Blue moon

It rained overnight and water was still blowing off the trees at breakfast.  But the sky was blue.  This morning was the second full moon of July.  Robins and mockingbirds ate cherries.  A male goldfinch wrestled with the sunflowers.  Titmice joined the feeder crowd.  And a wary hummer dodged them to get at the juice.

Not much stirred at lunch.  An egret haunted the dam outfall.  A tiny skinklet scurried on the hot pavement.  Dragonflies and butterflies flitted around.

When I emptied the pool skimmer I found an huge eyed elater click beetle, nearly 2 inches long.  I thought it was dead but it revived a bit.  I'm glad because it is considered beneficial.  A tiger swallowtail flitted somewhat more slowly, pausing perhaps to lay eggs?  Today I could only find one caterpillar on the rue. 

Wrens scolded, I think, because they have a nest in one of the artifacts hanging from the neighbors' gazebo.  A grackle used the top step of the pool ladder to get a drink.  A blue jay joined the acorn eaters.  First a night heron preened, then an egret hunted by the brush under the bulkhead. 

Around 6pm clouds flowed down from the NW after a day of clear blue sky. Around 8pm, a male hummer spent time with the rosemary flowers but the area was in shade, so no ruby throat.  And he was gone before the camera was ready.  The clouds dwindled, but there were enough to make sunset colorful.

Hummer warz

Several hummingbirds got very possessive of the feeder and even the rosemary.  The best part is that they hung out in the trees to keep an eye on the feeder so I could get a "natural" photo.

The female goldfinch showed up early.  Robins and grackles prospected in the grass and doves in the mulch.  Juvenile mockingbirds screamed for food.  And Carolina wrens scolded.  An egret preened on the dock and an osprey circled up in the clouds. 

Two foxes hunted in the neighbors' yard.  Later, when I was in the pool and without a camera, one boldly walked past me - the floating head in the water.  I chirped at it and it gave me a look but didn't hurry.  In fact, it stopped to sniff my flipflops that still have teeth marks from the kits two years ago.

Tiger and black swallowtails flew around.  The black swallowtail appeared to be laying eggs on the rue that currently has at least four caterpillars in their third instar.  Dragonflies were out as well.  A male widow skimmer cruised low over the grass.

Clouds passed through all day but toward evening they got thicker.

Sunny

A Carolina wren visited the feeder briefly.  Goldfinches came, including two males, and a pair flew off fussing.  Egrets waited by the dam outfall.  K rehung the clean hummer feeder.

And the hummer wars have begun with much chasing and scolding.  At least one liked the rosemary as much as the feeder.  That one has a darker throat.  Meanwhile, a brown thrasher was up in the cherry picking berries. 

Butterflies and dragonflies were out.  I saw a tiger swallowtail I think was laying eggs on the cherry, and a variegated fritillary.  The usual blue dashers and slaty skimmers were joined by a yellow-sided skimmer.

I rescued a full grown skink from the pool.  K gets credit for the photo.  It shat in my hand in thanks.  I found two drowned caterpillars but not much else.  One looked like a small black swallowtail caterpillar while the other was larger, much longer and dark brown with a beige head.  Of course, it is hard to know if the colors have been altered by the water.

As I ate supper, I saw some amazing things.  First, a hummer arrived about the same time as a cardinal landed on the seed feeder.  Well.  The hummer hovered in front of the bemused cardinal and gave it the stink eye.  Some what later the cardinal chased a dragonfly right up to the glass.  The cardinal veered off but the dragonfly crashed.  I tried to get a photo but I had to open the door because of the angle and the dragonfly took off.  It looked like a 12-spotted skimmer  Sunset was pretty with wispy pink clouds.  The fireflies started up immediately.

Clouds

When I got home, a goldfinch flew off.  A skink ambled across the patio.

At lunch the clouds came and went.  So did a tiger swallowtail and the goldfinches.  The dragonflies hung around.  I got thoroughly bitten yesterday and itch a lot. 

Overcast

Only the regulars came to the feeder.  An egret flew downstream. Birds I couldn't make out picked cherries. The overcast acquired texture late in the morning, then the clouds broke apart and some became dark and heavy but there was also blue sky and sunshine.

Lots of birds were in the cherry when a hawk joined them and all got very quiet.  All I saw was the banded tail so I couldn't say whether it was a coopers or a sharpie. The pair of goldfinches worked on the sunflowers and a chickadee tried to copy them.  Titmice came to the feeder.  The hummer had some trouble with other birds getting too close.  I saw a juvenile mockingbird on the patio with a bald cardinal and a brown thrasher on the fence.   A great crested flycatcher, a blue jay, and a fledgling robin were up in the trees.  A great blue heron waded below the dam. 

A male common whitetail joined a blue dasher and a slaty skimmer, but failed to protect me from a saltmarsh (or tiger?) mosquito.  I also saw a huge black wasp (or fly?) hunting close to the ground.  And swallowtails, as usual, escaped me.  A cabbage white and some other small butterflies passed by quickly.  Skinks ranging from tiny to adult scurried around.

Lovely weather continued

And flocks of starlings and robins attacked the cherry tree.  A brown thrasher sneaked in too.  But the goldfinch stuck to the sunflowers.  Meanwhile, the buckeye butterfly came back.  And a large dark butterfly passed through. 

A male Needham's skimmer tried every perch.  Both sexes of slaty skimmer also hunted from perches.  And both sexes of widow skimmer did the same.  An Eastern amberwing was down in the grass.  I also saw blue dashers, two kinds of saddlebags, and a green female pondhawk.  Black and tiger swallowtails passed through.  A hairstreak joined the scoliid wasps on the mint. 

Hummingbirds found the juice worth coming back for.  At least three great crested flycatchers were wheeping it up.  And I counted four brown thrashers but I don't know if there were two parents or three offspring.  The beauty berry was still blooming though berry clusters had formed.  And I glimpsed a fox in the neighbors' yard.

I didn't see the moon till after dark.  The silent fireflies were accompanied by the jingle of tree crickets and a variety of buzzing sounds.  

More sunshine

The early birds were a hummer, titmice, and a goldfinch in addition to the usual chickadees and finches.  The cherry tree was wriggling with birds.  Streaky clouds covered a lot of the sky.

The whole day was very pleasant and the sky soon cleared.  So many birds were bathing or basking or anting that I need to change the blog to Club Mallard and Spa.  The wren was back in its preferred spot.  Three doves visited at lunch and two used the birdbath, one for a soak the other a shower.  In the late afternoon, both a robin and a brown thrasher spread out under the oak.  Grackles and great crested flycatchers came for food, not personal services.  I don't know what the blue jay in the oak was after. 

A crane fly tried to penetrate the glass window.  A lovely gulf fritillary refused to be photographed as did swallowtails.  But I got a buckeye.  And a great variety of dragonflies cooperated.  Skinks were active all day. 

The last day lily flower bloomed.

Sunshine

The creek was like a mirror when I first got up, but it didn't last.  Some clouds floated out of the Northeast.  Goldfinches and titmice joined the regulars.  Later the cherry was busy with all sorts of birds including one that turned out to be a squirrel.  There was a young robin some that puzzled me turned out to be young starlings. 

The hummer had a hard time getting lunch in between finches.  She moved on to the rosemary.  Out front, the lantana hosted a silver spotted and a fiery skipper.  Dragonflies used the perches.

A great crested flycatcher visited the cherry, whether for berries of bugs, I cannot tell.  A wren took a little spa time in the mulch.  A skink crossed the step.  More dragonflies arrived, including a male widow skimmer and a yellow-sided skimmer.

While I was in the pool I first heard, then saw, a red bellied woodpecker in the neighbors' yard.  A brown thrasher was feeding at least two fledglings.  In between berries, a fledgling kept basking or anting under the oak.  It would flop down and let its head loll and eye go glassy.  A Carolina wren visited the same spot. 

The sky was cloudless with a first quarter moon overhead till the fireflies came out.

Sunny, then fierce clouds

A goldfinch was up before me - I saw it while in bed.  Doves walked around the patio.  K hung the clean hummer feeder.  And of course the regulars came to the seed feeder, along with titmice.  When more than one male goldfinch visited the sunflowers there was no sharing. 

I think the wrens fledged Tuesday when I wasn't home much.  Yesterday the birdhouse was quiet and today there were wrens flying around the yard.  Also on the move were swallowtails, saddlebags, and a skink.  A skimmer discovered the bamboo pole I put up for the moonflower.  The fig trees were loaded with unripe figs and the blueberries were still plentiful though there weren't many green ones left.  Threatening clouds hovered on the Southern horizon. A hummer sampled the fresh juice in between finches drinking from the center moat. 

The threat of rain brought out the mosquitoes which made the dragonflies happy, me not so much.  A widow skimmer tried unsuccessfully to swap perches with a slaty skimmer.  A twelve-spot stayed in flight.  I got to see the fledgling brown thrasher get fed a blueberry. 

As I sat outside at sunset, the heavy clouds had moved North without raining and turned orange.  Hummers visited and I could hear cardinals fussing because I was too close for them to get a bedtime snack.  I heard wrens scolding too.  Tree crickets chimed and cicadas twanged.  Then fireflies began flashing. The air was very still. 

Windy morning

The chickadees got interested in the sunflowers.  The titmice stayed with the feeder, whenever they could get past the finches.  A house finch tried the hummer juice!  The male goldfinch came to work on the sunflowers.  Young grackles tackled the cherry tree.  Doves foraged on the ground.  And then a fox dashed past pursuing a bird.

The afternoon was full of butterflies and dragonflies.  I saw a black saddlebags patrolling and something greenish flying in tandam - mated.  Later a female slaty and a Halloween pennant took perches.  A couple of giant swallowtails flirted and tigers flitted around.  A duskywing fed on the lantana.  A hummer took an interest in the rosemary which was just starting to bloom again.  It was not interested in the feeder, so we will refresh that.  The blueberries have been amazingly productive this year. 

An egret and a heron fished the dam outfall.  A cardinal began to eat budding acorns.  The male goldfinch used a leaf stem to reach a drooping seed head but then didn't know where to hammer the seed open.  A Carolina saddlebags zoomed around at eye level but finally perched for a moment.  When it came back to perch again a slaty skimmer drove it off.  Then another skimmer contested ownership of that perch.  The temperature today was very pleasant, cooler and less humid. 

After dark, the crescent moon lighted from behind thin clouds that flowed from the West.  Saturn was overhead in a gap in the clouds. 

White sky

Hot and humid - last evening's rain had not dried up.  Titmice were out with the ubiquitous three: chickadees, house finches, cardinals.  On and over the creek I could see egrets and laughing gulls.  K refilled Café Girasole and left some seeds on the patio, to the amazed delight of a squirrel.

Butterflies enjoyed the heat, unlike us mammals.  I saw tiger and black swallowtails in the back yard and buckeyes (and bees) on the lantana in the front yard.  Someone let a star-shaped helium balloon go and it was blowing downstream so it will probably wind up in the Atlantic and strangle some endangered sea turtle.

Around 5pm, thunder sounded, but nothing came of it.  Later when I got out of my meeting in Norfolk the sun was setting.  A huge cloud spread across the South with a very dark band at the bottom.  There were hard-edged cotton ball clouds all around it.  I was almost home when beams of orange light fanned out from the sunset.  Unfortunately the camera I had along wasn't the best and the phenomenon didn't last.  A thin crescent moon lagged behind the sun. The crows were circling over the junction of 64 & 264. 

Hot

The sky was a hazy blue.  House wrens hunted around the patio.  Titmice joined the feeder crowd and the female goldfinch worked on the sunflowers.  A red admiral butterfly basked on a beige brick.  I've read that they like to land on white surfaces.

Given the afternoon thunderstorms and the biting flies, I decided to swim in the morning.  And it was thus I saved a baby skink from the skimmer.  I also rescued click beetles and a spider.  I found a lovely white spotted feather.  Since I was wet, I ate lunch outside and was visited by two doves, one of which spread its tail in the sun.  Goldfinches landed on the sunflowers, but were too nervous to stay.  I saw a widow skimmer, a pondhawk, and an amberwing.  And what I think was a giant swallowtail tormented me by flitting past but never alighting.  It was very, very hot and K couldn't stand it and went inside. 

When we got back from the library, there was a tiny praying mantis on the window screen.  A blue dasher was on a short perch till a cardinal landed nearby and it relocated.  Slow-moving clouds out of the West looked like thunderheads, but they passed on East.

The feeder was very busy around 6pm before the rain.  Both house and Carolina wrens hung around and I even glimpsed a pine warbler.  The rain began with quick light showers, then a downpour followed, and lightning and thunder came last.  The sky started to clear around sunset.  A dragonfly scooped up the insects brought out by the wet. 

Blue sky morning

Goldfinches joined the regulars for seeds.  Dragonflies were out by mid morning.  The black swallowtail was back.  White spot the squirrel came to forage.  The day grew hot and humid.  Egrets gathered at the dam outfall where the fresh water splashed into the brackish creek. The two smaller were snowy egrets. 

Clouds passed through, but no storm today.  A skink enjoyed the heat.  I saw titmice, a brown thrasher, and a great crested flycatcher.  A snowy egret and a great blue heron joined the egret at the dam outfall.  A blue dasher shared a bamboo pole with a widow skimmer.  A biting fly drove me inside. 

Toward evening, a small fox nosed in the mulch across the pool.  The sun descended into a band of cloud on the Western horizon.

Sunny & stormy

At least three titmice joined the regulars at the feeder.  The goldfinch pair showed up to stuff themselves on the sunflowers.  The male teetered on a leaf to reach the underside of one of the big seed heads.  Lots of birds were feeding in the cherry, including a brown thrasher, and I think a blue jay.  Hummers made several visits, but in the mid morning, a house finch got on the hummer feeder and the hummer couldn't make it leave.  Finally, after the hummer gave up, the house finch decided there was no food there for it.  A Carolina wren sang atop the hummer feeder hanger, then joined a house wren on the back of the bench. 

For no discernible reason the power went out during lunch.  A grasshopper clung to the glass as though it wanted in.  A plethora of dragonflies came and went all afternoon.  There were some disputes over which one got a perch. A common whitetail female preferred the wall.  A black swallowtail laid eggs.  Tiny green caterpillars kept landing on me as thought they were being blown out of the trees.  The Carolina wren came back several times, as did hummers. The house wrens were still in the birdhouse. I heard mewing in the cherry and glimpsed a gray bird that may have been a catbird.  The beauty berry has been blooming all week.  A skink under her chair startled K. 

Menacing clouds rode out of the West after the power came back.  Then we had lightning, including one crack that sounded like it was next door.  A biting fly appeared to get a meal before laying eggs in the prospective puddles. That, rather than the lightning drove me inside.  After a lot of drama, the rain finally started around 6pm. By then the clouds appeared to be coming from the East though radar said the storm was headed out to sea. Maybe they were swirling?  Several inches of rain fell. 

Cloudy

The hummer paid a brief visit as did a house wren.  Goldfinches and titmice came back for more.  A chickadee looked into the sunflowers but mostly stuck to the feeder.  A dove and a squirrel foraged on the ground.  And a yellow crowned night heron perched on a dock piling. 

In the late morning while I was cooking, a hummer stayed for a nice long meal, trying each hole in the feeder, and scanning the skies for UFOs.  The very tiny skink caught my eye just as it slipped under the rosemary.  A brown thrasher shook the azaleas.  A palamedes swallowtail and an orange butterfly were again too fast for me but a dragonfly took up a perch.  The wrens were still using the birdhouse. 

Later, the same or another yellow crowned night heron stalked along the edge or the grass.  A little green heron preened on the dock.  A gray hairstreak shared the mint flowers with scoliid wasps.

It seems the bunny was not a good predictor: as I ate supper, a fox hunted along the far side of the pool.  

Family troubles

 It rained overnight and the sky became overcast though no rain was predicted for today. The hummer was up early.  The pair of goldfinches continued to visit, and she continued to move in on whichever flower he picked.  Meanwhile two chickadees got into a fight.  And the house finch fledglings begged. A bluejay stopped in for wild cherries.  The wrens had not yet fledged today. 

At lunch, two female goldfinches had a midair tussle that left one on the steps panting while the other fled.  Later, chickadees would fly up to the feeder and dodge away.  Lo and behold, a bee was sitting on the perch intimidating them.  The flame-colored skimmer was back.  I also saw a skipper and all three swallowtails - black, tiger, and palamedes.  The great crested flycatcher dodged among the trees. 

I think I may have seen a giant swallowtail, though it never paused for me to verify that it wasn't a palamedes.  The chickadee pecking order continued to play out in the late afternoon as one glared another right off the feeder, only to be displaced by a third.  The female goldfinches were at it again as well.  The loser sat in the cherry and complained.  The house wren was reduced to hunting in the trash barrel. 

Sunset was dramatic with clouds first turning gold then rose and finally smoke. 

Busy birds

A lady hummer visited.  Two male goldfinches held glaring contests over the sunflowers.  The female showed up later.  A male house finch watched the goldfinches from the feeder. And a juvenile finch tried to figure out what part of the sunflower was edible, after annoying its father for handouts.  A downy woodpecker also attempted to gather sunflower seeds!  Titmice slipped onto the feeder whenever the regulars permitted.  A dove wandered around the patio and the juvenile cardinal tested everything on it for edibility.  The house wrens stayed busy bring food to the birdhouse.  Clouds out of the West blew past swiftly. 

In the late morning I saw a skink, a blue dasher dragonfly, and a black swallowtail.  During lunch another, very tiny skink darted amongst the rosemary twigs.  A Needham's (I think) skimmer paused on a perch.  A tiger swallowtail and a fritillary of some sort passed through.  The feeder was very full of house finches, and fledglings begged from the hangers. 

While I was in the pool a tiny golden brown damsel fly landed beside me.  A cicada killer buzzed by.  There was a goldfinch chase.  A hummer, a squirrel, and a goldfinch ignored me as I dripped dry.  I picked some wild cherries - not bad.

At suppertime, the bunny peeked out under a chair.  The house finch fed his fledglings while a goldfinch drank from the hummer feeder.  The hummer visited too.