Butterflies

The male goldfinch was back this morning.  I glimpsed a towhee for just a second.  A Carolina wren argued with a downy woodpecker but in the end they both got some suet.  A great blue heron preened on a dock post in the afternoon sun.  I didn't see any nuthatches or bluebirds till late in the day. 

The party on the mountain mint expanded to include a fiery skipper and a buckeye butterfly.  A blue dasher chaperoned.  The bee with the pantaloons was back.  A big carpenter bee showed up.  So did the first great golden digger wasp of the season.  Cicadas sang in the trees though I didn't see any.  I rescued a robber fly from drowning. 

A black swallowtail was more interested in the rue.  A Guinea paper wasp agreed, but for different reasons.   A bud on the hibiscus looked ready to open.  Unfortunately, the sawflies got way ahead of me and chewed up all the leaves and damaged many flower buds.  What I think was a tiger bee fly, Xenox tigrinus, landed on the retaining wall.  

Arthropod day

Two female pileated woodpeckers started the morning.  It appeared that the one eating suet was feeding the other, but behind the post so I couldn't be sure.  Later the nuthatches slipped between the cardinals and house finches to get seeds.  Chickadees and titmice also visited the feeders and a titmouse asserted its status.  A female bluebird noticed that I had put out fresh barkbutter balls.  A juvenile bluebird visited the seed feeder.  A crow found the mealworms that the bluebirds tossed out.  A blue jay also got into the mealworms. 

The largest Argiope spider refurbished its web in the window.  All three of the smaller ones seemed to be doing well, though the web in the aster was still fingerprint shaped, not a straight stripe like the other three made.  A dragonfly hunted from one of the perches.  It might have been a bar-winged skimmer.  Later a prince baskettail flew loops over the pool.  Pool rescues included a centipede, a mama wolf spider and babies, and a bumblebee.  I don't know if the centipede revived of became someone's lunch, but it disappeared.  When I got out of the pool, a robber fly landed on my arm.  I persuaded it to move to my left hand but that was still too close for the camera.  After a moment it flew off and I have no idea what my attraction was.  

Two duskywing skippers fed with the wasps and bees on the mountain mint.  There was at least one honeybee.  I think one bee might be a two-spotted longhorn bee.  It certainly had hairy hind legs.  A large wasp with a striped abdomen That I think was a horse guard wasp Stictia carolina also fed on the mountain mint.  While I'm delighted that they attack biting flies, it is concerning that one expects to find prey here. 

This year, the gladiolus flowering has been more sporadic than I remember from other years.  A few fresh flowers opened on the butterfly milkweed but there was still no sign of caterpillars.  I just noticed that the blueberries ripened before the wild cherries.  The temperature peaked at 93° then yo-yoed with the clouds and sun.  Twice, raindrops spattered me when I went outside but didn't wet anything for more than a minute.  

Afternoon thunderstorm

A male goldfinch ate some seeds from the feeder.  A Carolina wren made a brief stop but flew before I could get a good angle on it.  A crow held its beak open as though panting.   Finally, a predicted thunderstorm materialized.  It lasted less than half an hour and left behind humidity so high the camera lens fogged up.  I went swimming after the sun returned.  While I was in the water a couple of pileateds feasted on suet. 

A duskywing skipper mingled with wasps on the mountain mint.  The bigger Argiope moved its web a couple of inches.  A prince baskettail patrolled the airspace.  A small grasshopper huddled on the window screen.  It might be a pine tree spur-throat grasshopper, Melanoplus punctulatus.

Goldfinches

A female pileated breakfasted with us.  A mourning dove sauntered across the patio.  Two male goldfinches perched above the feeders but didn't eat or fuss at each other.   A mockingbird chased a crow.  A female downy was frantic on discovering the suet was all gone, but K hung a fresh block and the downy settled right in on it.  Brown headed nuthatches did their ninja act to get by the half dozen house finches hanging around the seed feeder.  A bluebird watched from atop the post. 

The sky was overcast and sometimes the air looked gray and misty.  As a result the temperature was much more moderate, but the humidity was high.  It got quite dark while I was swimming but no rain fell.  I rescued two mama spiders, one with a pearl full of eggs and one with a back covered with babies.  Also a thread-waisted wasp.  The Argiope web in the window looked crumpled.  The squirrel with the warble on its back looked like it was healing. 

Excessive heat

A bluebird got away with a barkbutter ball.   A nuthatch got impatient waiting for a turn at the seeds.  Blue jays also raided the barkbutter balls.  A titmouse visited the seeds.  After lunch, the outdoor thermometer registered 103°.  The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning.  Clouds gave momentary respite from the heat before they dissipated.  Still, the air felt like it was coming from a blast furnace. 

An Argiope spider took up residence right outside the window.  I didn't check whether it was one of the two that were in the mountain mint.  It was a good bit larger.  A dark skipper fed on the mountain mint alongside the wasps.  A sizeable spider scampered on the surface tension of the pool water.  New flower buds appeared on the butterfly milkweed. 

Still hot

I didn't notice much in the morning.  The sky was hazy.  Wasps fed on the mountain mint.  A small black bee stung me but it raised no welt.  I picked more blueberries.  A blue jay was almost too wary to get the barkbutter it wanted.  A nuthatch ignored me and got seeds. 

Afternoon heat sent a couple of prince baskettails soaring.  A bluebird pair wanted to visit the feeder but I was too close for comfort.  The great crested flycatcher popped up on an oak limb.  I think it was panting in the heat.  A skink appeared and disappeared before I could react. 

Pileated family

Wasps enjoyed the mountain mint.  I rescued yet another oriental beetle and some queen ants, but I left the spider on the pool ladder alone.  Mud wasps worked on their nests under the roof overhang.  A bluebird felt that I was too close to the feeder.   The hunchback squirrel I was worried about was afflicted with a warble -- painful but not permanent.  It seems early in the year for that.  

In the afternoon a widow skimmer used a perch in between keeping the patio bug-free.  A blue dasher obelisked on a different stake.  A female great blue skimmer perched half way up the stake.  Different dragonfly species have strong preferences for different heights above ground. 

A Carolina wren pecked at the suet, then was followed by a downy woodpecker.  A brown headed nuthatch scared a cardinal off the seed feeder!  Then the pileated woodpeckers arrived.  I saw one male and two females for certain but there may have been a fourth bird as they moved in and out of view.  A titmouse also visited.  The ground cherry plants,Physalis virginiana, were in bloom.

Elusive butterflies

It was another scorcher so I swam in the morning.  Floating in the water were a queen ant,  a robber fly, a firefly, a woodlouse hunter spider, a largus bug, and many more ants, flies, little wasps, and mulch roaches.  I thought the spider was a goner but when I next checked it had disappeared.  I complained because there weren't any butterflies or dragonflies, but they appeared in the afternoon.  I think I captured a wasp killing another insect, but it might have been mating.  

A blue jay came for barkbutter balls and brown headed nuthatches for seeds.  The sakaki was nearly finished blooming.  A great crested flycatcher made a commotion chasing something through the oak leaves.  A skink wanted to get behind my chair and made a detour through the grass.  A female downy had a go at the suet.  A pair of geese with three half-grown goslings paddled upstream while a fish jumped in the background. 

A tiger swallowtail and a dark butterfly proved impossible to photograph.  Wasps and bees were more cooperative.  A very dark skipper visited the mountain mint.  I could see insects going to the asters but I couldn't tell what they were.  One might have been a Southern purple mint moth and another some kind of beetle.  Prince baskettail dragonflies patrolled the hazy sky.  A different dragonfly perched on a dead twig at the top of the wild cherry.  And a Needham's skimmer used one of the perches.  

Pool rescues

The dew was heavy when I got up but the temperature rose and the humidity dropped.  A brown headed nuthatch, a bluebird, a blue jay, and a Carolina wren visited. I glimpsed egrets flying down the creek.  The nuthatch argued with a titmouse.  A hummer investigated the gladiolus buds and the feeder but didn't stay.  A downy had some suet.  Something dug a tunnel under the grass next to the patio.  In the evening, an egret flew upstream. 

During this morning's swim I saved an ant queen, a two-lined spittlebug, a May beetle, a largus bordered plant bug, and a bumblebee.  Two bumblebees appeared to be clutching each other while drowning.  Using an oak leaf, I fished them out and one revived.  The spittlebug had a tiny ant gripping one of its legs which threw it off balance so it fell in again.  I had never seen a largus bug Largus succinctus before last year.  Wasps and a cabbage white flitted around but I didn't see any other butterflies.  A looper caterpillar drowned.  The baby Argiope spiders continued to lurk under the mountain mint. 

Cicada

A blue dasher dragonfly perched outside my window.  Its wings were oddly dark but eyes and body markings were right.  Ground cherries were blooming.  Flower clusters appeared on the beautyberry bush.  The young garden spiders were doing well.  Wasps visited the mountain mint.  Blue jays preferred the barkbutter balls.  My swim was very late in the day.   

I was enjoying the evening, watching fireflies, when a cicada started singing.  

 

Blueberries

The day was sunny but, thankfully, the temperature moderated and stopped at a normal summer mid-80s.  I had back-to-back meetings and didn't get outdoors till 6pm.  A skink scampered across the step.  I went for a swim  and rescued a spider, a snail, and a couple of beetles.  There was a lot of tree detritus in the water but the wind wasn't noticeable.  After I got out, I picked a pint of blueberries.  Some were as big as cherries from all the rain.  A couple of nuthatches and some cardinals came for seeds while I ate supper.   The solstice moment happened at 10:42pm when there was no Sol in the sky.  

Triple digits

Again, I swam before the heat of the day.  More beetles clung to windblown debris in the water.  I also fished out a living queen ant, very carefully.  I'd been seeing drowned queens but this one was still swimming.  All three Argiope spiders were thriving.  The purple asters were gorgeous.  The lichens on the bench enjoyed the rain and sun.  An Asiatic dayflower bloomed.  Coral lilies made red bead-like seeds.  The ruffled daylily continued to bloom.  The sakaki flowers emitted a wonderful fragrance.  

Whatever the National Weather Service recorded, our outdoor thermometer read 100°.  The wind made it bearable, barely.  The butterfly milkweed stopped blooming.  Its foliage looked lush and not chewed by any caterpillars, alas.  The mountain mint attracted wasps but thus far no butterflies.  Money plant pods looked about ready to disperse seeds.  I thought I saw something on a floating leaf and, sure enough, a damselfly perched there.  My best guess was an immature female Eastern forktail Ischnura verticalis. 

Scorcher

The wind was very strong.  I decided it was safest to swim early before the heat brought out bloodsuckers.  I rescued two bumblebees from the water, very carefully.  Queen ants fell in, drowned, and bloated so their abdominal segments were visible.  Sad but interesting.  I also fished out another oriental beetle.  

When I got out, an Eastern amberwing dragonfly was clinging to the mountain mint, but it didn't wait for me to get the camera.  I found another infant Argiope spider, this one on the aster.  The reddish slime mold looked shriveled.  A larger dragonfly with dark eyes used a garden stake.  It might have been a bar-winged skimmer but I didn't get a good look at the wings.  A skink headed across the patio toward me, then noticed me.  The thermometer registered 97° but the wind made it bearable.  

In the evening, I wasted pixels trying to capture a firefly.  I finally got a golden streak.  

Wet

Rain fell overnight.  A gray morning was followed by a shower after lunch, then sunshine.  Bluebirds, brown headed nuthatches, a Carolina wren, and a female downy visited in the morning.  A squirrel climbed up onto the feeder hanger and waved its tail around, which made me wonder if it was in heat and dispersing a "come hither" pheromone.  The wild cherries were turning from green to red.  

In the pool I saved a couple of brown May beetles (Phyllophaga) though I probably shouldn't.  Also I saved a small spider with racing stripes and saw another that appeared to be an ant mimic.  When I got out, I watched the prince baskettails cavort overhead.  The Argiope spiders survived the rain.  Fireflies blinked at dusk.  

Argiope!

The rain held off today but the air was very humid and not very warm.  Three brown headed nuthatches got an early start.  Bluebirds followed.  A tufted titmouse examined the empty barkbutter dish.  A male downy woodpecker worked on the rather moldy suet.  A lovely scent floated on the air but the sakaki buds hadn't opened yet so I don't know what it was.  The large flowers - daylilies and gladiolus - were beaten by the rains, but the New England asters looked fine.   The butterfly milkweed stopped blooming because, I assume, its flowers were all pollinated. 

I found two infant garden spiders lurking in the mountain mint.  In the pool, I rescued an assassin bug nymph.  The mountain mint's tiny flowers pleased wasps.  Another batch of slime mold, maybe more wolf's milk, colonized a different landscape timber.  

Three day adventure

I saw a blue jay Friday morning.  The day went downhill from there.  I got lost West of Suffolk and had to be rescued.  A fire station garage door clobbered me.  And when we went out for supper in Fredericksburg, we were caught in a ferocious downpour.  It was a  scary storm with lots of lightning, high wind, and an astonishing amount of rainfall. 

Saturday was very sticky.  Lovely birdsong came from the shrubbery.  I spent the day mostly inside attending the Convention.  Sunday morning was cooler and misty.  After the Convention we took the Civil Rights Tour.  Norfolk should offer a similar tour.  There was some heavy rain on the way home but fortunately GPS and I came to an understanding.  I saw a few gulls over the estuary.   A lot of rain fell at home too.  

 

Hazy sky

In the morning, there was a pair of goldfinches. The male took over the feeder and I didn't see the female get anything.  A downy woodpecker returned to the suet.  A monarch butterfly was elusive even though it craved the milkweed.  The orange daylily looked like it was down to its last two flowers, but the ruffled bi-color daylily was still going strong. 

The pool was empty of any living thing but ants.  After I got out, I was sitting beside the hummer feeder when I saw a male hummer on a dead twig at the top of the wild cherry.  Meanwhile, a prince baskettail (Epitheca princeps) and maybe a saddlebags dragonfly were cruising overhead.  And high aloft several birds floated past that were just silhouettes.  The camera developed a problem and I lost the pictures of the soaring birds. 

Brown headed nuthatches paid no attention to me.  Two Carolina wrens arrived later during supper.  A squirrel found where I dumped the hummer juice.  

Widow skimmer

Since an afternoon storm was predicted, I hustled myself into the water in the morning.  I saved a few beetles including a firefly.  The nuthatches swarmed the seed feeder while I was in the water.  A cardinal gave them some grief.  I finally got pictures of the widow skimmer I've sensed lurking at the corner of my vision.  The afternoon rain arrived as predicted and afterward the sky cleared.  

Delayed post

A male cardinal carried on at breakfast.  Bluebirds came in the late morning.  I saw a Carolina wren earlier but didn't get any pictures till mid afternoon.  Something turned some mountain mint leaves yellow and something snapped one of the hibiscus stalks..  The sky was overcast and the air sticky.  

An egret landed on the dock then changed its mind.  At least three brown headed nuthatches tried to get past a cardinal to the seeds.  A hoard of tiny black ants found the kitchen.  Then the Internet went out in the evening. 

Hummer visit

A bluebird came to breakfast.  A brown headed nuthatch followed.  There was a flurry of birds at lunch but I missed them all.   The weather continued humid and cloudy

Pool Poem  

A spider, a beetle, and a mosquito went for a swim.  

I rescued the spider and beetle but I pushed the skeeter in. 

As I was getting out, I saw a hummer on the feeder.  Good thing I put out fresh this morning.  But of course I did not have the camera.  It looked dark like a male but that may have been wishful thinking.  I saw a fish jump in the evening, then rain fell at dusk. 

Sticky

Rain fell at breakfast, but we had sunshine in the late morning.  Clouds built up in the afternoon and the humidity was beastly.  All I saw was chickadees, nuthatches, and thunderheads.  Some dragonflies zipped around but I couldn't guess what kind.  I was gone all afternoon. 

 

Hot

For some reason downy and pileated woodpeckers picked today to visit after weeks of absence.  The brown headed nuthatches stayed busy.  I missed a shot of a blue jay.  The thermometer read 94° in the early afternoon.  Dramatic clouds rolled in from the West.  I came inside when a few raindrops fell and thunder grumbled in the distance.  But no real rain fell and the sky cleared again.  However at dusk it had become overcast.  Fireflies were out. 

There are no photos of the critters I found in the pool because I was wary of the predicted thunderstorm and left the camera inside.  In the water I found one drowned looper caterpillar, too many drowned roaches, ants, two live spiders and more drowned, and one bullfrog.  I rescued a wasp, a wasp, a black ground beetle, an Asian ladybug, and a brown Oriental beetle.  The bullfrog rescued itself.  There were mosquitoes, but they weren't in the water.  The mushroom I saw yesterday was so withered and dried up I almost didn't find it again.  Two variegated fritillary butterflies danced around the milkweed but left before I could get the camera.  Small dark bees also fed on the milkweed.  An Ammophila wasp tried to threaten me away from the milkweed but gave up and flew off. There were buds on the New England aster. 

Warm

Rain fell overnight but the sky cleared and the air was warm and humid.  The small black panther had a staring match with a squirrel.  The squirrel left unharmed.   The cat appeared to have been damaged previously because there was a patch of missing hair below its right ear.  Anyway, it did not hang around.  After it left,  bluebirds arrived. 

Blue jays visited the barkbuter but escaped my camera.  Brown headed nuthatches ate seeds despite the house finch on the perch.  One nuthatch fed another but it wasn't clear whether the recipient was offspring or mate.  I'm inclined to think it was a fledgling.  

Gladiolus, daylies, and butterfly milkweed bloomed.  I went swimming and fished out a couple of spiders.  A mushroom popped up just below the retaining wall.  The moon was bright but hazy.  Fireflies eluded me.  

Fireflies

A goldfinch pair enlivened breakfast.  She didn't seem to be as fully committed to vegetarianism as he was.  That is, she was interested in what was in the dish - barkbutter balls and mealworms.  The brown headed nuthatches were committed to seeds.  I spent most of the day on the computer and it was dusk when I got outside.  But there were fireflies.  

Quiet day

I don't know why but I didn't see much until the afternoon.  A pair of wrens dined on suet.  The brown headed nuthatches continued their forays.  A bluebird seemed quizzical.  A very large, hairy flesh fly sat on the window and intimidated me.  I found a venusta orchard spider in the camellia.  The coral honeysuckle had attached itself to the neighbors' birch tree so I cut it loose.  Red buds appeared on the gladiolus.