Solstice

Overnight rain and a gray sky gave no indication that there was such a thing as sun.  But directionless illumination can be good for photography, as long as there is enough light.  Mostly the light was poor today - birds moved faster than the shutter.  

The white throated sparrow showed up first.  Warblers and Carolina wrens attacked the suet.  Then the mockingbird came back for another try.  

Blue jays tried foraging in the mulch.  The feeder counterweight is set too low for them.  The male red bellied woodpecker was soon followed by a downy woodpecker.  And then the cat.  

At lunch, a brown thrasher discovered the fresh bark butter balls. The mockingbird was not impressed.  Pine warblers were getting really bold and challenging larger birds on the suet.  I think a couple of birds were pine siskins.  I wonder if I've been seeing them all along and thinking they were female house finches?

The song sparrow scouted the seed feeder.  I discovered goldfinches up in the sweet gum plucking seeds from the gumballs.  (Gumballs look eerily like diagrams of coronavirus.)  There were flickers of sunlight in the afternoon, but too much cloud cover to think of seeing the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.  Maybe tomorrow night.  

Lake Lawson/Lake Smith park

There was heavy dew on the sunflower seed feeder.  That didn't deter nuthatches and titmice from competing with the regulars.  Pine warblers and downy woodpeckers argued over the suet.  Juncos and a white throated sparrow scurried over the patio.  Then I saw something on the bark butter ball cup that wasn't quite right for a female house finch - my first pine siskin! 

During lunch we were entertained first by a red bellied woodpecker. A dove marched up the steps, poked into everything, and peered in the window at us.  Red breasted nuthatches and a brown headed nuthatch made repeated sorties to the seeds.  A female bluebird studied the situation, then sampled the suet.  I spotted a yellow rumped warbler in the wild cherry.  The brown thrasher got away again.  The kingfisher came back and a blue jay dropped in. 

After lunch we went to the

Lake Lawson/Lake Smith Natural Area, and so did a lot of other people and dogs.  The result was very little wildlife, just a cormorant, a couple of squirrels, and something small and dark that climbed a big tree trunk out of sight before I got it in focus.  But the lakes and trees were beautiful.  As we were leaving, there was a mockingbird.  When we got home, a little bird flitted around the Hollywood juniper but I never got a good look.  I did see a red bellied woodpecker high in the oak. The sky was hazy and after dark the moon was just a bright round light.