White sky

It was well below the dew point when I got up and all the windows were fogged even though it was no cooler in than out.  The sky was hazy but the sun was strong.  By mid afternoon the haze had thickened into overall white, though the sun still shone.  A native morning glory made a blue accent to the hibiscus red.

Snout butterflies danced and perched.  All three swallowtails and a cloudless sulphur made the rounds.  There was much to-ing and fro-ing of unidentified birds, but I think one was a titmouse and another a wren.  The hummers continued to compete.  A grackle scouted around the dock. 

Two skinks, one adult and one blue tailed, stared at each other for a while.  A common whitetail female took a station on the fake rock.  Goldfinches competed with house finches on the feeder.

On my way down the interstate in the late afternoon, the veil of stratus clouds in front of the sun produced sun dogs - bits of rainbow offset  22°.

Hazy

I was up before dawn to go to a meeting and it wasn't till 3pm that I picked up the camera.  The sky was clear at sunrise except for some ruby streaks low in the East.  By the time I looked again, it was hazy with high cirrus and lower cumulus.  The sun had no trouble getting through to heat us up.

A black swallowtail, a cloudless sulphur, and a little blue butterfly were energized by the heat.  A blue dasher perched in wait.  Also lurking in ambush was a hummer.  A tiny skink with only part of its blue tail scuttled around the patio. 

One of the juvenile cardinals was getting an orange beak. An egret fished under the bulkhead. 

And I was astounded to see a monarch caterpillar by the bird feeder, yards from the milkweed.  I don't know if it was hunting more milkweed or a place to metamorphose.

Clouds and wind

There were white wisps when I got up and half an hour later the sky was overcast, then that too swept off to the West.  A male goldfinch got a drink from the hummer feeder moat.  Hummers sucked up juice every couple of minutes.  I had glimpses of egrets on the creek. 

A rap on the window alerted me in time to see (but not photograph) a cicada killer in hot pursuit of a cicada.  Wow!  The wind discouraged birds and bugs for the most part.  However, an aerial battle between hummers passed right over my head.  A titmouse was unwilling to land on the feeder with me near.

The black swallowtail caterpillars are just as voracious, but they have more rue than the monarchs have milkweed.  The swallowtail is on the left and the monarch on the right.


Altogether it was not much of a photography day - just flowers and caterpillars.  There were flowers on the trumpet vine and the chaste tree.  The fern fronds were dark with spores.  The saltmarsh fleabane had buds, though there was only one plant this year. 

Gray skies

The hummer was irritated by the regular seed eaters.  But she got right on the refilled feeder and started packing juice away.  I glimpsed the blue jay with a bald head on top of the post.  A downy slipped in for breakfast.  Three squirrels alternately climbed around the feeder and chased each other.  And a tiger swallowtail tasted a rose. 

The sun appeared and a black swallowtail and a cloudless sulphur showed up around noon.  The hummer argued with a snout butterfly that wanted the same perch in the dogwood. The sulphur was into red flowers but a palamedes swallowtail went for orange milkweed. 

A Carolina wren stopped by but disappeared into the morning glory.  I watched a small monarch caterpillar come down from a denuded milkweed stalk and hike across to another plant which was nearly as far gone.  A couple of caterpillars tussled on the end of a stalk, but at least two big ones were gone.  I rescued a spider that was new to me but was too late for a skink and a cicada.  Big bumblebees worked on the rosemary and the lavender.  A blue dasher perched on the short stake. The clouds returned in the late afternoon.  A flock of crows made a lot of noise as they patrolled the neighborhood.

Sunny

I spent too much of the day in a meeting.  During a late lunch afterwards, I saw an osprey circling.  I haven't seen much of ospreys this year, maybe because the trees are higher.  A female goldfinch make a quick trip to the feeder.  The hummer guzzled its energy drink like it was perishing of thirst.  All the usual butterflies flitted everywhere.  A couple of slaty skimmer dragonflies battled over use of a perch.  A skink darted along the edge of the pool. 

It was pretty late when I finally got outside and I did not feel hot.  The water, however, did.  I saw a titmouse and maybe a nuthatch.  The hummer had a standoff with a finch.  This was before the hummer drank the last drop from its feeder.  Big bumblebees were at work on the rosemary.  I only saw small caterpillars on the rue.  The monarch caterpillars stripped the milkweed of leaves and one began eating the stem.  And something gnawed off the sunflower stalk.

Fierce sun

There were clouds at breakfast but they grew sparse then disappeared.  Hummers battled and weary parent birds chased off their offspring.  A monarch, a cloudless sulphur, three kinds of swallowtail, snouts, duskywing and fiery skippers, and a little blue of some variety flitted about.  Both the rue and the milkweed seemed overrun with caterpillars.  Bees and wasps were hungry.  I rescued two spiders, one a woodlouse spider and the other a defunct mama wolf, but her spiderlings scampered off.

A skink came out at lunch.  Nothing has eaten the mealworms for several days.  And these were fresh.  But birds ate the nasty, rain-soaked ones a couple of weeks ago. In the afternoon, a male cardinal jumped into the rue and came out with what appeared to be a caterpillar.  A minute later he spit out the pieces.  The bad taste it left may save its siblings.

Later a white breasted nuthatch made a couple of trips for seeds.  At supper, a Carolina wren landed on the seed feeder but wouldn't put up with the squabbling finches.  Likewise for a titmouse.  A couple of doves foraged beneath, but they were no better behaved.  A brown thrasher landed in the dogwood as I was tracking the titmouse there.  Why did they all wait till the light level dropped? 

Hot again

The hummers continued their aerial fights.  In the late morning, I saw a cloudless sulphur, a tiger swallowtail, and a monarch.  A green-as-grass-hopper nymph seemed to believe it was camouflaged against gray concrete.  Crows gathered for some purpose.  From the sound of this, they were fish crows.  I rescued a mama wolf spider and her babies. 

In the afternoon, a downy woodpecker joined the cardinals and finches.  A Carolina wren looked in briefly.  And a frog was startled by a cardinal into jumping into the pool. 

Still cool

It was actually cooler outside than in at breakfast. A hummer came to drink every couple of minutes.  The hibiscus burst with flowers, again. The sky was cloudless.  The squirrel with the pale tail proved to be a male. 

When I came back, a slaty skimmer was perched over a swarm of fiery skippers on the lantana.  A hummer visited the front feeder.  We picked the last four figs.

After lunch, a male goldfinch was pushed off by house finches.  A tiger swallowtail laid eggs all over the wild cherry.  I found three kinds of caterpillars - black swallowtail, monarch, and fritillary.  A duskywing, a monarch and a cloudless sulphur visited flowers.  And I saw four kinds of dragonfly - amberwing, blue dasher, slaty skimmer, and common whitetail. 

One of the dogwoods began to turn fall colored.  On the other hand, a couple of blue eyed grass flowers popped up.  I heard but did not see blue jays, wrens, and a woodpecker.  The cicadas were so loud they beat the lawnmower.  The hummers drank the feeder dry.

Still pleasant

Wispy mare's tails sometimes coalesced to cover the sky.  A great blue heron fished under the bulkhead.  Titmice joined the regulars for seeds.  Hummers fought.  I went out front and sat on the new patio.  Some small and delicate mushrooms popped up in the mulch.  A hummer fed on the lantana along with skippers.  Geese flew North in a V formation, but they were just pretending. 

The cardinals occupied the feeder area and frustrated the finches and chickadees.  A Carolina wren hopped up but then hid out in the rosemary.  A cloudless sulphur nestled into a hibiscus blossom. It has been a summer for second bloomings - gladiolus, hibiscus, and today a late flower spike on the chaste tree. 

Palamedes and tiger swallowtails floated and flitted but never perched for a photo.  Snout butterflies did and so did skippers.  A spring azure landed briefly on the milkweed.  Bees and wasps were busy and milkweed bugs joined them.

A cough-like sound alerted me to a red bellied woodpecker up in a pine tree.  The rue was full of black swallowtail caterpillars and a tiny orchard spider.  A question mark butterfly visited the birdbath.  And an anglewing katydid landed on me.  I wonder if it was because my suit was the same color?  I rescued a honeybee bur was too late for a cicada.  A little blue tailed skink come out in the late afternoon.  The patio was scorching from the sun but the breeze was chilly after I was wet.

Cooler

Titmice were back for breakfast.  I saw a high-flying dragonfly when I refilled the mealworm dish.  A cloudless sulphur flitted past.  It seemed to be attracted to red flowers.  A squirrel seemed to have a pale tail.  I got back around noon and it was still sunny, breezy, and pleasant.  A hummer was visiting the lantana by the driveway, then shot over to the front feeder.  In the back yard, hummers fought over the feeder, except when goldfinches commandeered it for a drink from the ant moat.  Two male goldfinches actually shared access to it. 

A palamedes swallowtail visited the hibiscus.  A tiger swallowtail just flew across the yard.  A snout butterfly perched in the dogwood.  The cloudless sulphur continued to flit around.  A green lacewing landed on the window.  A cicada killer explored the patio.  And a blue dasher watched from the bamboo stake. In the afternoon, the lantana by the driveway was swarming with fiery skippers.  A slaty skimmer perched above them but must have been after smaller prey.  More skippers went for the herbs out back, along with honeybees and a hairstreak.

I glimpsed a skink on the patio at lunch but in the afternoon I caught one in the pool.  They swim quite well despite their undersized legs and unwebbed feet.  Mating saddlebags and 12-spotted skimmers flew overhead.

At supper the two male goldfinches returned.  At one point, a goldfinch, a hummer, and a Carolina wren were all around the hummer's feeder.

Windy

The wind made the clouds hustle and the sun flicker all day long.  A goldfinch, hummers, and titmice showed up during breakfast.  Later I cut away the collapsed sunflower and the morning glory that clung to it.  The hibiscus outdid itself with ten flowers.  A buzzard floated on the thermals.  The hummer chases continued. Robins stayed in the woods.  I thought I saw a brown thrasher, but it was gone before I was certain. 

A cicada dangled from the morning glory that clung to the hibiscus, surprisingly.  I looked for an exoskeleton in case it was new hatched but I didn't see anything.  Blue dashers guarded the slope to the water.  A cobweb spider ate another spider while yet another ate the red and green grasshopper nymph from yesterday.

A hairstreak drank from the mint.  A cloudless sulphur seemed to flit endlessly without landing anywhere. A large orange and several small brown butterflies got away.  I saw a black, a palamedes, and K called my attention to this giant swallowtail.

A brief thunderstorm struck about 8:40pm.

Humid

The morning was sunny but so humid the windows were still fogged at 9am.  Yesterday's rain beat down the tall plants - sunflower, canna.  The cardinals were hungry.  K hung fresh hummer juice both back and front.  I spent most of the day in a workshop, which was too bad because it was quite nice when I got home.  I saw piled up cumulus on the horizon as I drove, but not afterward.  

A buckeye butterfly competed with fiery skippers and bumblebees on the orange lantana.  A duskywing skipper found the pink lantana in the hanging pot.  K noticed a red and green grasshopper nymph on the window.  A Southern purple mint moth found the mint.  And a great golden digger wasp fed on the milkweed.  I startled a little green heron off the dock. At supper, hummers and a male goldfinch visited.

Flying kites

This morning, the morning glories joined the hibiscus for a red and blue explosion.  But I was rushing to get ready for an expedition to Thoroughgood.  There we looked for the Mississippi kite family that nested in the pines.  And we dripped with sweat in the humid heat with barely a breath of air movement.  Dragonflies followed a woman who was mowing.  And we did see a couple of kites far off.

When we got back to the house, we startled a little green heron on the dock.  I discovered more argiopes in the spartina.  I don't think the larger one was the same I saw before though.  A black swallowtail was frantically egging the rue.  A cloudless sulphur flitted overhead.  Hummers continued their territorial dispute.

At lunchtime a female goldfinch and a couple of titmice appeared.  Then I noticed something on the pool ladder.  It turned out to be the bullfrog.  And a cicada hauled itself out of the water next to it.  Just as we were finishing lunch, rain began.  It soon filled the birdbath.  I was going to venture out anyway, but then I heard thunder.  Waves of rain came through, sometimes pounding the pavement.  In between, the hummers tried to grab a little more energy drink. I saw a wren disappear into the brush. 

The rain didn't stop till early evening and the clouds continued to menace after that.  By sunset, the West must have cleared because gold light filtered through the trees.  Cardinals grabbed a snack but a hummer turned up its beak at its feeder.  No wonder, the rain had flooded it.  A small insect perched on the mealworm hanger and darted out at gnats just like a dragonfly, but it was too small to be a dragonfly.  It turned out to be a robber fly.  I didn't know they hunted like that. 

Butterfly season

The sky was mostly cloudy when I got up but mostly clear by the middle of the morning.  House finches, cardinals, and a goldfinch showed up at breakfast.  A couple of titmice hammered unripe acorns up in the oak.  Hummers made war on each other. 

It seemed like dragonflies were more common in July and butterflies in August.  The butterfly milkweed helped too.  A slaty skimmer and a blue dasher hunted while a pair of mating saddlebags flew overhead.  A monarch delighted in the milkweed despite the bees and a cloudless sulphur also paid a brief visit.  I saw three kinds of swallowtail but only captured the black.  A cabbage white preferred the rosemary.  A snout butterfly fell in love with my toes, then with the camera itself.  I fished a large dead stinkbug out of the water and later saw a tiny ant dragging it away.

After lunch, I saw a hummer visiting the Mexican sage. A chickadee got into the cannas for some reason and somehow aquired a yellow tummy.  Grackles and a cardinal poked through the grass under the redwood.  Then I had to go to a meeting.  Despite the clouds piled up from Northwest to Southeast, there was no rain or thunder. 

Sun and clouds

Titmice, goldfinches, and hummers showed up at breakfast along with cardinals and house finches.  The hibiscus put on a show with a half dozen flowers.  Butterflies came out by mid morning: a monarch, a black swallowtail, a tiger swallowtail, a cloudless sulphur, and a duskywing skipper.  The sky was that intense blue that shades into ultraviolet. 

In the late morning, I saw a cicada killer, but it shot off toward the creek.  I could certainly hear cicadas to interest it.  I could hear jays as well, but they stayed out of sight.  A barn spider tucked itself up under the eaves and pretended to be invisible.  I almost got a perfect photo of two hummers, one an adolescent male, fighting over the feeder, but I cut off the head of the higher bird.  Sob! 

K told me she saw a caterpillar on the pepper plant.  Its leaves had certainly fed something but all I saw was another armyworm on the patio.  Crows gathered to harass something.  Cumulus piled up to the South after lunch and by 4pm those clouds looked ready to rain.

Dragonflies were sparse - I saw one perch in the morning and another cruising against a background of clouds.  Fiery skippers went crazy on the lantana.  A hummer visited the feeder in front of the house.  I thought it was a male, but it may have just been a bad molt.  The tide was way out and something kept generating delicate rings of ripples just beyond the mud.  It continued after the rain began so it was probably something under water.

In between two waves of rain an egret preened on one of the pilings.  The feeder was busy as I grabbed supper.  Chickadees finally appeared.  When I left for the Environmental Justice meeting, the rain had stopped but the clouds were very dramatic.  They thinned after dark and the almost full moon shone through them.

Sunny

Not much was stirring at breakfast.  A male goldfinch popped in but was startled off.  Lots of yellow dragonflies were patrolling outside the Kempsville Library, but none posed for me.  Puffy cumulus decorated the sky.  As I was leaving for lunch, I saw a red bellied woodpecker on the pecan trunk.  Of course it was gone when I got back three hours later.  But grackles were hankering after the feeder even though they were way too big for the counter-weighted perch.  The day was very hot by mid afternoon. At supper, I saw a skipper, a hummer, and a female goldfinch.  The moon rose very round and bright though it's still two days from full. 

Thunderstorm

Morning was hot and humid and the sky was hazy. The hummer with a white throat was up early but I didn't see the one that's molting.  Two male cardinals argued over the feeder, but the really bald one ate in peace.  I glimpsed a yellow dragonfly but couldn't be sure of identification.  For the first time in years, the hibiscus managed a second blooming. 

Butterflies were thick and three were some dragonflies ignoring them in favor of smaller fry.  I saw a monarch, three kinds of swallowtail, painted ladies, skippers, and maybe others.  A slaty skimmer was perched but a blue dragonfly zipped past me and went on down to the creek.  Bees and flies swarmed the milkweed as well as skippers and the monarch.  I rescued a spider from the skimmer only to have it dive back in and disappear.

As we were finishing lunch all the birds seemed to get frantic for food, especially chickadees and cardinals.  The hummer that is not molting made repeated visits. Two Carolina wrens appeared as thunder rumbled.  A thunderstorm boiled up South of us and swept overhead, dropping real rain, not just a shower.  An egret just kept fishing by the dam outfall.After about an hour the rain let up but the clouds, West and South. looked poised for another round.  It was so humid that the windows fogged up.

Scorching

The morning sky was clear and intensely blue.  Afternoon brought cumulus, some with dark bellies.  The heat brought insects but seemed to discourage birds.  An Eastern pondhawk male guarded the patio door.  Butterflies mostly evaded the camera but I identified a monarch, a tiger and a black swallowtail, a cloudless sulphur, an orange sulphur, and a brown butterfly I suspect was a buckeye.  I rescued a bumblebee and (I hope) killed a green head fly.  Another landed on the window later.

A titmouse came early.  The hummers continued to fight over the feeder.  A goldfinch pair showed up separately to get a drink from the hummer feeder ant moat.  The cardinals also pulled rank on each other and the fledglings were at the bottom.  Nobody messed with the bald headed male.  I wonder if it could get sunburned?

An egret fished under the bulkhead across the creek.  A brief rain shower fell about a quarter till five.