Swelling buds

Yesterday,it looked like the blueberry bushes were about to bloom.  The tide was quite low again. 

A brown thrasher was after bark butter balls, but it spooked and I didn't see it return.  A Carolina wren hung around.  The female red bellied woodpecker came back but the downy still got a turn. 

I saw a junco at lunch but she hopped down the steps.  An oddly faded white throated sparrow did the same. 

Then a great blue heron landed on a dock post.  The wind gave it a crest.  A hoodie drake seemed to be all alone on the water. 

Crows were still acting up chasing each other in circles till there was a call to go after a hawk across the creek.  I spied a blue jay up in the pines but it didn't come down. 

K put up two new, large shepherd's crooks to replace the flimsy ones that served bark butter.  I wonder if they will be too high for any of the birds? 

Thieves

It was a day of much running around town while the temperature climbed.  The birdbath was frozen when we got up.  Birds were plentiful for a while, then they vanished.  The brown thrasher was particularly gifted at vanishing and I never got a picture.  The blue jay, however, did get caught on camera raiding the bark butter balls. 

The female downy woodpecker was about to take her turn at the suet when the female red bellied woodpecker barged in. 

Female buffleheads paddled through rough water.  Two egrets waded below the dock next to the dam.  One took off upstream and the other flew downstream.  The tide was very low. 

A Carolina wren was in its favorite spot in the dogwood.  Crows were acting strange, perhaps courting?   One carried a twig around and another tried to take it away.  

Chilly sunshine

After a cold front roared through at midnight, morning was bright and crisp and washed clean.  The creek looked rumpled all day.  Hoodies fished in the early sunlight.  Geese above the bulkhead watched.  The day got quite windy. 

The possessive myrtle warbler was up early protecting the suet.  But soon the downy woodpeckers took over.  A white throat prospected under the bark butter balls.  There are drain holes in the hanging dipper-shaped cup that I swapped for the glass dish.  So fragments might sift down.  The Carolina wrens were very much present all day.  One perched in the dogwood.  The other snatched a bark butter ball and carried it off to the grill where it scooted underneath.  

When I went out at dusk to brick the sunflower feeder, The crescent moon and Venus were brilliant together. 

Misty

It was warm but the wet air felt clammy.  The fog made the light level low.  A wren ate suet.  A great blue heron perched on a snag in the lake. 

Quiet rain

Drops fell like they were really tired, one by one, and hung from every twig and pine needle. The light was very poor for photography.  A mallard pair inspected the property.  The drake was certainly too big for the birdbath. 

A Carolina wren worked on the suet while a cardinal reflected on the sunflower feeder.  The brown thrasher wanted more bark butter balls.  A white throated sparrow looked grumpy at the wetness. 

Downstream, the kingfisher returned to his favored perch. 

Gray day

There was a bit of sunshine at breakfast, but not for long.  The downy and red bellied woodpeckers and the butterbutt argued over the suet. The brown thrasher found the new barkbutter ball feeder.  But I was too slow to get photos.  Fortunately, the cat was too slow as well.

By lunch, raindrops were falling slowly.  The birds came back, including the brown thrasher and the red bellied woodpecker.  Gallantry had not yet arrived for the cardinals - he insisted on eating first.

A great blue heron perched on the dock post again. Toward evening, it or another heron perched high up in a pine tree.  

Warming

We began with ice then rose into the 50s.  I even saw midges or something flying around.  The sky was a glorious, bright blue.  The male pine warbler got up early to eat suet in peace.  Then a couple of starlings arrived and ate suet like barbarians. 

An egret fished under the dam.  A hoodie pair preened on the gently rippled water.  Gulls monitored the creek from above.  A heron stood on a dock post.  And I spotted an eagle soaring very high.  A row of turtles basked on their favorite log. 

The downy woodpeckers eventually arrived, followed by a female red bellied woodpecker.  Later on she checked out different spots on the oak trunk. 

A blue jay pretended it wasn't interested in bark butter balls.  When it thought it was unobserved, it stuffed its beak full like a row of peas in their pod.  Then a white throat checked to see if anything had fallen out.