Happy Halloween

Sun's up. Looks like it will be nice, if cold. Blue jays are out and about. I need to refill the feeder. A lone chickadee "occupied" it yesterday.

Bald eagle sighted soaring downstream! Winter's birds are showing up since the change in temperature. A wren is exploring the window sill.

It has mostly clouded over and the sun is behind a veil. Two mockingbirds got into a dispute in the front yard. Meanwhile a jay sorted acorns. The stinkhorns are still disgusting.

A mallard couple cruised downstream followed by three bachelors. Then several ducks flew upstream, the trailing one had white underwings, maybe a muscovy crossbreed. Geese are feeding on the opposite bank.

This morning glory vine with its creepy-looking seedpods seems to fit the holiday. Seed fluff from the saltbush is blowing on the wind.

The zombie infestation has passed and rain has begun.

Cold wind with sun

In spite of the wind, the water is fairly reflective this morning. The salt bush is still white with its flower/seed fluff. One of the steps is covered in smart weed with tiny pink flowers.

Some kind of woodpecker was calling from a pine tree. Its size and shape suggested a red bellied woodpecker but it was black against the sky. Crows were having a loud conversation around the creek but I couldn't see them. At noon, the first pelican sighting of the coming winter!

Hard rain

Nasty weather but at least the snow is supposed to stay north of us.

The rain has raised, and then hammered, a crop of stinkhorns.

A cold, wet wind at nightfall. Brrrrrr.

Chilly and gray

The meteorologists were right - what a surprise. An occasional raindrop hit the windshield. The uniform gray has separated into distinct clouds but is still a thick overcast.

The tide is quite high as well. I just learned that this is known as a King Tide in some parts of the world.

By evening it was quite cold and wet.

Summer's last hurrah

It is sunny with a breeze. The temperature is predicted to reach 79 today and then drop down to the fifties tonight. Indeed, the thermometer touched 80 this afternoon! It is quite windy and most birds seem to be waiting for calmer air. A flotilla of geese swam down the creek and later a kingfisher flew upstream making its characteristic squawk all the way. It was flying higher than usual, maybe on account of the wind?

Nothing much is blooming now except camellias, and the rosemary which has attracted honeybees today. I wonder if this means the worst of colony collapse disorder is past? Only the dogwood, the hickory, and the redwood are turning fall colors and the dogwood is more brown than red. A few oak twigs have gone gold but overall, everything is a dusty and threadbare green. Oh, there is one rosebud and a lovely, golden rose hip.

Camellias are blooming

Summer temperatures remain. The roses, lantana, and crape myrtle look done for the season, though roses often bloom into December.

The red camellia in front actually started blooming earlier in the month. It's the pink camellia on the North side of the house that greeted us on our return. The white camellia in front blooms in late winter.

Beautiful day

Cloudless skies are delightful but not interesting to photograph.

I saw some gull-type birds on the Cape May Ferry which I did not recognize. They are small, have a black beak with some dark red, eyeliner, black webbed feet, gray wings and black on the tails. Some - juveniles? - have chestnut on the wings.

I've been trying to ID the birds and the best I can say is maybe they are Common Black Headed Gulls in winter plumage, but if so their feet are much darker than they're supposed to be.