Blue sky

It was chilly especially in the shade and wind.  But I saw spider threads catch the sunlight.  Bumblebees were all over the jessamine but a few worked on the blueberry flowers. 

Titmice came for seeds, as did white throats, on the feeder and under it.  I had a running battle with squirrels over the mealworm dish  They won.  But the butterbutts got some too.  A wren was interested but the squirrel was in the way.  A blue jay helped itself.  A starling was blocked by the squirrel.  Another squirrel was doing back-flips off the cedar trunk again.  And a male cardinal proclaimed from high up in the oak, among the flower strings like a ruby set in gold.

A few mergansers, both red breasted and hooded, but all female, paddled around on the creek.  I saw a male bufflehead early in the day. 

The yellow daffodils, including the dwarfs, were finished but the "fried egg" narcissis started to open.  To my amazement, one of the money plants was already in bloom!  A pine twig fallen on the ground was embellished with ruffles of lichen. 

Rainy

There were showers before lunch and again before sunset.  The rest of the day just looked like it was thinking about raining.  But it was the wind that kept the wildlife out of sight.

After breakfast I saw a female red breasted merganser on the choppy water.  A female red bellied woodpecker worked on the nubbin of suet.  Four white throated sparrows and a female junco scouted around the patio.  The male cardinal took his favorite perch in the dogwood. I spotted a yellow rumped warbler in the cherry.  It then sampled the mealworms. 

A squirrel, sex undisclosed, also went after mealworms despite the load of cayenne-flavored peanut butter I garnished them with.  I chased off the rodent who then perched in the dogwood to keep an eye on me and the food. Later, rain made the wire hanger slippery and frustrated the little robber. 

Hot!

The temperature may have hit 80°F but juncos, butterbutts, and white throats were still around.  I tested my new batch of bark butter and attracted four crows!  The strange blue ball hung around the dam.  A cabbage white butterfly tempted me into wasting shots - one reason to appreciate digital cameras. There were polistes wasps and big, bumbling bees as well. 


Corrugated rows of cumulus cloud passed off to the East.  The wind and water interacted to produce fractal patterns.  The sky had grown cloudy by evening and sunset made it blush.  The moon was visible but haloed and fuzzed by the cloud cover. 

Very warm

The temperature rose all morning.  The oak flowers emerged.  Confederate violets bloomed.  The money plants began to form flower stalks.  Daffodils and hyacinths were looking old.  Insects were flying, especially around the Carolina jessamine.  Some blueberry flowers were ready for bumblebees. 

The grebe continued to be very hard to photograph.  Turtles were out on logs enjoying the warmth.  I saw a few shovelers in the water nearby.  Only a few mergansers of either species were visible.  Maybe the others were out on the bay.  I did see a couple of osprey but missed the shot.  A big blue ball came bobbing upstream as I was leaving.  When I came back after dark, it seemed misty and there was no sign of the moon.

Gray

Dawn was a bright orange glow reflecting off thin flat clouds, but by mid morning the sky was overcast. I got home around 11am.  Juncos and white throats scurried around in the mulch.  A blue jay scolded from the oak.  Downy woodpeckers squabbled in the dogwood.  The sun peeked through a rent in the clouds and a white throat seized the moment for a short bath.  I battled with a squirrel that wanted to eat all the mealworms.  When it wasn't sitting in the dish, a yellow rumped warbler managed to eat. 


A light rain fell toward the end of the afternoon.  Waterfowl became abundant.  Buffleheads and red breasted mergansers dived from the surface while osprey, gulls, and pelicans plunged from the air.  Cormorants spent most of the time sub marine except when they perched on snags by the lake to dry out.  They fussed over who got what spot on the log.  Northern shovelers ignored them, as they were busy straining the lake water for food.  No turtles today.  The grebe continued to play hard-to-get in a photo. 

I glimpsed the female bluebird putting nesting material in the birdhouse.  Titmice and chickadees hammered their seeds in the trees outside my window.  The reddish squirrel at leaf and flower buds while a mama squirrel collected nesting material.  When I closed the feeder, the moon was visible, but very fuzzy behind a layer of cloud. 

Cold

The sun was bright but the wind peeled all the warmth away. Nevertheless, the turtles came out to bask.  Northern shovelers pinwheeled around the lake, feeding.  A great blue heron watched the creek below the dam.  Pelicans cruised over the creek, occasionally plunging into the water.  Buffleheads, red breasted and hooded mergansers were after smaller fish.  Curiously, I saw no female shovelers or male mergansers. 

Downy woodpeckers ignored everything but the suet.  Two yellow rumped warblers didn't get along.  The female red bellied woodpecker finally managed the upsidedown suet.  White throats and doves foraged on the ground.

I went to the library and admired the lichens on the ornamental cherries.  When I came home the male bluebird was guarding the nestbox. 

Windy

The wind pushed clouds across the sun and ruffled the creek.  Few birds ventured out.  I put mealworms out very early, but all that attracted was a yellow rumped warbler.  The female red bellied woodpecker was afraid to hang from the suet cage.  A crow landed but didn't get far with the feeders.  A pine warbler perched briefly but was gone by the time I switched the camera on. 

Water flowed out of the lake, sparkling across the rocks at low tide.  But I only saw one red breasted merganser in that prime fishing area. A fuzzy waxing moon was visible after dark.  The cold wind roared.