Seasonable

Finally, we had more normal winter temperatures, though the creek stayed frozen. A myrtle warbler nestled into the snow, looking forlorn.  White throats kicked snow in search of seeds. 

Enough snow on the patio had melted by lunch that I went outside with food for the birds.  Blue jays cleaned out the fresh barkbutter balls without announcing it to other birds.  By the time they caught on, the warblers and bluebirds got crumbs.  An oriole found the fresh jelly.  A mockingbird couldn't find anything to eat. Starlings found the suet that K hung up.  A Carolina wren got some suet too. 

I spotted a sapsucker on a distant tree.  

Woodpeckers

The rain ended at breakfast but the day remained gray and turned misty in the early afternoon.  There was little wind.  Raindrops decorated bare branches like holiday lights.  White throats were out foraging at breakfast.  The female red bellied woodpecker decided to eat seeds today.  So did titmice, chickadees, and cardinals.  I spotted a yellow bellied sapsucker up in the hackberry.  Its yellow belly was very clear but its head was partly hidden.  A mockingbird played peek-a-boo in a dogwood.  

After lunch, the pileated woodpeckers found the suet, first the female, then the male.  When each landed it had its crest fully erect but quickly lowered the pompom into a point.  A Carolina wren ate barkbutter crumbs.  A gray squirrel leaped between trees.  When the pileated woodpeckers were full, a downy got some suet.  When I went to wash the towels, a little spider jumped off and hung from its safety line on the edge of the washing machine.  I snagged the silk with a paint stirrer and suspended it over the sink.  It looked like the spider I saw in the mountain mint last summer, the heptagonal orbweaver. 

In the afternoon mist, the sapsucker was back eating hackberries.  And then a flicker appeared making it all five local woodpecker species in one day.  It was confusing with the mist and backlighting to know which I was looking at since they were both in the same tree eating hackberries.  Neither was really designed to dangle from thin twigs.  Meanwhile, out on the creek there were buffleheads and hoodies.  

Cold

The weather was much like yesterday, cold and bright.  Birds were puffed up against the chill.  The female oriole had grape jelly as a pick-me-up.  I was pleased that she found the dish.  Pine warblers alternated between suet and barkbutter crumbs.  (It was too cold at breakfast to go outside and refill the dish.)  Goldfinches didn't seem to know what to eat.  White throats kicked through the mulch.  A bluebird and a cardinal shared the seed feeder.  The downy didn't want to share suet with a warbler.  The mockingbird stayed faithful to hydration, making repeat visits for a drink.  

At lunchtime I decided to brave the cold, since the temperature had risen from the upper 30s to the upper 40s.  The fresh barkbutter balls got a warm reception from warblers, bluebirds, and of course blue jays.  A white breasted nuthatch varied its diet with a barkbutter ball along with the usual seeds. A brown headed nuthatch seized the moment to get seeds itself.  The oriole alternated between barkbutter and jelly.  The sky was a milky blue again. 

I spotted the sapsucker on a dogwood trunk, then later on a hackberry tree.  Something made a commotion eating hackberries.  A dove alighted on the patio.  Then a Carolina wren came to dine.  A crow surveyed the possibilities but got into a fight with a squirrel.  The squirrel got a drink from the ant moat instead of the much more accessible birdbath.  A female hoodie paddled by headed upstream. An egret fished under a dock.  I caught the kingfisher in flight, on the neighbor's dock, and diving on a fish.  Cormorants flew in every direction at sunset. 

Warm

The white throated sparrows were up early again but they didn't hang around.  Mid morning, the nuthatches arrived, brown headed, then white breasted.  In the afternoon, a strange object floated on the creek.  It appeared to be a sphere, green on one side, pink on the other, with yellow around the middle blending into the other two colors, and spotted with black pentagons.  

The temperature got up to at least 71° and the afternoon grew cloudy.  A Carolina wren sampled the feeder foods.  A pine warbler also had some barkbutter crumbs.  The mockingbird made its daily visit to the water cooler, aka ant moat.  The sapsucker reappeared on the wildcherry.  Maybe the warm day made the sap flow?  I think it was the same bird I saw with something in its beak, but it could have been a downy.  

Morning birds

Today I was able to pay attention in the morning when the birds were most active.  The downy woodpecker still seemed to prefer seeds to suet.  The mockingbird was still thirsty.  There was some blurry activity on the wild cherry that turned out to be a yellow bellied sapsucker.  Squirrels were making love in the creek-side dogwood.  Twigs gave them some privacy from the paparazzi.  A pine warbler wanted barkbutter balls and suet.  He then retreated to the pine and hid in the needles.  

The rusty squirrel showed up but was chased away by one of the more gray-colored squirrels.  Since they were both males, I suspect that had something to do with the prior lovemaking.  A Carolina wren investigated the barkbutter balls, then a bluebird did the same.  A bird I didn't recognize landed on the grill.  Unfortunately there was a window screen in the way, but it had a gray head and back and a white throat and belly and was shaped like a robin.  My guess was Eastern kingbird, but I couldn't see a white edge to the tail and anyway they should have migrated by now.  iNaturalist suggested Eastern phoebe instead.  That makes more sense for this time of year.

Clouds formed and dissipated during the morning, at one point looking like wrinkles or a fingerprint.  An egret hunted along the bulkhead as mallards paddled past.  A pair of brown headed nuthatches wanted food and drink.  A bright yellow pine warbler tried to fool me into thinking he was something new.  But then an orange crowned warbler peered in the window at me.  After lunch I decided to get some work done and, anyway, the sky clouded over.  

Rough wind

To paraphrase the Bard, "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of March."  The wind also roughened the creek.  A bluebird, a mockingbird, and the female red bellied woodpecker came looking for breakfast before I was willing to endure the wind to put out food.  A myrtle warbler foraged on the ground since the feeders were empty.  It found one of the stale walnut pieces. 

After I finally took some mealworms out, two mockingbirds came back, along with crows.  One of the crows also relished the stale walnuts.  A female oriole got a drink from the ant moat.  Then she indulged in jelly.  K restocked the seeds and suet.  Starlings took over and frustrated the oriole and the mockingbird.  The female red bellied woodpecker came back for seeds and seeded the mulch below.  

The sapsucker moved to the backyard to test the wild cherry sap.  I only glimpsed his head.  A white throated sparrow scuttled around the patio. 

Vernal Equinox

The creek glittered in the early light.  A white throated sparrow prospected for breakfast. The  azaleas were gorgeous.  K reminded me that the extra day in this leap year made the equinox come a day early by the calendar.  But when I checked sunrise and sunset, equal day and night actually happened on Saturday, March 16th when the sun rose at 7:14am and set at 7:14pm.  That was also the first quarter moon.  When I returned from the library, there was a sapsucker in the pecan tree.  However, I had to get to an online meeting and when that was over, I forgot to look for the bird.  

4 and 20 blackbirds

It was sunny and very cold.  Daffodil leaves emerged nevertheless.  I was not up early and the blue jays and the red bellied woodpecker were waiting.  Bluebirds were not far behind.  Warblers ate suet since the larger birds were eating barkbutter balls. 

A flock of red winged blackbirds visited the suet and foraged on the ground.  A blue jay was disappointed that the birdbath was frozen.  I took a distant photo of what I assumed was a downy but it was a yellow bellied sapsucker.  The mockingbird came looking for a handout.  A real downy raised his red topknot at a male bluebird on the suet.  A female bluebird ate seeds.  The song sparrow foraged below.  The orioles kept an eye on the jelly. 

It was Squirrel Appreciation Day and the dog appreciated them the only way he knew.  Apparently it was a good fishing day.  Egrets gathered along the sunny side of the creek.  A flock of red breasted mergansers worked their way up and down the creek repeatedly all afternoon.   A few hoodies joined in, then some buffleheads arrived.  A great blue heron stayed up on the lake.  There were pelicans but they didn't land where I could see. 

Birds!

A great blue heron watched the tide rise into the yard, driven by the wind and moon.  I saw a kingfisher but it flew off before I could find an unobstructed view. 

A mockingbird and others to fast to identify worked on the dogwood in the front yard.  In the back, it seemed like there was a flock of woodpeckers, but perhaps there were only the sapsucker and the red belly I caught on tree trunks.  A blue jay, a brown thrasher that banged the window, and lots of smaller birds were silhouetted by the overcast sky.  

Dark cloud bands passed through but no rain fell.  Fall colors were dulled by the thick overcast.  A raft of leaf-meal and pine needles floated on the creek. 

Two egrets perched in the trees over the lake.  I was taking a picture of one when the other flew through the frame.  

Fog

If we had groundhogs, which we don't, whey would have seen nothing.  The fog started sometime after lunch.  Pelicans continued to fish until the light dimmed after 5pm.  I took lots pf pictures.  A gull and a heron watched from the dock. Something tore away a circle of ground cover at the shoreline where our lot meets the next.  at first I thought a tree had been uprooted, but the surface was too level. 

Meanwhile, a sapsucker hiked up the wild cherry tree.  A damp myrtle warbler glared from a branch.  And the two fox sparrows appeared to clean up under where the suet had hung.  That inspired me to replace the empty suet cage. That upset the birds  and then the light failed before they returned.  

 

Southwest wind

It was warm and sunny but the wind was harsh.  I spent time outside after lunch.  A pair of buffleheads dived for their lunch.  A great black back gull pecked at a floating, presumably dead, fish.  This attracted a pelican but I guess the fish was too far gone for its taste.  At least seven turtles basked on the lake logs.  The juvenile eagle flew circles overhead until the crows caught up. 

A female red bellied woodpecker hitched around the trunk of the oak, probably hoping I would go away.  A male yellow bellied sapsucker tried to get nourishment from the oak. Blue jays sneaked past me as though I was guarding the barkbutter balls.  Starlings watched me but stayed away from the suet.  I saw bluebirds and warblers up in the trees but they didn't venture close.  Then I had to go in and start Zooming.  

Yellow bellied sapsucker

A rain squall hit as we were getting up and I think there had been more rain earlier. The 99% humidity dropped as the temperature climbed.  They met somewhere around 70.  A brown thrasher hit the bark butter balls several times but was always too fast for me. So were a blue jay and a Carolina wren.  Titmice were more cooperative but I have all the titmice photos I ever want.  Both cats wandered through, the feral black-and-white and the tabby with a blue collar. 

As we were finishing Thanksgiving dinner (Mole Con Pavo), a heron landed on the dock and a kingfisher zipped past.  Then the red breasted nuthatch rewarded my patience. It didn't even flinch when a squirrel got on top of the feeder.  Downy woodpeckers went at the suet, of course.  

Finally the clouds broke apart and a half dozen turtles bunched up to sun themselves.  Then I spotted the sapsucker on a pine tree and I ran the battery down taking pictures of it.  When the sun came out, I went outside though it still seemed quite damp.  I wandered around taking pictures of sunlit leaves. A slug was chomping into the fungus.  

But I heard something scolding sotto voce so I came inside to let it appear.  It was a red bellied woodpecker, making the third woodpecker species in one day.  

Bugs

K saw a swarm of some kind of flying insect in front of the garage.  I missed that, but as I was cleaning out flower pots for transplanting, I apparently disturbed a tiny praying mantis.  It wasn't newly hatched because it was about a centimeter long. It climbed the porch pillar and disappeared.

Some fungus popped up in mulch in the front yard.  One looked like an orange bracket and the other a brown toadstool.  Petals from the witch hazel were everywhere like confetti, including in my hair I discovered later. I found a snail in one of the flowerpots. A beetle and many earwigs hid under the pots. A sapsucker attacked the pecan tree. 

In he back yard, bees enjoyed the money plant.  The female red bellied woodpecker helped herself to suet.  A bluebird used a dragonfly perch. 

I saw a female bufflehead on the creek.  Late in the day, a pine warbler got some suet. 

Warm

Dawn had a hint of mist that didn't last.  The sun lit up reflections in the placid creek.  There was little activity at breakfast. 

After lunch, a song and a white throated sparrow foraged in the mulch.  For some reason, there seem to be only tan morph white throats this winter.  I know there was a white morph when they first arrived but I haven't seen it since. 

Downy woodpeckers worked on the suet.  K took the ant moat down and discovered the water had jelled somehow into a brown goo.  I think I've got it clean again.  A pine warbler tried to get some suet but a downy came flying out of the blue and batted the warbler away.  The downy didn't even stay to eat.  The warbler just transferred to the bark butter dish. 

Two myrtle warblers fussed over who got to eat first and went chasing around the yard.  One decided to eat camellia pollen.  A bluebird watched all this, then left.  A Carolina wren evaded the camera. 

Boaters disrupted the buffleheads on the creak.   I found a slime mold under the maple tree.  As I rested from clipping nandina berries, a downy worked up the courage to come to the suet.  I could hear it talking to itself softly.  Later I saw a bird in the oak that I thought was a downy, but it wasn't.  Instead, it was an immature male yellow bellied sapsucker.  Weirdly, it would fly away from the oak, hover flapping for a moment, then fly back.  I was unsuccessful in photographing that behavior. 

A few wasps were lured out by the day's warmth, but the solstice was only a week ago and the sun set before 5pm.  I forgot to look for the moon.

Just ducky

I left at dawn which was a lovely glow in the rear view mirror.  When I got back, the sapsucker was very busy in the pecan tree,   The colorless myrtle warbler was eating bark butter.

The temperature had shot up from near freezing to pleasant for sitting.  That's when I missed the kingfisher - nothing but his cackle remained. The tide was way out, very low for a third quarter moon.  A nuthatch defied me to get to the seeds which it took to a favored spot in the dogwood to hammer.  Turtles basked on a log in the lake. 

After lunch, I saw the Carolina wrens.  The bark butter seems to be their favorite.  I went back outside and upset a little flock of hooded mergansers.  Some of them retired to the lake.  A titmouse perched in the redwood and ran through its repertoire.

 A couple of bufflehead drakes paddled and dived. Then I saw a pair of ring neck ducks.  I'd never seen a female before.  I had my first osprey sighting of the year, but no photo.   A pair of mallards nibbled at something on the underside of a bulkhead beam exposed by the low tide.  Then a wood duck pair did the same thing.  Well, he mostly guarded her while she nibbled.  It was getting chilly so I came in.

Surprising weather

Morning was gray and dripping and cold.  A myrtle warbler looked for food, but everything was wet.  At lunch, pelicans fished.  I saw nuthatches, but they got away. 

I had an afternoon program to attend and the sun came through during it.  The temperature rose too.  Unusual cloud patterns had formed. 

When I got home, I spied a pileated woodpecker way up in the neighbors' oak.  I tried to get a photo but it was too far away for the snapshot camera I had with me.  The sapsucker was busy in the pecan.  Other birds (warblers?) perched in the pecan and flew out to catch mid air bugs.   The downy woodpecker stayed in the back yard with the suet. 

The cat came back as the birds were fueling up for the night.  Sunset colored the clouds gold. 

Missed day?

Yesterday was very full of robins.  White throats foraged in the morning sun.  A nuthatch almost escaped the camera.  Unlike the downy woodpeckers, the male red bellied woodpecker was very wary. 

A flock of blackbirds showed up, spooked and fled, returned and repeated the routine.  There were red wings and brown headed cowbirds.  The red wings and robins drank form the pool cover.  The cowbirds were more interested in sunflower seeds. 

A squirrel got into the jelly.  Can squirrels get cavities?  The tide was quite high and I think the moon was full.  The creek surface was rough.  A male bufflehead indulged in self care while a couple of hoodies paddled purposefully upstream.  Pelicans fished in the afternoon. 

The warblers came for lunch.  And a female oriole dropped in before the jelly was quite gone.  Then something scared all the birds off.  The downy just froze and relied on its camouflage, which was not effective on thee post.  Meanwhile, clouds congealed across the sky.  A Carolina wren was hungry for bark butter. 

*     *     *

Yesterday's clouds made rain today.  The light was poor even when the rain didn't streak windows.  White throated sparrows and downy woodpeckers were unfazed.  The blackbird flock returned along with their robin camp followers.  This time there were a few starlings and a grackle with them. 

Titmice and nuthatches came for seeds.  I saw both red breasted and brown headed nuthatches on the feeder, but they were fast.  Pine warblers brightened the gloom but myrtle warblers just bullied them.  The male red bellied woodpecker returned.  Even a junco appeared. 

A great blue heron watched the creek.  Another landed on our floating dock.  Pelicans flew past.  I went out for errands. In the front yard, as I backed my car out, the sapsucker was at work on the pecan.  A shoveler pair were feeding at the far end of the lake.  I saw female hoodies and a huge flock of cormorants on the lake. 

The daffodils bowed under the weight of rain.  Maple tree buds were beginning to open.  And of course the feral, invasive callery pears were about to bloom. 

Cold rain

I had a breakfast meeting but I had time for coffee and a little birdwatching first.  Very little, as it turned out.  I put out treats, but no takers.  Downy woodpeckers stuck to the suet.  A pine warbler slipped in when the woodpecker took a break to digest.  Pelicans and cormorants came to fish.  The light was really bad though the rain had not yet begun.

The rain only seemed heavy because of highway speeds but it was more than the forecast drizzle.  By the time I got home and got my lunch, it was mid afternoon.  On my way in, I saw a young sapsucker torturing the pecan and a couple of plump birds in the dogwood.  I wonder if they were bluebirds.  The dogwood buds were distinctly pink and swelling a little.

Downy woodpeckers were still pecking at the suet. Pine and myrtle warblers were still hungry.  And the white throated sparrows were still poking through the mulch.  A blue jay stayed in the trees, looking peeved at the rain. 

One of the myrtle warblers had very prominent yellow wing-pits but the other had almost no yellow there.  They didn't get along. One chased the other off whenever it tried to get food, even when that food was fully occupied by a woodpecker.  Speaking of which, a red bellied woodpecker was lurking in the trees but every time it came into view, something happened to startle it. 

House finch males glowed with mating colors, but their behavior had not caught up - they were rude to the female.  And one male had to wait for the other to finish.  Red breasted nuthatches showed up as the rain dwindled.  And the nuthatches rushed in where the house finches didn't dare. 

A few mallards and buffleheads were out on the water. The temperature dropped through the day and that finally drove off the rain.  The sky began to clear as the sun set and the cormorants commuted home.  A mama squirrel carried a mouthful of leaves up to her den. 

Chilly wind

 It was very quiet at first, but then the white throats popped out.  A female cardinal rudely shouldered one off the feeder.  The single-minded downy woodpeckers stuck to the suet.  A myrtle warbler seemed forlorn though there was food for it today.

 Then a flock of crows dropped in.  Some of them appeared to have spent the night on lower branches as their feathers were streaked with white that looked like guano.

A few daffodils began blooming despite the chill. Flowers were scattered around the Carolina jessamine.  There were four pelicans on the creek at one time but they were too spread out to get in one picture. The buffleheads were back.  An egret landed along the water's edge.  The weird muscovy that hangs out with geese was by itself. 

Pine warblers came back looking for a handout.  One female oriole showed up, briefly. A brown headed nuthatch joined the chickadees' rotation at the seed feeder.

I went to the library to return books.  The dwarf flowering cherries at the library have a thick coat of lichen but the other trees planted at the same time do not.  I saw ruddy ducks in the lake by Lynnhaven House, across the road and upstream from the lake behind the dam.  When I got home, a yellow bellied sapsucker was poking holes into the pecan.

New Years Eve

Things outdoors looked wet when we got up.   Pine warblers and a wren were already competing for the suet.  A white breasted nuthatch suddenly joined them. I ran an errand and when I came back, a yellow bellied sapsucker was torturing the pecan tree. 

A mallard pair and several male buffleheads paddled around on quiet water. There was some rain mid day.  A red breasted nuthatch looked unhappy.  A red bellied woodpecker, a bluebird, and a blue jay escaped the camera.  The cloud cover made it hard to get enough light for closeups. 

I think I counted three female orioles.  They worked on suet in between jelly binges.  Downy woodpeckers evicted the warblers from the suet. A tufted titmouse and house finches showed up for seeds, along with chickadees and cardinals. A female flicker stayed in the trees.  After dark, the cannonade began because, of course, we cannot change calendars without noise.  And thus endeth 2018.