Sunny morning

Perky merganser pairs are out on the creek which is not at all smooth this morning. Juncos are hopping on the patio and finches on the feeder. The wind is cold but the sun has attracted four pelicans to the boathouse roof. The first osprey of the year circled and hovered.

I heard crows making a ruckus and sure enough they soon appeared chasing a hawk. I'm learning what various bird noises mean so I can be ready with the camera. The chickadees are now on the feeder.

Mid-afternoon, the robins are out. A wren was delighted with my burnt cookie crumbs and posed beautifully while I took about 40 pictures, NONE of which came out. !#$% camera.

Cold

Long crystals in the birdbath, frost on the feeder. Juncos were out early. Geese flew by and a crow stopped in the oak. A pelican passed by at lunch.

A translucent, nearly full moon showed behind bands of cloud in the East toward evening and now light is leaking through breaks in the cloud cover.

Gray cold rain

Everything drips and the day is dark. Pelicans and egrets flew above the creek. Mergansers and mallards paddled by. Juncos and a white throated sparrow foraged on the patio.

By lunch, the rain stopped and the pavement dried but the sky stayed gray. A crow chased off a hawk and then chickadees appeared. A large flock of cormorants circled briefly.

Frost overnight

It is clear at dawn and the creek is a perfect mirror. The dock has frost where it is in shade. Cormorants are commuting to breakfast.

In the East, there were long streaks of cloud while overhead there was a fractal froth that reminded me of suds left to dry. Now at mid-day heavier clouds are coming down from the North. It has warmed up considerably.

And by late afternoon, the overcast has become a quiet rain. It got heavier after dark.

Clear sky

Juncos are up early and busy at the feeder. I'm being careful to note seasonal birds because otherwise it's impossible to know the last time I see them.

A cold wind is blowing. A heron is lurking in the reeds below the dam. A pelican cruised the creek and one great blackback gull evicted another from its favorite piling. Chickadees are on the feeder now.

At lunch, something desirable in the water attracted two pelicans and a blackback gull. After considerable circling the gull was left in possession. The commotion attracted what I think is an immature eagle.

In the afternoon. finches, chickadees, juncos, and a female cardinal all visit the feeder. The wind is very cold though the sun is warm.

Shadowless morning

We are outside the range of groundhogs and it is illegal to move a Marmota monax here, but if there were a hypothetical woodchuck visiting, it would see nothing but overcast this morning. Originally in Europe other hibernating animals were presumed to emerge on Candlemas or Imbolc. "If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, / winter will have another bite. / If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, / winter is gone and will not come again." I'm not aware of any hibernating animals here. It was warm and raining last Groundhog Day.

Everything is dripping though the rain is stopped for now. The usual suspects are on the feeder, primarily finches and chickadees, but I thought I glimpsed a wren. I can hear jays. Robins are on the roof getting a drink from the gutter. A blackbird flock comes and goes. Now robins are all over the yard and birdbath. Lots of chirping between the blackbirds and robins. A pelican checked out the creek and I saw an unidentifiable woodpecker hopping up a tree. Across the creek crows were harassing a larger bird, probably the hawk.

Nasty at noon - wind and rain, and one finch hunkered down on the feeder perch. But after that blew through, patches of sky appeared and glimpses of sunlight. The juncos came out to feed. The sun has been playing peek-a-boo since, same as last year. And by mid-afternoon it has gone all blue! And it stayed that way right through sunset.

After dark, I saw a wolfish face at the window. There's a husky in the neighborhood who gets loose every so often and somehow gets into our back yard. It's friendly, but I don't want it chasing the wildlife.

Busy morning

A very strange cloud was faintly visible above the pines across the creek before it moved off East. It was an arc of radiating streaks, sort of like a crown, but too wispy for a good photo. A crow kept popping up out of the pines, hovering with a great deal of flapping, then plunging back into the trees. I bet that meant there was a hawk, and I was right. Crows finally chased it off West. It is supposed to get very warm today.

Later heavier clouds moved in from the West. An eagle did a fly-by. A pileated woodpecker worked his way up the neighbor's pine tree. Mergansers were diving in the creek which was quite rough surfaced. A cardinal, a blue jay, two robins, and a flock of blackbirds came to the yard. A white-throated sparrow drank from the birdbath and house finches took possession of the feeder. That sounds like Edward Lear.

After lunch, it is shirt-sleeve warm and the sky has cleared. Bees are mobbing the rosemary. It stayed mostly clear with thin streaks of cloud all the way to sunset. Several herons flew across the dam in the early evening before the cormorant commute. The kingfisher flew silently downstream. The sunset makes the pines at the head of the creek appear to be on fire.