Cold wind

A front came through around 6am with hard rain, strong wind, and falling temperature.  The rain stopped, but the wind and the cold kept coming. At first it was too dark for closeups.  A Carolina wren was up, hunting for food.  Song and white throated sparrows followed.  Downy woodpeckers went to work on the nubbin of suet.  The fierce butterbutt warbler harassed the downy but wasn't able to balance on the suet cage to get to what was left.  The wren did better at that.  Then the female red bellied woodpecker arrived and had no difficulty.

The oriole seemed puzzled at the lack of its treats - since they dissolve in the rain, we didn't put any out.  Doves joined the sparrows.  Brown headed cowbirds looked like gangsters. 

Ruddy ducks were out on the creek all morning but hoodies showed up when the wind blew the clouds away around noon.  A great blue heron was on its accustomed perch.  Pelicans occasionally cruised the creek.  I saw several times but was unable to photograph a hawk.  A cloud of crows swirled around the sky but not because of the hawk.  Titmice also appeared when the sun came out, and were able to work on the suet remnant.  There were nuthatches but they couldn't get past the bigger birds. 

In the afternoon, I noticed quite a few birds in the side yard through my West window.  A wren was digging into leaf litter trapped by a fence post.  Titmice and blackbirds were also over there and I saw the oriole hanging out in the neighbors' camellia which had a blossom.  The female kingfisher was back on the dock with a fresh fish.  This one looked flatter than yesterday's.  A flicker hid behind pine needles. One bufflehead fished on the lake while others stayed down on the creek.  A mixed flock of red winged blackbirds, cowbirds, and others descended on the slope down to the creek, only to startle and fly off repeatedly.  Robins perched and watched.

While the wind pushed clouds through all day long, the sky was more clear than not.  There were streaks in the West at sunset.  I saw a round moon above the trees around 7:30pm.   But it was way too cold to tempt me outside. 

Warm

It was a mostly cloudy day. Sparrows, the yellow rumped warbler, red breasted nuthatches, and downy woodpeckers were busy with their breakfast.  On the creek, hooded mergansers, ruddy ducks, and cormorants fished.  A great blue heron landed on the dam outfall then stalked out of sight toward the lake.  The oriole and titmice came late. 

After lunch, I spied a female kingfisher on the dock bench with a fish.  While she struggled, a heron waited below the dam.  A female bufflehead paddled around as did several ruddy ducks.  Then a pair of hoodies came along close to the bank with their heads in the water as though they were dabbling ducks.

There were a few moments of sun  in the late afternoon.  After dark I saw the waxing moon and a planet through a veil of cloud.

Sunny and mild

Only a few birds joined us for breakfast. The yellow rumped warbler was up first.  A wren ate mealworms.  After a while a titmouse had some suet while several birds including the warbler flew around in the trees.  Something made V-shaped ripples in the creek and later I saw seven female mergansers fly downstream.

Doves were out when we got home.  Ruddy ducks napped and drifted, then paddled back without ever lifting their heads.  A great blackback gull flew downstream and let loose with a large quantity of guano.  A couple of kingfishers raged back and forth along the creek till one gave up and the other, a female perched on our dock.  Herons watched the water from different vantage points.  I saw the red bellied woodpecker around the middle of the afternoon, but had left the camera elsewhere.  A few buffleheads dived.  Sunset tinted streaky clouds gold while the cormorants flew home. 

Lively creek

The sky was gray when I finally got up but the overcast began to tear apart mid morning and by lunch the sky was blue. The temperature climbed and finally melted the birdbath ice. 

A great blue heron assumed its beak pointed skyward territorial posture under the bulkhead.  The tide was quite low. A couple of geese splashed down, then paddled fast with their necks stretched out level with the water.   Buffleheads, ruddy ducks, and hoodies were joined by female mergansers that were probably red breasted because common is less common here.  Cormorants joined the fishing.  Pelicans flew by a couple of times. 

Up at the feeders, birds were competitive too.  The yellow rumped warbler guarded the suet, driving off chickadees and harassing downy woodpeckers and titmice.  Many white throats foraged under the feeders and occasionally didn't wait for food to fall.  The oriole dug into mealworms.  The female red bellied woodpecker continued to act more timid than smaller birds.  Nuthatches dodged the fierce warbler. A pine warbler slipped in briefly.  Eventually the butterbutt discovered mealworms which gave it two feeders to monitor.  In the afternoon, two Carolina wrens came for mealworms.  I gave the oriole some jelly. 

In the late afternoon, a female kingfisher sat on the dock bench to swallow a sizable fish which went down slowly and swelled her throat.  Hoodies, buffleheads, and ruddy ducks bobbed on the water while a heron watched from the neighbors' floating dock.  Up on the lake a "gulp" of cormorants perched all over the dead snags with an egret above. 

Cold and bright

The birdbath was frozen solid but the creek only had flexible skins of ice away from the current.  Both downy and the red bellied woodpecker wanted suet.  Warblers were up early too.  A nuthatch tried to poke some water out of the birdbath ice.  Ruddy ducks zipped along under the ice skin like they were playing. 

When I got home around 1pm, K had broken the birdbath ice but the chunks had not melted.  Squirrels were thirsty.  Wrens ate the dust in the empty mealworm dish.  Herons, pelicans, and buffleheads showed up in the afternoon.  I nurtured a cold virus. 

Almost snow

Occasional white pellets fell from the sky. Breakfast was enlivened by nuthatches, white throats and song sparrows, the red bellied woodpecker, downy woodpeckers, titmice, juncos, wrens, robins, pine and yellow rumped warblers, the oriole, and blue jays.  The light was very poor.

Hoodies and ruddy ducks appeared occasionally on the water.  Herons and pelicans flew past.  A couple of squirrels romped together.  Starlings fought over the suet.  A flicker lurked in the shrubbery after lunch.  Late in the afternoon when the light was getting bad again, I saw a bufflehead on the creek. 

Halfway through winter

There was more than enough sun to cast a groundhog's shadow, if we had groundhogs.  The ruddy ducks were afloat when I got up.  How do they know where they are floating when their heads are tucked back?  I put out jelly and after a while the oriole came for it.  I saw another male in the dogwood, but it flew off.  Lots of white throats foraged.  Then the feral cat prowled past.

At lunch time a pair of hoodies paddled downstream.  The oriole carried some jelly away only to drop it on the patio.  Titmice, downy woodpeckers, both pine and yellow rumped warblers, red breasted nuthatches, juncos, and two Carolina wrens visited.  The sparrows, oriole, and ruddy ducks never left.  The warblers fought and a wren bathed.

Late in the afternoon an egret fished.  I saw a heron and a pelican earlier, but didn't get a picture.