Blue water

The mockingbird pair returned but they were rarely close enough to get in one frame.  Perhaps that's a survival strategy, but I finally caught them.  The starlings and bluebirds were very hungry. A dove wandered around the pool cover puddle.  A blue jay tackled the suet. 

The fern fiddleheads multiplied and stretched taller. Roses were blooming.   Turtles basked despite the demolition across the creek.  The rust infection on the red cedar looked really bad.  A few wisps of cloud interrupted the blue sky.  The blue water was in the pool that was opened while I was away at a lunch meeting.  I wonder what became of the skinks that were hiding under the cover?  I did see one on the upper patio.  Also, the plants we brought home Saturday are now in the ground.  

In the late afternoon, I patiently watched the bluebird house and finally caught the male with a beak full of spider, I think. I saw a goose pair with two goslings.  

Cooler

Nevertheless, I saw a dragonfly, a butterfly, and many flies.  Pollinators buzzed around the dogwood, but I don't know if they were bees or something else.  A paper wasp gnawed on a daylily stalk from last year.  A skink slipped along the retaining wall. 

Some of the new oak leaves were very reddish but others were golden.  The one dogwood that has bracts that stick too tightly was again full of box-like flowers.  The rust problem on the cedar was back.  The purple iris sent up buds.  So did azaleas. 

A juvenile pelican fished in the creek.  A brown thrasher hid from me and a blue jay spied on me.  The brown headed nuthatch and the downy woodpecker argued over the suet but I was too close to move the camera without spooking them both.  The nuthatch lost.  

Hot day

Woodpeckers showed up first.  An egret fished in what looked like a strong current  below the dam.  Rain fell overnight, but not that much. I saw a junco foraging for fallen suet, but it got away. 

I went out to plant seeds and discovered it was much hotter than predicted.  The cherry that grew from a pit was blossoming.  Maybe this year I'll get a cherry?   The rusty disease reappeared on the red cedar.  The coral honeysuckle was loaded with flowers.  Among the money plants, now flowering, I found several rosettes of Small-flower Hawk's-Beard Crepis pulchra, I think.  It's non-native and not very "pulchra" to my eyes.  The dogwood by the pool steps made puzzle-boxes of its petals again. 

The turtle log was full under the hot sun.  Bees and wasps were busy.  I saw a cabbage white and a sulphur.  And I managed to catch a jumping spider with the camera.

The crescent moon was accompanied by Venus and a couple of cormorants.

Missed opportunities

A house wren hopped all around the feeders then departed just as I was getting focused. An adult cormorant studied the water from the neighbors' floating dock.  A juvenile perched on a lake snag, ignoring a turtle.  I was away for the middle of the day. 

It was a beautiful day that I spent too little time appreciating. I went outside intending to plant seeds in anticipation of rain tomorrow.  But I got caught up in looking around and never got to the seeds.  The coral honeysuckle was covered with flowers.  The pink azalea had a patch of magenta flowers and another patch of white.  Yellow jackets were more interested in nectar than color.  The purple iris had only four buds left. 

Unfortunately, I discovered the tall red cedar is infected with something that causes swelling and then bursts through in rusty orange lines. And a veil of clouds poured East bringing a chill that drove me back inside

Toward evening, I saw the first hummingbird of the year, his ruby throat flashing as he tried to get nectar from the blue wood hyacinths.  Not only was I not fast enough with the camera, I had taken the feeder in to clean and hadn't got around to putting one back out.  A female red bellied woodpecker didn't wait to be photographed either. The bluebirds dashed in and out of the nest box so I assume the eggs have hatched. White throats poked around and a summer-suited yellow rump warbler visited.  I don't know if it was a migrant passing through or one that wintered here.  The cat came with the dusk.