Hot wind

Since yesterday, the wind's been roaring from the Southwest, pushing clouds and heat and making waves run down the creek.  I believe the temperature rose above 80° but I forgot to look after I saw it had hit 79°.  The sky cycled between blue and white but distinct cumulus clouds made up the white.  It had a very March look.  Unfortunately, the wind was hard on birds, and my timing was bad.  I saw the pair of pileated woodpeckers and a brown thrasher but got no pictures.  The pair of wrens also visited but were never close enough to get in one frame.  A junco flitted around in the trees, as did myrtle warblers.  Bluebirds and house finches were thirsty.  

I went down to the dock to look at the repairs.  On the way I found a periwinkle shell in the grass.  A few mallards were out feeding on the creek.  Seaweed draped the mud bank because the wind had pushed the water out.  Barnacles were shut up tight.  Some kind of bivalve was interspersed among them, maybe a clam or scallop.  They looked too symmetrical for oysters or mussels.  On the way back I found a couple of violets in bloom.  Then I found an ebony spleenwort fern poking through the fence clear across the yard from where I'd planted it years ago.  I need to mark it before someone comes through with a weedeater.  

Cloudy

The mountain mint vibrated with pollinators,  Unfortunately, they've gotten an attitude about their mountain mint and they try to scare away anything that encroaches.  I ignored their threat displays but the hummingbirds were more easily annoyed.  That made it harder for me to get photos.  

A black swallowtail retreated to the rue.  A blue jay was more curious than hungry.  A wren defeated my picture taking.  All I got was a moon shot.  A female slaty skimmer occupied one of the perches.  

An egret and a couple of turtles on the lake were not easy to see through the vegetation.  Low tide revealed shells among the barnacles on the bulkhead.  

A wet bird preened up in the oak. Eventually it turned into a bluebird.  A few dragonflies hunted overhead.