Hibiscus heat

The hibiscus began blooming today.    I saw a black swallowtail but I didn't try to get a picture.  Many bees and wasps fed on the mountain mint as did a brown butterfly, probably a duskywing.  A hummer visited the feeder.  The asters were full of flowers.  Sunset was streaked with orange. 

Hairstreak

The sky was hazy with clouds but the mountain mint was buzzing with activity.  A red banded hairstreak,Calycopis cecrops, caught my attention.  It was very methodical in feeding unlike the bees and wasps that were constantly shifting to another flower.  Also, it was not intimidated by bees that were much bigger. 

One hungry visitor to the feeders was a blue jay, another was a titmouse.  The male hummer visited but I only caught him speeding away.  I saw another hummer search for nectar in the gladiolus flowers.  

Dragonflies

The temperature dropped back to a comfortable level.  It was a good day for dragonflies.  A female great blue skimmer used one of my bamboo stake perches while wasps and bees zoomed around the mountain mint.  In the front yard, a male widow skimmer used the trellis as a resting spot.  

A female bluebird observed from atop the post.  She looked quite disheveled from molting.  The male hummer flew right up to the glass door as though to tell us something but I suspect the bird was reacting to his reflection.  A female settled in on the feeder with no such nonsense.  

Hummer!

A female great blue skimmer used the perch outside my window.  Later I found a blue dasher there.  An amberwing used the rue as a perch in the gusty wind.  Bees and wasps roamed the tops of the mountain mint.  A fiery skipper left when I noticed it.  I rescued the first sidewalk tiger beetle of the season along with innumerable May beetles

Three titmice came for seeds at breakfast.  The male hummer came for lunch but always had his head down when the shutter clicked.  He came back at suppertime.   Finally, he posed just as the rain began.  The dim light made his throat more orange than ruby.  A mockingbird wanted a bedtime snack. 

 

 

Breezy

There was an early morning fog and under it the creek was as smooth as glass. The gang of four crows came back and one found the barkbutter balls I'd left on the ground for the bird.  A brown headed nuthatch visited the seed feeder.  

The day got hot but the wind kept me from noticing.  I rescued a great many scarab beetles. One was much larger than the others.  When I moved it into a better location for pictures, it retaliated by mooning me.  I also saved a furious honeybee.  A great golden digger wasp was at work on the mountain mint.  A bumblebee worked on the asters. 

Blue sky

I missed the shade relief of passing clouds, especially downtown.  The ankle-biting fly ambushed me again and sent me dripping indoors.  I needed to put a fresh hummer feeder out because they were turning up their beaks at what's out there.  We're up to two pints of blueberries but some aren't quite ripe and need to be cooked.  A blue jay sneaked a barkbutter ball.  A female goldfinch didn't find anything to her liking.  A squirrel tried to break into the feeder.  A blue dasher perched on the feeder hanger.  An amberwing perched among the mountain mint stalks that were busy with wasps. 

Blueberries

A very pleasant day followed the rain.  Chickadees were everywhere.  The cherries weren't ripe but I picked a pint of blueberries before a fly tried to bite me on the ankle.  I left many more pints' worth of berries behind.  The bite or sting on my neck is all the wound I need.  A great golden digger wasp found the mountain mint.  Twelve-spotted dragonflies patrolled at tree height and I glimpsed a mating pair of saddlebags zipping past.  A snout butterfly discovered the mountain mint.  I found a brown stink bug on a railing.  Yellow aphids infested the milkweed. 

Rainy day

There were lulls in the rain, but they didn't last long.  Bluebirds took advantage of the interludes to get mushy food from the lower, and slightly protected, hanging dish.  The daylilies valiantly bloomed despite the rain. 

At lunch a yellow crowned night heron fished under the bulkhead.  Three squirrels cautiously scavenged under the seed feeder with only a few squabbles.  They looked young and might have been siblings.  One ran up the post to get away and then got interested in the seed feeder.  Unfortunately, that was when a hummer chose to visit.  The bird didn't like the proximity of the squirrel and flew away.  

That was just as well because the squirrel lost its footing on the wet feeder and fell off.  The "equal and opposite reaction" caused the ant moat to slosh all over the hummer feeder.  Rain soon refilled the ant moat.  Apparently the new feeder had a good seal because a later visitor found the contents acceptable.  The rain finally stopped after 4pm and there was even some late sunshine.  

Needed rain

The yard people came in the morning so I stayed inside.  Several brief, light showers passed through in the afternoon.  I decided to swim anyway an rescued lots of insects that had been blown into the water.  I fished out more scarabs than ground beetles plus one small brown click beetle that performed its click jump.  Some of the scarabs were Japanese beetles which I did not save.  Others were brown May beetles and paler beetles that might have been shining leaf chafers.  I also saved a couple of wasps and at least three bumblebees and one spider.  But on account of the showers I left the camera indoors.  Then after 6pm a thunderstorm drenched us.  It got as dark as twilight two hours before sunset.  

Solstice

As I ate a late breakfast, so did a hummer.   The aster began blooming.  An odd-looking bee, black with a pale abdomen, preferred the mountain mint.  I saved many beetles including several scarabs with copper-colored legs and undersides and lined wing covers.  My best guess is that the were shining leaf chafers Anomala binotata.  There was also a Japanese beetle which I did not rescue.  A few wasps and a bumblebee also got lucky.  

Birds began to be interested in the cherries, or were they after bugs?   The photo I got looks like the tail of a great crested flycatcher.  After I got out of the water, a mockingbird landed on the mealworm feeder.  I didn't have my camera with me when we came out of the temple, but there was a beautiful sunset of orange cloud shreds and swallows were flying and calling.   

Still cool

The goldfinches have been dropping by daily.  Mockingbirds have also become recent regulars.  The daylilies have put on an impressive show this Spring and there are still many buds for Summer.  

Dragonflies found my perch convenient.  My view of the lake was no longer obstructed so I could see turtles.  A cormorant preened.  Goslings were beginning to look like small adult geese.  

A venusta orchard spider constructed an orb web outside my window, presumably to take advantage of my light attracting insects after dark.  Leatherwing soldier beetles were more attracted to the mountain mint, at least by day, when they could get a meal and find a mate there. 

Cool Juneteenth

The male goldfinch glowed in the sunlight, so why did the camera focus on the vegetation in the background?   Red flowered gladiolus spears spread out from the feeder post.  A male bluebird helped himself to some barkbutter balls.  The hummingbird feeder was a success. 

The breeze was colder than the water in the pool.  Lots of leaf shreds and pine needles clogged the skimmer again but all I rescued was a few beetles.  A couple of brown damselflies perched on the pool rim waiting for prey.  A leafcutter bee industriously pollinated the butterfly milkweed.  Leatherwing beetles abandoned the parsley for the mountain mint.  A potter wasp was also attracted to the mountain mint.  I tried again to photograph dragonflies in flight.  Oh well.

Windy

A mockingbird and bluebirds wanted a refill on the barkbutter balls.  A hummer approved of the fresh juice.  I believe I saw the male.

I spent about four hours on the South side of Mt. Trashmore where anything not weighted down went flying.  Kites were flying too and I spotted one dragonfly.  

After I got home, I picked blueberries.  The crape myrtle began blooming.  A couple of peppers started to grow.   I seem to have missed most of the lilies and something apparently broke the white lily stalk.  The sakaki buds began opening and perfuming the air. 

Scorcher

The thermometer was stuck at 99° for hours.  A dragonfly perched on the topmost pine candle.  It might have been a bar-winged skimmer.  I found the gladiolus at the far end of the pool.  Goslings paraded up the creek.  While in the pool I rescued a bumblebee, innumerable beetles, and an earwig. 

I saw dragonflies in flight with spotted wings and wasted camera pixels trying to catch them.  A cicada started its buzz and woke the dog who looked all around for the source of the alarm.  An ant found a defunct beetle and proudly carried it off.  An egret stalked upstream along the bulkhead.  I saw a night heron fly over.  Either vegetation got in the way, or birds refused to pose today

As the fireflies came out, clouds covered the sky, then a little after 8pm, they turned yellow and orange and tore apart.  I thought the show was over and then fat raindrops began to fall.  Not long after I went inside, I started to hear thunder.  The temperature dropped twenty degrees.  

Cooler and humid

A rain shower freckled the pavement at breakfast.  Later I got in the pool and rescued a mama spider.  A blue dasher guarded us as we ate lunch outside but the sun drove us back indoors.  

Four crows tried to get at the rain-sodden, sun baked, barkbutter mush in the feeder.  I hustled some fresh barkbutter balls out but they didn't come back.  Blue jays, however, were enthusiastic. 

A leafcutter bee collected so much milkweed pollen, it almost doubled in size.  It was hassled by a syrphid fly but refused to budge.  A bumblebee and a scoliid wasp found the first flowers on the mountain mint.  

Rushing, rushing

I really missed the day except for the meeting that was outdoors.  But I did see a white breasted nuthatch visit the seed feeder.  Bluebirds came for barkbutter balls.  Goldfinches for water.  And a hummer hovered at the feeder.  A glittering dragonfly perched outside the window.  

And yet more rain

The replacement dock by the dam occupies the whole view.  A mallard drake ignored it while he preened on a more congenial dock.  The ground cherry began blooming.  Mallards were the main wildlife I saw, though I saved some beetles.  The day ended in a pretty pink and blue sunset.  

More rain

The goldfinch pair showed up while my back was turned and when I turned around, they disappeared.  I didn't see much else except two dragonflies. One was a male blue dasher.  The other was a female slaty skimmer.  I rescued a firefly and saw some wasps.  The hibiscus sawflies were back.  I photographed the four different kinds of daylily in bloom. 

The sun continued to shine while the rain fell, but I didn't see any rainbows.  I did see a pair of mallards molting into non-breeding drab.  They were sauntering across the patio till I put them to flight by calling the dog.  An egret hunted supper at low tide.  

Rain at last

The morning sun was pretty fierce but thick clouds kept rolling North so the UV exposure was intermittent.  I didn't see any wildlife till I headed out for a swim in the late morning.  The female common whitetail was back. A robber fly had seized what looked like a housefly.  Yay for insect predators! 

The maroon daylily had seven flowers.  I rescued two mama spiders each with a pearl full of eggs bigger than the mother.  They resisted rescue, but they were sitting on the handle of the skimmer basket so I insisted.  Leafcutter bees and other insects fed on the butterfly milkweed flowers that were half hidden by the mountain mint.

Meanwhile the clouds were getting more frequent, darker, and more ominous.  I saw a dragonfly with spotted wings zip overhead.  A wasp approached from beneath the foam of a spittlebug on a mountain mint stalk.  I don't know if it was after the larva, or what.  The all-black bee reappeared on the milkweed.  A bumblebee visited too, and a little sweat bee. 

A male goldfinch sought a drink from the ant moat.  The water was a good inch below the rim - remember this.  An egret stalked upstream. That caused me to notice that the sassafrass came back. 

Yesterday someone predicted a "drenching thunderstorm," a meteorological label I had not heard before.  The prognosticator was off by a day, but this afternoon we did indeed have a drenching thunderstorm.  It saved me from having to water.  It refilled the ant moats and washed the guano off the mountain mint that sprouted too close to the barkbutter dish.  

Speaking of which, after the rain passed a female red bellied woodpecker reluctantly ate mushy barkbutter balls.  A blue jay followed.  I missed catching bluebirds, a Carolina wren, and a brown headed nuthatch on camera. Hummers visited but stayed on the far side of the feeder.  

In the evening I startled a mockingbird.  A snail on the patio headed for cover.  A small slug had ascended the wall part way.  I began to feel bugged and went inside to type this while fireflies signaled outside the window.  

Insects

Three crows inspected the patio but they didn't give us a report.  Lots of daylilies bloomed in a variety of shapes and colors.  An adult skink chased another across the patio too fast for me. 

A female slaty skimmer fought for possession of a bamboo stake perch.  I didn't get a good look at the other dragonfly.  An assassin bug clung to the window screen.  I disturbed a common whitetail which then flitted around and tested light colored spots on the ground.  This behavior might make sense for the male, which actually has a white tail that blends in, but the brown female was very visible.  

While swimming, I saw a damselfly resting on a floating leaf.  I rescued a firefly.  A leafcutter bee feasted on the butterfly milkweed.  I saw a black bee and a wasp doing the same.  The cage K made seems to be protecting the strawberries while they ripen.  The bluebird pair was back for more barkbutter, but found mostly crumbs and dust.  A female goldfinch only wanted a drink.  A two banded leafhopper settled in on a mountain mint leaf. 

Speaking of settled in, the dog rolled in the violets again.  A male hummer visited the new feeder but flew away before I got him in focus.  Toward evening, I tried to photograph fireflies.  The moon overhead was nearly full, so I photographed it too.  

New hummer feeder

The gladiolus began blooming.  A female cardinal tested the wild cherries.  A female hummer found the new feeder with no trouble despite the minimal amount of red.  

A foolish house finch kept trying to fly through the windows.  He just fluttered at them but it kept coming back fro another try.  He may have been a young bird.  A female goldfinch got a drink from the ant moat. 

Bluebirds were content with barkbutter balls.  A good thing because that's all they will get till Fall.  Of course, the blue jays had to have some. 

A black swallowtail hovered around the rue but didn't lay eggs.  

No suet

Bluebirds, blue jays, and cardinals were appreciative of the barkbutter balls.  A female red bellied woodpecker was in disbelief that her suet had turned into a useless hummer feeder.  Finally she settled for a barkbutter ball.  

We tried to have lunch outside but the sun drove us into the house.  The old bi-color daylily put out a flower, making four kinds in bloom.  I rescued a leatherwing beetle but a big ground beetle was dead.  A blue dasher used the perch outside my window.  

Turtle time

After breakfast, K saw a turtle beside the pool.  I believe it was a female headed home to the lake after laying eggs.  But there were no turtles on their log, maybe because of the nearby construction.

A mockingbird investigated the dish feeder and found it empty.  I refilled it but did not see the bird again.  Instead a female bluebird enjoyed a barkbutter ball.  Other critters I didn't get a good look at included a butterfly and a dragonfly.  A dove hung out on the patio, for no reason that I could see. 

A pair of mallards brought their remaining duckling for a swim.  The dog helped us persuade them to leave.  I found Japanese beetles on the hibiscus.  I also found buds on some of the hibiscus stalks.  

Cloudy

The South wind kept the day warm in spite of the clouds it brought.  A house wren scampered through the vegetation bordering the patio.  I caught its tail in one photo and head in another.  

The new native coral honeysuckle flowers opened.  So did the maroon daylilies.  The fancy ruffled daylilies continued to bloom but the yellow and orange daylilies were about done.  The neighbor's sycamore seeds blew into our yard and mostly into the water.  If a dandelion were a tree, it would be a sycamore. 

Two Scarites ground beetles needed repeated rescuing.  Maybe I should have left them to their watery fate?  Leatherwing beetles moseyed across the parsley flowers, looking for love and lunch.  An all-black bee feasted on the butterfly milkweed until a tiny sweat bee harassed it.  I spotted a firefly on a mountain mint leaf.  Probably Photinus pyralis.  

Intense sunshine

The sky was that purple-blue it gets when the air is very clear.  I tried to stay in the shade because the newspaper said the UV would burn in under ten minutes.  Despite the still gusty breeze, I only rescued one beetle, one of the Scarites genus.  At lunch time, a squirrel was taking its ease in the shade on the arm of one of the outdoor chairs.   It ignored me, but not the dog.  

The almost first quarter moon chased after the sun through the afternoon.  The man in the moon was visible - usually I see the rabbit.  I was taking pictures of flowers and plants when the male hummer sneaked past me.  I got a glimpse but no photo. 

A male bluebird perched in different trees, giving me a variety of settings.  He was too wary to come to a feeder though.  Meanwhile the dog rolled in the violets and mashed them down.  

Windy

Bluebirds and blue jays ate up all the barkbutter balls.  Many crows gathered to harass something I couldn't see, but I assume it was a hawk.  Two curious osprey circled higher over the commotion.  

A couple of blowflies rested on mountain mint leaves, for what?  A leatherwing beetle roamed a parsley umbel. I glimpsed a tiger swallowtail and tossed a couple of beetles and spiders out of the water.  

Two brown headed nuthatches came for seeds and squeaked at me because I was sitting too close.  Under a cloudy sky, the temperature was seasonable, except for wind gusts which felt very chilly in a wet swimsuit.  

Osprey

The overly fancy daylily began blooming, but had trouble getting its ruffles in order.  Two osprey circled together overhead.  That caused me to notice the crescent moon.   

I rescued a scarab, a ground beetle, and an Asian ladybird beetle  (Harmonia axyridis).  Also a baby cricket.  Spiders were back on the water.  Wasps also used the surface tension when they needed water to add to nesting material.  I saw a damselfly but it didn't linger.  A dragonfly hunted over the house roof.  

Blue jays hunted barkbutter balls and dispatched quite a few.  A mockingbird had the same idea.  A red bellied woodpecker was too coy for a good photo as it sunbathed on an oak limb.  

Praying mantis

When I left home for an appointment, a Cooper's hawk flew across the street right in front of my car.  A bluebird thought the breakfast selection lacked something, so I hustled out with more barkbutter balls.  Then I decided to check on the plants.  A lone goose hunkered down by the shoreline.  A gray toadstool looked freshly emerged.  I could see many little green figs The female common whitetail dragonfly preceded me, unless there are more than one around.  

A green praying mantis crawled through the clover.  *I moved it closer to the peppers. There were flower buds on the coral honeysuckle.  The green blueberries were swelling nicely.  There were numerous spiders walking on water. 

A male great blue skimmer was back on a bamboo perch.  A large, intimidating fly turned out to be a flesh fly and thus not a biter.  I was too late to rescue an assassin bug nymph.  Leatherwing beetles met up on the parsley flowers.  

We replaced the suet that the birds had with eating with a hummingbird feeder.  A male hummingbird tested but left quickly.  And the lighting gave him a black throat, not a ruby red.  While I was in the water, a small, pale moth fluttered erratically into vegetation, pursued by a female cardinal trying to catch it in flight.  

At twilight a small mallard family gave the dog some exercise.  In addition to the male and female adult ducks, there was a half grown duckling.  

Dragonflies

A goldfinch pair visited but only for a drink of water.  It surprises me that they will drink from the ant moat but turn up their beaks if the sunflower seeds aren't a fresh refill of the feeder. 

A damselfly dodged me again.  I rescued more ground beetles and avoided spiders, though a little one bit me when I picked up the leaf hiding it.  A quite large centipede had drowned.  I'd intended to photograph it but a biting fly drove me away.  A black swallowtail flitted all over the rue, always in blurry motion.  A female great blue skimmer used one of my perches in the late afternoon.  A female common whitetail was attracted to the white circle of DE that K had spread around the strawberries.  The strawberry planter was up on a table so the dragonfly had full use of the circle.  Bees and wasps were everywhere.  

Dramatic-looking cumulus clouds cast shadows across the sky.  An exotic daylily began to open.  Andy helped K chase mallards away from the pool.  I really couldn't blame the ducks, it was a very hot day.. Again.  

Buggy

The humidity was catching up with the heat, alas.  I saved ground beetles and scarabs from the water while dodging spiders that scampered across the surface.  When I tried to photograph them, the scarabs flew away.  Dragonflies lingered and one used a perching stake.

A pair of mockingbirds swooped at the barkbutter balls but found my presence threatening.  

A young yellow crowned night heron hunted along the edge of the creek.   It successfully caught dinner.  Then a great egret came stalking up the creek and under the dock to where the night heron lurked.  Meanwhile a pair of doves meandered across the top of the dock.  Later, two crows prospected along the shore. 

Wasps and bumblebees fed on the rue. The mountain mint was close to blooming. And to celebrate the arrival of June, there were fireflies.