Two nice days

OK, I skipped yesterday. We had fair weather for Election Day and that worked the needed magic.  But all I saw was a moth on the window after dark.  

This morning, a Carolina wren hunted scraps in the barkbutter dish. I put more out and they disappeared when I wasn't looking.  The creek was rumpled but glowing in reflected sunlight.  A male house finch took possession of the seed feeder.  I haven't seen any house finches for several weeks.  This evening a different moth was on the door and got in when I let the dog out.  I'm fairly sure it was a southern purple mint moth.   

Pretty day

It was warmer and breezier and a few clouds passed by.  Chickadees kept the seed feeder busy. Plenty of leaf color dressed up the trees.  A female mallard slept on the dock.  Flying bugs glinted in the sun.  Falling leaves fluttered.  A couple of round, little birds did too.  Unfortunately, my only photo was blurred but I could make out a big black eye and a yellowish wing.  I think it might have been a ruby crowned kinglet, but I can't be sure. 

An hour later

Daylight Saving Time ended so sunset will come at 5pm. Getting up at 7am, I didn't gain any morning light to compensate for the loss of evening.  I had hoped to see the third quarter moon in the morning but the sky was too cloudy.  At breakfast a pair of Carolina wrens were tempted by barkbutter balls.  They came back at lunch for suet. By then the sky was cloudless but the moon had set. A titmouse was thirsty and a downy wanted suet too. 

In the afternoon, a female kingfisher sat on the dock bench and monitored the creek.  A squirrel bounded around the tree trunks.  Insects glittered in the sun.  A couple of them were yellow jackets. 

A little warmer

It was still sunny.  I saw more squirrels than birds.  Insects were still flitting around. 

Still cold

Once again the creek was full of lovely reflections.  A blue jay joined us for breakfast.  A squirrel made the great leap to the redwood.  Other than that, I saw chickadees, a cardinal, geese and mallards.  The sun spotlighted flying insects.  The few I could identify were brown moths, but others appeared bigger.   I re-found the fungus I thought might be a puffball.  Near it were dark gray russulas.  The big polypore rosette seemed to have shrunk a little.  More peppers were turning red.  I thought I saw a black cat in the top of the maple tree.  But it turned out to be the tree behind the maple looking dark and fuzzy in the camera. 

Chilly

Despite sunshine, the day never got warm.  That cold front dropped the temperatures 30° from Monday.  Plus, the wind kept the creek surface disturbed and pushed the tide up.  Most of the leaves were blown off the beautyberry bush.  Titmice joined the chickadees at the seed feeder.  The female downy was content with suet.  One turtle soaked up sunshine.  

Towards evening, the creek calmed enough to glow with the light off oaks on the far side of the dam.  They'd lost leaves too but still had enough to be colorful as cormorants flew past.  

Gusty

The sun was back but a cold North wind kept me inside. It roughed up the creek and pushed the tide higher.  There were lots of puffy clouds all day.  Crows and a buzzard went about their business.  I harvested another pepper.  The setting sun cast an orange light on the clouds.  Cormorants commuted to their roosts.