More of the same

A gust of rain blew through in the morning but otherwise it was just gray.  Turning dogwood leaves seemed to have less yellow and more red.  Chickadees and cardinals came for seeds.  Mallards paddled past.  Something snatched at dogwood berries but stayed hidden.  

Dreary

A mockingbird got away before I got a photo.   Something thrashed in the dogwood, probably a squirrel.  The North wind, in addition to bring a damp chill and gray skies, pushed the tide over the dock again.  A yellow rose opened anyway.  A fly and a tiny bee or wasp visited the flower.  Goldenrod was beginning to get yellow. 

Rain

The dog has been sick, so the windows are open to deal with the smell, so the house is as dank as outdoors.  And the computer had a falling out with the ISP yesterday so that took hours.  Meanwhile the cold wind still pushed the tide over the dock and the mist turned to rain, so the dog got soaked outside while I cleaned the floor inside. There is not enough cheese in the world for my whine!  A Carolina wren worked on the barkbutter balls. 

Cold gray wind

I checked the butterfly milkweed but didn't see any caterpillars, so I guess they crawled off to pupate.  I don't know if it was the cold, the wind, a hawk, or what, but I saw nothing till late afternoon.  Then there was a brief scramble at the feeders.  A cardinal popped up on the seed feeder and a Carolina wren foraged under the mountain mint.  Then three bluebirds arrived.  The male ate mealworms followed by the female.  A fledgling perched on the hanger but didn't figure out what its parents were demonstrating.  The adults flew off and the youngster followed them.  

Not that I could see it in this weather, but this was the last day when day was longer than night.  According to the newspaper, "The autumnal equinox on Sept. 23 marked the end of summer and the beginning of fall with the sun shining directly over the equator, according to NASA...However, the actual date with an equal day and night varies locally, depending on latitude, or distance from the equator."  

 

Gloomy

I seem to remember that after a tropical storm we would have beautiful weather for a while.  Not this year.  A dank North wind brought overcast and drizzle.  The chill did make birds hungry.  A mockingbird snatched an early barkbutter breakfast.  Blue jays followed and might have been why the mockingbird was in a hurry.  The cardinal clan went for seeds mostly.  Chickadees and titmice were after seeds too.  A Carolina wren perched on a chair arm.  A couple of doves marched around the lower patio.  The mockingbird returned for dogwood berries.  I spotted a squirrel with an acorn.  Down by the creek, the saltbush was showing white tips.  

Chilly

We got more sunshine and less wind today but there was still a lot of cloud.  Ophelia had not yet moved out of range.  The female fledgling was either the boldest or the most foolish cardinal, arriving first at the feeder and not spooking as quickly.  A blue jay was happy that I replenished the barkbutter balls.

Strange things floated on the creek but the tide was back to normal.  A couple of turtles emerged to bask on their log.  A damaged mallard drake hung around the pool   I found four of the monarch caterpillars.  A paper wasp looked for something around the post.  The conk fungus reappeared at the base of the oak looking like bake-n-serve dinner rolls.  A great blue heron paced the dock.  I got into the chilly water and worked on cleaning up the pool.  A drowned skink was on the bottom among all the leaves and pine needles.  

Cooper's hawk

The juvenile cardinals came back.  Suddenly the hawk was sitting on the railing. probably after missing a snatch.  By the time I got the camera ready, it had moved further off, but was still in clear sight.  Then it came closer and sat on the bench. 

The monarch caterpillars seemed to be more yellow.  The tree trash in the pool did not disappear on its own, but I was still unmotivated.  Sunshine was infrequent, the air wasn't very warm, and the wind was still harsh.  The tide was high again. 

Eventually the female cardinal fledgling was brave enough to return.  I didn't replenish the mealworms or barkbutter balls because it seemed too much like bait for the hawk.  Still, the downy woodpecker checked to see if it was suet season yet.  Titmice came for seeds.  

In the late afternoon, a great egret watched the water from the dock.  That's when I noticed the neighbors' floating dock was missing.  The kingfisher ate its catch on top of one of the guideposts for the missing dock.