Good fishing!

Despite the cold, the creek flowed free beyond a margin of ice and waterfowl returned. Red breasted mergansers started fishing right after breakfast.  There were more females than males and a mad-eyed juvenile. 

Up at the feeders, the red bellied woodpeckers showed up early.  Wind ruffled her stripes.  Yellow rumped warblers were hungry too.  A half dozen doves hoped for water in the birdbath but it kept freezing as fast as we poured in more hot.  The tailless blue jay returned.  Downy woodpeckers waited for their big cousins to leave. 

When we got home, the was a wigeon drake on the creek.  It tried to join a flock of hoodies.  A great blue heron caught a fish bigger than its beak.  I believe I glimpsed an eagle with a fish. 

The sky clouded up during lunch.  Pine warblers joined the butterbutts.  Carolina wrens appeared.  Song and white throated sparrows kicked mulch. 

The fishing went on in waves, heralded by a circus of gulls, till I could not see any more.  The camera had already given up.  But all day I only saw one cormorant. 

Gray sun

The prediction was for a sunny day but a thin layer of cloud blocked or muted the sun throughout the day.  With little warmth from the sun and occasionally icy gusts, I could not stay still outside very long, even though it was not as cold as yesterday.  The birdbath didn't refreeze after I thawed it but the creek retained much of its ice. 

The birds were hungry in the morning.  The bark butter balls attracted pine and yellow rumped warblers, blue jays, red bellied woodpeckers and even Carolina wrens.  Titmice and a persistent squirrel wanted sunflower seeds. Downy woodpeckers insisted on suet.   A white breasted nuthatch paid one visit to the feeder.  Juncos and sparrows, both song and white throat, foraged on the ground. 

 Mallards and one hoodie drake paddled up the narrow line of open water where the current ran.  A great blue heron fished further downstream.  Crows chased a hawk.  And three eagles sailed overhead but soon were screened by trees.

A sizeable flock of robins descended on the yard and then did nothing but pick new perching spots till they all took off again. Sunset painted pink freckles on the sky. 

Frigid!

The creek never fully melted and the birdbath refroze each hour.  The feral cat was waiting below the feeders at dawn.  Red bellied woodpeckers arrived as soon as it was fully light.  Blue jays were right behind.  A Carolina wren was also hungry.  White throats were glad I melted the birdbath. 

A squirrel not only ate the clementines, but also gobbled up the grape jelly that was supposed to lure an oriole. 

The doves were back.  So was the olive-drab warbler which I suppose is just another pine warbler.  The yellow rumped warbler with the odd markings was back too.  And I got a glimpse of a song sparrow.  Downy woodpeckers got up later than their big cousins. 

 Mallards got as far as the dam before they ran out of open water.  A great blue heron watched the ice from the mud flat exposed at low tide. 

Sunset was a brilliant pink as the sky had gotten hazy.  The moon was haloed in mist. 

Flurries

Flakes of snow blew around in the morning but didn't stick to anything.  The birdbath was frozen solid and the creek had a flexible skin of ice. There was sun when I first got up, but the clouds merged and the sky was mostly gray in the morning.  The temperature never rose out of the 20s Fahrenheit all day.  We poured hot water into the birdbath repeatedly throughout the day. 

The cold made the birds hungry and thirsty and brought the shy ones into view.  The red bellied woodpecker pair were after suet and bark butter balls.  A Carolina wren started with bark butter balls but had some of everything.  The white throated sparrows were especially grateful for water.  The downy woodpecker pair also alternated on the suet.  But at least three pine warblers wanted their share of suet and bark butter and tried to share space with the woodpeckers.  A flock of doves foraged with the white throats. 

A yellow bellied sapsucker appeared on a dogwood trunk but didn't stay long.  Three blue jays were really into bark butter balls.  A male towhee put in an appearance for the first time in months.  An industrious butterbutt still retained some summer feathers.  K and I believe we saw an oriole, so I put grape jelly out, just in case.  I got a photo of a female in the camellia.  Titmice were quite late to the party. So were juncos.  A couple of song sparrows joined the white throats, but also got interested in the bark butter balls.  For some reason, the song sparrow preferred to climb the hanger to the feeder instead of flying in like every other bird. 

I saw a bufflehead where the current had kept part of the creek ice-free. I saw pelicans in the afternoon, but got no photos.  A flock of hoodies glittered in the late afternoon sunlight, but again no photo.  Egrets were more cooperative.  There were squirrels around, but they didn't do anything interesting.  Sunset turned the few remaining clouds to coral.  I saw the half moon in the afternoon and meant to get another look after dark, but missed my chance. 

Cold gray sky

The goldfinch was on the feeder hanger when I came out to the kitchen, but it left and never came back. The female red bellied woodpecker decided to keep eating suet.  A Carolina wren hunted bits that had fallen.  A yellow rumped warbler was thirsty.  Blue jays went for more bark butter balls. 

White throats pecked at all sorts of bits.  Downy woodpeckers followed the red bellied on the suet.  And then the male red bellied took a turn.

A song sparrow joined the white throats.  A male brown headed cowbird dropped in on the feeder. A couple of pairs of hooded mergansers paddled upstream.  A titmouse got thirsty. At least seven doves showed up just as the light was going.

Morning was fairly quiet but I thought I saw a few tiny pellets of snow.  The wind kicked up by mid day and the clouds looked like snow.  In the middle of the afternoon there was a short window of sunshine.  And around 4pm the clouds on the Western horizon turned yellow.

Cold sunshine

Patches of fish scale clouds alternated with blue sky.  The birdbath was frozen but there was no ice on the creek.  Instead there was lots of fishing.  I missed the pelicans again. A heron was wading by the dam outfall.  A half dozen hoodies sailed past the heron.  Buffleheads were also out on the water, as was a female ruddy duck - first this winter. 

A downy woodpecker managed to bluff a red bellied woodpecker off the suet.  A blue jay lurked but didn't come close.  White throated sparrows were also shy.  A yellow rumped warbler finally got up.  Then a pine warbler had a staring match with the red bellied woodpecker.  A goldfinch joined the party but had no refreshments. I glimpsed a brown thrasher under the camellia before it spooked. 

In the afternoon, the heron moved to the dock closest to the dam.  The ruddy duck was like a jack-in-the-box, popping up and immediately diving, only to reappear 20' away.  Eventually she stopped diving and bathed and preened, then went to sleep. 

Three blue jays landed in the hackberry and one went for the bark butter balls I'd put out. At sunset the sky was clear except for streaks of gilded cloud right over the sun.  As I pulled into the driveway, a mockingbird dashed into the shrubbery. 

Plenty of birds

 When I came out to the kitchen, a pine warbler was glowing in the early sunshine.  Titmice soon appeared, then yellow rumped warblers and Carolina wrens.  A male red bellied woodpecker ventured out of the trees for some suet. 

 Buffleheads, mostly drakes, came and went all day.   There were pelicans cruising over the creek but I didn't see any on the water. As long as they are flying, they are screened by twigs from the camera. Later, a handful of female red breasted mergansers and one male chased a school of fish.  Cormorants joined the hunt. 

Clouds thickened till the afternoon was overcast.  A goldfinch perched on the feeder hanger but left without any seeds.  A few white throats kicked mulch while a blue jay watched from the trees.  A downy woodpecker came for suet.