Last day of EDT

It was sunny in the morning, clouded over at lunch, then cleared a bit later.  The light breeze was cold.  Moonflowers and morning glories lingered through the day.  Honeybees took advantage and also tried a rose.  Yellow jackets jittered between but never settled on flowers.  The same with the yellow-brown flitters I thought were skippers yesterday.  A tiny mint-green butterfly or moth defeated my attempt to photograph it though it climbed on my finger.  An ailanthus webworm moth on the screen door was more cooperative.

Three mallard pairs slept on the dock.  Then a hermit thrush took an interest in the beauty berries!  Squirrels made out in the oak then played follow-the-leader across the yard.

Chill

The temperature certainly dropped over night.  The sky cleared and the sun shone on slack water at dawn.  Later the wind ruffled the surface while geese and mallards paddled.  A male downy came to breakfast.

At lunchtime I spied a yellow rumped warbler, first butterbutt of the season.  The beautyberry was fast shedding its leaves but trees were mostly still green.  Squirrels were digging up the acorns others had buried.  Despite the chilly wind, honeybees and yellow jackets worked hard.  Something small and yellow-brown was flitting around but never landed where I could see.  My guess was skippers but they could have been moths.

Below the feeder, there were a lot of blue jay feathers from various parts of the bird.  I don't know if it got away or if the predator carried it away to eat.  Maybe that's why birds have been scarce since we got home? 

Warm

A Carolina wren greeted the morning from a garden stake.  But it flew off before I could fire up the camera.  In the afternoon clouds moved in from the West.  The day stayed quite warm.  I shopped for some bird goodies.  We shall see if they make a difference.  When we got back, a downy woodpecker was working on the suet.  The saltbush flowers had gone to seed and fluff was blowing around.  The moonflowers were profuse this evening. 

Rain on a warm wind

Despite that, it has been very warm.  Bees were out to feed on the rosemary and lavender.  A flock of mallards paddled downstream.  The squirrels appeared to have lost their warbles while we were gone, but they still looked scarred.  The moonflowers, morning glorys, roses, marigolds, and camellias were all blooming.  The dogwoods all turned red and the redwood and hickory bronze.  But no songbirds visited in the morning.

A downy woodpecker was on the suet before lunch but left as soon as I saw it.  A male house finch ate seeds for a while during lunch.  Afterward I heard, then glimpsed, two Carolina wrens.  But, I noticed a pine needle floating between the camellia and the sakaki and deduced a spider.  Sure enough, a fat barn spider (Neoscona crucifera) was eating the web. When it saw me seeing it, it scurried up a thread and hid under a leaf.  The leaf, however, was above me and useless as a hiding place.

Later, a small bird grasshopper bounced all over the patio and even climbed the window.  Geese paddled by and a heron flew over the creek.  There were moments of sun but mostly rain clouds speeding North on a very gusty wind that never really dried things out.  High tide came around midday and was really high, mostly due to the moon, I think, since the wind came from the South. 

And home

Yesterday we passed a flock of cormorants sitting on wires that crossed a narrow part of a lake near Orleans on Cape Cod.  Later I saw two swans in a pond in an industrial area of Fall River.  The fall colors were exquisite along the road.

Today began hazy and got increasingly cloudy as we came South.  Light rain fell on the Delmarva peninsula.  All down the peninsula, I saw buzzards, sometimes circling together.  A half dozen or more pelicans fished along the CBBT, but flew low to the water so the railing was in the way.

A sizable roach, on its back and waving feebly, greeted me at the door.

Round sunset moon

A very low afternoon tide (thanks moon!) attracted foraging gulls. Ducks and cormorants preferred to swim for their food. 

The moon was "waxing gibbous" with illumination at 94%though it won't be full till the 27th.  It rose through streaky pink clouds at sunset.  Sunrise was colorful too but the day was mostly overcast.

Fox

Sun rays sheeted down from the morning overcast.  By sunset the sky was clear and the air was cold. 


A red fox ran across Bradford in front of us in the dark.  I mostly just saw the white tip of its brush because I was in the back seat. 

Up early

A Carolina wren worked on the suet before it was fully light out.  A cardinal and a chickadee came for an early seed breakfast.  It was too dark for photos.

Later a pelican cruised alongside the CBBT.  Then I saw fins cutting the surface of the Bay near the second tunnel.  Probably dolphins though they looked very sharp.

Twice I saw dead deer by the side of the road North.  And once I glimpsed what I think was a groundhog.  When we stopped for lunch, the clouds were very strange. 

Magic leaf

Another lovely day, though cool.  The sun gilded the pines at dawn and the creek reflected the light.  Egrets continued to fish in the dam outfall.  A dogwood leaf was caught in a large orb web over the pool and appeared to float there.  Chickadees ignored us in favor of the feeder.

Beautiful day

Dawn appeared with rosy fingers as the sun tinted bars of cloud pink.  Chickadees were hungry this morning.  I saw egrets (one great and one snowy) down by the creek. They did not get along well.  This one was only visible as a reflection. 

 The male downy came back and I also saw a Carolina wren.  The sky was very blue but cottony cumulus floated East.  I saw what I think was a cuckoo wasp on the moonvine when I went looking for yesterday's caterpillar.  Bees were busy on all the flowering herbs. 

Sunset was spectacular, but I was driving.  It was very pink with gold edging on the clouds. 

West wind

Sun then clouds then sun as the wind tossed the trees.  The birds stayed home mostly though the squirrels were active.  I saw a downy woodpecker on the suet at breakfast, but nothing on the seed feeder all day.  After lunch, the catbird was back eating beauty berries.

Nether honey nor bumble/carpenter bees were deterred by the wind, and I saw one small mason wasp, black with yellow bands, on the rue.  A small, black, velvety caterpillar bustled across the concrete.  A birdwing grasshopper flew in and proceeded to ovoposit around the rose. 

I pulled up the dead sunflowers and the morning glories entangled with them.  Somehow I dislodged a green hornworm - sphinx moth caterpillar.  Assuming it had been eating morning glory, I tried to induce it to crawl onto another that I had not uprooted, but had no success.  When I searched online I found a match that's fond of moonvine - pink spotted hawkmoth Agrius cingulata. 

Lovely day

It was sunny with just a breath of a breeze, but heavy dew and a real chill to the air.  The creek was flat and reflected the sunlit trees.  A slantface grasshopper got inside somehow and was sitting on the window frame.  I evicted it with some difficulty and it hung around outside all morning.  The grass was full of dew covered funnel webs. 

Down by the dam, a Great and a Snowy egret appeared to get along, for a while.  The male downy was back for breakfast and the early sun cast odd shadows through the suet cage on the woodpecker's feathers.  All the regulars came too.  Robins and cedar waxwings invaded the dogwood for berries.  They ate fast and were gone.  I think I spotted an oriole with them.

The tide was in and mallards perched on the neighbors' flooded dock.  The wind was more evident out over the water, making the reflections waver.  A cormorant fished along the dam. The spotless spotted sandpiper showed up again.  A great blue heron flew downstream.

At lunch time, first a catbird and then a mockingbird ate beauty berries.  An orange sulphur butterfly flitted all over.

Still overcast

It was not so gloomy and there was more light for photos,  Like yesterday, an egret waited below the dam.  And the male downy came for suet.  Canada geese flocks have gotten bigger.

There was some sun mid-day but it didn't last.  A catbird plundered the beauty berries.

Cold and gray

It rained during breakfast and the wind was out of the Northeast again.  The male downy woodpecker was back at the suet.  I saw an egret and a cormorant at the dam outfall. 

A glimmer of sun at lunch faded quickly.  For lack of light, none of my photos came out.

Breezy

The West wind did not deter honeybees.  The regulars showed up at the seed feeder.  An egret flew upstream.  And a piece of rope on the concrete resolved itself into a small snake.  The sky was intensely blue with cream puff clouds.

I went down to the dock to see how things were after the flood.  An egret perched up in the trees.  Other egrets and a heron flew over.  A flock of geese paddled downstream and waddled up into the neighbors' yard.  Later one of the kids ran them off.  Mallards were out on the water and cormorants in the sky.  A small bird flew past me under the dock and landed on the next upstream.  I was facing into the sun to take its picture. A friend on HRWE identified it as a spotted sandpiper.

Last weekend's Northeaster blew the needles off that side of the redwood.  It blew over the flowering saltbush.  I saw one spike of phragmites among the spartina. The sky got hazy and streaky with pressure ridges and bubbles of cloud.  The sun was hot until it got close to the horizon. 

Quiet

The cardinals, finches, and chickadees were cranky this morning.  A male downy woodpecker came to the suet periodically and Carolina wren got into everything.  Doves poked around on the ground.  Egrets flew over a glassy creek.

In the late afternoon, I watched moonflowers open.  A ladybird beetle with no spots prowled the moonflower and a big carpenter bee feasted on lavender. A juvenile eagle circled and a heron flew over.  Blue jays were busy in the oaks along with the squirrels.  Thin clouds made shapes as they flowed East.  The downy came back while I sat outside.

 The creek was unruffled but a light breeze got chilly.

More sunshine, less wind

I was up early to enjoy a waning crescent moon and cloud streaks tinted rose.  An egret was out fishing below the dam.  The rest of the morning was lost to me.

 At lunch time I mostly saw insects: small wasps and yellow jackets and big bumblebees, and...a lone honeybee.  Another egret fished the dam outfall.  Chickadees were nervous about my proximity to the feeder but finally went for it.  Then they chattered about how bold they were.  K thought I was anthropomorphizing.

Sunshine!

The tides were still much higher than normal for a third quarter moon.  And a stiff wind roared out of the North so even in the sun it was chilly.  People were fishing in the dam outfall that was covered with water and egrets yesterday.

A titmouse and a couple of Carolina wrens joined the regular feeder birds.  A male house finch tried to intimidate a wren but the wren wasn't having that.  The finch had conjunctivitis so I'll have to disinfect the feeder. Three or four doves hung around on the ground.  I heard outraged squawks from the oak but never saw who made them.

A big orb web hung from the dogwood where I had the birdhouse.  At lunch time I saw a big green insect fly across the yard.  It looked like some kind of grasshopper or katydid.  As we drove around on errands I saw several mushroom fairy rings.  There were dramatic clouds at times, but the sun set in a clear Western sky. 

High wind and water still

Lots of egrets and a few herons took advantage of the high water.  A couple of doves huddled under the feeder while the regulars came and went.  At least one was missing its tail.  Another gray day.

I got supper at a fast food and watched crows and a gull argue over an abandoned paper bag.  One crow stayed on the roof and shouted directions at the others.  I wish I'd taken a picture but I was fumbling with change.  Lots more crows flew over the shops despite the wind.  The sky was clearing a bit by then and turned gold at sunset.

High water

The tide went even higher than yesterday, and stayed there.  The sky was gray and there were some sprinkles, unless that was wind-driven spray?  The wind was fierce. 

Great egrets were out fishing and a few gulls flew over.  The regulars hit the feeder.  I saw doves and possibly a mockingbird, but nothing else.  Squirrels raced about their nutty business, even in the thrashing treetops.

Another large web flapped in the gusts, this time in the camellia outside the kitchen window.  The black swallowtail caterpillars munched away and poor little bumblebees struggled to the rosemary and lavender.

Flood

There was a brief shower at noon but the main cause of flooding was wind.  In fact, while the morning was mostly gray, the sun was out a good part of the afternoon and it got surprisingly hot and very sticky.  The hurricane was still far South so I don't know if the wind should be blamed on Joaquin. Either the wind or the water pushed over the saltbush. 

Titmice joined the regulars in the morning.  The birds were all very possessive about the feeder, even the chickadees. Doves lurked.  A great egret waded in the dam outflow.  Geese and mallards rode on the creek. 

 Bees and wasps were hungry.  Butterflies were more interested in propagation.  I saw red spotted purples and cabbage whites.  A tiny, but tail-less, skink darted across the step.  Later I saw it on the far side of the pool cover.  The remains of a huge web dangled from the dogwood over the pool.  A different kind of spider hiked up the door frame. 

K bought suet and hung a block of it.  Maybe fifteen minutes elapsed before a male downy woodpecker arrived.  A brown headed nuthatch followed but was more interested in the seed feeder.  The woodpecker didn't stay long either.  A mockingbird sampled the beauty berries. In the afternoon, a snowy egret waded in the grass above the bulkhead across the creek.

A squirrel buried a nut in the mulch and within a minute another had dug it up.  Both were a mess of warbles.  This one was the thief. 

More rain and wind

So we were stuck between a Northeaster and Hurricane Joaquin.  The creek got up well over all parts of the dock.  Rainfall created a strong flow from the lake above the dam while the tide met the fresh water on this side of the dam.  Trees thrashed in the gusts and I passed several downed limbs in the neighborhood.  Geese grazed around the neighborhood and I saw mallards paddle downstream.  A hopeful egret watched the dam outfall.  A few cormorants battled the wind.

Rain

The rain settled in for the day and made a thin fog.  Wind gusts got everything wet.  In the morning a titmouse visited the feeder and a wren perched on a chair back.  When we returned mid afternoon, chickadees swarmed the feeder, joined by a male house finch.  At least three doves poked around below.  Sodden squirrels went by with nuts to bury.  A few gulls patrolled the creek. The water on the windows ruined most photos.