Black swallowtail

At lunchtime the swallowtail was checking flowers for nectar but I think most of them had already been visited.  The red belly came for suet and sparrows for barkbutter balls.  Fierce-looking clouds passed over but did nothing.  The day was hot and windy.  

Humid

Morning was still wet and gray.  That did not stop the nuthatches, brown headed or white breasted.  A male cardinal fed his daughter.  A mockingbird tried the rehydrated wild cherries.  The rose drooped to shed rain.  A sparrow, I think was a song sparrow, landed on the railing but the camera insisted on focusing on the raindrops on the window.  In the afternoon we got some sun.  A two-lined spittlebug drowned in the bucket.  The tide rolled over the dock again even though we had a third quarter moon.  

All I found in the pool water was tree trash, snails, a cricket, and a leaf footed bug.  While dripping off, my eye was caught by a really colorful Southern purple mint moth.  Another mockingbird surveyed the scene from the maple, then flew in for a drink.  Two female cardinals tolerated each other, one on the seed feeder, the other on the barkbutter.  I think the one eating seeds was older.  At any rate, she was feeding her son.  Interesting that the parents fed the offspring of the opposite sex.  She looked like the joys of motherhood were wearing thin.  

Dreary

Rain was falling when I got up and it didn't quit till mid afternoon.  A brown headed nuthatch visited the feeder anyway.  A Carolina wren followed.  Then a sparrow foraged underneath.  I couldn't be sure but this one may have been a song sparrow. The male goldfinch came for seeds.  The air barely got up to room temperature and the wind was gusty.  The sunflower promised brighter days.  So did the streaky, muted sunset clouds.  

Frozen

Overnight was as cold as predicted but less windy.  I poured hot water into the birdbath twice and each time it refroze.  But while it was still fluid, it was popular with the songbirds.  The creek didn't freeze on account of the wind agitating the surface, I think. 

A female towhee came to eat the seeds I scattered.  So did a flock of cowbirds and red winged blackbirds along with one starling.  A crow flew to the post and scolded till the left.  There weren't many seeds left for the sparrows and juncos.  

A female red bellied woodpecker took the suet away from the downy.  Bluebirds and warblers alternated between suet and barkbutter balls.  Even the nuthatches took turns on the suet.  The Carolina wrens ate some of everything.  

Rain

After a couple of bright, sunny days, the rain arrived.  Unfortunately it's the precursor to a polar vortex of howling wind and a 40° plunge in temperature, according to the prognosticators.  The birds may also have foresight because they were not lulled by today's 58° high or by the rain.  They shook out their feathers and stuffed their wet faces.  I glimpsed a blue jay, a blackbird, and a mockingbird, but the sparrows, warblers, orioles, bluebirds, nuthatches, and downy woodpecker were as persistent as the house finches, cardinals, chickadees, and titmice.  Juncos made a brief visit.  

A pair of buffleheads cruised the creek while a great blue heron watched.  Egrets and gulls made a commotion on the lake just above the dam.  In the afternoon as the temperature began to fall, mist rose from the lake.  The waterfowl disappeared.  

Cold

Lots of hungry birds showed up at the feeders.  The creek, however, was empty of any waterfowl except geese.  The sky cleared in the afternoon but the air did not warm up.

Cold wind

The sun was bright as I drove East.  I missed the morning birds but they came back for lunch.  Male and female orioles couldn't leave the jelly alone.  Brown headed nuthatches intimidated chickadees.  I spotted an odd sparrow.  Warblers and bluebirds were thick.  A Carolina wren and a mockingbird were quick.  Clouds moved in but the sun got through frequently.  I glimpsed a kingfisher and a hoodie hen and a great blue heron.  The sky must have cleared because a big round moon shone like a spotlight. 

Damp

It was warmer and wet in the morning.  A flock of robins fund something desirable in the trees.  Orioles, nuthatches, sparrows, bluebirds, and warblers were back.  The sky began to clear ing the afternoon, but then changed its mind.  I pruned part of the mountain mint.  

Pollen

Rain fell overnight but the sun had emerged by breakfast.   Pollen coated the flat water in the creek.  Nothing much happened while I read the paper.  Crows gathered again and I think they disapproved of my new feeder arrangement.  A red bellied woodpecker had no problem.  The hickory buds opened. 

A skink slipped through a crack before I was ready, but in a little while it emerged again.  Bumblebees and paper wasps were busy.  I saw a tiger and a black swallowtail and, of course, cabbage whites.  The purple iris had three flowers.  Some azalea buds had opened.  The sky was hazy with additional cumulus clouds flowing by on a West wind that pushed the temperature over 80.  

A sparrow kept its back to me so I don't know if it was a song sparrow or an immature white throat.   A brown thrasher stayed behind vegetation.  An egret showed the green skin around the beak that means it's ready to mate.  It was fishing successfully. 

Cold blue sky

I really overdid the picture-taking today, which is surprising since I didn't start till lunch.  Ring bill gulls were busy on the creek which caught the notice of pelicans, or maybe the other way around.   The great blue heron patrolled its territory.  Two female buffleheads fished in the early afternoon.  Hoodies arrived later. 

I put barkbutter balls out for bird lunch and a brown thrasher came right away.  Then a swarm of blue jays gobbled up all they could.  They were outdone in greed by the starlings on the suet.  Yellow rumped warblers managed to get some of each.  Downy woodpeckers focused on suet but the red bellied male went for barkbutter.  The mockingbird spent too much time trying to choose.  Bluebirds seemed to prefer barkbutter.  The orioles definitely wanted suet. 

A handfull of white throated sparrows scoured the steps for crumbs.  Carolina wrens joined the hunt.  I found a stick loaded with jelly fungus softened by yesterday's rain.  Though it was cold and breezy, turtles basked in the sunshine.  A pair of wood ducks joined them.  The drake was bathing while the female dried out and preened between turtles. 

Hot!

It was election day and one consequence may be whether we address the cause of November days in the 80s, or slide into catastrophe.  The sun was hot as we stood in line to vote, and the humidity didn't help, but there was a breeze. 

A flock of sparrows checked out the holly bushes at the shopping strip where I had an errand.  I made a roundabout return and saw where all the egrets roost on Witchduck Lake.

From the backyard I can only see the tip of the lake.  a cormorant and one egret were bookends for a turtle. Rain started after I got home.  I hope it didn't dampen the voter turnout

Hot sun

There was a flurry of wrens at breakfast, but they were too fast for me.  At the doctor's office a handsome English sparrow proclaimed his territory from the corner of the roof.  When we arrived home, a widow skimmer was guarding the lantana.  A bluebird swooshed down from the roof and then kept watch on us from the dogwood. None of this did I manage to photograph.  But, in the back yard, a yellow crowned night heron stalked the pool.

More dragonflies perched along the retaining wall.  A dragonfly I think was a four spotted skimmer perched on the pine tree.  A twelve spotted skimmer flew over it.  A black swallowtail fluttered around the caterpillars on the parsley.  A great golden digger wasp visited the mint and drew my eye to something lurking under a leaf.  I think it was a crab spider.  A small black wasp struggled with a meal as big as itself. 

An egret waited by the dam outfall.  A blue jay discovered the bark butter dish was empty.  The hummers needed a refill too.  A skink ran across the steps and into a crevice. The night heron reappeared under the bulkhead in the afternoon. 

Toward evening a brilliant male hummer stopped to feed but rushed off almost immediately.  One or possibly two large birds of prey landed in a neighbor's pine that was screened from view by the oak.  Clouds had covered the sky during the afternoon but they broke up in the North at sunset. 

Sunshine

It was still overcast at breakfast but blue sky slid South  around 10am.  I saw two sparrows that seemed different - paler, no marking on throat or breast - but they flew before I got a good look, much less a picture.  Wrens and warblers seemed quite hungry.  A downy woodpecker clung to the post.  Bluebirds insisted on mealworms. 

Blueberry buds were popped but the flowers hadn't opened.  The Carolina jessamine was covered with flowers.  A bufflehead drake floated on mirror-like water.  A female red breasted merganser made waves as it fished.  A female hoodie sped past.  Two egrets landed in the neighbors' tall pines.  They appeared to be settling in for the night.

Fish drive

Geese disturbed the creek at dawn.  Somewhat later, cormorants, gulls, and egrets rushed upstream, driving a school of fish, I assume.  After a while they drifted back down. Sparrows stayed under cover in the camellia and other shrubs.

At lunch, the male downy came for suet.  When it flew off into the dogwood, a mockingbird popped up sending the woodpecker up into an oak.  The mockingbird sat in the sun for quite a lengthy time.  Then a squirrel ran up the trunk and out on the mockingbird's limb.  The bird bounced but didn't fly.  It just turned around.  The squirrel descended and appeared to bury a dried-up black dogwood berry. The day was bright and clear and many of the leaves had colored.  But it was chilly. 

Gray

The sky dripped and the wind tossed the rain about.  When I went out to open the feeder I scared off doves and sparrows.  They never came back.  Geese were out on the creek.  What a dull day.  The construction noise might be responsible. 

Rainbow!

Morning was sunny and mild.  Lots of sparrows congregated on the way to brunch.

The sky glazed over midday and the temperature dropped.  While we ate lunch seaside more sparrows feasted on weed seeds.  We only had phones for photos.  Pigeons practiced aerial formations and landed in the sea wrack.  The sun burned through and got a bit warmer.

Then, near sunset, dramatic clouds piled up and dropped scattered showers, one of which caught the sunlight and made a gigantic sky-spanning double rainbow.  Gulls and maybe other birds prowled the shore and waves.  I only got blurry photos of some kind of sandpiper/plover. 

Snow didn't stick

Last night I could see stars, or at least planets, but this morning the sky is gray.  Snow is falling in small pellets but dissipating when it touches ground.  A sparrow was kicking through the mulch but left when the snow started.  Something is making rings on the creek. 

A Carolina wren inspected the crevices between the bricks.  The snow continues to fall after more than an hour. It paused around 9:30, then started up again.  All it has accomplished is to dampen the patio.  Meanwhile, a pair of towhees came to feed, as did titmice, and all the regulars, and both sparrow species.  Something woodpeckerish flitted around the trees.  Cormorants are out fishing. 

I spent the afternoon away from windows.  The night is cold but clearing. 

Warm rain

The temperature has shot back up to 70 and, of course, that means rain.  The usual three species plus sparrows and a wren were on the feeder at breakfast.  A couple of pelicans flew by.

The rain stopped at lunch and there were flickers of sun.  The clouds are speeding NE and it is gusty.  That may explain why the feeder is untouched.  Crows and the occasional pelican watch the creek, now at low tide.  A few gulls and cormorants are around.  I notice the squirrel's nest is gone from the oak.  Flowers and young plants look dreadful after the yo-yo temperatures. 

The wind and rain have become very loud in the late afternoon. Both slacked off after dark and hours later the moon was only a little misty. 

Wild weather

The wind is swaying tree trunks.  It's very warm at dawn but supposed to plunge 40 degrees by tomorrow.  There are layers of clouds with occasional glimpses of blue.  The dark, low clouds race out of the Southwest.  The ground is wet but it's not raining.  Before sunrise, a towhee, sparrows, cardinals, and chickadees had arrived.  They mostly left as it got lighter.  The squirrel with the white spot on her hip came by. Gulls and crows are playing with the gusts while pelicans fly low.

Around mid-morning the rain began.  Squirrels were not deterred and, in a lull, a wren and sparrows competed with them for peanut bits.  One squirrel has a very short tail - I noticed because another was using its tail as an umbrella.  A flock of robins took brief refuge in the oak.  The clouds continue to stream past but I think the wind has shifted a bit and is more West to East. 

The clouds broke around 4pm.  A great blue heron basked on the bulkhead in the late afternoon light.  There was great sky drama, first with the sunlight on trees against the dark and stormy East, then a flaming sunset in the West.

Gray

It's overcast and quiet.  A sparrow was on the feeder before there was light enough to see which kind.  Nothing since.  No action on the creek.

Later, the Carolina wren hopped around and a chickadee perched on the dead hibiscus stalks.  I glimpsed some mergansers.  Cardinals, song sparrows, white throated sparrows, and chickadees came to the feeder.  I fed the white throats a peanut.