Soft gray sky

We're into the season where warm fronts bring overcast and cold fronts bright sun.  A glimmer of sunlight touched the tops of the pines when I got up, but it was quickly gone.  There is not much wind this morning so we have birds.  Chickadees, a Carolina wren, titmice, cardinals, and a nuthatch are coming to the feeder.  A titmouse confronted the wren, then both flew away.  Crows are carrying on about something.  Two did a mid-air dance.  Egrets are perched up in the trees while buffleheads make white spots on the water.

A great blue heron perched on the bench on the dock for a while. No birds at noon - turns out the feeder was nearly empty.  When it is humid, seeds sometimes stick toward the back where the birds cannot reach, even though the bottom slopes.  Well, it is refilled now. The clouds broke up somewhat. 

Sunny again, but not for long

A chill wind cleared out the clouds.  Buffleheads are still hanging out on the creek. Geese are as well.

Clouds rolled in at lunch, despite the prediction.  Few birds, just a female cardinal. 

A change in the weather

The pavement was wet, from dew I think.  Pretty dawn puffs and streaks of cloud have congealed into overcast, with rain predicted.  A Carolina wren darted around the patio then sought cover in the rosemary.  Doves and squirrels were up and the buffleheads were back. 

The creek is covered with fallen leaves.  I can count two female buffleheads and three males but there may be more.  The rain began at noon.  

More warmth

A katydid nymph has been on the glass door since yesterday.  It has moved a couple of feet so it is alive.  Buffleheads again paddle and dive on a glassy creek.  Seven doves wandered around the patio along with a sparrow.  Cardinals, chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches visited the feeder.  An oak across the creek is shedding leaves which fall like glitter because the sun catches them but has not yet reached the lake behind. And, finally a finch arrives.

Later, juncos show up.  And the Carolina wren comes for lunch.

Warm

I saw a bee visiting the camellias so I knew it couldn't be as cold as last week.  Buffleheads are out on the creek, mostly hanging out under the boatlift on the other side.  I think fish must hide in the shadow.  I saw three males and a female, along with gulls. 

When I came in from photographing the buffleheads, the feeder got very busy. Finches, chickadees and the nuthatch wanted a place on the perch.  On the ground I saw a sparrow, a wren, the nuthatch again, and a mockingbird.

A sheet of clouds moved in and then out as the morning progressed.  At lunch, a titmouse, a junco, and a dove joined the crowd.

The creek stayed mirror-like all day.  In the late afternoon, four males congregated in the boatlift's shadow.   A female came upstream and a male went down to meet her.  When she caught sight of the other three males she turned tail and paddled off.  A little later another female arrived, running on water.  She adopted the males as escort and they followed her down and up the creek.  So, four males and two females total.  In the morning, the males appeared black and white, but the afternoon light brought out chestnut and green and purple in the black. Cormorants did their evening commute.  The sinking sun set a tree ablaze upstream - it is one of the few to still have leaves. 

A hint of mist

It seems quite still and there are oodles of songbirds:  a towhee, a titmouse, chickadees, finches, cardinals, nuthatches, sparrows, juncos, and around the edges, bluejays and doves.  The towhee and the titmouse left before the juncos arrived. 

Do you see all three birds in the photo?  The nuthatches were everywhere - on the feeder, in the mulch, drinking from the birdbath, using the post as a hatch for their nuts, and squabbling with each other.  The sparrows also got into a spat.  On the feeder, first a cardinal and later a finch drove off the competition.  As Darwin observed, "The most intense competition may be among individuals of the same species who compete for nearly identical environmental requirements."

Late morning, three buffleheads are paddling back and forth beyond the dock. A bright green stink bug appeared on the inside of the window.  I released it into the wild. 

A very pink sunset, then four hours later, a fat yellow past-full moonrise.

Bright

The moon was still up in the morning and there was a hint of mist.  By noon, it warmed up, but then it chilled down again.  Mostly chickadees around. I was not around to observe much of the day. 

Official hurricane season is over.  That did not stop the storms in 2005.