Wet and windy

Hurricane Ian had quite a reach and brought more rain in one day than we saw in two months.  I had thought surely the recent wind had stripped trees of dead leaves, but there were more.  Lots more.  The seed feeder regulars got some sustenance but I didn't see any other birds.  High tide flowed over the dock and warped boards.  Wind gusts blew spray into white sheets.  And it was really noisy.  

Northeaster

High tide flowed over the low end of the dock, pushed by the gusty Northeast wind.  Leaves, twigs, and lots of pine needles blew into the pool.  I emptied the skimmer at least three times, maybe four.  And a drowned skink got away from me and went down the pipe. 

Most wildlife was in hiding but I found a colorful green stinkbug nymph (Chinavia hilaris) on the mountain mint. Neighbors fished in the high water but I didn't see them catch anything. Geese huddled in the lee of the bank across the creek. 

Goldenrod bloomed and the saltbush showed white tips.  Fern fronds were lined with spores.  But the sky was gray on gray.  Towards evening, a great blue heron stood on the dock facing into the wind.  Even so, its feathers took a beating.  Up on the lake, an egret preened while cormorants watched.  They were much more sheltered by the ridge on the east side of the lake.  .  

The gloomy sky turned crimson at sunset, but I had just downloaded the day's photos and the camera refused for cooperate.  I missed the vivid reds behind the commuting cormorants and only got the pale lavender twilight. 

Pair of orioles

The temperature barely cleared 70°F despite bright sunshine and a Southwest wind.  That is, the thin clouds were slowly moving Northeast.  I did not try to swim but I did circle the pool to see if anything needed rescue.  Nada.  On my way, I saw a white breasted nuthatch on a tree and heard a woodpecker.  

Blue jays stayed up in the oaks.  The female oriole foraged in the bushes so I only got glimpses.  The male oriole and a mockingbird ate dogwood berries.  The "red" aster was exactly the same magenta as the beautyberries.  Brown headed nuthatches joined titmice and chickadees, and an occasional cardinal, at the seed feeder.  The white breasted nuthatch also made a couple of forays.  A dove wandered around the yard. 

It didn't feel humid and there was a breeze, so why all the mosquitoes?  Big, daytime mosquitoes with white stripes bit me hard when I went over to the fig tree to check on the peppers.  I picked a ripe one and saw three more that were green.  The sunflowers were making seeds. On the way back, I saw a sundog. 

Rafting skink

The morning creek was in a reflective mood. The dog seemed to appreciate the cooler air - he wanted to stay outside longer.  Something caught his attention and he dashed over to the oak.  Since it was daytime, I figure it was a squirrel that rejuvenated him.  

I finally got a chance at the pool mid afternoon.  (Afternoons rush past this time of year.)  The first thing I saw was a skink navigating on a yellow leaf.  A cricket, riding a different leaf, may have lured the skink into the water.  By the time I nerved myself for immersion in the chilly water, the skink had disembarked onto the top of the ladder.  But when I got close it dived.  I caught it and put it on the escape stick to dry out.  It stayed put so eventually I encouraged it to climb and it scampered off.  

While dripping off, I emptied the recycled-plastic birdhouse and only snapped off one tab, which I think is fixable.  I was sitting in a small patch of sun by the mountain mint and I saw an insect I didn't recognize.  It appeared to have transparent wings, a bright green thorax, and a skinny up-curled abdomen.  It looked a little smaller than an eastern amberwing and my first thought was a damselfly, but I could not really guess what order of insect it was before it flew away.  And the camera needed a fresh battery, so I don't have an image to search.  Later, during an early supper, a great egret fished along the bulkhead.  

Cold water

An outrageous squirrel sat right outside, on our furniture, eating a pecan off our tree, leaving pieces of hull and shell all over. Shameless!  The camera betrayed me when I tried to get pictures of a brown headed nuthatch.

When I went outside with the dog, I saw a blue dasher perched on a dried gladiolus stalk.  Between the gusty wind and the low humidity, it wasn't very welcoming weather for dragonflies.  A dark butterfly flitted around, probably a black swallowtail. 

I was tired of the mess Fiona left behind and I stayed in the pool till I got all the leaves out.  One leaf was a bullfrog.  Other than that, all I found were a few small wasps.  An egret flew upstream.  I found twigs with hackberries attached amongst the soggy leaves.  The red aster was beginning to get the hang of blooming and the sunflower decided to try again.  

Too busy

No swim and hardly any outdoor time.  If the dog had not insisted, I might not have gone outside at all.  And it was a beautiful day.  I took a picture of the fungus, the money plant seedpods, and dogwood berries. 

Chilly water

A cardinal started nibbling on beautyberries.  His slightly orange crimson was not harmoneous with the fuchsia berries.  I noticed that the dog apparently cannot roll over on his back. 

I tackled the mess in the pool though the water temperature had dropped considerably.  It was mostly vegetation but I saved a few wasps, crickets, beetles, and a honeybee.  A little frog that was hiding under the leaves in the skimmer hopped frantically away, bumping into things.  A red spotted purple fluttered over the water.  I got so cold after the pool was in shade that I gave up. 

Afterward, as I dripped and tried to warm up in the sun, a hummer flew right up to me and glared from about six inches away.  It had a few red feathers on its throat.  I concluded that the sugar water must have gone bad.  I wondered if the hummer had just arrived, helped along by Fiona's winds.  

Debris

The pool was full of leaves and other tree trash.  And the temperature was in the 60s so I tried to skim and scoop from outside the pool.  It would be much easier in the water.  The gusty wind kept wildlife grounded, I assume, because I didn't see much. The humidity was low, too.  Jets left no contrails.  A pine warbler came to the barkbutter dish.   A large ant clung to the window. 

Equinox

I woke up early and was outside in time to see the waning crescent moon precede sunrise.  

By afternoon, Fiona's storm clouds had eaten up the sky and the wind had grown very gusty, but it was still hot.  I tore a bit off the big fungus which was tough and leathery.  The underside looked sort of pore-like, but ragged. My best guess is Bondarzewia berkeleyi.  Something left a pile of what looked like cooked berries nearby.  

The clouds looked so threatening that I left the camera inside while I was in the pool.  Thus I took no pictures of the spider, beetles, frog, or skink that I retrieved from the water.  The wind had blown lots of leaves and detritus into the water.   Shortly after I got out, the rain started.  

Later, the clouds broke up.  I saw a heron and egrets on the creek. 

Summer's lease

By astronomical measure this was the last day of summer.  The first pod of butterfly milkweed seeds popped open.  Birds tugged dogwood berries off to eat and some leaves displayed real colors, not just drought brown.  The yellow rose opened two flowers and hinted at more.  A swirl of thin cloud reminded me that Hurricane Fiona was chugging North, but fortunately well out to sea. 

The nuthatches were hungry, both white breasted and brown headed.  Hummers thought the juice had passed its 'sell by' date, but investigated foliage on several plants.  Blue jays lurked and called.  A pine warbler wanted a barkbutter ball but was frustrated by a cardinal.

There were no skinks a-swimming today, just one live frog and one corpse.  I found a bright yellow squash bug on the mountain mint. It sidled away from me, flew to the shepherd's crook, then flew off.  Anasa repetita looks like the best match.  

 

Waning crescent moon

We had lunch outdoors, to the delight of the dog.  I could see the faint crescent moon descending into the trees.  Blue jays called back and forth, then three zoomed across the airspace above us.  A hummer kept an eye on us and the feeder.  

A tiger swallowtail landed on the beautyberry bush.  Later, I found a lethargic frog in the skimmer. Three skinks were swimming in the deep end.  I assisted them to escape.  I surprised another skink when I went into the garage to hang up my wet swim suit.  On the way home after dark I noticed a bright planet in the East.  

Caterpillar season

I've been finding drowned caterpillars and today there were several.  They've all been hairless and some combination of pale, greenish, reddish, and blackened. I don't know if the colors are the result of the pool water, but they don't look normal.  A frog was waiting for me, very listless, but it managed a hop when I put it outside the pool. Other than that, there were lots of leaves, mostly withered, and a very persistent mosquito that I think I drowned.

The sassafras started to show fall colors.  Hummer(s?) kept feeding all day but I didn't see any chasing so maybe it was just one.  By supper time, the bird was very round. 

Oriole!

In the early morning when the sunlight was still slanting, a brown headed nuthatch was frustrated by the steady stream of chickadees and titmice.  Several crows visited, but only one was agile enough to get to the barkbutter balls.

I saw a female Baltimore oriole so I rushed some jelly outside, but I didn't see it again.   Still, I suspect it was the bird with yellow tail feathers that I saw the other day.  It probably wanted suet but the hummer feeder is still occupying that hook.  And the hummers are still coming. 

A southern purple mint moth finally posed for me.  The markings were right but it was awfully orange instead of purple.  A few thread-waisted wasps searched for nectar on the mountain mint.  Paper wasps seemed to be hunting prey under leaves and ignoring flowers. 

I rescued two skinks but saw no frogs.  One skink was lurking in the entry to the skimmer and scampered right off.  I found the other while swimming in the deep end.  It was still active but tired and  cold, I think.  Anyway, when I put it down, it stayed still for so long that I worried that it had died,  But when I tried to pick it up, it came to life.  

Voter registration drive

We had a good day to be outside at NSU but the only wildlife I saw there was a flock of Canada geese. Despite the hot sun, when I got home the water and breeze were cool.  I rescued some wasps, carefully.  Then I caught two frogs and put them out, and I even wore a skink for a while. Their tiny claws are sharp!  

I also rescued a very small grasshopper-like critter with big red eyes.  It was no bigger than a grain of cooked rice but it appeared to have wings so I'm not sure if it was a nymph or what exactly.  It seemed to have only one hind jumping leg, which could explain its involuntary swim.  The saltbush was budding. 

Sunny, but cool

The hummers had not left us yet, unless these were migrants from further North.  Apparently some people locally were asking about taking feeders down for the winter. The fungus beside the oak has gotten huge. 

I got a couple of pictures of the orchard spider outside my West facing window, but I missed the moment when the web went iridescent in the sunlight.  To me, both the web and the spider look like they are made of glass.  The spider must be taking advantage of my late night lighted window.  

Molting goldfinch

It was a lovely day and I never even got a swim.  I finally found where the heron has been perching up in the neighbor's pine tree.  Meanwhile, a red spotted purple posed on dogwood and cherry leaves.  

A Carolina wren took a bark butter ball.  A brown headed nuthatch checked out the barkbutter balls, then went to the seed feeder where it ejected a titmouse twice its size.  

Soon a white breasted nuthatch appeared, then a male goldfinch.  The goldfinch drank water out of the ant moat but ignored the seed feeder.  He was molting and looked disheveled.  When he finally left, a hummer swooped in.

Nuthatches

I was marveling at how the demographics of the yard have changed.  The only nuthatches I used to see were the red breasted winter migrants that only came some years.  This year all summer there have been brown headed and white breasted nuthatches.  I'm not sure why the yard attracted them. 

Anyway, the nuthatches and the other seed eaters were all squabbling when something spooked them all.  One bird that flew away had a bright yellow feather on each side of its fanned out tail.  I have no idea what it was.  

Meanwhile, the hummers told me to replace their juice.  For once they hadn't finished it off which made me suspicious.  Sure enough, the remainder in the refrigerator had gone moldy.  So I had to make fresh and the hummers got very impatient. 

A frog in the skimmer was very persistent about getting into the water.  I caught it and sent it away but it probably returned after I went indoors.  

 

Bright sun

The tide was still running high.  In addition to a black swallowtail I chased with the camera, I saw a monarch, a red spotted purple, a cabbage white, a cloudless sulphur, a fiery skipper, and a southern purple mint moth.  A Carolina wren looked like it had lost its tail.  Brown headed nuthatches kept the feeder busy.  Hummers found their sugar water objectionable. 

Five frogs crowded into the skimmer and then led me on a chase all over the pool.  Drought-withered leaves blew into the water faster than I could catch them.  Still I managed to rescue a skink, a leatherwing beetle, numerous black ground beetles, and a wheelbug.  The wheelbug looked thoroughly drowned, but I left it in the sun and it soon recovered.  

Neem oil appeared to have cured the aphid infestation on the milkweed.  The fungus was still swelling.  A few carpenter bees and threadwaisted wasps continued to visit the mountain mint.  Peppers were growing next to the figs and the sunflower looked healthy. 

I walked around to see the orchard spider outside my window.  It was very hard to focus on a tiny object in mid air.  Later I got better pictures form inside, even through the screen.  The sun made the web glitter and the spider looked like it was made of green glass. 

A great blue heron occupied a piling in the late afternoon sun.  A yellow crowned night heron perched on the neighbor's dock.  Strangely, the wispy cirrus clouds appeared to be lower than the passing cumulus. 

Beautyberries

A white breasted nuthatch had a lot of competition from titmice.  A tattered black swallowtail hung around much of the day.  A spiderweb outside my window turned prismatic in the sunshine but the window screen added some odd effects.  Beautyberries turned red but seemed small to me.  I found a seed pod on the hibiscus! 

There were two frogs in the skimmer.  The larger was spotted and the smaller was another of the ones I think are cricket frogs.  There was a green frog on the top step of the ladder but when it saw me it hopped out instead of into the water.  I wonder if it experienced my previous evictions.  A skink scuttled across the patio but the door wouldn't open.  (Luckily for the skink!) 

Real rain

The morning began with a faceoff between a blue jay and a cardinal, but the cardinal was a female so the national colors were not displayed.  They chose separate breakfasts.  Mallards invaded the pool but the dog did not seem to notice.The ducks didn't wait to be discovered.  They left quite a few feathers in the water.  The male was molting out of eclipse.  Hummers continued to bicker over their feeder.  That didn't stop a titmouse from finding it a convenient perch.  

Two skinks zipped along the retaining wall, one in hot pursuit of the other.   A great blue heron supervised the mallards on the dock.  A pine warbler visited the barkbutter ball dish, followed by a Carolina wren.   The fledgling cardinal was foraging again under the feeder while the adults fussed over precedence. 

I took credit for the rain because it came while I was watering.  There were lulls when the birds returned, even the hummers.  During one lull, I went out to shut off the water I'd been adding to the pool, and I got caught by the next band or rain.  Two male cardinals wanted sunflower seeds but I didn't see any argument. 

A downy woodpecker popped in to see if the fall menu was out yet.  Brown headed nuthatches snatched seeds from under the cardinal's beak.  The sky slowly cleared by evening.  

Buggy

There was some sun in the morning.  Two Carolina wrens took turns pecking at barkbutter remnants.  At least two hummingbirds wanted a drink but got chased instead.  Meanwhile the camera battery was being shy.  And then I had a meeting. 

When I got back to cleaning the pool the sky had gone gray.  It was warm enough and not windy, but the sky looked cold.  The skimmer held one live little frog and one slimy, decaying larger frog, and a nearly solid stuffing of leaf shreds and pine needles.  I rescued one skink with a recently lost tail.  Then another climbed up my back.  I helped that one out too, though it didn't deserve it.  And when I had managed to get rid most of the larger pieces of debris, I caught yet another frog, a green frog this time.  

Despite a sprinkle around 4pm the ground was dry and the plants looked droopy.  But the humidity made the bugs optimistic.  Mosquitoes were getting up in my face.  I think I killed a couple.  But where, I wondered, were the dragonflies? At supper, a dove came to forage for dropped seeds.  And then the light faded out.  

Detritus

The early morning creek was calm enough for sunlit reflections.  A Carolina wren came back for breakfast.  However, a female red bellied woodpecker had her eye on the same dish of barkbutter balls.  The hummer feeder was humming with business but the birds expended a lot of energy chasing each other away.  Clouds flowing past interrupted the sunshine and kept the temperature down.  The wind and tide had moderated somewhat, but tree detritus was still blowing down and the pool was packed with it.  

By mid day mallards had gathered on the dock again.  Today, the conk fungus looked more like a pizza crust that had been dropped.  A frog was hiding among all the leaves in the pool, but I was too busy cleaning up the mess to chase after the silly amphibian.  I ran out of time and left plenty of work for tomorrow. 

Northeaster

I had my back to the world all day.  There was rain at lunch and another over-the-dock tide at sunset.  A great blue heron watched the water rise from its perch on a nearly-submerged post.

Nuthatches

There were brief times of sun in an otherwise gray and windy day.  A monarch managed to fly where she wanted despite the gusts.  I assume the butterfly was female because it appeared to lay eggs. 

A mud dauber wasp nest inside the seed feeder fell down and looked like an unshelled peanut in the seed dispenser.  A caterpillar hunting wasp lurked around the butterfly milkweed and the hibiscus.  And a skink almost caught it. 

Nuthatches, both brown headed and white breasted, flocked to the seed feeder but a cardinal wasn't entertaining guests.  Hummers continued to guzzle and fight. 

A canna stalk bloomed.  The conk fungus grew a rim, engulfed some sticks and no longer looked like a bun.  The fungus that attacks morning glory leaves was spreading fast.  

The wind became a Northeaster, pushing the creek over the dock as twilight faded.  That was also roughly high tide.  There are still three days till the full moon, but combined with the wind, the tide filled the creek to the brim.  And, surprise, a green heron was watching the water on the dock! 

Rain, not enough

Morning was quite windy and mostly sunny.  After lunch, hungry insects came to the mountain mint.  A bumblebee, a great black wasp, and a myriad of small hymenoptera sipped all around the remaining flowers.  A gray hairstreak refused to be put off by the wasps.  A checkered skipper showed up, then a fiery skipper.  A black swallowtail egged the rue. 

Young skinks rushed around the patio.  Hummers continued to pack on the calories.  Nuthatches came while I was in the water.  I think they were white breasted, but couldn't be sure because they were silhouettes..  Meanwhile I evicted another very persistent green frog.  And I got inside just in time before the rain started.  It came down hard for maybe ten minutes.  Sigh.  

Dry, dry, dry

I got up earlier than usual in order to make French toast my way.  That meant I was done with breakfast when the birds wanted theirs.  A threadbare Carolina wren had a little of this and that.  A bald blue jay got greedy with the barkbutter balls.  Brown headed nuthatches insisted on sunflower seeds. 

Hazy sunshine reflected in the placid creek. A stink bug investigated the bird guano on the top of the seed feeder.  There was a hint of red in some dogwood leaves but more of them looked scorched from lack of rain.  The first cluster of beautyberries turned maroon.  Dogwood berries were still a bit on the orange side of crimson, but something was eating them and leaving crumbs.  Small strawberries ripened. 

Humingbirds arrived for lunch and territorial battles.  A cardinal's molt left him looking like he was wearing a bridle.  Mallards took over the dock.  I saw the great blue heron land up in the tree next door, but I was in the water at the time. The afternoon grew overcast though the sun was visible behind the stratus clouds.   

The canna made a flower as did the red aster.  A lichen garden spread over the back of the bench.  A bumblebee, a threadwaisted wasp, and briefly a duskywing were the mountain mint's only visitors though I saw a monarch and a black swallowtail flitting elsewhere.  I looked up Short-toothed Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) and it appears the brown flower heads have gone to seed, not become diseased.   The spider mites seemed to have relocated to the poor rosemary.  Aphids were back on the milkweed. 

Frogs and skink

The Carolina wren looked moth-eaten as it poked through barkbutter crumbs.   A bald blue jay was disappointed there weren't fresh barkbutter balls on offer.  So was the female red bellied woodpecker.  A white breasted nuthatch ate some sunflower seeds.  Later a brown headed nuthatch had the same idea.  Hummers eventually arrived. 

A fiery skipper joined a bumblebee on the mountain mint.  The conk fungus under the oak looked like fresh-baked buns.  It's interesting that, unlike mushrooms, the conk didn't wait for rain.  

A great blue heron took over the dock.  I cleared the pool of three dead skinks and one very lively lizard.  Although, when I finally caught it, it didn't want to leave my hand.  Then I chased down two frogs, one a green frog and the other very persistent amphibian a southern cricket frog I think.  It kept trying to get back into the water so I had to catch it repeatedly.  At one point, it tried to hide in my swimsuit top!  I also rescued what I thought was a wasp but when dried out turned into a leatherwing beetle.  Probably the yellow banded abdomen is Batesian mimicry of a wasp.

I took some late afternoon photos of the moon to make up for yesterday.  The craters were sharply defined along the terminator.  

Fireflies!

Hummers were stuffing themselves for the trip.  Someone or something left me a dead skink posed next to the pool as though it were basking in the sunlight.  I found another skink corpse in the skimmer along with many leaves.  Trees have been shedding because it's been so dry, not because summer is almost over. 

The cast exoskeleton of a half-grown praying mantis was lodged in the azalea beside the house.  Under the oak I found two conk fungus fruiting bodies emerging from the mulch.  A yellow rose bloomed.  The red aster had a bud.  The sunflower was a disaster.  Something turned the ripening seeds into sawdust.  I looked for the spiders but their webs were full of debris from the lawnmower so I guess they're gone.  When I looked at the picture of the ground cherries I took, there was a two-lined spittlebug or froghopper, Prosapia bicincta.

After dark, I went outside to photograph the moon and saw several fireflies in both back and front yard. The moon was low to the South and thus behind the pecan. The branches created some weird kind of lens effect.  That's why I switched to the front yard.  But none of those pictures were in focus.  Anyway, I don't recall fireflies this late in the year, before.  

Young cardinal

Morning was sunny and quiet.  The juvenile cardinal's beak was beginning to turn orange.  Some feathers looked red so I think it's a male.  He foraged on the ground and stayed out of the drama overhead where at least four chickadees competed with house finches and cardinals for access to sunflower seeds.  

A molting Carolina wren complained that the barkbutter dish was empty.  

Monarch

While hummers were still very active, I believe they were all female.   Another hibiscus flower bloomed and I found a strawberry!  The beautyberries were beginning to turn reddish.   A bumblebee crawled into morning glory flowers that were already folding inward.  The sunflower by the fig made a second blossom.  Peppers were growing too.  

I rescued two skinks and a frog.  The monarch butterfly visited the butterfly milkweed and earnestly decorated it with eggs, I think.  One is visible on a leaf just above the butterfly.  Duskywings continued to feed on the mountain mint.