Clear skies, light winds, temperatures to near 50F.
I was a little surprised to see such clear skies this morning. The forecast had called for sunny weather tomorrow, but I guess it came a day early.
Another morning surprise was a moth on the porch wall. It’s the first I’ve seen for at least two or three weeks. I’ve been watching for the late fall flying span-worm moth, but this one was an armyworm moth (Mythimna unipuncta), I think the first I’ve seen since 2022.
Mid-morning I went for a walk. I went by Baranof Street Cemetery on my way to Swan Lake.
At the cemetery a Lincoln’s Sparrow flew up in front of me along the main trail.
I didn’t see anything new at Swan Lake (nor did I notice the Wood Ducks or Hooded Mergansers).
I spent time at Castle Hill and saw the one-footed Ruby-crowned Kinglet. I didn’t find any warblers, however.
With calm wind and plenty of sun, I lingered at the hill, then by the library just to soak up the sun.
Once back home, I spent a chunk of the afternoon out trying to get photos of Anna’s Hummingbirds. I brought out one of the Christmas/Thanksgiving cactus plants that is starting to bloom to see if the hummingbirds might visit. It only has one flower, and in a few days another will have several, but I can’t count on the weather being warm enough when it’s sunny from here on.
The male hummingbird was guarding the feeder again today. He quickly chased off any other birds that showed up.
None of them seemed to notice the flower until I took down the feeder.
When the hummingbird came to visit, it flew right to where the feeder had been. It even seemed to try and find nectar on the red cap that was left. Finally it checked the flower. I’m guessing it didn’t find much of interest, since it did not spend long there.
Later the male gave up guarding for a while (perhaps because the feeder wasn’t up). A second bird came in and repeated pretty much the pattern as the male had.
I did put the feeder back up before heading back in.
Early this evening I spent some time along the seawalk and enjoyed photographing the warm light.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
