I think the birds were aware of it because they disappeared.  There was a branch or something in front of it that messed up the camera focus but its big yellow talons were unmistakable.  

At lunch there were songbirds.  They'd mad quite a dent in the food so I put out more.  Bluebirds soon arrived.  The downy woodpecker got aggravated at the warblers eating suet and started chasing them away.  Orioles wanted their jelly as did that orange crowned warbler.  A blue jay went after fallen food.  The birdbath was still frozen.  Squirrels were busy and I caught one flying. 

Fish frenzy

Great egrets and cormorants and a few gulls flocked to the creek to feast.  I also saw one great blue heron but no fishing ducks.  Mallards hung around the egrets as did a crow in the shadows.  The dog objected to the invasion of big white birds. 

I caught another squirrel leap.  A mockingbird was back for more barkbutter balls.  The downy was back at the suet.  The cat came back but the dog was MIA.  A cloud blanket rolled out of the West around mid morning.  A great blue heron perched on one dock post and a gull on the other.  Geese joined the mallards. 

At lunch, two Carolina wrens joined us.  Soon a pine warbler showed up.  I think it had lost an eye but it seemed to be coping.  The heron relocated to the back of the bench. 

When I pulled into the driveway after a library run, lots of birds were flitting through the pecan.  A red bellied woodpecker was working on the trunk.  Then a hawk streaked across pursued by crows and other birds.  Of course I didn't have the camera.  

Cooper's hawk

The juvenile cardinals came back.  Suddenly the hawk was sitting on the railing. probably after missing a snatch.  By the time I got the camera ready, it had moved further off, but was still in clear sight.  Then it came closer and sat on the bench. 

The monarch caterpillars seemed to be more yellow.  The tree trash in the pool did not disappear on its own, but I was still unmotivated.  Sunshine was infrequent, the air wasn't very warm, and the wind was still harsh.  The tide was high again. 

Eventually the female cardinal fledgling was brave enough to return.  I didn't replenish the mealworms or barkbutter balls because it seemed too much like bait for the hawk.  Still, the downy woodpecker checked to see if it was suet season yet.  Titmice came for seeds.  

In the late afternoon, a great egret watched the water from the dock.  That's when I noticed the neighbors' floating dock was missing.  The kingfisher ate its catch on top of one of the guideposts for the missing dock.  

Hawk!

It was still wet in the morning.  Blue jays were thick and not very skittish.  A dove plodded around the birdbath.  One of the fledgling bluebirds surveyed the scene, then two of them descended on the mealworms.  

I thought it was going to rain all day, but it didn't.  Nevertheless, I waited till late afternoon to swim.  While I was out in the middle, I heard a little bird squeaking in terror.  It zoomed over me followed by a Cooper's hawk.  The chase circled around the dogwood and came back my way.  I yelled, Hawk! and startled the hawk so the prey escaped.  The hawk flew to a branch of the wild cherry to collect itself, then flew away.  A little later, I heard the crows harassing the hawk.  Of course, none of this was on camera.  But I did rescue a skinklet and insisted it pose for me.