Caterpillar hunter

Both the air and water had cooled though the sun was warm.  I fished a few beetles out of the water and chased off a frog.  One foolish monarch caterpillar ate all the green pod enclosing immature milkweed seeds.  I was thinking that it was "eating the seed corn" when I notices a more immediate danger.  A Guinea paper wasp was hunting caterpillars around the milkweed.  They chew up caterpillars and other soft insects and feed the mash to the grubs in their paper nest.  The monarch caterpillar had created a big sign that it was nearby.  I saw a couple of other monarch caterpillars that were sticking to leaves.  

Crabby

In the late afternoon, the sky was very deep blue.  The water was full of tree detritus, leaves, pine needles, chewed acorns, cherry stems,  cedar sprigs, and old catkins.  I found one of the black swallowtail caterpillars drowned.  I also found a little fiddler crab with a body no bigger than my thumbnail.  It pinched my palm hard enough to leave tiny punctures, and it left its big claw fastened to me.  I nevertheless released it to hike back downhill to the shoreline.  An ant rescued itself by crawling up my back and took a lot of persuading to leave me alone.  At least two monarch caterpillars were still feeding and, unlike the other critters, were willing to pose.  And that was all I saw.  

 

Gale

I found five monarch caterpillars.  One was determined to eat a pod instead of a leaf.  I moved it and it found another pod.  A squirrel with a pecan paused before climbing the maple.  A hummer made frequent feeder visits.  She intimidated a downy.  The wind filled the water with debris almost faster than I could collect it.  Lots of pine needles and leaves damaged by lack of rain kept blowing down.  The frog awaited me under the skimmer lid.  Later, I caught a frog but it didn't look like it was the same one.  There were more beetles in the water.  

Waves of rain

All day, rain alternated with periods of sun but the sunshine never lasted long enough to dry surfaces.  I swam in the late morning and got rained on.  Distant thunder made me a bit nervous.  The frog was under the skimmer lid again, and dived again.  After I cleaned the pool, I lifted it out onto the patio and it hopped into the vegetation.   Several beetles were swimming and a green June beetle had climbed out via a rescue twig propped on the pool ladder.  Other wildlife stayed under cover from the rain that at times came down hard, but I did see one sulphur butterfly during a lull.  This is not a stream, it's water on the patio reflecting vegetation.  

 

Steamy

A thunderstorm arrived at midnight with bright flashes.  It brought a needed soaking rain but also stifling humidity.  I wonder if it diluted the hummingbird juice because I didn't see any of them.  The dragonfly nymph appeared to have died in the night.  The frog was back in the skimmer again and eluded me again. I rescued a paper wasp that was swimming hard and a yellow jacket that may have drowned.

A few butterflies flew across the yard but only a cabbage white was identifiable.  A Carolina wren was hungry.  A skink was cautious.  It might have been the one I rescued yesterday.  I found four monarch caterpillars on the milkweed.  A couple of black swallowtail caterpillars ate parsley stalks.  A drizzle began in the late afternoon and the sky darkened early.  

Dragonfly nymph

I found the monarch caterpillar again and it was growing fast and dumping fress.  A couple of black swallowtail caterpillars ate parsley stems.  A small sulphur butterfly alighted briefly.  I also saw a red spotted purple. When I went for a very late swim, there was a bigger frog with a green jaw under the lid of the skimmer.  It jumped down into the basket full of leaves so I let it stew there for a while.  When I lifted the basket to empty it, the frog jumped into the pool.  I saw it a couple more times but then it disappeared so I think it must have jumped out.  Just in case, I checked the skimmer again and here came a young skink swimming out,  I carried it out onto the patio and took photos.  

I also encountered a dragonfly nymph, perhaps the same one I've seen before.  This time it obligingly clung to the side of the pool steps where I could photograph it.  A kingfisher landed on one of the pilings but didn't stay long.  The Berkley's polypore looked bigger. The hibiscus bloomed again.  The beautyberries were colorful.  A lot of cloud cover and a North wind kept the temperature down but the air was humid.  

 

Caterpillars

I did not see the infant monarch caterpillar today, perhaps because there were no flowers left to eat.  The black swallowtail caterpillars wandered in search of more parsley.  I found one on the pool ladder.  I also found a floating leaf with a passenger, a pale yellow looper caterpillar.  Some snout butterflies flitted around the dogwood.  A buzzard patrolled the hazy sky.  The Carolina birds - chickadee and wren - visited the feeders.  A hummer rejected its feeder and I could see the sugar water was growing mold.  A great blue heron landed on the channel marker.  A female cardinal wanted a bedtime snack.