The Ides but no murders

It was a typical March day with the usual birds.  Bluebirds showed up first.  A dove drank from the pool puddle.  A Carolina wren dug into the barkbutter balls.  A myrtle warbler was next.  The yellow long haired cat hung around bothering the birds.  Blue jays wanted their barkbutter balls.  The myrtle warbler cleaned up what fell.  The song sparrow looked for fallen suet crumbs.  Both Carolina wrens returned for second helpings.  A couple of chickadees shared the seed feeder.  

At lunch time a white throated sparrow tried to bully a warbler off the glass dish but the warbler held on.  The sparrow flew to the seed feeder instead.  A blue jay got a drink from the pool puddle.  A starling came for lunch.  Two doves foraged together.  One acted horny but the other didn't catch on.  Some violets bloomed.  A crow poked through the mulch.  

 

Woodpecker trio

Blue jays were happy I finally got around to refilling the barkbutter dish. In fact, they mus have posted a sentinel to keep watch.  The white throats were beginning to look ragged, molting for the breeding season, I suppose.  The male pine flowers have been spewing pollen all week but I finally saw some female flowers emerging.   They're the ones sometimes called candles.  The oak flowers had turned brown and were dropping. 

The pileated flew up to the post while I was outside and though I didn't move the bird spooked, so no photo.  After I came back in, a red belly arrived, then a downy.   The downy went for seeds since the bigger red belly wanted suet.  He looked different from the red belly male that I saw before.  This one hasn't much red on his belly.  The day was hot as predicted, up in the 80s again, but there was sunshine because the overcast was very thin.

A small dark butterfly eluded me as it fed and flitted.  Then I was fooled into thinking I saw a new bug when it was a violet bobbing in the breeze.  Somewhat later, a cabbage white did a good imitation of a falling dogwood petal.  A skink with a very red head sauntered along the step wall.  

Song sparrow

Bluebirds came early to get seeds.  A male oriole was at the jelly early.  Blue jays and a mockingbird preferred barkbutter balls.  A myrtle warbler had jelly on its mind.  A song sparrow bustled industriously around the patio with the white throats.  They did not get along well.  A female red belly got some barkbutter balls and some suet.  

Violets were blooming and I even found a few flowers on the rosemary.  I pulled up excess mountain mint.  The beard lichen on the bench back has spread.  I wish we had a better place for it to grow.  A cabbage white flitted around the yard till it was forced down by the wind.  The wind got so fierce that it drove me indoors despite the temperature being in the upper 70s.  Clouds moved in ad dark came early.

Summery

The sky was strongly blue again, the breeze light, the creek a mirror, and the temperature rose to 78°.  Evidence of things unseen: at lunch, the bamboo stake that I'd stuck in the ground near the birdbath began to jerk and swing.  Nothing around it was moving so it wasn't wind.  My guess would be a vole or mole.  The yellow iris seeds were ripe.  The heat persuaded a violet to flower. More camellia flowers opened. 

Today I found six, not five, monarch caterpillars.  There may not be enough leaves for all of them.  I thought I saw a red spotted purple but it disappeared.  A wasp landed on a table with its prey but it seemed dissatisfied and abandoned the morsel.  It looked to me like part of a grub.  After dark, a plume moth landed on the window. 

I saw only the usual feeder birds.  A bit of seed hull got caught in a silk thread and twirled in the breeze.  A boat on the creek startled a great blue heron. A cormorant and a mallard paddled upstream together.  Then a kingfisher alighted on the dock post.  It didn't stay long but I heard it cackle several times after it flew.  

Red-bellied woodpecker male

Brown headed nuthatches were up early as usual.  A white throated sparrow was out looking for tasty debris.  So was a Carolina wren.  A pair of mockingbirds made repeated visits.  Butterbutts scurried around.  Orioles appreciated the jelly.  The creek was beautiful and the day was very warm - 78°. 

Finally a male red bellied woodpecker showed up, very red-headed and ready to woo.  I'd about decided that the female was a spinster.  A dove plodded around.  Starlings fought over every kind of food.  A crow investigated.  In addition to the cabbage white, I saw a sulphur butterfly.  The wild cherry began to leaf out.  A violet bloomed by the birdbath.  

Spider

The pileated woodpecker spooked before it got any suet.  The first violets opened.  I took the scallop shells down to the creek to throw in and there I found a spider in an orb web on the dock.  I couldn't get close enough to be sure it was alive but the web looked fresh.  

Hoodies paddled downstream and a kingfisher zipped by too fast for me.  An egret took over a post on the new dock beside the dam while a great blue heron occupied the turtles' log.  Pelicans and cormorants flew past.  I saw the muskrat or nutria or possibly otter swim to the neighbors' dock leaving a wake but with only it's nose above water.  

Autumn beauties

The creek reflected sunshine bouncing off tree trunks.  A mockingbird picked up a barkbutter ball breakfast.  Bluebirds came later while I was cooking.  By then the creek had lost its mirror-smooth shine.  

As we ate lunch, the songbirds arrived in force.  A pine warbler went for the barkbutter balls.  The mockingbird came back but I still had trouble getting a picture.  Two juncos and a song sparrow got away from me too.  A white breasted nuthatch joined the chickadees and titmice.  Then brown headed nuthatches wanted sunflower seeds too.  The back of their heads and necks are white not brown.  One lingered on the feeder, not eating, just watching in all directions.  And all the other birds disappeared.  

A great blue heron waded upstream in water up to its belly.  Geese paddled upstream, briefly fooling me into thinking they were hoodies.  An off object washed up, like a ball with a conical tail and a round hole or black spot on its side. 

A violet was fooled by the warmer weather into blooming.  Yellow jackets buzzed around the camellia looking for flowers that hadn't been drained.  I found tiny mushrooms emerging along a maple root.  More clumps of pincushion moss had spore capsules sticking up like green ahir. 

I took lots of pictures of fall leaves but wind keeps blowing them down.  That makes the trees look green longer but prevents reds and yellows from achieving critical mass. The sky was intensely blue and cloudless.  But all too soon the cormorants were flying back to their roost.  

Spring

Blue jays flocked to the barkbutter balls on a bright, mild morning.  A Carolina wren devoured suet. Its partner foraged on the steps and the mulch.  So did a myrtle warbler and a bluebird.  

I saw the female pileated woodpecker that came for suet.  A starling tried to insinuate itself onto the feeder, but the woodpecker refused.  Eventually, she got so annoyed, she chased the other bird away.  Later, a red bellied woodpecker flew off when I tried to take his picture. 

The "fried egg" daffodils began blooming.  Some of the dogwood flowers look like little boxes before they fully open.  Violets have been blooming for several days. 

Turtles basked in the sunshine.  A pied bill grebe paddled on the creek.  

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.  

Quiet

I didn't see much of anything.  The creek was still at breakfast but there was no fog, despite a prediction.  In the morning we went to Chesapeake to swap plants.  If I'd brought the camera, I could have some nice garden photos, but I didn't.  Nothing was stirring in the afternoon except a breeze from the North.  The sun was warm despite more high, thin clouds.  I found a just popped violet seedpod with the seeds still inside.