Cold sun

I've seen a beautiful crescent moon at sunset the last two nights, first in Boston then back home.  Clouds from the West overtook the sinking moon last evening but the sky was clear this morning.  The temperature dropped overnight. A male downy was the first visitor.  Song and white throated sparrows followed.  Chickadees were the only regulars.  Two doves and a junco arrived later.

Egrets and pelicans flew upstream.  More egrets and a great blue heron fished along the banks.  Cormorants, mallards and hooded mergansers were out on the creek which glowed with reflected sunlight.  (All I saw during my time away was gulls.)  Later the heron preened on top of the bulkhead.  A squirrel crawled into the watering can till I could only see one hind foot and a tail - I'd better put some water in the birdbath. 

No new birds showed up in the afternoon.  Between the trees, I could see a windblown egret perched on the bulkhead. 

Sunny

A wren was up before dawn.  Juncos and sparrows waited for the sun.  Then the downy woodpeckers arrived and this time shared the suet.  I glimpsed a bufflehead on the creek.

A pine warbler went after suet in the late morning.  It shared with a titmouse, then a downy.  Other birds were thirsty.  A pelican flew upstream and egrets lined the shore under the dam. 

Cold

More snow fell overnight but not enough to cover the ground as the temperature dipped into the 20°s.  Lots of heavy clouds made sunshine intermittent.  Sparrows, wrens, and chickadees were up before it was fully light, and they were hungry.  The downy woodpeckers came a little later.  Cormorants were already fishing.  Egrets joined them to pursue a school upstream.

Around 11am a pileated woodpecker landed on the post.  Maybe it saw me, but it flew away immediately.  I put hot water in the birdbath and that was popular. Egrets and pelicans clustered at the dam outfall.  Cormorants and gulls joined them but I saw no ducks.  The paper claimed that Chesapeake Bay water is above 50° so even the creek must be a lot warmer than the air.

Juncos and doves joined the others in the afternoon.  A mockingbird was back looking for mealworms.  The fishing continued under a sky that seemed to grow more gray. A wren discovered the new glass feeder after I put mealworms in it. 

Blustery

Yesterday the prediction for today was sun, but instead the sky was dark gray and hanging heavy.  The birds were hungry.  Sparrows, wrens, chickadees, cardinals, and downy woodpeckers stocked up despite the wind.  Egrets, pelicans, gulls, cormorants, and and ducks fished.

A male downy woodpecker has a dark belly.  I think it's skin showing where feathers are missing.  It could be a brood patch but it is awfully early for that. 

In the late morning the sky half cleared and the wing got even more fierce.  A parade of at least six egrets flew downstream.  Two great blue herons joined them. Gulls played on the gusts.  And then, right about noon, snow fell.  It was very light and melted on contact with the ground, but still. 

The cormorants, egrets, pelicans, and gulls passed through again around 1pm.  Mallards circled in their wake, why I don't know.  The clouds were thick again by then. Breaks opened and closed throughout the afternoon, making sunbeams and drama. 

Again in the late afternoon the fishing birds returned.  At one point there were six egrets on the dock.  At the feeders, a titmouse joined the others and doves appeared as well.  Sunset gilded the clouds.  . 

Chill wind

Carolina wrens and downy woodpeckers got up early.  Then titmice and sparrows arrived.  A yellow rumped warbler showed up in the middle of the morning.  Meanwhile pelicans cruised over the creek.

The pine warblers returned in the late morning.  By then the honeybees were busy on the rosemary.   An egret fished below the dam outflow.  Doves hung around all day. 

In the afternoon the sky clouded over and then cleared into bands of blue and white.  Buffleheads and hooded mergansers fished in the afternoon. 

Around 4pm the female red-bellied woodpecker had another try at the suet but once again got scared off.  But not before she scared the downy woodpecker.  Then a mockingbird investigated.

Cold and bright

The sky was a glorious blue. The creek began with reflective quiet but soon the current took over.  I saw a great blackback gull circle over the bend below the dam.  It was at least twice the size of other gulls.  A pelican and a heron passed through without stopping.  The hawk came back and today the crows harassed it.

Cold as it was, I saw honeybees on the rosemary.  The wretched cat was birdwatching again.  I discovered the workmen had not turned the hose bib off and the birds were having a fine time in the escaping spray.  Grrrr.  At least two titmice visited.  The way they kept looking around when on the suet cage made me think of guilty fast food binges.  K said I'm giving them high cholesterol.  The downy pair were back with less fussing today.  The Carolina wren went for suet as well since I didn't put out any mealworms.  Song and white throated sparrows poked through the mulch after their shower got cut off. 

After lunch the feeders became very popular.  The warblers, pine and butterbutt, came back and a white breasted nuthatch appeared.  The courting squirrels were all over the trees till the female went up the feeder post and the male lost interest.  The doves came very late to the party. 

A new year

2016 got off to a lively start.  We got up late to a cloudy sky and cooler air.  Carolina wrens scurried after the mealworms I had scattered.  K refilled the seed feeder.  I looked up from the newspaper to see an explosion of birds: sparrows, titmice, cardinals, finches, chickadees, and warblers, both pine and yellow rumped.

Three species of woodpecker showed up.  In addition to the downy woodpeckers on the suet, a pileated swooped past and landed in the oak.  Then a red bellied landed in the dogwood.  Pelicans flew over the creek and soon cormorants came driving a school of fish upstream.  A little later they all flew off down the creek.  The feral cat sneaked up on the feeder, only to be startled when a dove took off.

The birds came back in waves, particularly during lunch when my fingers were greasy.  I wondered if their come-and-go pattern was a reaction to a predator?  I saw a red tailed hawk watching for a while from the top of a pine across the creek.  Afterward, there was a lot of fussing about precedence - the downy woodpeckers went at it, the cardinals just glared, and even the chickadees got testy. 

Juncos finally showed up mid afternoon.  Hooded mergansers and buffleheads fished but generally behind a screen of brush.  A crow dived on a squirrel that scrambled up the post.  Then another did yoga on the sculpture.