Blue sky

The usual suspects are visiting, including a dove on the ground and a hummer.  The dove is acting odd, hardly moving for long periods.  A squirrel hung over the edge of the pool, presumably for a drink.  I'll refill the birdbath.

A skinklet scurried around the flowerpots.  A black swallowtail landed on the window.  Both butterflies and dragonflies were plentiful, plus a cicada hid under the morning glory vines.  Egrets were busy along the creek, but this one was flying high.

Lots of hummer action, but the rufous did not return.   The finches were crowding around and got on the hummer's nerves.  Later a couple of titmice faced off over the feeder. 

Early sun disappeared, reappeared

At 7am, it was shining on the clouds, now just clouds.

I went out to pick a gardenia and startled a juvenile night heron which was in the grass near the creek.  It only flew as far as the dock.  A cicada was floating in the pool.  The parsley is mostly bolted.

It cleared a little before noon and has been sunny since.  I think I saw a male hummer at the feeder.  An osprey circled over the water.  Lots of different butterflies flitted around.  It seems like butterflies dominate August where dragonflies were the main event in July.

Surprise!  This hummer is not a ruby throat!  This is the first rufous hummingbird I've seen in Virginia, though I know others have, especially in winter.  

After the rufous flew off, a ruby throat (female or juvenile) came and fed.  Then the rufous returned for more.  After a bit, two hummers showed up and one escorted the other off, but I couldn't make out what species each was.  The rufous is supposed to be slightly bigger.

At twilight I looked out and discovered something large had been in the pool.  The water was still sloshing so I didn't miss it by much.  Much of both patio levels was wet.  I suspect the dog up the street.  Otherwise we have a bear!  

Soft clouds and sun

Everything looks edgeless - clouds and shadows.  The pavement is dry but the glass is still foggy.  Birds have complained that the feeder is empty.  K found a dead fledgling in the pool. 

Dragonflies and butterflies are out.  I saw a silver skipper.  A grownup skink crossed the step from the rosemary and went under the morning glories.  Feeders are refilled.

A buckeye and a gray hairstreak joined the bees on the rosemary later in the afternoon.   A dragonfly paused on the perch.  The feeder is hosting cardinals while a dove and a Carolina wren forage beneath.  When they fly, the buckeye freezes. 

A cricket got inside and is singing to me as I type.  

More humidity

The sun is shining but I can't see out through the condensation on the windows.  The dew point must be well above room temperature.   The rains and humidity have destroyed our fig crop.  I guess that's fair considering the magnificent blueberry season this summer. 

Finally, the hot sun and the breeze dry us out.  A dragonfly in the sun was obelisking, i.e. doing a handstand.  The beauty berries are beginning to blush, as are the dogwood berries. Lots of skinks are scampering around both upper and lower patios. A gulf fritillary feasted on the lantana out front. 

Mushrooms are popping through the mulch everywhere.  In addition to the classic toadstools, here are Xylaria looking like branching coral. One odd-looking mushroom turned out to be a discarded eggshell, probably from a dove.  A Horace's duskywing was basking on the sakaki.  Then clouds boiled up out of the North and swept East bringing thunder. 

A sauna

Blue sky with cream puffs, but the condensation on the windows tells the truth - humid!  The usual suspects are at the feeder and doves are beneath.


Humpf.  The sky has been getting darker and now after 11am, it is raining steadily, heavy at times. Now the sun is shining on the rain.  A Carolina wren is hanging about under the morning glories.  A tiny skink started to pose when a squirrel scared it off.  The squirrel looks very punk in wet fur.  Butterflies are taking advantage of the respite from rain

Back and forth - now it is storming with thunder mid-afternoon.
And sun.
And rain.
And finally, a rainbow! 



(Note: I've now unloaded the camera and filled in the images for the last ten days.) 

Sunny start

Over night lightning kept lightning up swirling clouds and there was rain.  I did see one bright planet rising before dawn.  The windows are fogged again.  Doves have been hanging around for the last several days.

The sun has been come-and-go, but no rain till just now, about solar noon, a few sprinkles.   A little while ago butterflies were very busy around the vegetation on the far side of the pool.  I couldn't identify the dark ones at a distance, but the tiger swallowtail was unmistakable laying eggs on the wild cherry.  See how its wings shiver as it lays?   At one point it flew very purposefully across the creek and later it buzzed the bird feeder scaring off a cardinal.  I suppose the vivid color is a warning to birds of foul taste but I wonder what kind of thought sends the butterfly across the creek.  That's more than a random search program. 

A couple of Carolina wrens foraged in the mulch with a tufted titmouse.  All their kicking and scraping has excavated a depression under the feeder.  One of the wrens looks like a fledgling to me - I'll have a better idea when my computer comes back and I can use photo editing software again.  Meanwhile something was thrashing at the far end of the pool.  K nobly rescued a skink.  Another very small skink slithered across the top step a little later. 

I saw a palamedes and a backlit katydid.  A dragonfly went by in a blur.  Lots of caterpillars are chewing on the rue.  I found two fritillary caterpillars drowned in the pool.  It stayed sunny and hot till about 4:30pm. Then clouds poured in from the Southeast accompanied by thunder grumbles but no rain.  A cardinal called in his wayward fledgling who flew past my ear and made me jump. Finally, after 6pm, light rain.

Intermittent rain

A brief moment of sun and blue, but now it's back to light rain.  A mushroom hidden under the hibiscus has swollen and flipped up its gills.  A Carolina wren was prospecting back there.  Titmice and finches have been quarreling over the feeder.  The mangy-looking cardinal and a hummer also came during the break in the rain.

Black cloud bands, lightning, and a blinding downpour hit on the way to Norfolk, leaving lots of street flooding with sheets of water flowing across Colley.  Even after lunch, the clouds still look dramatic.  But lots of butterflies are busy in the yard, including a large dark one on one of the big paulownia leaves.  Bees and wasps are also busy, and mosquitoes.  The birdhouse is quite noisy.  Two kingfishers patrolled the creek and, on hearing them, the birdhouse went quiet.

It seems to have cleared off now but it is still windy. Cormorants are conducting aerial maneuvers and crows are commenting. 

"Partly cloudy"

So where is the part that's not cloudy?  Is it a different time or place?  Anyway, we had rain sprinkles about 8:30am and overcast.  The usual suspects visited the feeder. A variety of bees are busy on the rosemary.  An egret is prospecting along the bulkhead on the far side of the creek.

Clouds are heavy but moving right along.  A tiger swallowtail and some other butterflies are hanging around.  The only dragonfly I see is an amberwing.  I caught a bird emerging from the birdhouse, so it is not a mouse.  I'm pretty sure it's a wren. 

The insects were quiet at midday, but they are buzzing lustily at twilight.  A homeward bound egret was a dark white against the cloud bands.  As evening falls, the bumble bees are the last on the rosemary. 

Busy birds

K thinks she saw a hawk perch on the feeder post.  About half an our later the birds came back - titmice and the usual suspects.  A finch faced off a titmouse at the edge of the perch till the poor titmouse was upside down.  It looked like an acrobatic act.  The hummer (s?) seems quite pleased with the fresh sugar water.  The sky is cloud-covered, but with texture, not that low, moist gray. A soaring egret appeared to be playing on the wind like a gull.

The overcast is breaking up on a wind out of the Northeast.  Last night, the mosquito fogger truck went down our street so I wondered if that accounted for the dearth of bugs today.  Bees are busy on the rosemary and I've seen a tiger swallowtail and a tiny ladybird-type beetle.

The afternoon was pretty clear, except for clouds passing through, but very humid.  It was cool and breezy but kind of dank.  A Carolina wren hunted bugs inside the morning glory tangle.  The squirrel with the white spot and a smaller squirrel foraged.  A firefly is sitting on the window. 

Wet

The windows are fogged and everything is dripping.  A snail is crawling on the glass. Ah, there's the sun.  Ooops, no, gone again.

The window fog has evaporated and the sun blinks on occasionally.  Butterflies are busy and the honey bees have come back.  A tiny skink appeared from behind the fascia board!  Chickadees are feeding but the hummer informed us its feeder had gone nasty. A male cardinal looks moth-eaten.  There is activity of some sort around the birdhouse. And I think I hear babies.  A titmouse showed up at the feeder.

I just saw a gigantic brown butterfly - bird size.  It was only a glimpse so I cannot be sure if it was a giant swallowtail or not.  Definitely the other three species are around. Also around are the big lemon yellow sulphur butterflies.  Two went into a circling dance - is that flirting or fighting?  Another, larger skink crossed the steps. 


The afternoon has been fairly sunny and breezy, but the sky is not blue.  I saw a big green stink bug in flight.   Something came out of the birdhouse, not through the hole, but under the roof which has separated a bit.  It could have been a wren, or it could have been a mouse - it did not fly away, just disappeared into the bush.  A domestic duck paddled by in company with two mallard females. 

Gray

Yesterday's clearing of the skies did not last.  A lone male finch sat on the feeder post.  (I have noticed that Blogger's spell checker is British - it favours grey.  Why?)

A few chickadees and cardinals have fed but no other birds.  K suggested the rain may have diluted the hummer's sugar water.  A dove foraged in the wet mulch. 

It has been a humid day with a few moments of sun and finally rain about 6pm.  Mushrooms are popping.   The Kempsville Library has a fine crop of birdsnest puffballs in the mulch by the bike rack. 

Still raining

The newspaper was sopping.  A finch and a squirrel were hungry enough to get wet.  A caterpillar landed in the spider web by the window but wriggled free while the spider showed no interest.  The web is sheltered by a roof overhang. It is amazingly complex with crazy struts, a dome and segments of orb all over.  The rain varies in intensity.  During one of the lighter times a Carolina wren foraged.  Now it is heavy again and nothing is stirring.

At lunch, it began to clear and later there was sun.  But I was cooped up in offices all afternoon. 

Cooler and wet

The seed feeder is busy.  A titmouse with no face mask is among the birds.  The towhee tried to land on the step railing and slid down.  After a moment it remembered it could fly away instead of scrabbling at the slick surface.  A tiger swallowtail swooped across the patio.  The wild blue morning glories are blooming.  I don't understand why they wait till their leaves are all bug-eaten.

No sun for a while now.  There was blue sky before but now it has clouded over.  Heavy rumbles around noon and it is quite gloomy.   And it has been raining now for a couple of hours. At lest the birdbath is full.  Nothing stirring but gulls and crows.

Cardinals and chickadees showed up for a damp evening snack.  This one looks miserable. 

Overcast and breezy

Some sun is leaking through sideways.  Yesterday I had very little chance to observe. The seed feeder was empty so no wonder it was quiet.  Refilled now, just waiting till they notice.  The clouds are getting darker.

Actually, the sky is oscillating between threatening and partly cloudy with some sun getting through.  Butterflies are out in force - swallowtails, sulphurs, fritillaries, and smaller ones.  A few dragonflies are around but it may be too breezy for them.  The butterflies are staying low.  Today is National Honey Bee Day so where are they?   The rosemary is hosting giant orange bumblebees and tiny hover flies, everything but honeybees.  Did they party too much?

A pair of cardinals look quite moult-y.  Egrets have been working the creek.  Over all, the day has been quite pleasant. BTW, I am waiting for my computer to come back from the shop, with its photo editing software, and then I'll load the pictures I've been taking.

Sunny and pleasant all day

The windows are fogged but supposedly it won't rain today.  A skirmish between two hummers left me wondering why the feeder has more than one perch.  One drove the other off at least three times, wasting precious energy.  Finches and cardinals are on the other feeder and one finch is refusing to feed its offspring any longer.  A chickadee studied me when I went outside to photograph a sulphur butterfly that was suckling on the hibiscus. 

It is turning into a lovely day, not too hot.  The sulphurs are all over now, both the big lemon-yellow and the smaller velveeta-yellow with black edges.  Bees too, from tiny halactid to big bumbles, and I suppose flies as well.  A fritillary and some swallowtails passed through.  An osprey swooped low through the yard then cruised upstream.  A blue jay called its friends.  I think the bird under the morning glories was a wren. One of the hummers came back while I was outside and fussed a bit but decided I was harmless.  It hovered and eyeballed me.

Late afternoon, the hummer warz continue.  This one checking out the lavender has a striped throat.  A mockingbird is beginning to hang out.   A female cardinal with no mask seems very curious - a young bird?  It cocked its head to watch a dove forage.  Chickadees, titmice and finches also visited and chased each other. 

Blue haze becomes a storm

Squirrels, and a dove in the birdbath. A hummer appreciated the fresh food.

A hackberry emperor (a small dark nondescript butterfly) is at work on the rosemary and a sulphur visited the hibiscus.  A spangled skimmer is using the perch.   A tiger swallowtail fluttered through like a blowing leaf. 

The haze has thickened into overcast.  Now at 4pm the thunder is rumbling and it looks gloomy. and the storm hits at a quarter past the hour.  Hard rain and wind and an official storm warning.  A squirrel scuttled for cover when the lightning flashed. After 6pm it cleared for a while, but clouded up again by twilight. One dead branch is all I see in the way of debris. 

More blue haze

The windows ere completely fogged, but by 9ap the temperature rose enough to clear them.  Something upset the portulaca pot.  Squirrels and finches visited.  A palamedes swallowtail took an interest in the hibiscus. 

At lunch, I glimpsed a skink.  A towhee kept venturing out from under th morning glories, then rushing back under cover.  The whole day has been very pleasant, if windy.

Humid

The windows are so fogged I could barely make out the squirrels.  They and finches are it so far.  Not much birdsong - occasional chirps plus the ubiquitous crows and gulls - but the insects are buzzing on all frequencies.  The morning glories are beginning to bloom.

The blue sky is muted with haze.  A tiny skink crossed the steps.  The juvie towhee has been darting out from under the morning glory leaves to forage in the mulch.  A hummer came but did not drink - too full of ants?   Both black and tiger swallowtails are around.   

Gray again

It rained some more over night.  A rabbit grazed by the sakaki bush.  A mockingbird pursued something in the cherry and dogwood.  A Carolina wren stayed under the morning glories. I see some blue flowers on them.  On the feeder, house finches fed fledglings.  Two finches and one cardinal over-weighed the perch so the cardinal kicked the finches off.  Chickadees showed up too.  It's another day of alternating sun and gloom.  All the swallowtail species have been by plus an orange butterfly.  But not so many dragonflies. 

Finally, mid-afternoon the rain came down.  Now there's blue sky and massive thunder heads and lots of drama. 

Another wet gray sky

The juvenile towhee was foraging under the feeder while I ate but then a squirrel showed up and the towhee left.  It appears that towhees are crepuscular, preferring dawn and dusk and dark days.

A red-spotted purple butterfly was hanging around the lantana.  Periods of sun are alternating with gloom.  The towhee came out from under the morning glories when the clouds won and the skink came out from under the rosemary when the sun reappeared.  This is a very small skink with a very long tail.

The hummer still visits despite the candied ants.  A light rain started around 4pm.  A gloomy evening and rain into the night.

Overcast

The sky looks wet and gray, but no rain so far.  Sun is leaking through as the clouds speed off to the Northeast, only to be replaced by more.  There's a nice breeze.  When I sat down with my cereal a hummer was hovering under the feeder.  I turned for the camera and it was gone.  The usual suspects are on the seed feeder.

When I went to pick blueberries I passed a palemedes.  Several more tiny green lynx spiders were on the berries.  They must be a summer brood as I remember their ancestor being an adult at this time of year.  But then, I don't ever remember still having blueberries this late.  Was it that the warm spring increased fertilization or are the summer rain and heat responsible?

 A black swallowtail is doing its egg thing. Cabbage and sulphur butterflies are enjoying the rosemary. The tiger swallowtail keeps flitting by, just faster than the camera shutter.  I glimpsed an orange butterfly, probably a fritillary. 

A skink crossed the steps.  A red-spotted purple claimed space on the fig.  In the afternoon a pondhawk, a widow skimmer, and a pennant all hung out by the patio.  Sprinkles fell around 6pm.  Later the towhee and a Carolina wren appeared. 

Early sun

Clouds with soft, blurry edges blend into the blue.  Finches are up and about.  A black swallowtail is flitting around the rue, as it or others have done every day.  The sunshine is bright and the sky less cloudy than it was.

Butterflies are enjoying the sun.  An elusive orange butterfly continues to evade my camera.  A palamedes swallowtail paused in a hibiscus blossom.  Lots of bees and skippers are feeding on the rosemary.    At lunch time a mating pair of saddlebags flew by.

I discovered a small cicada and a full-grown swallowtail caterpillar embracing, floating in the pool. I assume each was using the other for flotation and not prey or anything even more bizarre.  I chose to rescue them rather than running for the camera.  Also, in the skimmer there was a live frog.  Here's the caterpillar.  The cicada was gone by this time.

Up in the dogwood perched a Halloween pennant and another dragonfly with unmarked but faintly blushing wings.  An Eastern amberwing was obelisking in the rosemary but the other dragonflies were not.  The perch was occupied by a salty skimmer.  The sky got very stormy looking for a while but it cleared without any actual precipitation. 

A huge bumble-type bee with orange fur on its thorax worked on the rosemary along with many small bees.  The tiger swallowtail made several passes and a red admiral flitted around my head.  An orange butterfly with black veins - monarch or viceroy - went by while I was weeding.  I was worried that the wrens would abandon their nest but this evening I saw some activity in the azalea where I stuck the house, so I am hopeful. 

Dawn dramas

Unfortunately the fogged windows made photography impossible.  The juvenile towhee got into a confrontation with a mockingbird.  Titmice and finches squabbled over the feeder while chickadees sneaked past and a cardinal sent them all away.  At least one finch was doing the fledgling feed-me dance.  A couple of grackles scattered the other birds but were unable to figure out how to get seeds.  A dove with a white spot where a feather went wrong was sent packing by two squirrels. More rain is predicted for today.  The hibiscus is a riot of red. 

Too much rain - the mushrooms are moldy.  These are growing in the grass & moss under the oak in the front yard.  The sky is a uniform gray and it is very humid, but no rain so far.  A male widow skimmer is perched by the rosemary.  The tiger swallowtail make its usual lunchtime fly-by.  Honeybees and wasps are busy on the rosemary along with an orange skipper.  Mostly chickadees are coming to the feeder but a finch perched on the hummer feeder and upset the hummer.  It went to the hibiscus instead, but got no satisfaction.  I think it is a young male. 

The overcast is breaking up and leaking a little sun. Insects are buzzing loudly, not just cicadas.  A dragonfly posed on a dead groundsel twig next to the spartina.  Neighbors scared off a little green heron.  But most of the sunset drama was hidden by the trees at the head of the creek. 

More rain

Apparently there was a real "frog strangler" this morning - puddles everywhere.  The birds are busy catching up.  This hummer has throat freckles so it may be a juvenile male.  A black and a palamedes swallowtail have passed through.

At lunch, more rain.  And yesterday's mystery bird is revealed to be a juvenile towhee.  They definitely do like gray days and rain.   A juvenile robin with a speckled breast also came out in the wet. 

Hammering rain

The morning was cloudy and now there's thunder and hard rain.

Birds came out between the showers to feed.  We had mourning doves in the evening.  At dusk a dark bird that might have been a towhee appeared.  I've noticed they seem to like rainy days.

Big clouds, bright sun

And the moon was very bright last night.  The hibiscus continue to bloom.  Chickadees visit the feeder and a black swallowtail hunts through the vegetation.

I put the breadboard outside to sterilize in the sun and ten minutes later there was a downpour.  Then the sun came back and dried it and I just snatched it up before it could rain again.

It rained again shortly after lunch.  Fledgling titmice came fussing to the feeder in the shower.  Chickadees and cardinals came too.  A black swallowtail chased off a tiger swallowtail.  Dragonflies are all around.  An orange butterfly flitted around the bushes beyond the pool. 

A lost day

I had not a moment for outdoors.  All I noticed were clouds on the horizon and dragonflies egging my car. 

Hibiscus returns

The second blooming period has begun.  The first round of blooms on the hibiscus ended on the 21st of July, so the plant rested for two weeks.

There are mushrooms in the grass, at least two kinds - the tiny pleated brown parasol and a pear-shaped chestnut mushroom that looks nibbled.  Spiders like the azalea bush and there is a very complex web in three dimensions (at least!) with an orb englobed in crazy struts.  The greenish-gold spider is visible in the middle.  Birds are active in the vicinity of the birdhouse but I cannot tell if they are actually going in.  An ill-made squirrel's nest dropped out of the oak tree into the pool.  Fortunately no baby squirrels were evident.

As I was driving home tonight a buttery full moon was rising with wisps of haze making veils around it.

Sun in the morning

Some dragonflies came past early but did not stay.  A squirrel is busily foraging and chickadees are feeding.  The birdhouse wrens are busy too.  A skink tail wagged as it disappeared under the morning glories.  A dragonfly with clear wings is now perched. 

Another larger skink moseyed across the wall of the house at lunch.  A juvenile robin, still freckled, and with beak open came to the birdbath for a drink. 

Again a storm boiled up in the late afternoon.  It blew down the birdhouse.  So I opened the roof to see what was inside.  Five eggs!  I put the roof back and shoved the birdhouse into the azalea bush that is more-or-less under where it was hanging.  I hope it neither blows away not is carried off by raccoons.  The wrens were flitting around the dogwood anxiously so I hope they will accept this location.  They really packed the eggs in - all the gyrations of the birdhouse in the wind did not disturb them. 

Hazy

Not much stirring.  A few skippers are flitting among flowers.  This brown variety (some kind of duskywing) is less common than the orange skippers which I think are sachems.  I saw a dead June beetle on its back, the underside and legs all sparkling bronze and green metallic. 

Threatening clouds came from the NNW at noon and a downpour ensued at 12:30.  Lots of thunder and some lightning. It's lasted quite a while and filled the birdbath. But it has gone back to haze by late afternoon.  A hummer came around. 

This evening, a Carolina wren has been busy under the feeder.