Camera transition

I took no pictures but I also didn't get the new camera set up.  And I don't recall seeing anything though it was a pretty day.  

I still didn't have the camera set up on the 30th, but it rained all morning and I was busy all afternoon.  

 

Cloudy afternoon

The sun came back in the morning.  So did a mockingbird and a bluebird.  Other birds were very active up in the trees, hunting berries, I think.  Cedar waxwings?  I saw ducks on the creek but they were in shadow and I couldn't identify them.  

The afternoon grew overcast and really looked about to rain but nothing came of it.  While waiting for the dog to take care of his business, I spotted a crow going after an acorn.  

The clouds thinned as the sun was setting.  The ones that remained made a tinted backdrop for the cormorants commuting home to roost.  

Wet and windy

Songbirds stayed away.  Great blue herons occupied the docks, along with mallards.  The herons ignored each other, but they may have been sleeping.  Bushy chest feathers on one heron looked like a beard when it had its neck tucked.  

I spotted the female bufflehead again. A picture I snapped of a mallard drake lined up his bill and its reflection to make him appear to be the Pinocchio of ducks.

It rained less in the afternoon but the wind got stronger. The female downy woodpecker found the suet outside the window, possibly because that spot is more sheltered.  Eventually some rents appeared in the clouds, even as flying leaves photo-bombed my pictures.  It certainly did not feel as warm as predicted. 

More birds

Today's early birds were a white breasted nuthatch, pine warblers*, bluebirds, and a mockingbird.  *After examining the photos, I think it likely that one was a yellow throated vireo.  The cat was early too.  I almost caught Tarzan-the-Squirrel in midair, but not quite. 

An immature chipping sparrow and a junco foraged on the ground.  Then uncounted brown headed nuthatches made forays after sunflower seeds.  They were uncounted because they showed up singly but in such a steady stream that it had to be several birds.  A Carolina wren had to investigate the suet.  While hunting fresh gumballs, I came upon a pile of rabbit droppings.  Surprising that the dog hadn't found them first. 

There were hoodies on the creek and I think I saw a female bufflehead but it dived.  Slight ripples in the water transformed reflections into brushstrokes in a painting. The sun was warm and insects were active but the breeze was nippy.  The winter jasmine put out a couple of early flowers.  Stratus clouds moved in from the West.  Haze blew up contrails into a puffy starburst - there must have been a lot of flights passing over us.  

Rain

As the rain fell gently, but not lightly, the dog studied the situation, sniffed a lot, and decided to stay inside.  All I saw in the gray morning were equally gray titmice.  One landed on the feeder roof and skidded on the wet surface.  A disturbance in the creek was explained when a beak holding a silvery fish popped briefly above the surface.  The commotion moved downstream below the surface and out of sight.  Something else dived before I could identify it. 

The rain drizzled away around lunch time and hungry birds arrived.  Pine warblers argued over barkbutter soup.  They clung to the hanger and bobbed for underwater bites.  Colors were brighter on the freshly washed leaves even in diffuse light that obscured a bluebird. A multitude of house finches and chickadees squabbled over the sunflower seeds.  A Carolina wren held its place at the feeder.  I missed the Carolina wren, and a junco and a white throated sparrow on the ground because I put in a fresh battery and the camera was sulking. 

A great egret took over the neighbors' floating dock.  Two pair of hoodies paddled past.  The females looked more gray than brown.  I checked on the tiny mushrooms and discovered a nearby crop of full sized ones.  They look like honey mushrooms but I'm not brave enough to find out.  The final couple of hours of daylight were sunny but over so soon.  Sunset came at 4:50pm with almost a month still to go to the solstice.  

The cat came back

The creek was in a reflective mood again and it was a lovely day for a holiday.  Bluebirds squabbled and flitted around the wild cherry.  Vegetation was in the way of my line of sight most of the time.  And some of the time I just missed and sometimes the camera changed toe focus to something in the sun.  

And then the cat moved in.  I yelled at it but a few minutes later it was back.  Finally the dog noticed and took off like he'd been rejuvenated.  The cat did not return but, alas, neither did the birds.  Eventually a downy woodpecker was tempted by the suet.

Autumn beauties

The creek reflected sunshine bouncing off tree trunks.  A mockingbird picked up a barkbutter ball breakfast.  Bluebirds came later while I was cooking.  By then the creek had lost its mirror-smooth shine.  

As we ate lunch, the songbirds arrived in force.  A pine warbler went for the barkbutter balls.  The mockingbird came back but I still had trouble getting a picture.  Two juncos and a song sparrow got away from me too.  A white breasted nuthatch joined the chickadees and titmice.  Then brown headed nuthatches wanted sunflower seeds too.  The back of their heads and necks are white not brown.  One lingered on the feeder, not eating, just watching in all directions.  And all the other birds disappeared.  

A great blue heron waded upstream in water up to its belly.  Geese paddled upstream, briefly fooling me into thinking they were hoodies.  An off object washed up, like a ball with a conical tail and a round hole or black spot on its side. 

A violet was fooled by the warmer weather into blooming.  Yellow jackets buzzed around the camellia looking for flowers that hadn't been drained.  I found tiny mushrooms emerging along a maple root.  More clumps of pincushion moss had spore capsules sticking up like green ahir. 

I took lots of pictures of fall leaves but wind keeps blowing them down.  That makes the trees look green longer but prevents reds and yellows from achieving critical mass. The sky was intensely blue and cloudless.  But all too soon the cormorants were flying back to their roost.