Brighter and drier

There was sunshine, but also a thin layer of cloud.  After two wet days, the little biters were out and so were the dragonflies.  It was hard to persuade the camera to focus on them and not the background.  I think they were all great blue skimmers.  A tiger swallowtail popped up out of the foliage right outside the window and I wasn't fast enough.  Later I saw a black swallowtail. 

Eight turtles lined the logs on the lake to catch the sunshine.  A yellow crowned night heron prowled the shoreline downhill from me.  

The birds finished the suet so I put the last block out and also some barkbutter balls.  A Carolina wren hammered at the balls.  I am not buying more suet.  

Damp and dreary

The rain trailed off into chilly mist and drizzle and the temperature barely reached 60.  Birds were famished.  Three crows gathered at the suet but fled as soon as we saw each other.  I photographed the female red bellied woodpecker and the female bluebird, but the mist was too thick.  The orange daylily picked this weather to bloom. 

The air cleared a little and I was able to capture the brown thrashers, one on the suet and one below.  Carolina wrens and blue jays followed and the woodpeckers and bluebirds returned.  I went out to clear some debris and caught a brown thrasher on the gable peak.  

Real rain at last

I was busy in the morning and the rain began after lunch so I never got outside.  K said the temperature in the morning peaked at 85°, but it dropped to 65° during the afternoon.  In lulls between bands of rain, the birds rushed to the feeders.  I think the hummer feeder must have flooded because a female left after just a second. 

Downy and red bellied woodpeckers couldn't stay away from the suet.  I couldn't identify one soaking wet black bird.  Two white breasted nuthatches braved the rain for seeds and suet.  One tried to share with a downy but it didn't work out.  A sodden blue jay gleaned fragments on the ground below the sued cage.  The bluebirds and brown thrashers were the only birds that didn't look like they'd fallen into a bucket. 

The day was so dark that half of my pictures were blurs.  And the rain came from the North so the windows were wet.  

Dragonflies

Titmice breakfasted at the Sunflower Seed Cafe.  Brown thrashers wanted something meatier and found it in the suet cage.  It appeared to me that one was dropping morsels to the other.  Fat cumulus clouds blew in but just kept going.  

Big dragonflies zoomed past me heading into the South wind which lifted them over the house.  Great blue skimmers perched and let me get photographs.  

A magnolia jumping spider joined me as I shelled peas.  I got a better photo of the spider with the enlarged front legs.   I saw another ground crab spider - genus Xysticus is as close as I can get though I actually located matching photos.

Along with spiders and beetles, I rescued a big wasp that I think may have been a young cicada killer, but the ungrateful critter left without a photo.  A honeybee worked on the rue which might make for some strange tasting honey.  Then the first great golden digger wasp of the year showed up on the rue. 

A great egret fished under the bulkhead.  A yellow crowned night heron flew over my head.  Spittlebugs found the pink evening primrose.  

 

Hot and hazy

Today was cooler, though still hot and the breeze was pleasant.  Dragonflies didn't really get active till twilight.  A black swallowtail passed through without stopping.  I rescued several spiders including another with enlarged front legs.  Also innumerable black beetles, a pine borer that flashed its metallic blue-green butt, and an earwig, I think.  I also saw a skink race across the patio.  Bluebirds found the suet in its new location and, indeed, found the chair convenient.  Eventually, a titmouse and Carolina wrens located the suet.  Two egrets flew North at dusk. 

One lavender plant was blooming but the other looked dead.  Peppers were beginning to swell.  The false indigo was blooming and the cilantro bolted into lacy flowers.  I saw buds on the fresias and the lilies.  The milkweed in the front yard seemed a little droopy but much bigger than the one in the back yard.  All sorts of odd leaves popped up where I planted "fairy garden" seeds, basically small flowering plants.  The purple leatherflower vine has had a couple of blossoms though the purple was mighty pale.  

Scorcher!

A stiff Southwest wind pushed the temperature to at least 97° and drove the water out of the creek.  Low tide was as low as I can remember, though the full moon was partly responsible.  considering the heat, I was grateful for the breeze.  The two-gosling goose family came to graze but I told them they were unwelcome.  I rescued a honeybee, a bumblebee, a tiny green bee, several spiders, innumerable black ground beetles, and a ladybird beetle, but they all left before I got the camera.  Cumulus clouds occasionally passed in front of the sun, casting shadows on the sky.  

A great blue skimmer hunted tiny biting insects.  A dark butterfly flew away under the trees.  A rusty-backed carpenter bee fed on the rue.  A female hummer rejected the sugar water and no wonder - when K took the feeder down we discovered nasty, black guano splattered over it.  When I tried to disassemble if for washing, it broke.  I have more feeders but I need enough to keep rotating them.  

A Carolina wren peeked at me from behind vegetation.  Then a bluebird landed on the top of the maple tree.  The wren went for the empty barkbutter dish.  So did the bluebird.  K walked outside and interrupted their confrontation.  

Amazingly, 97° was not a record.  The thermometer hit 98° on this date in 1880.  

Overcast

Yet another day when I was too busy and the weather wasn't particularly pleasant.  The temperature was mild but more humid and the sky was overcast most of the day.  It even rained in the morning.  A bluebird, a brown thrasher, and a red bellied woodpecker all haunted the empty feeders but I got no photos.  I took the feeders down because people were going to be on the patio.  In the evening the sun cracked through the clouds and I got a look at the lake where a great blue heron stood watch over turtles.  

Wind change

 Apparently that cloud yesterday was a harbinger of weather on the way.  The temperature went steadily down.  Clouds flowed out of the Northeast.  And in the afternoon there was even some rain. I had meetings but in between, I saw no activity s there is nothing to show.  

Temperature in the 90s

Today was a scorcher but I spent much of it in a meeting.  During the meeting a big fish jumped, or fell from the sky. I just barely missed it.  When I dashed outside to swim I left the camera behind so I'd have one less thing to keep track of.  I didn't see much, just an interesting beetle that I think was a Mottled Tortoise Beetle.  I rescued a spider and couple of ground beetles. 

An egret fished in the late afternoon and a yellow crowned night heron crabbed in the evening.  The night heron then walked uphill to meet a companion.  Unfortunately they saw me, but the light was failing anyway.  

Curiously, a sunset-tinted cumulus cloud blew out of the North despite the heat down on the ground.  

Pool weather

The day was hot and cloudy, perfect for swimming, but I was in an all day meeting.  I turned my back on it long enough to see a yellow crowned night heron crabbing under the bulkhead.  The low tide and placid creek were in the bird's favor but it had no luck while I watched.

In the evening I did get some pool time.  A Carolina wren investigated every feeder.  I don't think it was pleased that the suet was empty.  A bluebird perched on the bathroom vent to survey his territory.  Two titmice risked visits to the seed feeder while I sat nearby.  A hummer checked out the feeder, then perched on a dead dogwood branch, but it was too fast for me.  A brown thrasher was too wary to get any barkbutter balls, even though they were farther from me than the seeds.  It waited in the dogwood for me to leave. 

A spider crossed the patio in short dashes to hang out by the door.  It had thick front legs like claws.  There was no sign of fireflies yet. 

Temperature dropped

It was a beautiful blue-sky day but too cool to get into cold water.  A Carolina wren drank from the ant moat in the hummer feeder.  The pair of wrens were busy around the feeders all day.  Geese came calling twice, uninvited.  I ran them off, but not before they fertilized the grass. 

Suet eaters behaved like they were starving.  Even crows, blue jays, and brown thrashers attempted to eat from the cage.  Of course the woodpeckers were better equipped to do that.  And the starlings and bluebirds managed.  

Blueberries were getting fat thanks to K's watering.  A magnolia tree was blooming.  Toward evening, I finally caught one of the speedy little brown headed nuthatches on camera.  It was after seeds as there was no suet left at all.  

Hot sun, cold water

The sky was thickly hazed and pale.  A pair of goldfinches came for a drink from the ant moat.  (An ant photobombed.)  A dark butterfly, possibly a dark morph tiger swallowtail, flitted around the cherry but later I saw a black swallowtail on the rue, so maybe not.  Also flitting about was that small, pale butterfly again.  I saw a red admiral as I was shelling peas.  

I saved one wasp and a dozen beetles from the water. They were all black ground beetles except for one spotless ladybird.  That finished the camera battery.  As I was coming up the steps to get a fresh battery, I surprised a blue tailed skink chasing a moth.  The skink reared up its full three inches but the moth escaped.  It would have made a wonderful photo.  

At supper, a squirrel nearly fell into the pool trying to get a drink.  Brown headed nuthatches made repeated visits to the seed feeder but they were too fast for me.  

Chilly water

Bluebirds, the brown thrasher pair, a Carolina wren, a starling, and of course downy woodpeckers visited the suet.  Cardinals and chickadees preferred sunflower seeds.  A female hummer made a short stop at her feeder.  The mockingbird ran through its repertoire while hidden in the pecan tree. 

The thermometer said the water was 74°.  I rescued a spider and a tan weevil.  An osprey flew over.  A small, pale butterfly flitted among the trees about twenty feet up.  I'm guessing it was some kind of azure or hairstreak.  Wasps bustled around the rue, the birdbath, and the gutter. 

While I was in the front yard the rabbit hopped past me, again headed for the neighbors' yard.  The pepper plants were flowering and starting peppers.  Lots of seeds came up but it looks like only one sort germinated.  

Getting warmer

The season has moved on from irises to day lilies.  It has been dry too - all the excess rain in February was counterbalanced by the lack of rain the last several weeks.  K has been watering the blueberries.  We installed another cake of suet and bluebirds came flying.  

A tiger swallowtail danced around the trees and a dragonfly made passes over the grass.  Wasps and flies were more plentiful.  A cabbage white actually posed.  So did a chickadee.  And a hummer finally came to the feeder.  

Lost day

I had almost no time for the delights of nature today.  In fact, I didn't get a single picture till after supper when I went outside and admired the clouds.  While outside, I spotted a rabbit coming from our blueberry patch headed into the neighbors' yard.  Alas, the fence was in the way.  

Much the same

Clouds gathered in the late afternoon. Crows gathered every time there was a chance at food.  A squirrel tried to get into the fort Knox of sunflower seeds.  A persistent, and omnivorous,  Carolina wren hung around all day sampling every feeder, except the hummers'.  Bluebirds, brown thrashers, blue jays, and even cardinals helped themselves to barkbutter balls.  A red bellied woodpecker refused to come that close to me. 

Lots of paper wasps were busy, and thirsty.  I saw a couple of dragonflies and a few butterflies, including a pearl crescent and a couple of shouts dancing in the air.  An ant hoisted a large fragment of something pale up the side of the oak tree. 

The crescent moon was visible in the afternoon but thin clouds made it tricky to photograph.  

Hot sun, cool breeze

A pine warbler came for suet but settled for barkbutter balls.  Starlings and crows had the same idea. The birds finished off the suet so I switched to barkbutter balls.   Two bluebirds got in a fight over the dish.  The barkbutter also attracted brown thrashers, blue jays and a Carolina wren.

A green heron flew downstream squawking. An egret stalked along the bulkhead and the green heron flew back upstream.  A cormorant and a turtle shared a log. 

I saw a couple of skinks.  A female great blue skimmer used one of the perches.  I also saw wasps and a ladybird beetle. Since I had taken advantage of the weaker wind to spray neem oil on the mountain mint and other plants that were infested with spider mites last year, the insects didn't hang around.  I also sprayed the hibiscus sprouts to ward off sawflies.  

The butterflies seemed to prefer treetops anyway.  There were tiger swallowtails, a cabbage white, a much smaller pale butterfly, and a dark orange butterfly.  A black swallowtail caterpillar munched on parsley

Busy

A male hummingbird paid a very brief visit to the fresh juice.  I hope the reason he left so quickly was the feral cat's appearance in the yard, and not the quality of the sugar water.  

A brown thrasher got bumped from the suet by a red bellied woodpecker.  Then a starling took over.  

While I was pulling some weeds a female bluebird landed on the suet about three feet from my head.  I don't know if she was so hungry she didn't notice me or if I've finally blended in as nonthreatening. 

Clear skies

The creek was calm in the morning.  I hung the block of suet first thing.  A brown thrasher was up for a suet breakfast.  But so was a starling.  I even caught a cardinal abandoning the sunflower seeds for a peck at the suet. 

In the afternoon, I saw an egret fishing.  The creek surface was full of little waves going every which way.  A Carolina wren heard about the suet.  Bluebirds were back along with brown thrashers.  One of the brown thrashers was quite thirsty.  

Dreary

There's nothing evening about the pink evening primroses.  They were open at breakfast.  An overcast persisted till after 6pm when the setting sun finally got a break.  Some un-forecasted rain fell and the air stayed chilly and dank all day.  

I never had a chance to take any barkbutter balls out or replace the suet block.  Bluebirds, starlings, and crows landed on the empty cage.  A red bellied woodpecker went for the soggy remains of the barkbutter.  Brown thrashers found crumbs on the patio. 

Beautiful day

The female bluebird headed to the suet first thing.  I finally caught the pine warbler on the suet.  It was followed by a yellow rumped warbler, then a starling.  The male bluebird got a turn too.  An overcast sky didn't last but it was a little cool and breezy for comfort even in the afternoon.  

The brown thrashers foraged together.  Two tiger swallowtails danced together and later an orange butterfly zipped across the yard but the only butterfly I got a photo of was a cabbage white.  A bumblebee investigated a rose.  A paper wasp found the rue.  

Rain at last

May was remarkably dry till today and today's rain was not heavy.  Morning was gloomy but the afternoon dried out.  A yellow bird that I think was a pine warbler came early for suet.  I saw it yesterday as well.  The female red bellied woodpecker followed.  That meant the bluebirds had to wait.  

A couple of starlings showed up for lunch.  Then the male red belly.  The birds all looked a little wet and bedraggled.  

Hot wind

Bluebirds were around all day.  I can't tell if they started a nest because they both seem to spend a lot of time eating.  The female froze on the suet as though she saw a hawk.  All three woodpecker species came for suet at least once.  The brown thrasher pair also came to feed together.  Their fierce-looking eyes don't reflect their behavior.  They give way to smaller birds.  The suet was only a nubbin in the morning and gone by noon.  

The first daylily bloomed.  It was nearly the same yellow as the nearby iris so at first I didn't notice.  I also found a sprout of butterfly milkweed.  The pink evening primrose flowers danced in the wind all day.  Two adult geese with two goslings tried to encroach again.  I hustled them downhill. 

I saw a yellow and brown swallowtail fly past the rue, probably a palamedes but maybe a giant.  A tiger swallowtail, a cabbage white, and something brownish were also flitting around.  So were wasps, bees and dragonflies.  I rescued a small bee.  A gorgeous dragonfly landed in the dogwood and dangled from a twig for as long as I watched.  It was a swamp darner, Epiaeschna heros. 

I put out a new block of suet and the pileated woodpecker noticed.  I was outside at the time so I used the screen on the camera to avoid looking at her directly.  It worked quite well except that I had a tendency to tilt the camera.  Crows were also around all day.  Two of them seemed to be courting but others looked like they were arguing.  

Toward the end of the afternoon, two migrants descended on the suet.  One was a yellow rumped warbler, Setophaga coronata, and the other a chipping sparrow, Spizella passerina, albeit in non-breeding plumage.  Actually, the sparrow might be local but I think it was just making a pit stop.  The final visitor of the day was a white breasted nuthatch.  However, my one photo of it was pretty poor.  

Still windy

The wind has been nearly non-stop for ten days.  At first I hoped it might blow some new birds our way, but now I think it's keeping birds grounded.  I saw two small butterflies dancing in the air.  I never know whether it is a mating dance or war.  Some dragonflies caught the sun as they zipped over the pool. 

Crows kept sneaking into the yard to get suet but they refused to let me take pictures.  Bluebirds and brown thrashers didn't act so guilty.  A red bellied woodpecker made a bluebird wait for suet.  A blue jay looked for fallen crumbs before making an attempt on the suet. 

Flies

The sun lit up birds on the suet at breakfast.  First a female bluebird had her fill.  Then a brown thrasher took a turn.  The bluebird pair came back for another helping.  Roses were fully open.  The pink evening primroses seemed to have multiplied overnight.  And hibiscus sprouts emerged.  So had just one milkweed plant. 

A bluetailed skink crossed the step and disappeared before I had the camera ready.  But the brown thrashers and bluebirds returned so I hadn't wasted the effort.  After lunch, I was finishing the newspaper when there was a gosling invasion.  After I met them on the West side they circled around to the East.  This time I remembered to hiss and they didn't come back.  

I saw a couple of ladybird beetles on violet leaves.  One was being harassed by a tiny, red long-legged fly, some Condylostylus species, I think.  I missed it but got a picture of a slightly larger green one.  I also got what I'm guessing was a small, black deer fly.  Then I found another narcissus bulb fly.  This one was actually laying eggs, I think.  I had thought that because it looked like a bee it was a bee fly, a parasite on bee larva, but I guess the mimicry is defensive. 

Meanwhile the sun was barely visible through a thick white overcast.  Crows were having a fit over a hawk I barely glimpsed in flight away from their racket.  

In the evening's poor light I believe I saw a white breasted nuthatch.  Cardinals were courting again.  A titmouse claimed some suet.  Brown thrashers were back for a bedtime snack.  After dark a light sprinkle finally fell.

Back to Spring

The high today was about twenty-five degrees lower than yesterday.   But it was a lovely day.  More perching dragonflies appeared including a female great blue skimmer.  A tiger swallowtail circled the cherry tree. Something landed on the window that I thought might be a lacewing. 

The brown thrasher pair foraged together.  Who's watching the eggs? A hungry titmouse hammered sunflower seeds.  Bluebirds pecked the suet.  Toward evening, a shaft of sunlight gilded a money plant.  

Still hot

The male red bellied woodpecker got up for a suet breakfast.  Much later, I heard one fussing in the trees because I was too close to the suet. 

The painted skimmer was back briefly at lunchtime.  I saw a tiger swallowtail fluttering around the wild cherry and a dark swallowtail that just kept going.  The brown thrasher pair foraged for suet crumbs while bluebirds went to the source.  Blue jays pecked at the remains of barkbutter balls. 

Since the temperature was predicted to drop back to normal after today, I made sure to get another afternoon in the pool.  This time I only rescued a few small black beetles.  Dragonflies zoomed past but didn't pause to be identified, much less photographed.  The sky was quite blue with lots of cottony cumulus.  And it was still windy.  When I came in, the pileated woodpecker landed on the post right behind me. I tried to ignore her but she spooked anyway.  

In the late afternoon, I heard a mockingbird again.  A bluebird perched on a vent pipe looked over his shoulder to where crows set up a racket.  If there was a predator, it didn't come our way.  Wasps and syrphid flies were attracted to the rue flowers.  A silver spotted skipper hid behind a rose leaf.  Cabbage whites flitted around like nothing was good enough for them.  A buzzard circled overhead. 

By evening menacing clouds covered the sky.  Dragonflies zipped across my field of view without the directional changes they make when hunting.  A crane fly brushed past me.  In between the low dark clouds I could see higher clouds turning sunset colors.  The stormy-looking clouds just kept moving past without a drop of rain falling.  But I think the temperature was falling because the wind began to feel chilly so I came inside.  

H O T

At lunchtime, a painted skimmer dragonfly. Libellula semifasciata, used one of my stakes as a perch.  

The temperature went over 90°, breaking the record, so I got in the pool which was only 72°.  I rescued numerous black beetles and a few wasps.  One wasp rescued itself, climbing the vertical pool liner.  An earwig rafted on a leaf but I couldn't reach it.  A black bee was alive when I rescued it but appeared dead when I checked on it later.  As I stood there, a big skink popped out of the flower bed and then saw me .  Instead of going back into the plants, the lizard sneaked around me along the edge of the the pool.  The bee never did revive. 

Two pairs of cardinals disputed possession of the seed feeder.  Bluebirds also acted territorial, and one seemed to be panting in the heat. A red bellied woodpecker gave up on the suet to get away from the feuding cardinals.  I heard a mockingbird run through its repertoire up in the pecan, but I never saw it.  I did see a green heron that I startled.  

I saw several spiders.  The first was a jumper that I think had been rafting on the first beetle I rescued.  Then I fished a crab spider out of the water and it menaced me.  Finally, another spider was waiting at the door to the house.  it scuttled off looking rather guilty, I thought.  Apparently it was a "stealthy ground spider, Cesonia bilineata, so maybe I was right.  I took a handful of photos of a silver spotted skipper on the money plant and not a single one came out right. 

Gray with sprinkles

The wind was not calm but it wasn't as strong as it has been for the last several days.  The brown thrashers finally posed.  I took a picture of the first rose and was surprised to see an ant.  The tide was quite low considering the third quarter moon.  But I didn't see any crabs.  A great egret took advantage of the shallow water.  The male red bellied woodpecker tried out the new suet.  So did starlings.  

 

White sky

The temperature was back up in the 80s but the wind still blew the heat away.  The sun shone despite the thin cloud cover. I saw the first monarch butterfly of the year, but I didn't get a picture.  Of course there were cabbage whites flitting around as well.  The pileated woodpecker was back and this time I made a movie! 

I saw the pretty red and yellow paper wasp, Polistes exclamans.  It had hold of one of the first instar black swallowtail caterpillars.  Later I saw a darker wasp hunting caterpillars on the rue.  A ladybird beetle rafted on a dogwood leaf.  Probably the wind dumped them both in the water.  I got photos of a snout butterfly but they weren't very good. 

The Carolina wren was still playing hard-to-see.  The brown thrashers were coy too.  And even the blue jays seemed determined to frustrate me.  A broad-headed skink, Plestiodon laticep, moved too fast for me, but finally paused for one photo.  It had a fine, long tail that looked original.  

Still windy

The feeders were quiet at breakfast, then I was gone all morning, shopping for bird food. Temperatures fell back to the typical range for this time of year, thanks to the wind shifting around to the Northwest.  The sky was the crystalline blue of low humidity but the wind was still fierce.  Big green dragonflies didn't care and I still didn't get a picture of one. Or of a wren for that matter.  Right after the camera battery ran down, I saw movement by the fence which turned out to be the catbird, again out in the open.  It even visited the patio at suppertime, very unusual behavior for a catbird.  I saw an orange-brown butterfly, tiger swallowtails, and a red spotted purple. 

The pink evening primrose started blooming.  I had one sickly-looking stalk last year but a couple dozen sprouted up this Spring.  I read that it can be invasive so I hope the spot is confined enough.  Nothing else wanted to grow there anyway.  I'd rather have the yellow native but no one sells that.  I finally got a skink.  The odd little black bee with what I assume were yellow pollen packs explored a different expansion joint in the concrete.   I hunted for other bugs and found what appeared to be a small tattered roach.  A black wasp rafted on a cluster of leaves.  An earthworm was out in the sun on the concrete seemingly headed for the water.  I dumped it back on the dirt.  It did not behave with gratitude. 

Blue jays were glad I replenished the barkbutter balls.  Bluebirds seemed more interested in the last of the suet block.  The pileated woodpecker returned to the suet in the afternoon.  She wiped her beak on the post then seemed to rub her cheek there too.  The cardinal on the seed feeder was dwarfed by the woodpecker and seemed a little alarmed.  After the pileated was gone, the red bellied woodpecker took a turn on the suet.  We'll see what they think of the cheaper suet I bought today.