Rainy

The rain did stop in the afternoon and the sky was clearing by evening, but still, it was a wet day. I saw the bluebirds and some yellow rujmped warblers.  The hummer(s) appreciated fresh juice as their feeders had flooded. A blue jay and a starling were disgusted to find no mealworms.  I wasn't going to waste them in the rain.

The indigo sprang out of the ground and into bloom in amazingly little time.  The yellow flag irises also shot up and the pinxter flowers opened.  An egret fished in the water rushing out of the dam. 

Wood ducks!

The rain was pounding  at dawn so I went back to sleep.  It was still raining hard when I unbricked the feeder.  During breakfast two pairs of wood ducks moseyed up the hill and puddled around on the pool cover.  Then they headed over to the East side gate and out of my sight.  Since there were no ducklings,I assume their first nests failed and they were looking for new tree cavities.

During a lull in the rain, a female hummer visited. Slugs slid up the glass.  An egret and then a heron fished in the water rushing from the dam. 

The rain quit by lunch time but the day stayed gloomy ant threatening.  Titmice showed up at supper, but so did geese and shooing them away scared off the songbirds.  I glimpsed the yellow rumped warbler in summer plumage.  The feral cat wandered in from wherever it stayed dry. 

White sky

The sun was mostly visible, but neither bright nor hot.  Sometimes the clouds had texture and sometimes the sky was just white.    The air was comfortably room temperature but then a gust of wind would make me chilly.  It also seemed to discourage insects.  The sycamore next door decided this was the day to release its seeds.  They were held in tight balls all year until now when this Spring's fertilized flowers formed new seed balls.  I wasted pixels trying to capture a floating seed. 

Skinks scuttled around and soaked up sunshine in sheltered spots.  There may have been a tussle between males under the leaves.  A squirrel gnawed something up in the oak, maybe a gall? Another squirrel had some difficulty shimmying up the wire to the mealworms, which gave me an idea.  So I wiped the wire with oil. 

 A female hummer was happy with fresh juice and not about to share with a male.  Earlier when I was watering, the male zipped through the spray.

I hung a new birdhouse that was labeled as a decoration, not real.  But wrens are famous for nesting in other decorations that look even less suitable.  So we'll see.  Of course it would be a second nest as most birds' eggs have already hatched.  Certainly the bluebirds were busy bringing food to their nest box.  

I glimpsed ospreys and egrets.   A wren sang loudly, repeatedly, from close by, but I never caught sight of it.  Geese stayed out of the yard for once. Three swallows zipped across the sky, chattering.  I got one fuzzy image.  The light faded early into a long twilight. 

So frustrating!

I have been known to claim that cameras give off warning vibes, because how else to explain a pileated woodpecker who waited while K ran across the house for the camera, waited while I got it turned on, and then flew away as I was focusing?

Using the house as a blind, I was able to get some photos of the bluebirds ferrying bugs to their nestlings.

A large jumping spider hung out on the door screen for a while.

A flock of cormorants perched all over the log in the lake. There were turtles too.  A convoy of goslings with an adult in front and in back went upstream.

Close to a crow

While I was out in the neighborhood, I saw a brown thrasher and a half dozen mockingbirds.  Why don't they visit here?   I bought a birdhouse that may not be practical, but was on sale. 

 Another little skink, maybe the same one, slipped into a crack. More geese with more goslings tried to move in.  The blue-eyed grass and the rue started blooming.  It was windy all day.

The crows want the various bird foods but their size makes it tough.  I had tossed out a peanut I dropped, and a crow loved it.  It wanted more and the fact that I was sitting right there did not faze the bird.

Little to report

Geese kept coming all morning, insisting their young'uns poop in our yard.  K had readied the hose to discourage them, but the spray nozzle blew off in my hand.  Grrrrr.  A couple of skinks visited at lunch.

Bold catbird

 The cat came back.  A finch family ignored their offspring's begging as it hopped around on the feeder cluelessly.  A blue jay was disgusted that I didn't have its breakfast ready, but when I put mealworms out, a squirrel got them all.  Downy woodpeckers were still working on the last suet block.  A pair of goldfinches drank from the pool puddle.  So did a male cardinal who then proceeded to bathe.  A hummingbird paid a very brief visit to the feeder.  And then the catbird appeared.  It hung around all day and ventured out in the bright sunshine.  I tried to get photos of the bluebirds, but they got away again.  So did a couple of ospreys flying upstream, a titmouse, and a wren. 

Insects were everywhere.  A crane fly scrabbled on the window glass.   Yellow jackets searched for a place to nest, paper wasps scraped the wooden bench, and bumblebees fed on the money plant.  Tiny flies sent ripples across the pool puddle, laying eggs or eating larva?  A different paper wasp was attracted to the hackberry, possibly to its tiny flowers. 

One goose family after another invited themselves and their offspring, and had to be sent packing.  For reasons that were not apparent, two adult geese took off flying, leaving their goslings bobbing in the water.  Like a folktale illustration, an egret decked out for mating shared a log with a cormorant that looked ready for a funeral.  They were watched by turtles.  A little green heron rested on top of a dock piling.  It preened and scratched and posed.