Another spider

A new, small Argiope appeared in the window next to the one I've been watching.  I don't know if it is a recent hatchling or if it is a hopeful male.  The Wikipedia article shows a male as a solid light brown, not black and yellow, so it must be a young spider.   While in the pool I rescued a young skink and a robber fly.  Another skink had already drowned, alas.  I saw the tatters of a huge web between the trees beyond the deep end.  

The male pileated visited the suet.  The barkbutter balls found favor with bluebirds, a blue jay, and titmice.  A pair of cardinals wanted seeds and she told him to wait his turn!   He looked henpecked but probably was molting.  A dragonfly perched atop the wild cherry, too far to be sure of the identity but it might have been a Needham's skimmer.  A blue dasher hung out on a bamboo stake.  The bird I thought was a Mississippi Kite soared in circles.  While photographing it I missed a possible saddlebags dragonfly that showed up as a blur on the photo.  A wasp ran around the patio which was kind of creepy.  Toward evening, an egret preened on the dock.  I saw a feather float away.  

Fig patch

Fearing rain, I went picking figs in the morning.  I didn't take the camera.  Clearly we missed at least a week of ripe figs because there were splatted ones all over the ground and fuzzy, moldy ones hanging from the twigs.  I saw honeybees and yellow jackets feasting, but not many other wasps.  A well-fed Argiope had built a web right in the middle.  I had sprayed myself with bug repellent but neglected my arms and got three mosquito bites.  But mainly I got very hot and plunged directly into the water.  Nothing interesting was afloat today but dragonflies were on patrol.  A tiger swallowtail and a black swallowtail fed on the butterfly milkweed.  

The wren was back at the suet.  There was a queue for barkbutter balls that included a white breasted nuthatch and a bluebird.  Interesting clouds occasionally hinted at rain.  Skinks found urgent business across the patio.  

Figs!

It was so humid when I got up that the windows were completely fogged. As the temperature rose the windows cleared, but the hot air stayed oppressively moist.  I could see that the creek was a motionless mirror.  A white breasted nuthatch, or perhaps more than one, came for seeds.  It didn't linger.  A female hummer found the sugar water.  

I found a large camel cricket floating in the water.  Then I found a female widow skimmer and put them both to dry in the sun.  However, neither revived and they were still in the same spot in the afternoon.  A field cricket jumped in after I got out and I didn't go back for it.  A red spotted purple hung around while I swam but was nowhere to be found when I had the camera.  

Despite threats from bees and wasps, K picked the first batch of figs.  A skink ran down the wall while our lunch was grilling.  A bluebird and its offspring flew to the top of the redwood.  A Carolina wren continued work on the suet.  Dragonflies argued over the perches.  A skink moseyed along the grass edge.  A bird with a black and white back like a woodpecker flew into the oak.  I saw no red on it but I think it was a juvenile red bellied woodpecker.  Brown headed nuthatches ventured out for seeds despite my proximity.  

Birds feeding birds

We got at least two inches of rain overnight, judging by the water in the bucket, though the NWS disagreed and put it at a third of an inch.  Wetness was slow to evaporate in the humid air, though there was a good breeze.  The Argiope moved its web a little higher and slanted it.  What I thought was a tiger beetle ran around the patio hunting something.  But looking at the blurry photos, I can see a wasp waist.  Blue dasher were on patrol, joined later by a slaty skimmer and a great blue skimmer.  I chased a black swallowtail but got nothing decent.  Skinks came out in the sun.  

Both downy woodpeckers and Carolina wrens were feeding each other.  I don't know if they were feeding fledglings or pair bonding.  Bluebirds showed up after a hiatus.  Unfortunately the barkbutter balls were a soggy porridge.  I drained off most of the water and a blue jay inspected the result.  I also put out fresh hummer juice and that got results.  Even a male appeared!  The brown headed nuthatches were out in force, sneaking up on the seed feeder perch.  Titmice joined the queue.  A couple of large birds soared in circles.  I thought they were vultures but the photos look more like Mississippi kites.  

Yellow insects

A blue jay came for brunch.  I swam in the morning because a thunderstorm was predicted for the afternoon.  A bee or something stung me because it had climbed up on my suit and I didn't realize it was there.  I didn't rescue it or anything else, though a spider was walking around on the surface tension.  A long-tailed bird that I think was a mockingbird checked out the wild cherries.  At lease three Carolina wrens checked out me as I floated in the shade.  They kept hopping around in the red cedar so I couldn't be sure if there were more than three.

When I got out, I found a black beetle with yellow markings on the mountain mint that I've seen in other years, but I couldn't remember what it was.  No wonder, I had identified it as Macrosiagon dimidata.  Not a memorable name.  A variegated fritillary made the rounds.  A blue dasher and a great blue skimmer perched, but they didn't stick around.  Impressive clouds in the afternoon spat out about seven drops of rain.  

A hummer went to the feeder but then flew around the corner, so maybe the sugar water went off in the heat.  Another blue jay visited.  A Carolina wren pecked at the suet.  A tiger swallowtail feasted on the butterfly milkweed.  I suspect it was newly emerged and very hungry.  The Argiope started pumping its web and then ran up out of sight briefly.  I guess it caught something.  The day never got as hot as the NWS heat warning suggested, but it was humid.  The thunderstorm finally arrived about 6:30pm and was still growling hours later.  

Thirsty day

In the morning, the black cat drank from the pool.  Birds were thirsty too, including a hummer.  I discovered the sugar water in the fridge had gone off so I had to make fresh and let it cool.  A Carolina wren and a downy woodpecker ate suet.  Titmice joined the regular three seed eaters.  Late in the afternoon a blue jay had some barkbutter balls.  

I could see dragonflies zoom out of the trees and back again but had no hope of seeing where they perched.  A tiger swallowtail was equally hard to catch.  Fortunately some dragonflies prefer to hunt down near me.  A blue dasher obelisked on a stake.  Did I mention it was another hot day?   A female great blue skimmer took another perch.  The Argiope hung in its web, waiting.

 

A change of nuthatches

A white breasted nuthatch came for breakfast but I didn't see a brown headed nuthatch all day.  Titmice, however, did want seeds.  A Carolina wren cared more about suet than the heat.  A house finch sat beside the ripe wild cherries pretending he had no interest in them.  A hummer showed up but I was sitting to close to the feeder.  The day was oppressively hot, but afternoon clouds prevented the thermometer from reaching triple digits.  

I glimpsed a rabbit hop past the deep end of the pool.  Squirrels were leaping from tree to tree playing "chase me," I think.  A fiery skipper blended in with the milkweed.  Dragonflies perched and hunted, in front and in back.  There were, indeed, two Argiope  spiders in the front yard, one guarding the peppers and the other watching over the lantana.  The pepper minder had caught a cicada and dropped the carcass into the flowerpot.  It had a stinkbug as well, still in the web.  The one in back seemed satisfied with its current location.   

Skinks and squirrels

It was a beautiful day in the shade.  The sun was intense but a nice breeze cooled the air and kept the bugs down.  Clouds floated out of the East.  I swam in the morning to have shade on the water.  The only critters I rescued were some ants, mainly so they wouldn't bite me.  The Argiope spider was in the same spot.  The widow skimmer and other dragonflies hunted from the perches I provided.   Note the pruinose abdomen on this male widow.  A female showed up later.  

A monarch battled with bees and wasps to lay eggs on the butterfly milkweed.  A black swallowtail flitted around but didn't try to lay eggs, so I suspect it was a male cruising for a girlfriend.  Fiery skippers also had to compete with the bees and wasps.  A tiger swallowtail was impossible to catch in a photo.  

I think I saw six skinks of various sizes.  One hungry skink dashed out of cover to snatch something off the concrete practically in front of me.  Another moseyed out from under my chair.  This one had a recent narrow escape.  The squirrels were all tracking their lady love through the trees. 

Cardinals, titmice and one blue jay enjoyed barkbutter balls.   A hummer hunted for a source of nectar in the rosemary.  Then it came for the feeder but I was sitting beside it at that time.  I froze and couldn't roll my eyes far enough so I don't know if it drank from the feeder or not.  Most of the hummer-friendly flowers were done blooming.  In fact, the only flowers left were canna, milkweed, and mountain mint.  A hawk swooped through the yard and I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture.  I think I caught a barn swallow in flight.  

Sunny

Since the next several days are supposed to be dry, I put out fresh barkbutter balls.  A cardinal noticed right away.  At least one blue jay visited as well.  A Carolina wren worked on the nubbin of suet all day long.  A dark swallowtail sipped from the milkweed flowers.  The backyard Argiope seemed almost adult in size.  I haven't checked on the one(s?) in front. 

In the afternoon a great blue heron perched on a dock post.   It had a mouthful of something.  I found a young blue tailed skink in the water and helped it back to dry land.  A dragonfly buzzed me while I was swimming.  After I got out, I saw a female great blue skimmer perched.  Then a widow skimmer made a few passes around the yard but I couldn't see it land.  

 

Pileated woodpeckers

A Carolina wren sat in one of the patio chairs.  A titmouse watched from the dogwood.  While swimming I saw a monarch but it floated away.  After I got out, a dark butterfly made a couple of passes back and forth under the oak.  I couldn't be sure but my guess is red spotted purple.  A prince baskettail protected me from aerial attack.  The all-black bee was back on the mountain mint.  

After weeks of absence, suddenly the pileateds turned up at suppertime today, still arguing over who got to eat first.  They ate a lot, too, and left scarcely a teaspoonful for other birds.  

Tigers

Brown headed nuthatches and a Carolina wren came for breakfast.  A cardinal was molting and later I found some of his feathers.  Bees were busy with the milkweed and joined wasps on the mountain mint.  I noticed, however, that I haven't seen any caterpillars on the milkweed or the rue.  I rescued a metallic green tiger beetle and a firefly from the water.  

Also, I saved the tiniest mama spider I've ever seen, hardly bigger than her babies.  Dragonflies were on guard but the only butterfly I saw was a tiger swallowtail that refused to stop for a picture.  A buzzard swooped low overhead and I thought I heard an osprey but I never saw it.  There was quite a pretty sunset in the evening.  

Hot

A Carolina wren came early on a hot, dry day with not a lot to observe.  The Argiope web caught the sun.  Clouds blew fast out of the West.  Titmice made frequent visits and one explored the garden tools right outside the window.  It found a snack there although it looked like a leaf to me.  

Nothing needed rescuing from the water.  Only one blue dasher was visible.  An orange butterfly flew past me while I was in the water so I couldn't tell if it was a monarch or a fritillary.  Later a black swallowtail  flitted around. A skink took a notion to climb the bird feeder pole.  Bees and wasps crowded the mountain mint.  A fiery skipper joined them.  One leafcutter bee looked like a silver-gray honey bee.  

Rain

Rain fell overnight and again after breakfast, thought that was light and short.  It seemed to annoy the Argiope.  A Carolina wren was the early bird.  Titmice hung around and a pine warbler visited briefly.  A buckeye nectared on the mountain mint and a variegated fritillary egged violet leaves    A dragonfly kept watch.  Bees and wasps stuffed themselves with mountain mint nectar. 

I waited too late and had to have a hurried swim under dark clouds.  Even so, that was fortunate for a large moth that was doing a vigorous backstroke and a woodlouse hunter spider that was sinking.  I was able to rescue both without damage to them, or me, despite a pestering mosquito. 

 About 5pm a thunderstorm came banging through and dumped a lot of water..  I saw the male widow skimmer as I hurried indoors but was too wet to stop for a photo.  The Argiope was rocking its web - I wondered if it was trying to shake off the raindrops.  Afterward, a brown headed nuthatch craved seeds. 

 

Mostly insects

A Carolina wren kept going back and forth between the suet and the step below, and I kept missing it.  The back yard Argiope stayed put.  The last daylily bud opened.  Clusters of green berries dotted the beautybery bush.  I had just enough time for a swim before lunch but saw nothing needing rescue.  Something bit or stung me, however.  Threadwaisted wasps congregated, and mated, on the mountain mint.  A tattered buckeye butterfly joined them.  I also saw a tiger swallowtail but didn't have the camera handy.  A titmouse had a run-in with a bullying house finch.  Again, evening brought a thin sheet of cloud, though this time I was looking Northeast.  No rain fell, after all. 

Very hot

A titmouse was up early wanting seeds.  The Argiope in the back yard moved around the corner so became visible in a side window.  Of course the window looked filthy.  It caught something and bundled it up.   Little bees drank milkweed nectar and an even tinier bee sucked up mountain mint juice.  A duskywing skipper also went for the mountain mint.  I squeezed in a swim in the morning before three meetings in three different libraries.  The wind was strong but felt like it was coming from a blast furnace.  At every traffic light, dragonflies danced in the thermals off the asphalt.  Each time I got in the car, it claimed to be over 100 but driving brought it down into the 90s.  (The NWS said low 90s but it was hotter.)  The sun set behind altostratus clouds, making the sky golden.  

Yellow jackets

The weather was hot and sunny but I had too many meetings and errands today.  I saw lots of dragonflies and two butterflies.  The dragonflies included blue dashers, a female great blue skimmer, and a male widow skimmer.  A black swallowtail and a monarch were the butterflies.  The bees seem to harass butterflies.  I admired the Argiope on the front patio which might have been larger than the one in back.  It was guarding a ripe pepper.  There was no sign of the spider that had been building a web near the wasp nest. 

One of the rain lilies revived.  The exterminator arrived to deal with the wasp nest near the sidewalk.  It turned out to be yellow jackets.  I did not know they would build an above ground nest.  After he extracted it, the gentleman showed it to me.  The paper comb was about 8" in diameter and the hexagonal pupa cells were as big as my little finger.  I wish I'd thought to grab the camera and take a photo.  

I saw a bluebird and a Carolina wren but only got a photo of a pair of brown headed nuthatches.  

Gray

A bluebird and a brown headed nuthatch were early visitors.  A Carolina wren tackled the suet.  The Argiope had a fine, new web.  The orange skipper was back on the mountain mint.  The best match seemed to be a Delaware skipper but iNaturalist said fiery skipper.  Leafcutter bees, honeybees, sand wasps, and others crowded the milkweed and mountain mint. 

A bald faced hornet went for an unplanned swim.   Drizzle began before lunch.  There were breaks when the birds and insects returned.  A blue dasher took up the perch by the rosemary.  Later, a widow skimmer took it over.  A tattered black swallowtail perched in the rosemary.  A skink caught some rays while on the step wall.  A Carolina wren picked at the soggy barkbutter balls.  Then a pine warbler arrived with the same idea. 

As I left for an evening meeting, fierce clouds were boiling out of the South.  I barely beat the rain inside.  But as I backed out of the drive, I saw two rain lilies blooming.  Alas, the rain flattened them before I got home.  Wasps were still coming and going from their nest in a bush at the foot of the driveway.  Meanwhile, a spider was constructing a web nearby.  Bold spider! 

Rain

A pine warbler made a breakfast visit to the barkbutter balls.  A crow wandered through the yard.  Titmice hid in the sakaki.  A small, brown click beetle was in the bottom of the blueberry bucket.  A black and white wasp and a yellow skipper drank mountain mint nectar.  A blue dasher used a perch.  A leaf cutter bee drank from the milkweed. 

I thought I'd beat the rain by swimming early but it started sooner than predicted.  Before that, I fished two snails and a bee out of the water.  A large feather floated by.  As I hustled indoors I noticed that the Argiope had caught something as big as it was and they were still wrestling.  A brief interlude of sun came between the morning rain and the afternoon thunderstorm.  A brown headed nuthatch extracted a seed from under a finch's tail feathers.  A wet Carolina wren got some suet.  A hungry fledgling bluebird got some seeds. 

The storm lasted till nearly 4pm and left the air very humid.  The Argiope worked on its web.  A widow skimmer glittered on a perch.  A black swallowtail flitted around the rue, then perched on the rosemary and annoyed the dragonfly.  Some skinks emerged into the wet sunshine.  

Fritillary

Because a thunderstorm was predicted, I swam in the morning.  That meant there wasn't much in the way of wildlife needing rescue, just a firefly.   I emptied the rainwater in the blueberry bucket into the watering can.  That somehow disturbed a jumping spider.  It looked exactly like a species from the Western states but maybe brilliant jumping spider is right.   The blueberries were plentiful but a lot smaller than earlier in the season.  

The usual bees and wasps enjoyed the mountain mint and among them was a green bee I didn't even notice till I looked at the photos.  What I think was some kind of bee fly mimic landed on a chair.  Today's butterfly was a variegated fritillary that arrived as I was dripping dry.  I also saw a tiger swallowtail, a dark butterfly, and an orange butterfly, but none of them posed for me.  Also, there were dragonflies, perched and cruising.  A skink hiked along the step wall. 

While the sky clouded over in the afternoon, there was no storm.  Brown headed nuthatches got seeds despite the cardinals, house finches, and chickadees that think they own the feeder.  Carolina wrens were more interested in suet.  A bluebird and a blue jay found the barkbutter balls.  Something was eating cherries and making the branches bounce, but I never saw the critter. 

Buckeye

I found the Argiope again, closer to the azalea and not visible from indoors.  At lunch, a buckeye fed on the mountain mint.  So did an orange skipper and many bees and wasps.   When I went swimming, storm clouds gathered in the Southwest while the sun blazed and blue sky covered the North and East.  I saved some scarab beetles and a woodlouse hunter, but was too late for an infant skink, alas.  Dragonflies perched at different heights.  A tiger swallowtail danced over the mountain mint. 

Meanwhile, a night heron landed in the pine tree below the pool.  It was silhouetted against the sky but I believe it was a juvenile yellow crowned night heron.  A female hummer avoided me and the feeder when I first came outside, then while I was in the water I saw it return.  Brown headed nuthatches didn't care about my presence, but a finch asserted its place in the pecking order and sent a nuthatch flying.  A goldfinch got a drink. 

Spicebush swallowtail

Morning was heavily overcast but no rain fell.  We certainly didn't need any more!  A bucket that was outside collected about three inches.  A Carolina wren came for suet and was photobombed by a chickadee.  A titmouse got seeds and suet.  The argiope spider went walkabout and I wasn't able to locate it. 

At lunch, a dark swallowtail fell in love with the butterfly milkweed flowers.  It danced around them and vibrated with desire.  I think it was a spicebush swallowtail!  The sky cleared in the afternoon and at last I got a swim.  Plenty of plant detritus and some beetles were floating, mainly because the water level was at the top of the skimmer.  Dragonflies were on patrol.  Bees and wasps feasted on mountain mint.  

Donnner & Blitzen

The hibiscus was still blooming.  The Carolina wren was still hungry for suet.  Brown headed nuthatches defied the cardinals, house finches, and chickadees for seeds.  A widow skimmer was in the same spot as last Saturday, but this time it was a male.  A loud thunderstorm and downpour came through right at lunchtime.  A second band of rain followed within an hour, but without the noise.  After that, rain fell with occasional lulls fo the rest of the afternoon, sometimes with thunder. 

Vacation

We picked a rainy, hot, and humid time to visit Virginia's Eastern Shore.  Sunday, before we left, I admired the hibiscus flowers and the spider web.  In Cape Charles I saw a pair of osprey circling, a mockingbird, and a couple of buzzards.  A saddlebags dragonfly cruised up the main street but my photos missed it..  By the time we arrived, the sky suggested a storm was brewing.  On Monday we drove around Chincoteague.  The road to get there looked like it was only a foot or two above high tide.  Low tide revealed oyster beds around the island.  Laughing gulls and egrets were everywhere.  We discovered that NASA Wallops is powered by a field of solar panels.  The dregs of Chantel passed through adding to the humidity. 

At lunch Tuesday, we watched what I think was a white ibis probing creek mud for goodies.  Small dragonflies congregated in the vegetation along the creek.  We had good weather for a boat trip around Chincoteague and Assateague.  The ride was a bit choppy but the wind was a relief from the humidity.  Oystercatchers loafed on the oyster reefs.  Island ponies grazed near the saltmarsh.  Egrets and cormorants joined the gulls.  An eagle sat on a stump.  Swallows darted through the air.  Dolphins swam in the strait between islands.  A thunderstorm held off till evening.   

The bed and breakfast where we stayed had some garden pools and I surprised a frog.  On the way home, we stopped at a plant nursery and I saw a red admiral, skippers, and a digger wasp on the flowers.  We had lunch in Onancock.  Jellyfish were pulsating beside the wharf.   When we reached the CBBT, there were large birds atop some light poles, that I think were eagles.  The weather was horribly hot at home and the pool water had dropped too low.  Apparently none of the rain on our vacation fell at home.   A Carolina wren visited the no melt suet.  The spider relocated to a safer spot.  I saw a monarch hanging around the butterfly milkweed.  K reported that a hive of some sort took up residence in a bush between the driveway and the sidewalk.