Wind advisory!

I was up early.  The wretched cat was prowling along the creek.  It looked like it hunts crabs.  A pelican flew downstream. At breakfast there were several white throated sparrows in the mulch.  Titmice came for seeds.  A downy woodpecker worked on the final shreds of suet.  I suppose I won't see it again till fall. 

I was away from before 10am to after 4pm.  Around noon, snow fell in Norfolk.  It wasn't that cold so the flakes melted immediately, but the WNW wind was howling straight down from the Blue Ridge.  The sky was gray before noon, but the sun soon returned.  When I headed home there were low clouds that looked like rain falling and high, puffy cumulus, but mostly blue sky.

Three osprey performed aerial acrobatics in the wind over the creek.  Titmice and chickadees struggled out between gusts to snatch seeds.  A wren landed on the empty suet cage and looked all around for where the food was hiding.  Five robins hunted in the grass down the bank.  A male kingfisher landed on a piling downstream.

In the late afternoon, clouds got thicker in the sky to the West. The wind pushed the tide very low. The clouds rolled away East by sunset. 

Sunshine

A blue jay, or maybe more than one, was obvious again this morning.  Juncos, white throats, and doves foraged on terra firma.  Starlings and titmice went for the suet.  A Carolina wren paid a brief visit but did not, apparently, see anything it wanted.

I had meetings through most of the day but I was home for lunch.  Titmice were back at lunch, along with chickadees.  I caught a chickadee at the birdhouse.

When I got back in the afternoon, there was a pileated woodpecker working on the suet!  A downy, looking tiny by comparison, watched in frustration.  Later, an egret stalked upstream close to the bank. 

Sunset was lovely with honey tinted cotton fluffs.

Come-and-go clouds

A little sun slid under the overcast at breakfast, but before I'd finished a sprinkle of rain fell.  The South wind became fierce.  Juncos, white throats, and squirrels foraged, while titmice and downy woodpeckers visited the feeder.  Two doves were engaged in a low speed chase that may have been courtship.  A blue jay was hanging around the red cedar again.  I suspect there may be a nest in that evergreen.  A pair of buffleheads ignored a fish splashing next to them.  Too big, I suppose.  A pelican cruised low over the creek. 

By mid morning the clouds had turned dark and menacing, but with breaks of sunshine.  The wind had swung around to the West at lunch, but the predicted rain did not appear.  A Carolina wren did, briefly.  So did a cabbage butterfly.  A blue jay seemed to be picking over potential nesting material.

A couple of osprey fought the wind in the afternoon but didn't see any fish worth taking a plunge.  An egret preened on the dock in the wind.  Then another landed to do the same.  I learned an egret is smart enough to face into the wind to defecate.  A third egret passed below as it stalked along the creek bank.

At supper I saw robins flitting around the trees.  An osprey hovered and moved on.  Then I glimpsed a crow chase what I believe was a hawk over our roof, but I'm not certain.  Shortly thereafter, four buzzards circled above the dam.  I wonder if the alleged hawk dropped its dinner?  The wind finally dropped at twilight. 

Brown thrasher returns

The sun was warming the air after a cold night.  The wind was only a breeze, at last, and the creek glassy except when a fish jumped. It's the season for shad to spawn.

A bufflehead pair paddled downstream from the dam. White throated sparrows and juncos were all over the patio and mulch.   Downy woodpeckers, chickadees, and starlings headed for the suet.  A blue jay flitted among the trees. The brown thrasher lurked in the red cedar.  Then the tux cat prowled underneath. 

Sometimes I swear the birds know.  While I was on the phone with my hands full, an egret and a great blue heron stalked past me going up the creek.  They were walking in tandem, the heron a little ahead and in deeper water.  Then a male wood duck paddled past.  And I could not take a picture!  And then, and then, as I walked past the feeders to do laundry, there was a goldfinch in bright sunshine. 

Toward evening the sky hazed and went white, and the sun faded away instead of setting.  The wind got gusty. 

Windy and cold

Overnight the wind shifted from SW to NW  and got even stronger.  Instead of pushing water out of the creek, it began pushing water in, and filling it with debris.  It also rained overnight.  A male downy woodpecker was the first to venture out, lured by the suet.  A great blue heron fished by the dam outfall.  A squirrel hung from its toes to eat suet.

Then a small flock of brown headed cowbirds landed on the feeder hangers.  They didn't seem to be able to get at the food and quickly flew off.  A couple tried to invade the birdhouse but were too big.  After that I saw chickadees flying in and out of the birdhouse.  Chickadees and titmice came for sunflower seeds.  The clouds began to break apart around 10am but the wind kept roaring.  Apparently the folk name for a spring cold snap is "dogwood winter."

The sun breaks were intermittent for the rest of the morning, but the wind never stopped.  A couple of egrets huddled on the downed tree on the lake bank.  At lunch starlings were frustrated by the suet.  A cardinal, titmice, and chickadees visited.  A squirrel was foraging on the ground when something caused it to panic.  It became sunnier as the afternoon progressed. 

When I got back from the dentist, starlings were at the suet again.  In scaring them off, I startled a robin.  Later a couple of titmice came to feed. 

Windy and warm

It was quiet at the feeders until after breakfast. Then I glimpsed a junco in the mulch. The two Carolina wrens arrived right after.  Out on the creek, geese were kicking up a fuss.  The sun shone but the creek surface undulated with shallow waves heading downstream.

Bees, wasps, a cabbage white, beetles, gnats, and maybe a dragonfly flew in the warm afternoon.  Two huge carpenter bees tussled in the air over the azalea till one drove off the other ant then patrolled the bush.  Tent caterpillars infested the wild cherry.  Ants congregated under a rock in the sun. A small millipede was under a piece of shingle in the shade. 

The strong wind from the West pushed the low tide as low as I've ever seen.  It came in gusts that roared and beat up the flowers.  The domestic cherry was in bloom and the wild cherry showed buds.  The hackberry was only green is spots, making me wonder if the rest was killed over winter.  Buds were swollen on the hickory and the sycamore.  The fig was leafed out.  A titmouse played with me as it hopped around overhead.

Chilly sunshine

Buffleheads coasted by during breakfast.  Later a female hoodie fished.  A titmouse tackled the suet.  The downy woodpeckers followed.  The purple iris blossomed. 

In the late morning, a blue jay poked around the brush on the far side of the pool.  I took several pictures of where it had just been.  Three squirrels played follow the leader.  They actually waited for the last one to catch up.  Of course this was all screened by twigs.

A robin poked around and seemed to find food in the early afternoon.  A cabbage white, looking like a dogwood petal on the wind, and a tiger swallowtail were flying despite the cold and the wind.  Titmice and woodpeckers came back for more suet.

I saw a jay again in the late afternoon.  As I sat down to supper, a Carolina wren buzzed past.  At least four white throated sparrows foraged in the fading light.