Warm wind

There were enough clouds that sunshine came and went.  Ruddy ducks were up early, diving under the dock.  Shovelers and wood ducks were on the lake. A great blue heron paused on a dock piling.   Sparrows, wrens, and a yellow rumped warbler joined us for breakfast.  A white throat took a bath and splashed another bird passing by.  Bees fed on the rosemary, ignoring the nearby birds.

A titmouse came for lunch.  So did the downy woodpeckers.  And the red breasted nuthatches.  A squirrel was again behaving intoxicated at the foot of the dogwood next to the cedar.  I tried to research this but all the library had were books on keeping squirrels away from bird feeders.  A Polistes wasp worked on the rosemary flowers.

In the afternoon, I saw a pair of hoodies and a bufflehead on the creek.  The shovelers were still filtering lake water.  Turtles had crawled out on the logs.  And that rascally male pine warbler showed up right after sunset when there wasn't enough light for the camera. 

Butterflies!

The birdbath was frozen again.  Sparrows, wrens, nuthatches, a dove, the butterbutt, downy woodpeckers, and the female red bellied woodpecker greeted us at breakfast.   The creek was a bright mirror occasionally disturbed by a paddling duck.  A heron landed on the grass above the bulkhead. 

At lunch I saw a tiger swallowtail. There was also a cabbage white, though they show up on every warm winter day.  Of course I did not get photographic proof.  Bees and possibly other insects flitted around the rosemary. 

A female hoodie paddled and preened on the creek which had broken into waves.  Ruddy ducks showed up later.  A titmouse finally joined us.  The wrens inspected the now melted birdbath water and found it lacking.  So I dumped a coffeepot full in. 

By sunset haze had congealed into long bars of cloud.  K reported a beautiful mauve sunset but I didn't see any color out the North windows.  The pine warbler came for supper after the light had failed. 

Overnight refreeze

Egrets, both great and snowy, clustered under the dam where they were out of the wind and in the sun.  A great blue heron joined them.  There must have been a school of fish under the wing-roughened water because the cormorants were out in force.  I saw a few hooded mergansers downstream, through the vegetation.  Later some ruddy ducks appeared.  Gulls and pelicans flew over them. 

The nuthatches were up early, but not early enough to beat the yellow rumped warbler to the suet.  The wrens were happy with the new batch of mealworms.  A titmouse sang in the dogwood.  Downy woodpeckers were too busy eating to sing.  White throat and song sparrows foraged everywhere but the suet.  They pecked at the ice in the birdbath but it wouldn't melt.

The female red bellied woodpecker finally showed up.  I thought it had run off with the male that I saw a couple of days age.  Then a male pine warbler chased off the woodpecker four times its size.

Freezing

The water in the birdbath was frozen. The temperature of the Chesapeake Bay has been rising and had already passed 50°F so it's no surprise that the creek wasn't iced. The day was cold but sunny and not so windy, so I got a lot of photos to sort through.  First up was a song sparrow wanting to know why the mealworm dish was empty.  Carolina wrens complained as well.  Then the dark faced butterbutt had to have a look.  They were all so pathetic that K went out and bought more mealworms. 

The titmouse and downy woodpecker stuck to the suet.  Nuthatches ate suet too but always left with a seed. The white throats were all over, as usual.  I missed a blue jay that was too fast for the camera.  And I got only a fuzzy glimpse of a brilliant yellow bird. 

Pelicans sought the creek and flew low.  A wood duck pair paddled around the creek instead of the lake.  An osprey was harassed by a crow.  The winter migrants: buffleheads, hooded mergansers, and ruddy were all out on the creek at different times.  I didn't see any ducks on the lake though there were turtles again.  A great blue heron monitored the creek from the North side.  A pair of mallards fooled me as they hid in the spartina.  A dark duck defeated my efforts to get a photo.  Gulls had a great time dancing in the air. 

Cold

The slack water reflected bright light at sunrise.  The song sparrow was sitting on the empty mealworm dish.  When I went out to refill it, I saw a kingfisher plunge and fly off.  The male red bellied woodpecker got as far as the post, then panicked.  The female had a good helping of suet.  A yellow rumped warbler, a red breasted nuthatch, a wren, and a downy also visited.  White throats foraged until the feral cat showed up.  The tide was very low but a few buffleheads were out on the creek.

During the morning dark cumulus clouds blew in from the West.  By lunch the sky was overcast with occasional blue rifts that admitted sunlight.  Titmice joined the feeder birds but the downy woodpecker seized the suet and intimidated a titmouse. Two wrens informed me that the mealworm dish was empty. 

A short light rain fell in mid afternoon.  Showers alternated with moments of sun, but no rainbow.  Two female buffleheads preened after fishing.  Pelicans patrolled the creek though the wind roughened the surface so I don't know how they could see fish. The sky cleared for the last couple of hours of daylight. 

Chill wind

A cold front came through overnight leaving a little rain, a harsh wind, and cooler temperatures.  Buffleheads were out on the rough water.  The dark faced butterbutt, a wren, white throated sparrows, and downy woodpeckers breakfasted with us.  Apparently a school of fish was swimming upstream because cormorants, gulls, and pelicans were all fishing in a wave. This pelican was showing breeding colors. 

Buds at the top of the dogwood were open.  A pale faced butterbutt sneaked up on the suet feeder.  Then two nuthatches vied for suet.  The wrens were back.  Turtles basked on the logs at the lakeside.  The wind calmed somewhat as the afternoon went on. 

White sky, warm wind

The concrete was wet but the birdbath had not collected much water overnight.  There was a strong, warm wind.  Some sun got through the clouds.  I glimpsed a red bellied woodpecker but it startled and flew before I could see which one it was.  The downy woodpeckers were bolder.  A wren came for mealworms which were running low again.  Many white throats and robins took advantage of fresh water. 

K hung fresh suet after a starling finished off the old.  The yellow rumped warblers had about given up. I noticed one butterbutt yesterday was starting to get black face feathers.  This one was a different bird.  In the afternoon the clouds became very dramatic.  The wind whipped the trees and grounded the birds.  The Carolina jessamine was covered with flowers and one dogwood's buds appeared to be opening.  The wretched Bradford pears and their invasive Callery descendants all over town were blooming. The whole day was very warm, even with the fierce wind, so I'm not sure if it qualified for a leonine start to March. In fact, the 82°F temperature broke the record set in 1918.