Still warm

The sky was very changeable.  At breakfast, it hinted rain.  After lunch, it was dotted with fair weather cumulus.  Later it was an intense clear blue. The warmth confused flowers. 

A song sparrow was dubious about the bark butter residue.  A white throated sparrow stayed with the seeds that fell in the mulch.  The two wrens investigated everything.  The downy woodpeckers stuck to suet.

I encountered the cat in the front yard and later in the back, occupying patches of sunshine.  Chickadees and cardinals came to the feeder anyway, but the male cardinal was wary and watchful.

This is the 3090th post I've made in over the last nine years.  That's an average of 343 posts per year.  I think I've been reasonably faithful to the task I set myself.  I wonder if the data may eventually be useful. 

Rainfall for 2019 was just average (46") for the first time in about five years.

Surprising day

A heron was on the dock at breakfast, but cloud cover made it too dark for the camera.  
As I was planning to travel to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore, I checked the weather prediction early in the morning.  But the day was much warmer and drier than forecast. It set a record: Norfolk had a high of 77° and Cape Charles of 76°. Plus, instead of the predicted thunderstorm, there was sunshine.  

I took my camera but mostly got photos of the sky.  On the way over I saw a half dozen dark birds floating next to one of the islands that anchor the CBBT tunnels.  They might have been coots.  Fog shrouded the last mile or so of the bridge and I saw some dark birds perched on the lights.  They were probably buzzards but might have been birds of prey.  

On the way back, around 3:30pm I saw a gannet plunge into the water.  Then a pelican flew past.  There were numerous great and lesser blackback gulls perched on lights and railings.  Herring or ring bill gulls floated in the air alongside the bridge. 

I got home in time to watch the sunset and see the crescent moon.  

Gray mist

There was a glorious sunrise before the overcast moved in.  The temperature and the humidity were high. Heavy dew coated the railing and the chairs.  The pair of Carolina wrens were first up but they didn't stay long.  A great blue heron flew past.  By 9am I could feel the mist on my skin.

A bufflehead drake floated on a mirror of water.  A pine warbler was chased off the suet by a downy woodpecker but he came back and insisted on sharing.  A song sparrow foraged for breakfast.  A titmouse joined the seed eaters.  Then the cat showed up. 

When we got home around 4pm, the male red bellied woodpecker came for suet.  I didn't see anything else before the light failed, possibly because the cat was lurking. 

Warm

Dawn had a hint of mist that didn't last.  The sun lit up reflections in the placid creek.  There was little activity at breakfast. 

After lunch, a song and a white throated sparrow foraged in the mulch.  For some reason, there seem to be only tan morph white throats this winter.  I know there was a white morph when they first arrived but I haven't seen it since. 

Downy woodpeckers worked on the suet.  K took the ant moat down and discovered the water had jelled somehow into a brown goo.  I think I've got it clean again.  A pine warbler tried to get some suet but a downy came flying out of the blue and batted the warbler away.  The downy didn't even stay to eat.  The warbler just transferred to the bark butter dish. 

Two myrtle warblers fussed over who got to eat first and went chasing around the yard.  One decided to eat camellia pollen.  A bluebird watched all this, then left.  A Carolina wren evaded the camera. 

Boaters disrupted the buffleheads on the creak.   I found a slime mold under the maple tree.  As I rested from clipping nandina berries, a downy worked up the courage to come to the suet.  I could hear it talking to itself softly.  Later I saw a bird in the oak that I thought was a downy, but it wasn't.  Instead, it was an immature male yellow bellied sapsucker.  Weirdly, it would fly away from the oak, hover flapping for a moment, then fly back.  I was unsuccessful in photographing that behavior. 

A few wasps were lured out by the day's warmth, but the solstice was only a week ago and the sun set before 5pm.  I forgot to look for the moon.

Even foggier

The blanket of fog was thick enough to condense and drip.  It lifted very slowly and became a white sky.  I think it made the birds anxious that there might be a hidden predator. A song sparrow cautiously looked for seeds under the chair, then checked the bark butter dish that I neglected to refill. The red bellied woodpecker decided to risk the suet.  A sickly house finch spent a long time at the feeder, probably contaminating it.

One of the squirrels ate some camellia flowers.

A kingfisher streaked past without stopping.  A bufflehead drake slurped something from the surface of the creek, just like a mallard or a Canada goose.  Ii couldn't see anything, but he kept at it all afternoon.  Finally he preened and rolled over in the water.  A couple of turtles climbed onto their log to enjoy the warm air and muted sunlight.  A couple of gulls dived into the creek opposite the dam outfall, but there was too much vegetation in the way for me to be sure what that was all about.  The creek was flat and glassy most of the day.

Morning fog

The fog was apparent when I got up, peaked around 8am, and burned off by 9am.  Birds were slow to appear.  A song sparrow ventured out to the seeds I'd scattered.  A white throated sparrow followed. 

The sun caught the male red bellied woodpecker at the suet.  The downy woodpeckers weren't having that so they came too. 

Two Carolina wrens wanted bark butter.  The squirrel with the  sore flank was being followed by another in a manner that suggests she's about to go into heat.

A pine warbler, a myrtle warbler (AKA yellow rumped, butterbutt), and an orange crowned warbler all wanted lunch.  The ruby crowned kinglet reappeared, seeking suet.

A couple of bufflehead drakes preened on the creek.   The sky was mostly clear but stratus clouds blurred the late afternoon sun. 

Beautiful day

The male red bellied woodpecker was back.  I scattered the Christmas seeds and  a song sparrow came to claim a share.  It got a millet hull stuck on its beak.  

I saw some hooded mergansers on the creek.  A cormorant cut through the mirror the water made.  The a bufflehead did the same. 

The yellow rumped warbler perched in the cherry to preen.  A white throated sparrow noticed the seeds I scattered. A Carolina wren wrestled with a bark butter ball.  Downy woodpeckers got their suet back. 

At mid day in the sun I was warm but at 5pm on the dock waiting for sunset I was too cold to stay long.  The cormorants flew home in their daily commute, but I didn't see any other large birds.  A couple of flocks of unidentifiable smaller birds passed over.  There was little to no wind. Toward evening haze spread over the sky.