Hungry critters

There are indeed two rabbits. I wonder how long I've been seeing both, just one at a time. They're nearly full grown.

The seed feeder was busy with cardinals, chickadees, titmice, and an army of house finches. I saw at least eight and maybe more at one time. The goldfinch prefers to go straight to the source, maybe because the immature seeds are smaller?

The hummingbird is still happy with the feeder I put up, but annoyed with the crowd of finches. It makes a quiet, single note chup as it feeds. I'm hearing cicadas again - I don't know where they all went the other day but they were hard at it early this morning. The tree crickets have been singing in the evenings.

Rain started around lunch time and whenever it slackened the wet birds continued to mob the feeder. The rain flushed a black rat snake (Pantherophis obsoletus) from wherever it stays and I caught it crossing the patio. A rabbit was also out in the rain. Then a brown thrasher explored the mulch next to the house.

Now that it is dark, a barn spider (Araneas cavaticusis) weaving a large web across the patio window. It will be interesting to see if anything gets caught overnight.

Late bunnies

Two rabbits were out and about this evening. Early in the morning, a squirrel was on top of the feeder licking or nibbling all around its roof - what's up with that?

This summer is the first time I've put much effort into identifying dragonflies. I love the names: skimmer, chaser, pond hawk, meadow hawk, pennant, darter. There are very helpful identification sites online, though that really depends on having a photo to compare as the computer is not as portable as a field guide.

While there are still blueberries, at this point the birds are eating them before they are fully ripe. Meanwhile the figs have begun to ripen - I picked a pint and left plenty for the birds.

Early grackles

They tried to fool the feeder counterweight by perching on the side. I think I saw a pair of towhees - robin-like with flashes of white. Chickadees took over the feeder after the grackles gave up. The rabbit just went by.

At lunch, a hummingbird discovered the feeder I put out yesterday. We're still attracting widow skimmer dragonflies. And the male goldfinch was again pecking at the sunflowers. It's another hot day.

The hummingbird appears to be a female or a juvenile male and appears to like what I cooked up. The bill is amazingly long. As we ate supper outside, it flew up to about three feet of us and eyeballed each of us in turn. I guess we pass.

Fresh seeds!

The feeder was popular this morning with house finches, goldfinches, cardinals, and a grackle that got dumped with a clang. Both goldfinches tried to hurry things along by pecking at the sunflowers - this is the female. I am remembering that Mary Reid Barrow says goldfinches are now nesting and that, unlike other seed-eaters, they feed their offspring seeds in the nest.

A little green heron perched on a piling but too far for the camera to get a sharp image. The chickadees and titmice are up and feeding now. And bluejays are looking for fallen seeds.

Typical July day

The rabbit was waiting on the patio, and then a dozen geese came to check out the pool, but scuttled off when I objected. I could not tell this year's fledglings from their parents any more. It is hot already, and sticky, though it did not rain last night.

At lunch, a hummingbird tried to get nectar from the sunflowers. Again it was too fast, but it left an impression of brown rather than green. The same bird, or something came back around 6pm to check the roses. Curiously, I do not hear any cicadas, just some wrens buzzing.

There have been lots of jays, cardinals and robins about, but the feeder refill has not yet been noticed. The rabbit seems to like to munch on the lawn below the bedroom in the evening. Finally I got a photo of the LBJ that shows up in the evening - I think it may be a song sparrow.

Wet

The air is saturated and everything drips. The hibiscus fooled me once again. My lovely little pepper dropped off the plant. It's a tad cooler and sunnier. I need to refill the feeder.

In a parking lot up the street I saw some Halloween pennant dragonflies, but I have not seen any of those in the yard. And, though the dragonflies posed nicely, I had not brought the camera along

Rain all night

But it is so humid that the rain did not leave a washed clean feel. The humidity fogged the camera too. The rabbit child is still making morning rounds of the patio. The plant I grew from a seed inside a particularly nice red bell pepper is coming along. It's about 3 years old now.

Another afternoon thunderstorm. The good side is we don't have to water the grass plugs where we are trying to start a lawn in place of the oak we lost.

Still hot and sticky

Yesterday's rain only brought temporary cool air. Again a swarm of finches jockeyed for a place at the feeder. I guess I missed a bud yesterday because there is one last hibiscus flower today. The wren was busy under the feeder.

Hibiscus estivating

The outdoor hibiscus has a pattern of blooming for a while, going dormant, then starting up again in late summer.

Again the finches were swarming the feeder early, along with chickadees and cardinals. A dragonfly was buzzing around early. It's another blistering day.

Around 3:30 rain finally came out of the northwest with thunder and lightning and great gusts of wind. The temperature dropped nicely and it appears we are getting a substantial watering.

More heat

This is the Peruvian daffodil.

Traffic jam at the feeder again this morning.

103F and heavy clouds boiling up in the West all afternoon, but passing by without rain.

The young rabbit was out and about. A dark red bodied dragonfly takes over toward evening. It likes to perch on the rosemary instead of the garden poles.

Stifling

The heat plus humidity make it hard to breathe. The newspaper says yesterday was 61% humidity where last week was below 50% with lower temperatures. I assume that humidity works the same as water solutions where water at a higher temperature can hold more dissolved molecules.

Anyway, whether it's the heat or something else, the feeder was a riot scene earlier. A half dozen finches, several cardinals, chickadees and titmice all kept swooping in, hovering and flying off when they couldn't intimidate the perch sitters. Birds were perched all over the feeder hanger too. Now they have calmed down and a lone finch is sharing with a cardinal fledgling.

The sunflowers are still intact. This evening the goldfinch pair landed on them. It did not snap the flowers off, but I am wondering if that's what happened to the earlier ones.

It has not rained yet though it looks thunderous. Thermometers claim it hit 100 F. The Peruvian daffodil is blooming, as are the lantana and the crape myrtle.

Back to hot

The amazing, breezy, pleasant weather is past and we are back to Tidewater summer. With the heat came the smell of peat smoke and haze. The sky is a mottled gray and white with some sun leaking through.

An angle-wing katydid nymph got in the house somehow. It thanked me for rescue with a bit of frass.

The little bird that I've been noticing is indeed a Carolina wren. It visited the feeder briefly this morning but flew before I got the camera ready. Finches are busy as usual.

At lunch, the male goldfinch took an interest in the sunflower blossom. It could be that the flowers were snapped off by a bird trying to land on them.

Flower survived

The sunflower that had started to open yesterday is intact, so far.

I found another dead cicada. I am puzzled that they are not being eaten. Usually all I see is wings, not whole, untouched, defunct cicadas.

What is attacking the sunflower?

Twice now, the sunflower has started a blossom and something has snapped it off in the night. This time the flower had opened and the whatever-it-was tore it apart. I did not plant the sunflower, it sprouted from a seed off the feeder. I've noticed that another flower head is partially cut and hanging. That suggests something small. Several more are ready to bloom, so we'll see if they survive the night.

The bunny came by and nibbled on some plantings between making mad dashes for shelter. I couldn't detect anything to startle it, maybe it was just practicing?

The hummingbird also visited the rosemary again but so quickly that even with the camera ready to go, all I got was rosemary. A dove sat on the feeder lid which is odd since they are ground feeders. Other than that, the usual birds - cardinals, house finches, titmice, and chickadees squabbled over a place at the feeder.

A very tiny brown bird, most likely a wren, hopped around under the azalea. I saw it again in late afternoon under the hibiscus. I can't see an eye stripe and its tail isn't cocked, but both the dark back and the light chest are unmarked so I cannot think what else it could be.

Hummingbird on rosemary

Twice the hummingbird appeared between 7 and 8am and both times as soon as I moved toward the camera it went. I saw green but no red so I assume it is a female.

Other than that, the usual feeder suspects and another lovely day. The female Widow Skimmer dragonfly is back, or it's another one.

Yet another clear day

The air is still clear without the haze of last week. A threatening cloud loomed in the west but moved off north. There's a breeze and the temperature is comfortable.

A Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) dragonfly with striped sides and blue eyes and tail hung about in the shade at the deep end of the pool for much of the morning. Wikipedia says that the dusty white bloom on some dragonflies and cicadas is called pruinescence, or pruinosity.

Various young birds were screaming for food and doing the wing-tremble dance to hurry their poor parents along. It's hard to be sure looking up, but I think one family were titmice.

A black swallowtail was laying eggs on the parsley and I saw a tiny caterpillar on the rue, no bigger than the letter l.

Another bright morning but without wind

Wrens were buzzing around the roses. They sound almost like insects. The titmice came to the feeder early. Then finches and cardinals. There are two adolescent cardinals with tattered crests. The doves are hanging around too. Blueberries are still ripening. The bushes were battered by the tree removal and I hope their productivity isn't a last gasp.

Well, now the breeze has picked up and the tide has risen. The sky is full of cream puffs. I see the goldfinch prefers the neighbors' bird feeder. I know they prefer thistle to sunflower.

We have a slime mold in the mulch that was put down this spring. Slime molds are not fungi, nor plant nor animal. My favorite slime mold page is on Tom Volk's Fungi website - I share his fascination with these strange entities.

Breezy morning

Everything looks rain washed and sharp edged. The rabbit child was on the patio early, sampling the grass plugs in the flats. Two squirrels were trying to get seed from the feeder. One was very persistent, and even tried walking upside down under the feeder. When it gave up, the molting cardinal arrived. The finches got a bit between the others.

The temperature is lovely with the breeze but it seems to be discouraging flying insects. Wasps are out but few dragonflies or butterflies. A black swallowtail is all. I haven't seen a tiger swallowtail for weeks - I wonder if the loss of the trees is why.

In the pool there was a frog with a green face and brown on brown freckles. Green Frog (Rana clamitans) is my guess. A small butterfly in the Lycaenidae Family (blues, coppers, hairstreaks) spent time on the rosemary leaves. Could it have been laying eggs? This tiem a book was more help - it's a Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) and it's not picky about food plants.

All day finches and cardinals came to the feeder, but with evening, chickadees showed up. The male goldfinch made a brief appearance off in the remaining oak tree and two doves pecked up fallen seeds on the steps. One dove kept making little dashes at the other.

Rabbit grooming

The young rabbit was sitting in our un-planted vegetable garden having a thorough grooming session, nibbling and licking all over like a cat. I could not take a photo through the window screen. This is from a week ago.

It is very humid today. The feeder needed refilling we were informed by a disgusted cardinal. Now a molting cardinal is on the perch looking very patchy.

The rain finally came after dark.

Thin overcast so far

Cardinal busy on the feeder, squirrel showing too much interest in the portulaca. Dragonflies everywhere.
Now the sun is intense. Today's book review.

Nice day

Too bad I spent it over a keyboard. The sun went down very large and red into a bank of clouds. The moon is about three fourths full.

Fragrant

Many aromas of flowers and smoke. Bright sun. I saw an interesting dragonfly with a blue tail, but every photo came out blurry.

Wet and gray

The rainy week is supposed to conclude today. The feeder was busy and a jay surveyed the fallen bits.

A fine day for a swim in the pool, thought the geese. Looks like around twenty birds all told. My poor camera didn't understand that I wanted to focus between the flowers and the geese weren't waiting for me to mess with settings.

It has cleared off except for cotton-puff cumulus and it's hot and sticky. The pool is full of beetles and wasps. I rescued another tiger beetle and this one posed for me. They look black till the sun brings out the green iridescence. Tetracha virginica - Virginia Metallic Tiger Beetle

Gray and smoky

I assume the swamp fire is the cause of the smell though there's not much wind. The sky is mottled gray with a glare spot where the sun is obscured. The humidity is ferocious. And it turns out that young rabbits eat blueberries. At least that's who scampered off when I went out to pick. Usually it's grackles I startle.

Last evening a wren checked out the feeder.

Another tiger beetle in the pool - it thanked me for rescue by biting. During lunch, the blue tailed skink skittered across the east-facing wall of the patio. The sky looks threatening one moment and sunny the next.

Dare I say sparkling?

Bright sun on the rain-washed leaves. The geese came up the hill only to encounter me and hustle right back down. I was reading the paper and noticed what looked like a piece of PVC pipe behind a bush - it was the lead goose's neck. The goslings are fully fledged with adult plumage but are still smaller.

The young rabbit passed through early. Mushrooms are fruiting in response to the rain then withering in the sun. After viewing a considerable number of Google images, I think they look like Parasola auricoma.

A buckeye butterfly appears to be nectaring on the rosemary.

I shouldn't have dared: thunder rumbled through the late afternoon and then rain came. The cloud was so directly overhead that from the north-facing windows all I could see was blue sky. I saw the juvie rabbit again as it scampered away from the storm.

Gentle rain so far

Good for plumping up the blueberries.

Rain continued all day, off and on and sometimes hard with lightning. I saw a mushroom ring in a neighbor's yard.

Washed fresh and sparkling

The clouds seem to be clearing off. The storm last evening lowered the temperature, though the humidity is still high. Good for the ripening blueberries. The grackles are feasting.

Many visitors this morning: the goldfinch pair, a dove, a male red-wing blackbird, a couple of wrens, and a dark bird bigger than the finches with no field marks that I can see. It sat on the feeder blocking the finches, chickadees and titmice. I wonder if it is a female r-w blackbird? The crow family were loudly demanding breakfast on the neighbors' roof. The young rabbit passed through.

The afternoon brought thunderheads but no rain. And here's an after dark visitor. I went to see what was knocking on the door. I believe it is some kind of longhorn beetle.

Still hot

I'm continuing to have computer problems which is why posts have been short.

A mockingbird came through yesterday and a blue jay just sat in the mulch for a while - cooler? Cardinals, house finches, chickadees and titmice at the feeder. The crow family hangs around in the trees. Lots of dragonfly species - a emerald green and black medium size (female Eastern Pondhawk Erythemis simplicicollis), a small rusty red (Eastern Amberwing Perithemis tenera), and a couple of large ones that go too fast to see clearly. The Pondhawk likes to perch on plants well away from the creek. The Amberwings hang out in the marsh grass - they're the ones I posted the other day mating. Today one shared a floating plank with a small blue crab.

The promised rain finally arrived with the evening and has cooled things down considerably. Perhaps that's why I can connect to the Internet now?

Overcast

A few drops of rain. The juvie cardinal continues to practice looking for food on the pavement. Chickadees and house finches continue to contend for a place at the feeder.

Hotter today

This morning the whole pot hanger was on the ground with the portulaca pots. The question is whether to put it back up at all.

The chaste tree is blooming. It grew from a ragged root I rescued when they bulldozed Saw Pen Point to put up the mansions.

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A beautiful, temperate day, except in computerland. A squirrel was doing acrobatics on the feeder in the morning. The finches have been chowing down all day. The other regular seed eaters could hardly get time on the perch. The finches have gotten pretty used to us on the patio and don't fly off any more.