Waves of rain

I was busy during the sunny morning.  At lunch, three black swallowtails danced around the rue with occasional excursions to the parsley.  A blue dasher watched the buzzing wasps and bees on the herbs.  Blue mud wasps joined the crowd of sand wasps, digger wasps, threadwaisted wasps, and scoliid wasps. I glimpsed a skink disappearing into a hole in the steps. 

All afternoon starting at 2:40pm, thunderstorms rolled through with short intense bursts of rain.  Just before the rain began, a yellow crowned night heron landed on the dock.  In between the waves, high flying dragonflies picked off the little humidity-loving pests. 

Rare visitors

We picked the last (probably) of the blueberries and a big bowl of figs.  A spinyback orbweaver protected the figs though it was far to small to catch the wasps and hornets I saw.

I rescued a firefly, so they were still around even though I hadn't seen any flashing in the evening.   A brown thrasher hunted under the sakaki.  A blue dasher used one of my perches while a Halloween pennant rode the top of the hackberry.  A tattered skimmer made short forays from its bamboo perch. 

A zebra swallowtail feasted on the butterfly milkweed until it disappeared in a flurry of hungry birds.  The blue jays and bluebirds wanted bark butter balls so I hope the butterfly just fled. A while later, a monarch arrived on the butterfly milkweed. 

Titmice were content with seeds.  A few hummers visited.  A great crested flycatcher darted around the trees.  A red bellied woodpecker sunbathed up in the oak.

The waxing moon was gradually enveloped in clouds.  A bright Jupiter trailed behind.

Cooler

There was a light overcast in the morning and a breeze that made it quite pleasant.  Little brown click beetles were beginning to show up in the water.  Blue jays showed up everywhere. A murder of crows was in full cry over something they pursued from tree to tree.  The blue jays followed but a mockingbird just watched.

The black and greenish-white banded wasp on the mountain mint seemed to match the photos of a sand wasp, Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus.  I had thought it might be a bee.  There have been far more great golden digger wasps this year than in previous summers.  I don't know if it's the mountain mint or whatever resulted in so few butterflies.  Speaking of which, there was a cloudless sulphur and later an orange butterfly.  

I saw a couple of skinks but got no photos.  Hummers visited including one male.  Male woodpeckers came for bark butter balls, both a downy and a red belly.

A four spotted pennant used a bamboo perch while a Halloween pennant flew from the highest twig of the hackberry.  Later a tattered slaty skimmer rested on a bamboo stake.  

The parent brown thrasher had the fledglings down by the creek and was apparently teaching them to hunt mud crabs.  I caught a swallow in flight. 

Donner & blitzen

 A blue dasher used a bamboo stake perch.  The mountain mint was full of life.  I saw honeybees and other bees, lots of great golden digger wasps, thread-waisted wasps, and others. 

Apparently the bluebirds were raising another family, I think the third this year.  I went to the garden center and sweated a gallon of water to buy a daylily.  K planted it and thunder began almost immediately, but two hours later not a drop of rain had fallen.  I was in online meetings and the lightning flashes left me somewhat anxious, but we did not lose power. 

Unpredictable storms

 A squirrel had cherries for breakfast.  I wasted a lot of time trying to catch a dragonfly in flight.  A caterpillar appeared to be eating a strawberry plant.  Young titmice were apparently learning to use the feeder. 

The meteorologists were saying no chance of rain even as the heavens opened in a typical summer afternoon thunderstorm.  It was quickly followed by a second one thundercloud.  The vegetation got a good soaking and the humidity slid up past the descending temperature.  All the windows fogged over.  The region was still under a heat advisory but the storm cooled us down to the 80s.

Squirrels foraged in the wet vegetation and then had to clean themselves off.  A hummer looked at the mountain mint while titmice made a commotion near the hummer feeder.  Sunset glowed orange and briefly tinted the moon. 

Soupy air

I couldn't stand being outside for very long in the morning because of the heat and humidity.  A black swallowtail flitted erratically around the yard.  Brown thrashers grew bolder with their desire for bark butter balls.  A young one walked around the back of the pool. 

Clouds drew in and lowered the heat a little.  Bluebirds followed blue jays to the feeder.  A female cardinal sought shade to eat her bark butter ball.  Later a Carolina wren did the same.  A female red bellied woodpecker inspected one of the dogwoods.  An egret rested on a dock piling. 

An ailanthus webworm moth (Atteva aurea) joined the bees and wasps on the mountain mint. A slaty skimmer used the perch nearby.    A Japanese beetle chewed on a hibiscus flower. 

Rain that was not predicted fell in the late afternoon but didn't amount to much.  It trailed off leaving the air to reabsorb the rain that fell.  An egret and a heron flew North toward mammatus clouds that bulged downward in round hemispheres.

Lively

For July, it was pleasant - low 90s and moderate humidity.  All sorts of wildlife showed up to enjoy the day. A blue jay began with a bark butter ball.  Then I spotted a cicada killer in the chaste tree.

At lunch, a buckeye joined the bees and wasps on the mountain mint.  A black swallowtail circled the rue.  I found a blue mud wasp on the mountain mint. A night heron landed on the dock while I was pruning hackberry branches that intruded into my view. 
I rescued a young earwig and got stung again by another dratted sweat bee.  And I found a mud crab in the pool which I netted and released downhill.
A slaty skimmer was bumped from its perch by a widow skimmer.  I saw several skinks but only got pictures of a very small one. 

Up on a sunny oak limb, a male red bellied woodpecker was having a spa day, preening and sunbathing.  Earlier it had raided the bark butter balls. A brown thrasher had the same idea.  Bluebirds made occasional visits.  The Carolina wren preferred to take its bark butter ball under a chair and peck it apart.  Goldfinches came to drink from the ant moat. 


The crescent moon was faintly visible overhead mid afternoon. It was sharper after dark, but there was less light for the camera. 

Sticky

After breakfast, I went outside to pull up poison ivy that I hoped had been loosened by the rain.  A titmouse and a blue jay wanted to know when the bark butter balls were coming so I fetched some.  A gray sky lowered the temperature but raised the humidity.  A little later when I went out front to check on the tomatoes and peppers, I began to sweat immediately.  Leaves were still wet from last night's rain.  Of course there was less of a breeze away from the creek. 

A female widow skimmer clung to a stake near the sheet spider web in the corner of the window - Scylla & Charybdis for a flying insect. At lunch I discovered the male widow skimmer on a stake closer to the door.  Of course there were also blue dashers.  A Carolina saddlebags held the vantage point atop the hackberry.  And one butterfly, a cloudless sulphur, flitted around the hibiscus. 

A brown thrasher and a red bellied woodpecker also wanted bark butter balls.  Three titmice bounced around in the wild cherry.  I tried to rescue a lacewing but it may have been dead before it fell into the water.  The sky got very interesting after 6pm and by 7pm a thunderhead was building in the West, casting shadows across the wispier clouds.  An egret flew home as the clouds gradually covered the sky.  The rain began around 7:30pm. 

Downpour

I went for an early swim in order to be ready for a string of meetings.  The bees finally noticed the butterfly milkweed.  A buzzard circles in the hazy sky.  I didn't see any dragonflies until a tandem pair of saddlebags flew slowly overhead.  Other saddlebags gave chase.  Blue dashers ignored the fuss.  Later, a Needham's skimmer perched outside my window. 

The thermometer peaked at 101°F, then clouds began to block the sun.  About 2:30pm a thunderstorm let loose. Windows fogged in addition to the rain.  But everything dried out surprisingly fast.  The temperature came down into the 80s and the humidity rose into the 60s.  A yellow crowned night heron hunted along the creek before and after the storm.  Bubbles rose and made rings rings on the creek surface.  I don't know if it's methane from decomposing vegetation or some kind of animal life. 

Still hot

A hummer came for breakfast.  It's hard to keep the juice from spoiling in the heat.  A blue jay was next, then a couple of titmice and some chickadees.

Mid morning, one of the stakes was occupied by an immature female four-spotted pennant.  A black swallowtail took an interest in the rue.  A skipper joined the bees and wasps on the mountain mint.  I checked the figs but there was no sign of ripening. I startled a monarch butterfly that was hanging around the lone milkweed plant on that side of the house. 

A sidewalk tiger beetle hustled into the same shady spot as yesterday.  A Halloween pennant flew from the top of the pine.  Large cumulus clouds streamed out of the West. 

In the late afternoon, a night heron stalked along the water's edge.  A short while before  sunset there were several very loud cracks of thunder, but nothing came of it.

Heat wave

A Halloween pennant used one of the stakes to perch.  I decided I'd best be outdoors in the morning and inside by afternoon.  The blueberries were beginning to look depleted though plenty were still green.  Japanese beetles went after canna, hibiscus, and rose.  Maybe we need more milky spore?  I rescued a firefly and a couple of wasps.  My bee sting reappeared all red and itchy.  The mountain mint was busier than ever. 

The brown thrasher family ignored me as I floated in the deep end.  Of course, I couldn't take photos while treading water.  There were still three of them and one had a beak full of bug.  Another raided the bark butter balls.  So did a Carolina wren. The wren had a little stash under the nearest chair. 

The thermometer read 104°F at noon.  The newspaper was even more alarming. A Carolina saddlebags cruised back and forth across the yard under a hazy blue sky. The mountain mint was as busy as a grocery before a hurricane, not that there is any weather forecast.  A sidewalk tiger beetle dashed into the shade. 

At twilight clouds flowed from the West while I failed to capture the twelve-spotted skimmers roving the air at treetop height.  The sky flickered with far off lightning but nothing came of it.  

Much greener

The rain revived everything.  A Carolina wren gobbled the rain-soaked crumbs of bark butter balls.

At lunch, the Halloween pennant was back atop the hackberry.  A couple of great crested flycatchers prowled through the trees.  They could have dined well on the bees and wasps that crowded the mountain mint.  Something stung me in the water. 

A yellow crowned night heron perched on a redwood limb and preened despite our presence.  Blue dashers, a slaty skimmer, and twelve-spotted skimmers hunted the tiny biters that wanted blood for their eggs.  A swallow flew over heading West in a hurry.

Rain at last!

A couple of titmice came for breakfast at the sunflower cafe.  Soon the mountain mint was covered with bees and wasps. A Halloween pennant returned to the dead twig on the hackberry.

Our thermometer claimed 102°F at noon.  The humidity was low and it was like breathing the air when you open the oven door.  The male widow skimmer was back on the perch they like. Wasps found the garden mint. 

Three buzzards circled over the creek in the late afternoon.  A saddlebags dragonfly circled quite low over us.  Bees and wasps were still hard at work. 

The rainstorm "popped up" after sundown, complete with thunder and lightning.  Waves of rain kept coming. 

Hawk

 An egret greeted the sun from a dock piling. I think the spider mites returned - webbing enmeshed the rue.  Some of yesterday's hibiscus flowers were still open. 

A Halloween pennant dragonfly perched on a dead twig at the top of the hackberry.  A Carolina wren sang in the dogwood.  A juvenile brown thrasher sifted through the leaf litter. 

The mountain mint hosted a wide variety of wasps and bees.  In the pool, a biting fly went after me for protein in the hope that rain would create breeding pools. 
K picked more blueberries and saw a hawk in the grass. I suspect it was after the brown thrasher but, thankfully, it was unsuccessful.  It perched on the fence long enough for some photos.  We heard thunder but got no rain.  The storm stayed over the southern part of the city.

101°

I saw what I thought was a giant swallowtail flit briefly above the rue.  It could have been a palamedes.  Dragonflies were thick - blue dashers on every possible observation post. The mountain mine was still popular with bees and wasps.  A male widow skimmer stole a bamboo stake perch from a blue dasher.  Two Halloween pennants rode the windy treetops.  An amberwing lurked in the grass. 

Two ospreys soared and called with their disconcertingly sweet voices.  I also glimpsed a night heron when it took off.  A hummer zipped in and out, leaving me unsure whether the nectar needed replacement.  I saved a spider, a wasp and several beetles. 

K reported the temperature on our home thermometer at mid day.  The afternoon cumulus puffs merged into a threatening overcast at sundown.  There was distant lightning and faint thunder.  Sunset managed to add a rosy blush to the gray clouds.  Dragonflies swarmed at treetop height while cicadas sawed and scraped.  Too bad it didn't rain. 

Not much

It was hot enough to melt the "no melt" bark butter.  A Carolina wren fed anyway.  Its partner didn't hang around.  A couple of blue jays, a brown thrasher, and a pine warbler, all wanted a free meal of bark butter balls.  A great crested flycatcher watched from across the pool.  An egret fished at low tide and an osprey flew to its favorite roost in the neighbor's pine.

A black swallowtail was attracted to the rue.  Bees and wasps crowded the mountain mint.  A Carolina saddlebags rode the dead hackberry twig.  A skink enjoyed the heat. 

Still hot

I couldn't remember the last day that stayed below 90°.  The no melt bark butter melted and spilled on the hibiscus.  But the heat may have brought out the insects at last.  I chased a tiger swallowtail with the camera to no avail.  Two buckeyes fed on the mountain mint and were occasionally harassed by the bees and wasps doing the same.  There were at least five great golden digger wasps, carpenter bees, leaf cutter bees, honeybees, scoliid and thread-waisted wasps.  I think I saw a syrphid fly too.

A Needham's skimmer posed on the back of a chair.  Blue dashers obelisked while waiting for the next bug.  Today's rescues included a small moth, an assassin bug nymph, and a wasp.  There were spiders, but they didn't cooperate.

Mostly arthropods

On the lake, a turtle awaited the sun.  Two buckeyes feasted on the mountain mint among the bees ans wasps.  Blue dashers stood guard.

I was on the computer too much, but finally got into the water.  There,I rescued a sidewalk tiger beetle and a horntail.  Both were slow to recover.  A spider rode a leaf so I let it be.  Instead, I wasted time trying to catch a dragonfly in mid air.  Finally I caught the twelve spotted skimmer.  A widow skimmer perched right behind me. 

A Carolina wren serenaded me.  A juvenile brown thrasher took a dust bath while another hunted bugs.  It appears that an immature brown thrasher's eyes are brown not yellow.  Down by the dock, a yellow-crowned night heron hunted crabs. 



.

Brown Thrashers

At lunch a Needham's skimmer perched near the feeder.  Later a buckeye butterfly visited the mountain mint.  It completely ignored the butterfly milkweed.  So did a fiery skipper.  And a black swallowtail was only interested in parsley. 

While I was in the pool (and appeared small and non-threatening) a parent brown thrasher taught two fledglings to hunt bugs.    The parent was also anting, I think, with feathers spread and a goofy expression. 

Dragonflies patrolled the sky and perched near the ground.  A mama spider took refuge just above the water line.  Sunset painted a golden haze that gradually turned rosy.  . 

Scorcher

Striking clouds cast shadows across the sky.  There were ten flowers on the hibiscus.  One had a beetle inside.  Blue dashers perched to wait for gnats.  A female pondhawk landed on a gladiolus leaf.  A Halloween pennant flew for the dead hackberry twig and other spotted dragonflies patrolled the air.  I swam in the morning shade, and rescued spiders, bees, wasps, beetles, and one stinkbug nymph.  I saw a mockingbird and a brown thrasher after the wild cherries.

Bat!

The hibiscus put out its first four blossoms.  The birds don't seem to have found the bark butter tub next to the hibiscus.  A goldfinch got a drink for the ant moat. 

I rescued a sidewalk tiger beetle and some bees and wasps.  The gusty wind caught them going to or from the mountain mint, I think.  A honeybee joined the crowd on the mountain mint.  I oiled the aphids on the milkweed. Twelve-spotted skimmers danced through the air scooping up bugs.  I saw a duskywing on the daisies but it saw me and left.  A tattered male slaty skimmer rested on a perch. 

I startled a couple of skinks but didn't get pictures. A brown thrasher was very noticeable as it hunted for bugs.  It struggled with the feeder for bark butter balls.  Blue jays had it easier but a crow worked hardest of all.  I had not been aware of how red the inside of a crow's beak was, unless the bird was injured.

About a quarter to 9pm, a bat flitted overhead three times, unless there were three bats.  It was well past sundown, cloudless, but not quite dark enough for stars.  Fireflies were everywhere.  The waning moon would not rise till much later. 

Fay-less

Tropical Storm Fay passed us by and hurried on to New Jersey.  Not one drop of the 3-4 inches fell on us.  It was breezy and there were more clouds than usual, and that was it here.  I put out a tub of bark butter thinking it would endure rain better than the balls, but instead we had heat.  I expect a half dozen hibiscus blossoms tomorrow. 

Three female house finches argued over a turn at the seeds.  Not only did one hog the perch, one of the two that wanted a turn chased off the other.  Siblings?  A Carolina wren investigated all the feeders. 

A monarch butterfly finally found the milkweed.  It seemed to have a strong preference for one I grew from seed, either Asclepias syriaca (common) or Asclepias incarnata (swamp).  It ignored the butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa. It also ignored a milkweed that had aphids. 

There were dragonflies but I think they were all blue dashers, mostly obelisking.  The mountain mint attracted leaf cutter, carpenter and bumblebees, scoliid and digger wasps, and an all-black bee a little bigger than a honeybee. I rescued two sidewalk tiger beetles a ground beetle, and several ungrateful spiders. One with babies onboard hung onto the bug she'd sucked dry.  I felt something creepy which turned out to be a half-grown grasshopper. 

A little green heron paused on the end of thedock before hopping down to the floating dock out of sight.  Something made bubbles rise in the creek as it reflected tinted clouds at sunset. 

Waiting for the storm

Clouds streamed off the ocean, cooling the temperature.  A brown thrasher was very busy hunting a meal. A couple of green (female) pondhawks maintained social distance as they waited for prey.  Once they went for the same bug.   A small sulphur butterflybe flitted past me and over the house.  A small all-black bee worked on the mountain mint.  A robber fly lurked on the hibiscus.  I rescued a sidewalk tiger beetle and a leaf-footed bug nymph. 

Not so hot

Titmice were hungry for breakfast.  So was a hummer.  Then the blue jays came. 

A gloriously golden Needham's skimmer was perched on a bamboo stake at lunch time.  The twig atop the hackberry was unoccupied.  In the afternoon there were blue dashers everywhere.  A great golden digger wasp, a  carpenter bee, and a little leaf cutter bee worked on the mountain mint. 

I picked blueberries till the sweat ran.  This annoyed the birds.  What annoyed me was all the berries with just one peck.  I don't begrudge the birds eating whole berries, but why ruin so many?  A male bluebird visited the bark butter balls. 

The setting sun blushed the clouds and made a lovely reflection in the creek. 

Bird cherries

A female goldfinch visited briefly.   Blue jays played a game of trying to get bark butter balls without getting photographed.  This time I won, mostly.   A female bluebird had to wait for the blue jays to finish.  Brown thrashers competed with the blue jays but were too awkward on the feeder to get much.  They spent more time with the cherries. 

I didn't know that American wild black cherries belonged to the Padus sub-genus of Prunus called bird cherries.  Apparently the birds knew. The mint has begun to bloom so maybe I will see some hairstreaks.  A great golden digger wasp fussed over the mountain mint.  A Carolina saddlebags perched on the dead hackberry twig.  Blue dashers operated from the bamboo stakes I put out for them.  So did a female widow skimmer.  A common whitetail preferred the new mulch. 

The coral honeysuckle was still flowering, though not in the profusion of Spring.  I wonder if the hummingbirds visit it?  The flowers on the beautyberry seemed bigger this year.  A cardinal took a sunbath, maybe an ant treatment, in the domestic cherry, Prunus avium, sub-genus Cerasus, that grew from a random spit pit. 

I went down to the dock to see the yard from a different perspective.  A mockingbird was at work in the cherry closest to the water.  Virginia creeper was running rampant all over the cherry tree but I don't think its berries were ripe.  The cardinal, or another, popped up in that tree too.   

A dragonfly with spotted wings cruised low over the creek, paralleling the shore.  I saw lots of mud crab holes and a couple of dead crabs, but none living.  I did see wasps gathering mud and possibly digging holes.  Back at the pool I rescued a metallic-green bee.  A green grasshopper nymph climbed the chair I was sitting in but I could not find the right focal length. 

Mulch arrived

A male goldfinch made a brief appearance.   A brown thrasher tried to get a bark butter ball, rudely shoving a bluebird away.  Later I saw a Carolina wren grab one.  A chickadee, however. needed to peck off pieces first. 

A skink climbed the bricks behind the grill.  Dragonflies were energized by the heat. 

Lote of birds

The ripe wild cherries attracted mockingbirds that normally avoid the backyard. The beautyberry began blooming. 

Time slipped by

I took pictures but I didn't make time to look at them till now.

July 2: A black swallowtail found the parsley despite the dragon(fly) guarding it.  Mallards had their vacay on the dock.  The sakaki bloomed and hummed with bees and rained spent flowers.  Gladiolus sent up more spears to replace the flowers broken by the rain.  Some wild cherries were ripe.  I think I saw a brown thrasher feeding on them.  The male bluebird posed in the late afternoon sunlight.  I did not get a picture of the two little green herons along the shoreline that K flushed. 

July 3: I went out a little after midnight to look at the night sky.  Jupiter trailed the moon.  At lunch, I saw a blue jay preening.The butterfly milkweed started blooming.  No sign of a bud on any of the other milkweeds.  Papa bluebird was hanging around again.  I rescued what I thought were a couple of assassin bug nymphs but was to late for several more, also for two skinklets.  Matching photos suggests the bugs were leaf-footed bugs, Acanthocephala terminalis.  To me they look like qheuens, an alien species in David Brin's Uplift series.  I also saved a firefly.  A squirrel got into the wild cherries and I found a patch of eggs on a cherry leaf.   

July 4: Another hot, sunny day brought out a few butterflies.  I saw a tiger swallowtail, a cabbage white, and a red admiral.  Blue jays came for bark butter balls.  The orange double daylilies joined the daisies.  While in the pool, I noticed an orange bluet damselfly on the concrete.  A blue jay left a small, bright feather. Illegal fireworks reigned from dusk to about 10:30pm.  I did see the rising moon and Jupiter.  

Deluge!

Around 5pm, rain fell much too fast for the ditches and culverts to handle.  Pembroke Boulevard flooded.