Rain fell, tide rose

It was a very dreary day, chilly too.  The rain made bubbles and splash drops in the birdbath.  A wet bluebird came for seeds anyway to keep feeding the offspring which perched on top of the post.  A Carolina wren pecked at the nubbin of suet..  

The tide flowed quite high considering that we are midway between full moon and new moon.  A mallard drake rested all alone on the dock which was partly submerged.  A brown headed nuthatch wanted a place at the seed feeder but the bluebird on the perch didn't cooperate.  A red bellied woodpecker showed up but either disdained the remnant of suet or else spooked. 

Hurricane weather

Both kinds of nuthatches stocked up with their equivalent of "bread and milk."  Titmice crowded the seed feeder.  A downy woodpecker had barkbutter balls.  The female juvenile cardinal was beginning to get the hang of feeding herself but still begged.  A squirrel ate dogwood berries.  So did a mockingbird.  A foraging squirrel was covered with warbles.  A blue jay stayed in the trees.  A monarch butterfly briefly visited the butterfly milkweed.

Hurricane Helene was a long way off but even so, local weather was affected.  The morning was overcast but quiet.  Rain began around 2:30pm and gradually got heavier.  The tide was still running high for the point in the lunar cycle.  I glimpsed a couple of gulls but they flew out of sight immediately.  

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.  

Very froggy

Defying the meteorologists, the sun shone brightly until late afternoon. The creek glowed in reflected dawn light.  Pale blue morning glories peeped out of the vegetation.  It was breezier and not as warm as I would have liked.  The creek overflowed the dock again and flooded our "living shoreline."  After lunch, a yellow crowned night heron hunted along the edge of the flood.  All it found while I watched was some plastic debris.  

The black cat had a good roll in the sun but it didn't stay long.  I decided to get in the water but first I surveyed for frogs and saw three.  Two were sitting on the rescue stick while the third was riding the thermometer.   When I emptied the skimmer I found a fourth.  It appeared overinflated and it seemed lethargic which worried me.  The two on the stick were bigger than the other two.  I caught the frogs and put them outside but I think they jumped back in as soon as I left. 

I glimpsed a few butterflies but not to identify.  A mockingbird flew out of the beautyberry bush while I was in the water.  A few wasps looked for flowers on the mountain mint.  Soaring birds circled very high up.  A downy woodpecker had some seeds and some barkbutter balls.  Brown headed nuthatches stuck with seeds.  Unfortunately, clouds moved in while I was trying to drip dry and I got chilled. 

Dull gray day

This was the equinox but with the cloud cover, who could tell.  The tide seemed even higher today though the full mood was several days ago.  When the dock emerged from the water, it hosted 16 mallards.  Between the lack of sun, temperature in the low 70s, and wind, I didn't get in the water.  The frog on the rescue stick  was disappointed.  The change in weather delayed release of the milkweed seeds. 

A bird climbed around the feeder post in a nuthatch-like way but I could never see enough of the bird to be certain what it was.  It had black spots on white undertail coverts which isn't right for a white breasted nuthatch.  iNaturalist told me it was a black-and-white warbler.

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.  

Wet and windy

Hurricane Ian had quite a reach and brought more rain in one day than we saw in two months.  I had thought surely the recent wind had stripped trees of dead leaves, but there were more.  Lots more.  The seed feeder regulars got some sustenance but I didn't see any other birds.  High tide flowed over the dock and warped boards.  Wind gusts blew spray into white sheets.  And it was really noisy.  

Northeaster

High tide flowed over the low end of the dock, pushed by the gusty Northeast wind.  Leaves, twigs, and lots of pine needles blew into the pool.  I emptied the skimmer at least three times, maybe four.  And a drowned skink got away from me and went down the pipe. 

Most wildlife was in hiding but I found a colorful green stinkbug nymph (Chinavia hilaris) on the mountain mint. Neighbors fished in the high water but I didn't see them catch anything. Geese huddled in the lee of the bank across the creek. 

Goldenrod bloomed and the saltbush showed white tips.  Fern fronds were lined with spores.  But the sky was gray on gray.  Towards evening, a great blue heron stood on the dock facing into the wind.  Even so, its feathers took a beating.  Up on the lake, an egret preened while cormorants watched.  They were much more sheltered by the ridge on the east side of the lake.  .  

The gloomy sky turned crimson at sunset, but I had just downloaded the day's photos and the camera refused for cooperate.  I missed the vivid reds behind the commuting cormorants and only got the pale lavender twilight. 

Northeaster

I had my back to the world all day.  There was rain at lunch and another over-the-dock tide at sunset.  A great blue heron watched the water rise from its perch on a nearly-submerged post.

Flood

The North wind was the main culprit in driving the creek over the dock, but there was also rain.  Normally, the moon in the first quarter (or third) has the least effect on the tide because it is partially cancelled by the sun, except for this wind which "the National Weather Service in Wakefield predicts will drive waters 5.9 feet above low tide levels by 3:30 p.m."  Buchanan Creek was the closest tide measuring station.  

 Wind-blown rain made it hard to see the feeders, much less take pictures, but the mockingbird ignored it all in favor of barkbutter balls.  A wet female bluebird sheltered under the suet and ate breakfast.  A very disheveled brown headed nuthatch wanted seeds.  

The male red bellied woodpecker had wet shoulders and head with feathers sticking up in spikes.  A pair of goldfinches paid a very brief visit.  I didn't see the male until too late to get a picture.  When a male bluebird showed up, he too was all wet. The woodpecker had a confrontation with the female bluebird.  

Gusts of rain were visible passing up the creek.  A great egret sailed in and landed by the fence.  It stalked past and then took off. 

Flood, then snow

Winter arrived and stomped around in heavy boots, knocking over lawn furniture.  Low light and tree detritus stuck to rain-streaked windows messed with the camera. The combination of a new moon, rain and high wind from a Northeaster pushed high tide into the yard and pulled part of the dock away.  It looked like the lake and the creek were meeting over the dam.  Seed eaters struggled through the weather for breakfast. 

It wasn't long after the tide receded that the rain turned to snow, fine particles at first, then fat flakes. The snow melted on contact until nearly dusk when it began to accumulate on chair seats and evergreen leaves.  I think it stopped after dark.  I tossed some millet under the lawn chair for the sparrows.  The temperature dropped steadily all day and reached 32° as darkness fell, according to the weather online.  Our own outdoor thermometer read 35°.  

Gray

The wind howled and gusted all day and I think the tide may have been higher than it was for the new moon.  But the rain for today must have fallen yesterday.  I saw a few birds battling the wind but they were distant silhouettes.  It was a perfect day to stop saving daylight.  From the climate meeting in Glasgow this month comes a vocabulary for weather like this: dreich, meaning "wet, dull, gloomy, dismal, dreary or any combination of these." 

Two squirrels went tearing across the yard, then one pretended to be a bump on a tree.  I've no idea what that was about or, in fact, if the squirrel hiding was the chaser or the chased.  But it did not look like a friendly game of chase. 

The sky showed signs of clearing around sunset, but the wind did not slacken one bit.  

High water

The high water was caused by a "king tide" that occurs when the moon is at its closest and it's also in a straight line with the Earth and sun.  And we had a Northeast wind pushing water up the estuaries.  Chickadees and titmice stuffed themselves at breakfast.  

We had mussels for lunch but a handful had broken shells, so I carried them down to the creek and liberated them to either heal or feed something else.   The wind blowing up the creek was really cold despite the sun.  A couple of mallards were out on the choppy water, but nothing else.  

I saw lots of berries on the Virginia creeper up in the leaning pine.  Too much shade made the goldenrod struggle to bloom.  Sunny morning, cloudy afternoon. I ran an errand and by the time I got back, the sky had gone gray.  

High water

The bus company sent out an alert.  The tide flowed across the dock.  Tomorrow is the first quarter when the tides are supposed to be smaller.  The new moon and the full moon are the normal times for the highest tides.  I guess this was a testament to the wind. 

Gusty

Clouds covered the sky when I got up but soon disappeared.  They returned and dissipated throughout the day.  Low tide was quite high, driven by a cold, gusty wind that filled the pool with tree debris. 

The celosia attracted bees and wasps.  A black swallowtail made the rounds of rue and parsley while a red spotted purple flitted around but never perched for me.  

A Carolina wren offered me some very photogenic poses.  And all the while, it kept winking.  A brown thrasher feasted on beautyberries.  A cardinal dropped out of the dogwood where he was probably eating berries.  Then a mockingbird arrived, looked the situation over, and chose dogwood berries.  

In the late afternoon mallards paddled close to our shore.  Then a male kingfisher flew to one of the neighbors' dock posts.  He plunged into the creek several times and got at least one fish.  An egret strode upstream.  The feral cat caught the the fishing bug and swiped at something in the pool.  I hope it wasn't a skink.   

Still blowing cold

The wind did do us the favor of clearing the high-level smoke haze.  It drove the tide over the dock and brought some threatening clouds that passed by harmlessly.  Why several buzzards were swooping low over the creek, I do not know. A mallard pair dropped into the pool but I sent them away.  Later I saw a mallard have difficulty getting out of the water onto the dock.

I put more bird food out thinking a wind from the NNE might be carrying birds South.  But all I saw were year-around locals, and not a lot of them.   A blue jay and a brown thrasher got away without a photo.  The Carolina wren pair visited the bark butter balls together.  One lost its tail, hopefully just molting.  The downy woodpecker pair defied the wind, but they don't fly very high. 

It was way too cold with that wind-chill to get wet, so I tried to clean out the wind-blown leaf litter with a net.  That enabled me to rescue a skink and several beetles.  I glimpsed a red spotted purple but it blew away before I could aim the camera.  A big dark insect landed on the water and then flew off.  I was thinking carpenter bee or even cicada, but the photo suggests a horsefly.

I went outside at just the right time to catch the new moon with enough illumination for the camera.  

 

Chill wind

The mid day high tide washed over the dock.  Four geese and a wood duck pair walked around on the underwater boards.  The wood ducks paddled off along the water's edge, essentially over the grass in the yard. 

Hungry insects defied the wind to reach the mountain mint nectar.  Wasps and bees joined the gray hairstreak. 

To avoid the wind, I went to the front yard.  So did the dragonflies apparently.  The bracket fungus by the bedroom wall reappeared.  The wind wasn't as fierce, but the clouds thickened and without the sun I was still cold.  I retreated indoors.  

 

Wind

By morning the pool was brim full but the rain soon came to an end.  A fierce wind out of the North replaced it, blowing pine needles and leaf shreds into the water.  Thanks to the new moon and the wind, high tide washed over the dock.  Three female mallards rested on the highest part.  I saw a buzzard nearly blown out of the sky.  Most animals were hunkered down, bees clung to the undersides of the mountain mint.  I heard blue jays but didn't see them.  I put extra food out.  At supper, a couple of Carolina wrens made a quick run for bark butter balls.  The sky stayed overcast but there were glimmers of sunlight in the afternoon.  

High winds

Low tide looked like high and high tide was a flood.  And this was the first quarter phase of the moon when it and the sun are at cross purposes for tidal attraction.

A heron stalked around the dock. Two pairs of bluebirds came to the feeders when there were lulls in the wind and rain.

The sky cleared in the afternoon.  When I went out to close the seed feeder at dusk, Venus was bright in the West, but there was too much light to make out the Pleiades. The moon was further away, almost overhead.  

Summer briefly

It was as lovely as yesterday, but warmer and only a little breezy.  But the pool water had dropped to 70°F.  Early in the morning, two birds struck the glass door to the patio, but were gone when K checked.  They left imprints of the powder from their feathers.

The morning tide flowed over the dock again.  I heard that elsewhere in the region it caused flooding. The full moon isn't till Sunday night, but apparently a storm to the Northeast and way out at sea was pushing the water into the Bay.  Meanwhile a drought watch was declared for lack of rain. 

A cricket rafted on a cherry leaf while a ground beetle and a small black caterpillar swam.  An ant carried a tidbit as large as she was down the retaining wall.  There were butterflies: a monarch during lunch, a cloudless sulphur, and a couple of brownish flutterbyes.  A leaf-footed bug patiently rowed through the water till I rescued it.  I also saved an assassin nymph and a bumblebee.  Other bees were too far gone, as was a lacewing.  A moth thrashed ripples from where it was caught on its back in the surface tension. Spider threads caught the sun everywhere but I only saw one live spider, which I evicted from the pool. 

I glimpsed a woodpecker but it flew off.  A blue jay tried to hide with its nut.  A mockingbird made repeated visits to the beauty berries.  Or maybe there was more than one mockingbird.  I got excited about little birds in the trees, but all the ones I could identify ere the usual suspects, chickadees and titmice.  A rustling in the grass was not a squirrel, but a brown thrasher.