Icy

At breakfast there was a skin of ice on the creek.  A Carolina wren was hungry.  The yellow streaked butterbutt was fierce in defense of its food.  At one point, it chased off a chickadee.  White throats ignored the goings on overhead.  The downy woodpecker was focused on the suet and too big for the warbler to chase.  And the warbler did not bother the wren.  Other birds also flew at competitors.  I think the chill must have worried them about their food supply.  I put jelly out for the oriole but never saw it.  A little brown waterfowl paddled upstream faster than I could get the camera in focus.  I think it was the pied bill grebe. 

Overnight freeze

At breakfast, I saw an osprey in the pines across the creek. The water in the birdbath was frozen which annoyed a white throat. 

The myrtle warbler with no yellow along its wings was up early to eat bark butter.  About twenty minutes later the one with lots of yellow took over.  A Carolina wren went for the suet.  I put out jelly for the oriole but a squirrel found it. 

It was nearly lunch time when the downy woodpeckers arrived. Titmice appeared around the same time and so did pine warblers. 

The brown pelican plunged for a fish.  A crow made off with a treat and the others chased after it.  The wood duck drake, or another, was back on the lake.  A bufflehead dived its way downstream to where an egret fished in the late afternoon sun. 

Sunny bookends

The middle of the day was gray with sun at both ends.   A white throat did a dumpster-dive into the mulch.  A starling and a blue jay wanted some bark butter.  I saw a red bellied woodpecker on the pine tree but it came no closer.  Bufflehead on the creek, pine warbler and downy on suet, and butterbutt everywhere.

Sunshine

Morning was pretty quiet.  Downy woodpeckers, pine and myrtle warblers, and white throated sparrows came for food but the low light messed up the photos. 

The sky cleared around lunch time. Pelicans flew over the creek.  A Carolina wren and a female oriole joined the other feeder birds. 

I was surprised to see a turtle on a log on the lake because it was not warm.  Also on the lake were wood ducks and hoodies. 

More hoodies were down on the creek.   A very brown pelican sat on the channel marker.  It had a great blue heron for company. I found a snail when I was replacing fallen mulch. 

A goldfinch was high up in the redwood, again.  Another heron stood on the dock next door and cast a perfect reflection.  A pair of wood ducks napped on our dock. 

Clouds came back before sunset.  The light dropped and I could only photograph the hoodies when the water they floated on reflected the sky. 

Gray, gray, gray

The regular birds came to the feeders: chickadees and cardinals, myrtle and pine warblers, downy woodpeckers, titmice, and Carolina wrens.  White throated sparrows stayed on the ground and one took a brief bath despite the chilly air.  I saw a blue jay briefly in the trees.

 A squirrel ate new leaves off the rosebush!  A little rain fell a couple of times in the afternoon. The aggressive myrtle warbler was very put out with the downy woodpeckers that seemed to think they were entitled to eat suet. 

A bufflehead and some cormorants on the creek were all the waterfowl today.  After dark, harder rain hammered on the windows and I heard a rumble of distant thunder.

Wet

It was still misty at breakfast and the creek was calm.  I saw two herons head upstream, the one pursuing the other I suspect.  Later a pelican flew by.  The myrtle warbler with all the yellow markings stood guard over the feeders.  White throats paid no attention and just kept kicking mulch.  A Carolina wren got a breakfast of suet. 

There was a wink of sunlight at lunchtime, but no more. Two Carolina wrens shared the suet.  When one left a pine warbler joined the other wren.  When that wren flew away, another pine warbler appeared and the two male pine warblers had an aerial tussle.

Mist

Neither lion nor lamb - this March came in like a wet dog.  The very light rain continued all day but was much more noticeable in a moving car.  It didn't contribute much to the birdbath.  Warblers and white throats endured the wet for a meal.  I saw a heron on the dock but I was in a hurry.

Much later, I saw some shovelers on the lake, alongside some mallards. In the distance a flock of cormorants covered the water.