Hurricane Zeta

Zeta landed on the Gulf Coast yesterday and streaked diagonally across the Southern states, aiming at Delaware. I was online with people in other parts of Virginia where it was raining mid morning.  The rain didn't start here till 2:30pm but the wind was already very gusty at noon.  It was also very warm.  Zeta traveled at over 50mph and was out over the Atlantic by evening.  I have never heard of a tropical storm crossing a thousand miles of land in one day. 

The day began with a pretty sunrise but became overcast quickly.  The feral cat arrived after breakfast.  A downy woodpecker wanted suet but spooked.  A red breasted nuthatch made several trips to the sunflower seeds between wind gusts.  But it was too fast for me.  A blue jay asked for bark butter balls.  

The wind gusts peeled all the gold leaves out of the oaks and drove them like a blizzard.  They formed drifts on the creek.  On the front porch we found a hermit thrush that had hit the wall or window.  I left it to recover or die.  The sky began to clear after 4pm though the wind stayed strong.  

 

 

 

 

Hurricane Dorian

The windows were a mess of leaf shreds and rain streaks, so photography was difficult.  During lulls in the wind, I saw a hummer hoping the feeder had reappeared.  I tossed some seeds out on the patio and annoyed a mockingbird on the ground by the parsley.  It took off and I withdrew a wet arm.  Cardinals found the seeds but the chickadees kept looking for the feeder.  The wind was gusty but the rain was more steady, not too heavy but never pausing.

The tide was way up in the yard.  Occasionally egrets flew low over the creek.  I had to depend on glimpses when the wind tossed the tree limbs out of the way, but it looked to me like the lake and the creek were meeting on this end of the dam.   I couldn't tell whether the water was that high, or whether the dam washed out.  There were people out looking from both sides - the ones standing on the dam were idiots.

Dorian was down to a Cat 1 after hitting Cape Hatteras which deflected it to the Northeast.  Thus we were only in the tropical storm umbra for wind but right in line for rain and surge.  The wind shifted direction around 3pm which I assume means the eye slid past us. The rain stopped soon after and I went out to see what the storm had left.  The creek was extremely high and downstream it met the water in the lake, covering the nearest portion of the dam.  The same dam that was scraped clean of vegetation this summer.

I worked on cleaning the pool while the birds discussed the lack of dinner. K put the seed feeder and the hummer feeder back out and the wine seemed to be tapering off.  Cardinals, chickadees, and hummingbirds showed up quickly.  The overcast brought on an early twilight and dark. 

Flood

There was a brief shower at noon but the main cause of flooding was wind.  In fact, while the morning was mostly gray, the sun was out a good part of the afternoon and it got surprisingly hot and very sticky.  The hurricane was still far South so I don't know if the wind should be blamed on Joaquin. Either the wind or the water pushed over the saltbush. 

Titmice joined the regulars in the morning.  The birds were all very possessive about the feeder, even the chickadees. Doves lurked.  A great egret waded in the dam outflow.  Geese and mallards rode on the creek. 

 Bees and wasps were hungry.  Butterflies were more interested in propagation.  I saw red spotted purples and cabbage whites.  A tiny, but tail-less, skink darted across the step.  Later I saw it on the far side of the pool cover.  The remains of a huge web dangled from the dogwood over the pool.  A different kind of spider hiked up the door frame. 

K bought suet and hung a block of it.  Maybe fifteen minutes elapsed before a male downy woodpecker arrived.  A brown headed nuthatch followed but was more interested in the seed feeder.  The woodpecker didn't stay long either.  A mockingbird sampled the beauty berries. In the afternoon, a snowy egret waded in the grass above the bulkhead across the creek.

A squirrel buried a nut in the mulch and within a minute another had dug it up.  Both were a mess of warbles.  This one was the thief. 

More rain and wind

So we were stuck between a Northeaster and Hurricane Joaquin.  The creek got up well over all parts of the dock.  Rainfall created a strong flow from the lake above the dam while the tide met the fresh water on this side of the dam.  Trees thrashed in the gusts and I passed several downed limbs in the neighborhood.  Geese grazed around the neighborhood and I saw mallards paddle downstream.  A hopeful egret watched the dam outfall.  A few cormorants battled the wind.

After Irene

I'm very glad I got up early enough to see the storm dissipate. It was still gray and windy when I went outside, but over the next hour the clouds blew East where the sun tinted them.

There were tree branches and a lot of leaves and several shingles, but altogether it was nothing like the storm last May. Though I suppose the trees that blew down in May might have toppled from Irene if they'd still been standing.

All the critters were famished and we got the feeders out right away. The finches so crowded the perch that they tipped it like a bigger bird. They totally ignored the squirrel's attempts to join them.

The hummers have resumed their combat. Even the little skink was out and about. I saw a black swallowtail laying eggs and a big green darner dragonfly hunting mosquitoes. A little green heron took up position on the dock.

Good morning Irene

I heard a "rain band" come through around 3am and several since. It is gray and wet and gusty. It is nearly high tide which is a good thing as the winds aren't all that strong yet. The evening high tide should come after the center passes and the wind starts coming from the West so that shouldn't be exceptionally high either. The lower end of the dock is just barely awash.

The finches were protesting all over the feeder hanger in between wind gusts. "Where's breakfast?" So we put some seeds down on the steps. I saw another bird try to take shelter behind a drainpipe where the robins build a nest some years ago. I just saw a dragonfly blow past.

We lost power around 11am. The cardinals and finches continued to come for seeds throughout the storm. The cardinals are still feeding fledglings - the second crop, I think. Here's dad stuffing his teenager in the middle of the hurricane.