Windy

A mockingbird breakfasted on suet.  A squirrel coveted bird food.  Blue jays were thirsty.  I also saw a pine warbler and a bluebird drinking from the pool puddle.  A titmouse looked into barkbutter balls.  Our thermometer showed mid 80s but the wind kept it from seeming hot.  After lunch, I noticed that the hummer feeder seemed to be missing.  Somehow it had come unscrewed from the hook and fallen.  I put it back together and rehung it which may have been unwise.  A couple of hours later I saw a male hummer visit it.  I was too close to move and take a photo but the bird didn't stay long.  Was I too close or the sugar water gone off or the wind too much?  

Despite the wind, I saw a few butterflies, a dragonfly, and wasps.  Butterflies included the ubiquitous cabbage white, some kind of dark swallowtail, and some that were too quickly gone to guess.  Some kind of midge followed me into the house.  

3 frogs

I overslept.  A cicada killer was busy around the violets next to the birdbath.   A hummer was hungry for breakfast. 

One frog sat on the top step of the pool ladder.  It evicted itself as I came close.  The other two were on my "rescue stick" that I wedged into the coping to aid critters to escape drowning.  One was sitting on top of the other.  By the time I got out and got the camera one frog had left.  The other stayed put the whole time I swam around.  After I got out, there were two frogs again. 

The hummer was standing guard in the dogwood again.  Blue jays got excited about the barkbutter balls.  A female bluebird tried to get a few.  Even a female cardinal sampled them.  The bald male stuck with seeds.  The female downy came for seeds too.  A song sparrow pounced on a fallen seed. 

The wind grew very gusty especially when a cloud blocked the sun.  The fungus under the oak reappeared.  A blue dasher guarded the patio. The Argiope with wanderlust was still behind my chair.  Tiny midges swarmed over a stinkbug the Argiope had wrapped.  The blue dasher was replaced by a larger skimmer, maybe a slaty.  And still I got bit.  

Final GBBC day

From 7:50 to 9:05am I counted 2 butterbutts, an orange crowned warbler, 2 pine warblers, 3 orioles, 2 blue jays, a female cardinal, 2 starlings, and then a rptor caused a lull.  After it soared away, I saw 2 crows, 4 house finches, the female red bellied woodpecker, 3 red winged blackbirds, a chickadee, a pelican, 2 white breasted nuthatches, a cormorant, and finally the female downy woodpecker.  The sky was blue except for contrails and the temperature was 41°.  

By noon, the temperature had risen to 48° under a cloudless sky.  I watched for an hour and a half and saw 2 pelicans, about five warblers (pine and yellow rumped), 2 white throated sparrows, a bluebird, a brown headed nuthatch, 3 house finches, an oriole, and 2 starlings. Then a big raptor, possibly an eagle, swooped behind the trees.

After a break, I started again at 2pm for another hour and a half.  This time a pileated woodpecker showed up. 3 orioles including a male, 2 white throats, 2 cardinals, a mockingbird, 2 mallards, 3 red winged blackbirds, 2 starlings, a female brown headed cowbird, a persistent brown headed nuthatch, and at least 5 warblers, some pine and some yellow rumped finished my count for the year.  

Apparently the afternoon was warm enough for a midge to fly and land on the window.  

Chipping sparrow

The wind finally weakened somewhat and the creek wasn't so rough.  However, it was chilly.  Starlings showed up so frequently I assume they moved in.  This annoyed the bluebirds.  A male red bellied woodpecker followed a starling on the suet.  A myrtle warbler tried to get a turn.  

At lunch, a chipping sparrow got into a squabble with another bird.  I didn't see the second bird till they were flying around the yard so I don't know what it was.  A junco got a drink and a brown headed nuthatch got a seed.  A female red bellied woodpecker fed on the suet, again following a starling.  One starling discovered the barkbutter balls.  A mockingbird also helped itself to barkbutter balls.  

I photographed a midge on the window and tried to photograph a mosquito.  Pelicans and the white gulls came back for more fish.  

Warm

When the brown thrasher landed on the bark butter balls, the stupid camera decided I wanted a picture of the background.  It managed to focus on a wren.  And I caught the blue jay with the wind in its crest.  Crows were acting out a "three's a crowd" drama.  

I sat outside for a while but, between the breeze and the clouds, it was a bit chilly. Downy woodpeckers decided it was safe to have suet despite my presence   The red bellied woodpecker wasn't so sure.The cherry had begun to leaf out.  One violet was in flower. 

A midge clung to the window.  The moon was visible among thin clouds. A pine warbler came for suet not long before sunset.

Warming

We began with ice then rose into the 50s.  I even saw midges or something flying around.  The sky was a glorious, bright blue.  The male pine warbler got up early to eat suet in peace.  Then a couple of starlings arrived and ate suet like barbarians. 

An egret fished under the dam.  A hoodie pair preened on the gently rippled water.  Gulls monitored the creek from above.  A heron stood on a dock post.  And I spotted an eagle soaring very high.  A row of turtles basked on their favorite log. 

The downy woodpeckers eventually arrived, followed by a female red bellied woodpecker.  Later on she checked out different spots on the oak trunk. 

A blue jay pretended it wasn't interested in bark butter balls.  When it thought it was unobserved, it stuffed its beak full like a row of peas in their pod.  Then a white throat checked to see if anything had fallen out. 

Beautiful day

As usual, I was inside for too much of it.  And when I was outside, I didn't see much and mostly took pictures of plants.  There were yellow-kneed wasps harvesting wood from the bench.  A small cloud of midges danced above the bench.  An industrious downy woodpecker stuffed herself with suet.  An egret stalked the low tide shallows below the dam. 

Oak leaves emerged above the flower tassels.  The domestic cherry tree was loaded with blossoms.  Red maple keys glittered in the sun.

Predators

Yesterday's wind was no more.  The sun shone on a mirror of water.  The feeders were very quiet at breakfast.  A few white throats kicked mulch until they all suddenly flew off.  Then the reason why stuck its head up above the top step.  The feral cat was back, but it gave up on the empty scene.

Sometime later birds began to appear.  Female orioles were wise to keep a wary watch.  An immature cooper's hawk shot across the yard and landed in the redwood.  I only got one photo (through a screen) before it took off again.

Time passed and a nervous male red bellied woodpecker landed on the feeder post.  But the suet must have felt too exposed because he flew away. A myrtle warbler ventured out, soon followed by a downy woodpecker.  Then the orioles returned.  Pine warblers joined them, the males looking a bit like shrunken female orioles.  Finally, a male oriole arrived, but only for a minute.

In the afternoon, a few buffleheads floated on the creek while a heron observed from a channel marker. The red bellied woodpecker circled through the trees.  A myrtle warbler and the orioles stayed up in the trees too.  The afternoon got warm enough to hatch a midge but I didn't see other insects.  A squirrel ate dogwood buds.  Sunset painted a pink blush on haze and thin pleats of cumulus.

Cooler

I hit the water early.  The sun's angle was quite different from a month ago and the pattern of shade on the water followed.  A frog awaited me in the skimmer but escaped.  I caught up with it in the deep end.  I also rescued crickets and ground beetles.  A spider danced over the water.   The Argiope had no visible prey.  Three caterpillars on the rue look large enough to pupate.  A swarm of midges swirled in the air.  Skinks prowled the patio.  A brown thrasher hunted under the azalea by the fence.  I could see it but the camera could not.  And again the tide was unusually high.