Back home

All I can report from yesterday in Charlottesville is a lot of bird song.  A song sparrow perched on a landscaping rock outside the hotel and sang long and loud. Yesterday and today were hot.  Cumulus piled up but the rains just missed me.  Compared to Friday, the return drive was easy.  And I saw a whole osprey standing on the nest platform beside Lake Smith.  

When I got home, I was greeted by a brown thrasher.  Titmice and chickadees competed for the feeder.  A male goldfinch got a drink from the hummer feeder that K replenished.  I saw the two male cardinals at their chasing.  A flurry of birds surrounded the birdhouse - at least one titmouse and one wren were involved.

With twilight came herons.  K saw two yellow crowned night herons perched in the oaks.  A great blue heron landed at the edge of the creek.  Then two more small herons flew overhead.  A brown thrasher continued to ferry food to the nest in the camellia.  The moon looked quite round behind the oak leaves.  And there were fireflies! 

Warm

The sky cleared as the morning wore on.  I rescued beetles, two spiders of the fishing/wolf/grass persuasion, and a leaf legged bug.  The birds don't recognize me as a threat in the pool so I see more.  The wren that trills was singing in the hackberry.  A yellow crowned night heron preened on a piling.  Swallows sang as they hunted bugs.  A hummer came after I got out but veered off. 

During lunch I saw lots of dragonflies. A dark butterfly, probably a black swallowtail but over by the cherry, and a cabbage white flitted around. 

I saw a head sticking up on the osprey platform at Lake Smith.  Some swallows hunted over 64 as we sat in traffic.  Large dark birds perched on a cell tower near Willoughby, buzzards perhaps.  As I neared the HRBT, the temperature dropped and crows gave way to gulls.  I met an advancing front at the Chickahominy and there was torrential rain north of Richmond.  Clouds were very dramatic all afternoon but the sun returned over the Blue Ridge.

Cloudy

The sky was a broken overcast at breakfast.  House finches were waiting on the feeder for me to open it up.  A hummer visited.  Titmice joined the regulars.  The cardinals were still courting. Mama white spot squirrel foraged under the feeder.  Then a brown thrasher came for a drink at the birdbath.  A great crested flycatcher took up a post in the cherry.

At noon, the osprey were hunting over the creek.  A gosling got into the pool but got back out.  The wrens were busy.  A grackle hunted in the grass.  A dragonfly banged into the window while a cabbage white flitted around.

At the library I saw a crow bully a mockingbird off a parking lot light.  The mockingbird dive bombed the crow to no avail then landed at the other end of the light pole and glared.  I think the crow laughed. 

Back home, a ladybug landed on the post.  Wasps enjoyed the rue.  A very small butterfly never paused as it fluttered around the cherry.  Titmice were all over the yard.  The hummer came back. The brown thrasher foraged.  The great crested flycatcher wheeped at me from the top of the redwood. Swallows hunted overhead.  Some of the clouds looked threatening and I heard thunder, but blue sky was visible through breaks in the overcast. 

Sunshine and thunderheads

A fox plodded past us at breakfast, headed home after an night of hunting I suppose.   Titmice and a hummer visited in the middle of the morning.  The wrens came and went and a couple of blue jays passed through.  A cabbage white flitted around.  Then I ran around on errands and saw a great blue heron soar across the road.  A fledgling chickadee huddled outside the florist.

Lunch was hand-held and sticky so naturally lots of birds showed up while I couldn't touch the camera.  A downy woodpecker apparently hoped for more suet, but not in this heat.  A white breasted nuthatch came just once for a seed.  The titmice were back along with the regulars.  Chickadees have been getting drinks from the birdbath.  Osprey alighted in the pines across the creek after I'd washed my hands. 

Hazy with clouds

I left in the early morning.  When I got home, there were lots of dragonflies zooming around.  The only one that perched to be identified was a blue dasher.  A cabbage white butterfly continued to hunt for something, maybe a cabbage?  The rue attracted lots of wasps, mostly paper and thread-waisted and yellow jacket. 

A brown thrasher hunted around the camellia and went back frequently to the nest.  Wrens sang and occasionally one popped out of the house, but there were no chases like yesterday.  The hummer came back.  I saw a swift and heard more.  A nursery convoy of geese went downstream with three little ones between the first adults, three larger goslings in the middle of more parents, and adults with two goslings bringing up the rear.  Some kind of heron landed on the bank but all I caught was its back.

Beautiful

It was warmer and hazier but the breeze kept us comfortable.  I hung the clean refilled hummer feeder and a hummer showed up.  The chickadee fledglings were begging up in the pines.  Swallows or swifts or maybe both hunted far above me.  An egret soared downstream.  A yellow crowned night heron stalked across the dock. The wasps showed up to feast on the rue after it was in the shade.  I saw three dragonflies, a pink-orange one that zoomed over the house, a smaller dark one that cruised over the pool, and a big darner over by the blueberries.  A cabbage white flitted all over and a dark orange butterfly passed quickly through and I glimpsed a tiger swallowtail.

I was puzzled by the house wrens.  They chased around the yard sporadically all day.  Perhaps one was challenging the other?  According to Cornell, "Single males sometimes compete for females even after a pair has begun nesting. In about half of these contests the outsider succeeds in displacing his rival, at which point he usually discards any existing eggs or nestlings and begins a new family with the female."  At one point the bird house bounced suggestively.   I heard a wren grumbling and then saw it scuttling along the back of the house.  Then it shot between me and the cane over to the birdhouse. 

Another fine day

I swept out the dry birdbath and refilled it after I saw a squirrel drinking from the pool.  House wrens were busy all day.  A cabbage white butterfly seemed to be hunting the right plant.  Smaller lepidoptera flitted around.  Downstream the elderberry flowers bloomed.

The painted skimmer was back using a garden stake.  A small blue-tailed skink scuttled across the top step.  Clouds played peek-a-boo with the sun in the mid afternoon but then the sky cleared to an intense blue that bordered on ultraviolet.  A handful of adult geese escorted two goslings up the creek.   Lots of fluffy seeds blew around. Swifts were flying but hard to distinguish from the specks in my eyes. 

Like yesterday, but hazy

Sun, wind, and a clear sky.  A Carolina wren came to the feeder a couple of times so I put out some mealworms.  But then the squirrel with the white spot showed up and ate them.  Meanwhile the cardinal pair tried to court on the feeder perch and tipped it shut.  The house wrens went about their business.

Titmice ignored me to get at the sunflower seeds, probably to feed hungry youngsters.  A house wren peered out of the birdhouse.  Perhaps it got bored sitting on eggs inside?  A female downy woodpecker appeared and inspected a dogwood trunk.  A cabbage white flitted around and a much smaller butterfly (hairstreak?) perched for a moment. 

After lunch, small clouds appeared and haze muted the blue sky.  The sun was hot but the wind was not.  Chickadees fledged and there was tse-tse-ing for food in all the trees. Yellow flag iris bloomed down near the creek.  I discovered recently that they are considered invasive.  Mea culpa.  A skink saw me first. 

In the late afternoon, the haze cleared and the crescent moon hung in a cloudless sky.  An osprey flew over and later I heard but couldn't see swifts.  A brown thrasher alighted on the fence.  A couple of great crested flycatchers chased across the trees and only one returned.  The male cardinals continued to argue and the chickadees to feed their progeny.  A fox sauntered across the neighbors' yard.  Something bit me on the inside of the knee.  I photographed it but it was too small to identify. 

Glorious day

An intense blue sky with hot sunshine and a cool breeze made a perfect May day.  But all I saw in the morning were the regulars and wrens.  Oh, and a robin.  White and orange butterflies flitted but didn't pause.  A few wasps and some very tiny metallic green flies fed on the rue and the pimento. 

The sky stayed cloudless right through sunset.  I enjoyed the crescent moon.  Craters show up better when the moon is edgier.    Cardinals picked up their bedtime snacks and I closed the feeder. No slugs tonight! 

Gray

Finally the squirrel with the white spot reappeared!  She seemed kind of slow and heavy but otherwise OK.  An egret flew downstream and a night heron over the house.  A Carolina wren and a titmouse joined the regulars at the feeder.

Before lunch,thunder began to grumble.  A very gentle rain fell, wetting everything without accumulating in the birdbath.  I glimpsed a brown thrasher in the redwood.  Finches, cardinals and titmice visited the feeder.  The early afternoon was dry but rain started back up as I left for a meeting.  This time more water fell harder. 

When I got home, I heard baby birds crying in the vicinity of the trash cans.  I investigated and I swear the Carolina wren whistled up a wind to shake the water out of the juniper onto me.  Nevertheless I saw four babies that got herded under the shrubbery by their parents.  They did not seem to be flying yet, or maybe the rain was too much for them. 

Across the street, Canada geese promenaded and in the back yard a dove sat on the wet railing.  The rain tapered off as the wind grew gustier. After dark the slugs came out again.  I guess they were attracted to the lights indoors, but it only seems to happen in the rain. 

Front passed through

The front left behind much cooler, less humid air, with sun and a lot of wind.  Osprey and buzzards rode the wind, but small birds stayed under cover.  I did see cardinals, house finches, and wrens.  The wrens were still singing at each other - their territories deem to border over the pool.  Two male cardinals faced off in the dogwood that seems to be their no-bird's-land.  I tried, without success, to get a photo of the bit of brown thrasher nest I can see from the kitchen.  I haven't seen the parents this week.

A friend mentioned that their hummingbird has been scarce for a while, just like ours.  The wren sat on the branch just above the bird house and sang ownership.  The cardinals continued their territorial squabble all day.  The neighbor's magnolia began blooming.  The sunflower volunteers reached the stage where they follow the sun quite visibly, changing from this \ angle in the morning to this / in the afternoon. A yellow jacket pollinated the rue. 


After dark, a sickle moon and Venus hung in the clear sky to the West. 

Overnight rain

Everything was soaked and dripping but the sky was clear.  This is supposed to be the last day of summer heat before a return to spring temperatures. 

Titmice visited the feeder along with the regulars and a white breasted nuthatch.  I was on the phone when the nuthatch showed up and couldn't take a photo.  A hummer found its feeder satisfactory.  This was after a couple of squirrels chasing around knocked all the water out of the center well.  A squirrel scrubbed its face - maybe it got sticky from the feeder.

At lunch, a brown and gold butterfly, probably a palamedes swallowtail, flitted over the pool.  I glimpsed a dragonfly as well.  The wrens were still busy nesting and singing.  It was really hot. 

In the afternoon, thunderheads built up to the SW.  At twilight lightning flashed and rain started.  When I got home, the glass back door was covered in slugs.

Summer weather

A pink sunrise was full of birdsong.  Later, the wrens were busy singing and flitting around in the bushes. 

In the afternoon thunderheads began to pile up in the SW.  They moved in slowly but inexorably.  When I went outside in mid afternoon, spotted dragonflies were chasing flies that were hoping for rain.  Some swallows also pursued bugs.  I heard osprey "keee-ing" and saw three of them circling against a dramatic cloud background with spotlight beams.  On the grass across the creek a pair of geese led five small goslings.  That side is all bulkheaded and the tide was out so I don't know where they came from or where they were going. Mallards  were out on the creek along with more geese, and two yellow crowned night herons flew overhead.  One was coming upstream and veered off toward me.  The other must have been on the dock and gave pursuit. 

Eventually the clouds covered the sky and thunder rumbled.  But the clouds moved on and then rain fell from blue sky overhead.  It must have blown in from the South.  It didn't last long and the sun reappeared before the rain ceased.  The regulars returned to the feeder and a wet titmouse joined them. 

Windy and hot

All I saw in the morning was finches on the feeder and wrens around their house.  A dragonfly perched briefly and a cabbage white butterfly never paused.

After lunch, we sat outside and finally I began to see life.  The painted skimmer dragonfly returned and this time I could see its face.  Wasps were everywhere - K rescued a swimmer.  A blue metallic flier I think was a boring beetle investigated the post.  Skinks ignored us. 

Chickadees dangled from twig tips.  I think they may have been fledglings.  The wrens stayed busy and song-full.  A blue jay arrived with loud squawks and left again with two little birds on its tail.  Kids in what looked like a plastic bathtub paddled on the creek.  Then a woman came along in a yellow kayak.  A yellow crowned night heron flew right over me when I didn't have the camera. 

Clouds piled up and rain sent us inside.  I think the blood-sucking bugs knew the rain was coming and wanted some protein to be prepared to lay eggs.  A big dragonfly and swallows zoomed around catching dinner. 

I did not see a hummer all day. 

Sunny and hot

As I wandered out to the kitchen to start breakfast, a fox was crossing the yard.  It was gone before the camera warmed up. The squirrels appeared soon after and did not seem perturbed.  We had the windows open and lots of birdsong filled the morning.  The cardinals were still making up.

At lunch time skinks were all over the patio.  One heaved itself up from a narrow crack that was quite a struggle.  The house wrens were busy.  I saw a silver spotted skipper and another dark butterfly.

Coming back from my meeting, I saw two mockingbirds chasing a crow that was fleeing as fast as it could fly.  I spotted several other mockingbirds on patrol along the way.

We ate supper outside and titmice wanted some too, but not with us.  Finally deer flies drove me inside. 

Getting warmer

I refilled the seed feeder.  Turned out the hummer feeder was empty too.  The poor hummer was persistent and tried all three holes but, of course, that didn't help.  Not much was stirring in the morning except squirrels.  Fluffy, transparent clouds blew East but there was only a light breeze. 

I saw a skink, and the house wrens, and the regulars.  The cardinals were still courting.  A chickadee repeatedly dangled off the ends of twigs for no apparent reason.  A cabbage white was interested in the rosemary.  A queen yellow jacket hunted around the top step. 

While I was swimming a painted skimmer dragonfly took up post on the stick I had out for that purpose.  I rescued a five-legged woodlouse spider, pinkish with a gray abdomen, and also a young wolf/grass/fishing spider.  Skinks were all over the place.  One looked into the pool while another peered over a plank like a kid outside a circus.  Wrens cursed in the shrubbery.  A goose family with four goslings attempted to visit but K sent them away. 

While we were eating supper, Mama fox looked up the steps, then went over and lay down under the maple for a spell.  The camera complained that it was too dark. 

Bright and breezy

At breakfast it was just the regulars. The cardinals courted on the feeder perch.  I suppose that means they've had a nest failure and are getting ready to start over.  Mid morning a fox sauntered past the pool.  The house wren took an interest in something under the cedar.

The hummer finally showed up at lunch.  The house wren sat on the bench watching its house when something startled it into cocking its tail.  Skinks scampered around.  A cabbage white. a tiger swallowtail, and a small butterfly that may have been a hairstreak flitted by without landing.  The wind cut through the sun's warmth. Wispy clouds were swept East. 

Windy

Yesterday's heat was gone this morning. A hummer refueled despite the wind.  The house wrens were active and house finches came for seeds.  The notch-tailed squirrel foraged under the feeder. 

A crane fly roosted on the front porch while a big darner dragonfly cruised over the yard.  Skinks were all over the patio.  At lunch, geese tried to crash the party, teaching their goslings bad habits, but K sent them off. 

Lots of wasps buzzed around the rue flowers.  Yellow kneed paper wasps seemed fascinated by my blue pants.  An osprey circled, calling.  A female common whitetail dragonfly rested on the patio while the lawn was being mowed. 

Hot and sticky

The hummer visited frequently.  I could hear the nesting brown thrashers and see the house wrens.  The caterpillars on the rue mostly disappeared. The storm made a big change in the plants, finishing the azaleas and starting the roses, pushing the hibiscus up and germinating the moonflower. 

After lunch, an egret stalked along the bulkhead.  An osprey cruised over the creek.  Geese invaded the yard.  A great crested flycatcher hung out in the beautyberry. Several skinks dashed around.

I went for a swim but was driven inside by a biting fly, not a greenhead but a small, triangular, black fly.  I killed one, then another popped up in my face and I gave up.  I didn't think it was a deer fly, but I can't find an ID for anything smaller.  Afternoon clouds looked like a summer thunderstorm but nothing came of it.  Sunset was a golden blaze again.  The official high temperature was 90°F, two degrees short of the record. 

Rain

Tropical storm depression Ana arrived in the night.  The rain at breakfast was gentle with little wind.  A Carolina wren came for mealworms, but I hadn't put any out.

When I got back from the pool, a hummer was hungry enough to ignore the rain.  An orb spiderweb captured the fine raindrops.

Breaks appeared in the cloud cover a little before 3pm and wildlife hurried to take advantage.  I saw first a male, then a female skink.  Sun, clouds, and wind gusts alternated.  A squirrel figured how to raid the basket-o-worms.   

The sun sparkle on water drops is very hard to capture in a photo - I speculate that the shimmer requires motion and the camera freezes it.  All I could get was a color-haloed hot spot. 

The clouds were still thick at sunset which blazed from behind the upstream pines.  In the twilight, a busy titmouse made repeated visits to the sunflowers.  The regulars were also chowing down. 

Nesting and courting

I woke up to sun, but around 9am clouds rushed in and the wind gusted.  Before that, a hummer visited.  The house wrens came and went frequently.  A brown thrasher found something of interest in the rosemary.  A hopeful squirrel discovered I had not put out any mealworms.  I bagged five black swallowtail caterpillars to send to a friend.  Yellow jacket queens were still scouting nesting spots. 

The sun, clouds, and wind have been variable, as meteorologists like to say.  Presumably Tropical Storm Ana is affecting the Virginia coast.  A skink basked during a moment of sun.  A Carolina wren visited the sunflower seeds. A squirrel climbed up into the camellia.  I don't know if it was after the thrashers' nest, but the thrasher certainly thought so.  A lot of thrashing ensued, the squirrel descended with the thrasher close behind, escorting it off the premises.  So that's how brown thrashers earned their name.

During our late lunch we were treated to a demo of how to court a skink.  There had been a couple of chases down the steps today that I'm guessing were one male running off another.  Then a red headed male cosied up to a brown headed (presumably) female.  After getting no response to his attentions the male sauntered off.  The female wagged her tail tip suggestively and he came back.  Then the two went off and "got a room" under the rosemary.  I'm pretty certain these were five lined skinks.

Later in the afternoon it rained, then the sky cleared again.  After sunset, Venus was bright in the West.  The third quarter moon won't rise till after midnight. 

Foggy morning turned sunny

The male towhee evicted a finch from the feeder.  I think the house wrens finished their nest in the birdhouse - I didn't see twigs going in any more.  The hummer made frequent visits to the feeder.  An egret fished by the dam outflow.  The fog lifted around 9am. 

Clouds streamed out of the SE, occasionally cutting off the sun.  I got the pimento into a pot and the seeds planted.  Hopefully I marked the site well enough that they won't get weeded this year.  There was a lot of competitive singing going on, with occasional fisticuffs in the bushes.  One wren trilled its Rs very effectively. Meanwhile a Carolina wren discovered the mealworm dish and made repeated visits.

I saw a heron go overhead when I didn't have the camera ready.  A black and a tiger swallowtail dodged around the yard staying out of my direct view, perhaps they were males?  One of the caterpillars has molted into the second instar.  Two foxes came past me as I sat outside.  One was anxious but the other was blasé.

I got in the pool today, a brisk 72°. There I rescued two mining bees that flew off as soon as I lifted them from the water.  A skink moseyed up to the edge while I was in the water.  I had to get out to chase geese.  I tried to tell them Foxy Loxy had just visited.  As I sat and dripped after getting out, another skink ran up to me and under my chair. I saw spider silk in the air and one tiny spiderling landed on me.