Sunshine!

There were patchy clouds at first, but the sun was a welcome and un-predicted surprise.  A hummer was up early.  The house finches squabbled over the feeder.  The egret fished where fresh water from the lake met brackish. 

The whole day was lovely.  But I was sick.  Cabbage whites and an Eastern comma, and dragonflies and wasps flew around in the sunlight.   I got pictures of the clever spider.  Skinks went about their reptilian business.  I saw a man apparently carrying fish around the dam outfall.  Strange.

The sunset colors were gorgeous around 8:30pm.

Wet

Rain was light and intermittent in the morning - Bonnie's moment of glory as a named storm was brief.  I saw an egret fly by.  The regulars - cardinals, house finches, and chickadees - came to breakfast.  A downy woodpecker hopped around the post, then gave up.  One or more hummers kept their feeder busy. 

At lunch, I saw a tiger swallowtail and some wasps.  A spider cleverly built its web under an outdoor table, out of the wet.  A skink ventured out.  Hummers kept coming.  One took exception to a young squirrel that was curious about the post the feeders hang from.  A titmouse got some seeds while the cardinals argued over the boundary between their territories.

Afterward, a yellow crowned night heron hunted crabs along the spartina.  A great crested flycatcher flew down to watch.

The rain got heavier toward 5pm.  All the movement in the trees seemed to be leaves dumping their load of rainwater. 

Cloudy, then rain

Dark clouds blew off the ocean but blue sky and sun peeked through.  A female hummer was very hungry and found the old feeder quite acceptable.  A couple of blue jays and several grackles came and went quickly.  The usual egret fished at the dam outfall.

A rain shower fell as we ate lunch.  (We ate early  so as to be done grilling before the rain.)  The white breasted nuthatch was back.  It watched from the roof as a cardinal occupied the feeder.  When it couldn't stand waiting any more, it flew to the post and hopped around impatiently. 

The hummer continued to visit and a titmouse appeared. The hummer kept coming right into the twilight. 

Bright

The morning sky was not hazy. I glimpsed a blue jay but got no picture.  The goldfinch pair, however, posed for me.  Downy woodpeckers were back for seeds.  A crow watched an egret below the dam.  Later, another egret fished along the spartina at the bottom of the yard.  It seemed to be after very small fish and after the bird left I saw s school of fish disturbing the surface. We switched the two hummer feeders, putting the old one in back and the new out front. 

The sky was ultrablue and mostly cloudless.  But tropical storm Bonnie was off the Georgia coast and predicted to bump the coastline up to Hatteras by Thursday.  Floating leaves and their reflections made interesting Rorschach tests.  Skinks hurried on their private business.  One slipped into a crack but left its blue tailtip waving enticingly outside.  A few butterflies were around, but all small.  Crane flies mated on the window.  

I watched the bees and wasps on the rue.  The gray and black leafcutter bee was back and I got better pictures this time.  A hummer balked when it saw us outside.  Later it or another fed, but kept behind the post so I couldn't get a shot.  A female cardinal was bolder, inching closer and finally hopping onto the feeder.  Rather than follow, a chickadee poked at the mealworms but decided they weren't edible.    A little green heron flew squawking overhead.  Swallows chattered in the sky but were too fast for me. The hummer was back at twilight. 

Hazy

The sky was blue but not crisp and the day was warm but not as hot as yesterday, with a gusty breeze.  The geese started us off.  There were two families and the pair with two small goslings was accompanied by a Muscovy duck.  Dragonflies were everywhere.  I saw a few butterflies, mainly cabbage, but a small blue and a colorful one that was probably an American lady. 

Around mid morning a white breasted nuthatch began coming to the feeder.  I was never ready for it and it did not linger so I only got one photo, and that of its back.  Skinks came out at lunch time.  A Carolina wren stopped in at the mealworm dish.  A great crested flycatcher lurked in the sakaki.  And a male blue dasher took up post on the garden stake. 

Then we discovered a swamp darner with a broken wing at the front door.  A female goldfinch got a drink from the hummer feeder but the hummer turned up her beak at it.  So much for the Audubon seal of approval. A yellow crowned night heron walked across the dock.

A female blue dasher replaced the male on the stake.  It was obelisking.  A swallow passed over, also after flying insects.  An emerald female pondhawk got away twice.  Wasps and bees were ubiquitous as well.  A black and gray bee may have been a solitary leaf-cutter.  I saw a wasp fly into the birdhouse but I didn't see it come out. 

At supper, we had a Carolina wren again, the regulars, and under the cedar a brown thrasher.   

Hot

This morning the female goldfinch came along with the male.  Three male house finches and several females followed at the feeder.  A female cardinal was beginning to lose head feathers like the male I saw a few days ago.  A yellow crowned night heron preened on the dock bench.  A lady butterfly with missing eye spots feasted on a dandelion while a cabbage white flitted past without landing.  Bees worked on the Mexican sage.  The hibiscus sprouts were nearly tall enough to tie to supports.

The sky was hazy around noon and distances were not sharp.  Lots of wasps were out including a delicate black and yellow mud dauber, but only cabbage butterflies.  I rescued a ladybug and many other beetles, a honeybee and many smaller wasps from the water.  A rather scary spider with a pale abdomen seemed thoroughly drowned.  There were muddy scrapes on the coping that I blamed on raccoons. 

My car's thermometer registered 99° by mid afternoon.  When I got home, a great crested flycatcher landed in the dogwood.  Large ants trundled around the patio and up the windows.  An egret fished below the dam.  The haze had turned to large clouds which colored at sunset.

Warm

At breakfast we had a bright visitor - a male goldfinch that came for sunflower seeds.  A bit later, a house wren perched atop the feeder post.  I hurried to put some mealworms out, but it was long gone.

Around lunchtime, a brown thrasher alighted in the beautyberry.  Cardinals continued to court.  A house wren was busy outside its house.

Skinks were out enjoying the heat and chasing rivals.  The crow came back for more mealworms, despite my sitting ten feet away.  Bees and wasps were joined by battling cabbage whites. 

A great crested flycatcher landed in a dogwood, but didn't stay.  They never do.

Again, the sunset sky was tinted rose. 

Bright and sunny

I had an early meeting but the sun was up earlier.  The waning moon and retreating clouds mad an interesting early morning sky.  The sun brought the temperature up quickly.  A squirrel eyed the mealworms.  First it considered leaping from the railing, but no.  Then it swarmed up the wire holding the feeder but found the feeder too bouncy under its weight, so it went off and pretended it didn't want them anyway.  Between one thing and another, I saw nothing to take a photo of all day.  When I got out of my last meeting, the sky was fading from pink to twilight. 

Mostly rain

A titmouse, a wren, and a woodpecker came to the feeder in addition to the usual seed eaters.  I'm not sure what the wren was there for.  A male hummer came and hovered over the freshly cleaned and refilled feeder but left without drinking.  I do not understand!  A dove foraged under the feeder. A little green heron landed on the dam outfall to see what the egret was doing. 

There was sun in the early afternoon but the rain returned. A goose family hung around the yard.  A chickadee poked into the wren house.  During the sunshine, I saw a skink, a dragonfly and a small orange butterfly.  A goldenrod soldier beetle crawled over the rue.

The rain stopped again for supper.  An enormous crow landed on the mealworm feeder and nearly broke it.  After it left, a male cardinal had to see what was so good.  It seemed dubious.  Then two Carolina wrens ate some more mealworms which, by this time, had been reconstituted by the rain.  A titmouse ate sunflower seeds instead.

Mist and fine rain

Four chickadees visited and at least one seemed to be new to the hammering open of sunflower seeds.  A titmouse came too, and house finches.  One male cardinal had lost head feathers while the other still looked dapper. An odd little bird swung upside down from a cherry twig.  Experts tell me it was a Red-eyed Vireo!

A hummer turned up its beak at the feeder, and no wonder.  Nasty!  The male towhee came instead of the female. 

Rain

The geese with six goslings came for an early swim.  The goslings still weren't big enough to get out without the help of the brick.  A titmouse, a downy woodpecker, and a male house finch competed for sunflower seeds.  The woodpecker won.  There was activity at the wren house. A female towhee foraged beneath.  It was hard to get enough light for a photo. 

I was gone all day in a room without windows.  I heard rain on the roof.  When I got home, the usual egret was fishing.  The female towhee came back.  A pair of cardinals and a male house finch completed the inventory.  But at least the rain had stopped. 

Sunny

I took a chance and put out mealworms, hoping they will not be turned to soup.  Titmice and downy woodpeckers came for breakfast.  Male house finches argued about precedence on the feeder.

When I came home from the pool, K was trying to get a newly hatched gosling out of the pool.  With two of us, it was possible to scare it to the steps.  The parent geese, of course, were no help.  The sky went from mostly blue to mostly white over the course of the morning. 

So frustrating!  I saw a goldfinch, a great crested flycatcher, a brown thrasher, and a bluebird, each posed for a good shot, but by the time I fired up the camera, they were gone.  Lots of cabbage whites, some small orange butterflies, and some kind of blue or hairstreak were all flitting through the yard.  Skinks were all around the steps.

Across the street, two crows landed in a crape myrtle where a mockingbird must have had a nest.  The mockingbird dove at them and eventually drove them away. I don't know if they ate any eggs or nestlings.

A yellow crowned night heron waded along the edge of the creek in the afternoon. 

Fickle weather

Titmice and chickadees argued over the sunflowers.  A male goldfinch visited after breakfast.  As usual there was an egret below the dam.  And the geese visited.  Repeatedly.  I rescued a beetle from the water.  A yellow day lily was in flower and the magnolia buds were almost ready.

The sky shifted from rain sprinkles to sun flickers and back, but mostly stayed gray.  In the afternoon, I saw a hummer reflected in the computer monitor but it was gone before I got turned around.  As I was leaving for a meeting, a brown thrasher hunted under the sakaki. 

Titmice were back at suppertime.  There was some color in the clouds at sunset.

Still gray

House finches came for breakfast, followed by the courting cardinals.  Will they ever settle down and raise a family?  That's what the house wren was busy doing.  Geese with six goslings invaded around lunch time and, after I escorted them off, I found a dragonfly on the patio.  I thought it was dead, but when I picked it up, it clung to my fingers.  It began shivering its wings so I tucked it into a sheltered spot on the house wall. I think it was a darner though it was awfully dark. 

The morning was misty but there were some flickers of sun at lunch.  A cabbage white ventured out.  Two titmice tried to get to the sunflower seeds despite a greedy house finch that was blind in one eye.  

Overcast

A gray titmouse under a gray sky.  The two male cardinals added sparks of color as they ignored each other from about five feet away.

A light rain began at noon. The tide was quite low but the water was milky with silt from the dredging.  After lunch the courting cardinal couple were back.  Geese and mallards were out on the streets.  The titmouse returned despite the wet. Downy woodpeckers showed up in the late afternoon when the rain had slacked off. 

Blue sky

The day was warmer than predicted.  In the morning, a yellow crowned night heron hustled along the edge of the marsh grass.  After that, I was gone until noon. 

After lunch, insects were everywhere.  Big reddish-bodied, clear-winged dragonflies patrolled over the pool, never perching.  A big carpenter bee and a little ladybird beetle worked on the rue.  Small bees and tiny flies were everywhere.  A leaf footed bug hid in the azalea leaves.  The cabbage whites perched on green leaves instead of flowers.  An American lady butterfly preferred clover. 

A great crested flycatcher landed in the dogwood.  A male towhee whistled and I glimpsed him under the azaleas. A dove dozed in a spot of sun.  Titmice and downy woodpeckers joined the feeder regulars.  The cardinals were still courting.  Hummers visited but didn't approve of the bent feeder.

The geese families made repeated sorties. A little green heron fished below the dam today. Clouds began to blow in around 6pm. 

Windy

It was much cooler than yesterday, sunny with lots of clouds.  Something bent the hummer feeder out of shape overnight.  K straightened it and a hummer found it acceptable.  Downy woodpeckers and tufted titmice also visited in the morning. There was a dust-up between squirrels and the pursued leapt for the railing which was too slippery so it somersaulted.

As usual an egret was down by the dam.  The family of four goslings sneaked into the pool but K chased them away.  They must have been impressed because they warned off the family with one gosling and all of them departed upstream.  A Carolina wren walked around on tree trunks.

Fish kept jumping and V shaped ripples looked like pursuit.  Sunset was rose colored.

Sunny

At breakfast, a pileated woodpecker came to see if the suet had reappeared.  It was gone too quickly for me to capture.  A couple of doves prowled around the patio.  Titmice and downy woodpeckers came for seeds.  The woodpeckers have hammered so many seeds on the post that the wood is splitting.

A tiny syrphid fly hovered around the rosemary blossoms.  A ground beetle refused to be rescued from the water.  I couldn't reach a camel cricket.  A cabbage white and a tiger swallowtail crossed the yard.  A couple of skinks ran across the step.  We planted the three pots of vines that are supposed to give us privacy in front of the house.

A pair of towhees showed up at lunch.  Geese with one gosling tried to sneak past twice.  After I chased them off, I stayed outside and saw many orange butterflies and a painted/American lady.  Big dragonflies with unmarked wings were zooming through but not perching.  A mammoth carpenter bee was working on the rue and there were wasps gathering wood pulp from the bench.  The house wrens sang. Three mallard drakes paddled around, then a female towed nine ducklings downstream. 

Still gray

A goldfinch pair visited in the middle of the morning.  Downy woodpeckers and Carolina wrens also came for brunch.  The cardinals continued to date.

Though the refilled hummer feeder was back up, a hummer came to the Mexican sage flowers instead.

At lunch time tufted titmice appeared.  Both Carolina and house wrens were hungry.  I saw a tiger swallowtail and a cabbage white. 

Rain began around 2:30pm along with some thunder.  It lasted about an hour.  Toward evening there was some sunlight and then a yellow sunset.

Gray

Nothing but woodpeckers and egrets at breakfast.  The sky stayed overcast all day. 

At lunch, a couple of great crested flycatchers landed in the cherry.  Carolina wrens came for mealworms.  A titmouse joined the regulars and the woodpeckers for sunflower seeds.  The cardinals continued to court and one male chased off the other.  A queen yellow jacket looked for a spot to nest. 

For most of the day, a snowy egret fished on the rocks at the dam outfall where its yellow feet were no use.  A great egret joined it.  Laughing gulls fished in the wake of the dredge barge.  A yellow crowned night heron landed on the dock, but saw me.  I was trying to locate a chattering bird that sounded like a kingfisher but higher pitched. 

Seen but not photographed: a skink, a goldfinch, a great blue heron, and a hummer.  The hummer turned up its beak at the feeder so we took it in for a cleaning.  There were lots of green blueberries swelling. 

Foggy morning

The two Carolina wrens came for mealworms.  A downy joined the regulars for seeds.  The fog lifted around the middle of the morning. Soft cumulus blended into blue without an edge. 

Only the downy woodpeckers came to lunch.  Afterward, I sat in the new front garden.  A skink scampered into a drain hole.  A butterfly stayed to distant to make out.  Something left a crab claw in the mulch. 

In the back yard, a very orange red admiral ( or painted lady?) butterfly stayed out of focus.  A house wren sat on its front perch for quite a while.  One of the geese left a feather behind.  Better that than goose poop.  A yellow crowned night heron stalked along the spartina.

The clouds crowded out the sun and the air felt very humid.  Then just before 3pm the rain hit. Thunder rumbled.  It lasted about half an hour.  Afterward, a Carolina wren poked through mulch at the far end of the pool.  A bleary sun set and then the fog returned.