Misty end to the GBBC

There was rain overnight but by breakfast it was just mist.  I dashed off to a virtual meeting before the birds got up.  So the tally began at lunch with two female buffleheads.  For this year's Great Backyard Bird Count, I turned in 8 lists over 4 days covering a total of 8 hours, during which I saw 25 different species, plus a gull and some crows that I couldn't nail down.  None of them were new to me.  

Since I first started eBird in 2013, I've reported on 92 species.  I've seen more but I didn't  realize at first that I could enter a list any time, not just during the GBBC.  And I haven't tried to go back and add birds I saw before.

The mockingbird was already having trouble with the suet.  The very red bellied woodpecker male managed without a tail prop.  Downy woodpeckers can brace against the suet cage.  A pair of bluebirds got a good lunch of suet.  Then a Carolina wren found an opportunity to have some too.  The brown thrasher, as usual, preferred to eat what fell.  White throated sparrows stayed on the ground out of the way. 

The yellow rumped warbler chased another away.  It also chased a chickadee off the sunflower seeds which the warbler doesn't even eat.  Then it got bold and tried to share the suet with a bluebird. 

Toward evening, the mist thickened.  The creek was very still except when birds made ripples.  A pelican floated by the downstream dock, then paddled up the creek.  It was beginning to get the dark feathers of breeding plumage.  Geese kept a respectful distance from the larger bird.  I peered through the mist at the lake and saw a flock of cormorants.  A great blue heron stalked along the shoreline.  

Lingering snow

This morning there was some ice on the creek.  The day was sunny but just a few degrees above freezing.  Snow that was in the shade only melted a little.  I noticed red spots on the snow under the seed feeder, but I don't know if they were blood or something else.  A female oriole and a male pine warbler started off on the suet.  The pair of Carolina wrens followed.  A brown thrasher prospected for what they dropped.  Then starlings began their raids.  

White throated and song sparrows seemed to find plenty of seeds in the snow.  I saw a yellow rumped warbler on the ground a couple of times.  The downy woodpeckers worked on the suet whenever larger birds let them.  A male red bellied woodpecker and a mockingbird had a shouting match.  Put your money on the woodpecker because, after the mockingbird yielded, a starling took its place.  But not for long.  The red belly drove it away too.    

Pelicans continued the creek patrol but I never got a good shot.  The young eagle made a couple of passes but was harassed by crows.  I tried to take pictures of icicles but most didn't come out.  The dripping roof encased one plant in ice.  I tried to make a bird-size snowman but the snow was very dry and wouldn't stick.  A few small clouds turned pink at sunset.  By that time the suet was completely gone and I just put it out on Monday, not even a full week ago.