Wonderful weather

There were hummers at breakfast, and an egret down at the dam outfall.  Afterward, I sat on the front patio to read.  Two female hummingbirds (or one twice) and a male came to the feeder, but balked when they saw me.  An adult skink emerged from behind the vine planter and tiptoed past me.  I could see insects zipping around but couldn't tell if they were dragonflies or wasps.  During lunch, a couple of snout butterflies did an aerial dance or fight.

Heading to the pool, I surprised a skink on the steps.  Dragonflies were perched around.  A brown thrasher hunted on the ground by the fence.  I rescued a tiny spider with a white chevron on its abdomen.  I also saved a lot of beetles and gave one green tiger a ride in an oak gall. 

A few dogwood leaves were beginning to turn.  A female cardinal abandoned herself to anting with an expression of stupefied bliss.  Then the male showed up and recalled her to duty. 

A hummer gave a chickadee a piece of her mind for getting too close to her feeder.  A hummer chased another over the roof.  In the evening a hummer kept guzzling despite a cardinal pair on the seed feeder.  

I went out after dark to listen to the insects and look at the moon and planets. 

Glorious day!I

It was cool (70s) and a bit breezy with intense sunshine in a sky so clear it was purple rather than blue. Humidity was only a bad memory.   Titmice again mobbed the seed feeder.  Hummers were happy to get fresh juice. 

When I went to pick figs, though most were rotting from the rain, I saw a common whitetail dragonfly that evaded the camera.  A green russula mushroom popped up under the fig tree.  Wasps, including a hornet and a cicada killer, feasted on the fermenting figs.  Some could not fly straight afterward and banged into the wall.  I saw a green lacewing lying in wait on a fig leaf.  A squirrel also came for figs. 

A half dozen yellow Genista broom moth caterpillars sheltered in a web while they ate the wild indigo in the front yard. Not far away, a jumping spider lurked on another indigo leaf.  Around on the West side of the house, leaf cutter bees had scalloped the redbud's leaves. 

As usual, a blue dasher guarded the pool. There were other dragonflies around, but they didn't pose.  A hackberry emperor butterfly did, very nicely. Wind and rain had raised toe water level in the pool and filled it with pine needles and other debris.  I caught a frog hanging out by the skimmer, but it refused to pose.  And I rescued tiger, click, scarab, and common ground beetles, but not much else.  The tide was very high for a first quarter moon.  An egret monitored the dam outfall.

Cold front

It wasn't too bad in the morning - overcast, humid, and still.  Rain overnight was apparently light but had not evaporated.  An egret paced under the bulkhead as I ate breakfast.  There was not a lot of floating debris in the pool, but quite a few beetles.  I rescued two green and one gray tiger beetles, ground beetles, and brown June beetles. Also spiders, but no mamas.  Because the sky looked untrustworthy, I left the camera indoors.  Otherwise I'd have gotten some nice shots of a little green heron on a piling. 

A mockingbird was up in the cherry and blue jays streaked across the yard calling each other.  A cardinal checked out the beautyberries, but they were still quite green.  At the feeders, it was the usual trio, plus a family of young titmice.  I saw hummers feed but I think they weren't happy.  Speaking of which, the Mexican sage and the canna did not bloom very much thus far, and the scarlet runner bean I planted had not so much as a bud to offer as feeder substitutes.  Only the coral honeysuckle came through. 

In the early afternoon while I was still in the pool, a misty rain commenced.  Around 1pm it strengthened enough that I gave up and came indoors.  The afternoon gradually grew wilder with harder rain and wind picking up.  The temperature dropped and so did the light.  Wind pushed the first quarter tide much higher.  Rain overflowed the ant moat. 

Rain

There was rain overnight but it had begun to dry by breakfast.  Hummers were eager at breakfast. A squirrel appeared to think the feeder was a podium.  And then it rained and I lost track of the day.  . 

Gray and humid

It was quite overcast at breakfast.  I saw an osprey land in the pines across the creek, but it was obscured by the trees on our side.  The hummers drank the feeder dry, so I swapped it out.  When I went to the library, I heard that they were trying to discourage the mockingbirds that nest there.  (I'll take 'em!)  The farm stand was very busy but I got squash. 

The sky cleared around noon and clouded up again about two hours later.  The sun got through hazy patches some of the time.  I hurried to pick figs before it got too warm.  Dragonflies appeared with the sun.  Atop the pine was a four-spotted pennant, first I've seen this year.  The slime mold looked unchanged.  The black swallowtail was back, as was the pearl crescent and fiery skippers.  One skipper discovered the hummer juice.  Wasps kept harassing each other on the rue.  I rescued a mama wolf spider who did not trust me.  A skink wandered around the pool steps after I got out. One hummer chased another over the roof.

Pleasantly warm

I missed too much of a beautiful day.  A hummer, or more than one visited the back feeder every time I looked.  A mockingbird surveyed the landscape from atop the pine.  Four titmice, maybe more, mobbed the feeder. 

I picked lots of figs and left lots more.  A slime mold appeared on the mulch out front.  Dragonflies fought for one of the perches I put out.  The widow skimmer stole it from the blue dasher.  I also saw swallowtails and skippers but didn't get a picture. 

Cooler

I was running around all morning.   Dragonflies, and wasps were thick and a black swallowtail, a pearl crescent, and a fiery skipper represented the lepidoptera.  A cicada killer wasp defeated the camera. 

The air and water were both in the low 80s with a hazy sky and a breeze that made me genuinely chilly once wet.  Suddenly I thought there was a fish in the pool as something silvery thrashed on the surface.  It was a cicada so I rescued it.  When I set it down it marched over to the water and fell in again.  Twice.  I finally got it headed away. 

Then a commotion at the feeder caught my attention.  A hummer was put out that a titmouse was drinking from the ant moat.  The hummer tried to intimidate the titmouse but failed.  It then flew around to every red thing from new leaves to withered flowers before it gave up and flew away. 

I soon left as well, for another meeting.  When I got out, a sliver of new moon hung above the sunset glow.  But it was soon dark enough that I got lost twice on the way home. 

Moth week

According to Mary Reid Barrow, this is Moth Week, but the only moth I've seen is the tiny southern purple mint moth.  I would have guessed it was dragonfly week, or maybe wasp week.  Morning was overcast and relatively cool, but the sun came out at lunch time.  Titmice and hummers visited. A squirrel hauled a fresh pinecone nearly as big as she was.  K spotted a cicada killer.

The black swallowtail and the pearl crescent were back.  I spotted a yellow dragonfly hanging below a dead dogwood twig.  Pennants, blue dashers, slaty and great blue skimmers perched for their pictures.  Saddlebags, however caused me to waste many pixels.  I got some red and yellow blurs.  A yellow kneed wasp prowled over the damaged hibiscus leaves. 

I rescued a dead frog. Also beetles both living and dead. A skink darted around the cement outside the pool and I thought I was going to have to rescue it.

Late in the day, an egret stalked past a row of Halloween pennants perched in the spartina and saltbush.

Cloudy but hot

A cardinal wrestled with something green that may have been a caterpillar from the parsley, but he flew off before I got the camera zoomed.  Wasps breakfasting on the mint were joined by a southern purple mint moth.  One of the wasps looked like a bald faced hornet. Dragonflies were on the job early.

At lunch time a Halloween pennant perched on the top of the pine.  The pearl crescent butterfly was back on the mint. And the black swallowtail was back to lay eggs on parsley and rue.  Little snout butterflies danced or fought in mid air.  Titmice and chickadees enjoyed the fresh water in the ant moat.

When I went out to the pool, dragonflies were everywhere, but they wouldn't perch for me to photograph.  Swallows also hunted flying insects.  A great blue heron prowled the shoreline.  After the tide receded further, a yellow crowned night heron hunted crabs in the mud.  The male hummingbird slipped in for a drink when the females weren't looking.

Reddish-brown dragonflies I think were spot-wing gliders flew low over the pool but I finally gave up on trying to photograph them.  On the upper level I couldn't see them any more, but a skink nearly ran over my foot while another mad a getaway along the retaining wall. 

Hummers really wanted their supper and made repeat visits.  But the light was bad as the clouds had gotten thicker.  Then the light level dropped suddenly as a storm swept up from the Southwest.  Thunder and lightning continued for hours.

Hot wind

During breakfast, I saw a young mockingbird in the cherry tree.  Hummingbirds visited all day long.  By lunch time the feeder was dry so we put out fresh juice in a fresh feeder, and they kept coming. 

The sky was cloudless in the morning and the sun scorched all it touched.  I decided to swim while the pool still had shade.  A black swallowtail laid eggs on the rue.  A yellow crowned night heron stood on the dock in the drop-wind posture they us when hot.  A great blue heron chased it away, then performed its version of the I'm-so-hot look.  Later the night heron (or another) hunted in the spartina that was in the shade. 

I rescued beetles, a few tiny bees, and a couple of spiders.  A large black ant bit me which led to its demise.  I guess it was using me to get out of the water when my arm brushed it.  Blue dashers and a bar-winged skimmer perched around the pool.  A yellow-kneed wasp was thirsty.  I saw a pair of Carolina saddlebags flying mated, but they were gone before I thought of the camera.  A large blue-tailed skink also got away.

Clouds appeared in the afternoon.  Around 6pm they took over the sky and looked threatening, but we did not get rain.  What was strange was that the lowest clouds were rushing NNE, and the middle layer were rolling down from the Northwest, while the highest clouds - still in the sunlight - slowly moved West.

Down on Earth, wind from the South whipped the trees and grounded most flying creatures.  But not the hummingbirds.  I saw at least one male and two females with one chasing the other.   Finally the clouds passed, the sky turned silver, and the wind dropped to the evening onshore breeze. An egret passed overhead, flying home.

Hot and sticky

I nearly melted while picking figs. After that I headed for the water, and saw a damselfly that looked like a male blue-fronted dancer resting on the concrete.  The water was full of goose feathers and June beetles.  I also rescued a cricket and a grasshopper.

There were lots of busy wasps and dragonflies and sidewalk tiger beetles.  The chaste tree looked like it could bloom any time. Crows set up a fuss.  A hummer came to the fresh feeder.  A mockingbird called from the hackberry and then four birds moved off West into the pines. 

A Carolina saddlebage patrolled the patio as we ate lunch.  Blue dashers occupied every vertical perch.  The black skipper returned to the mint as did a pearl crescent butterfly. Around 2pm, I saw a widow skimmer.

Hot

I awoke a little early and saw an egret readying its feathers for the new day.   Dragonflies appeared later, and titmice even later.  Wasps and flies were back at the mint. 

I was too busy to get outside. When I got back from lunch, a Halloween pennant was hanging on to the top of the pine. Geese tried to invade the yard but K sent them off as I dashed to another meeting. 

When I got back from the afternoon meeting, a pristine bar-winged skimmer was perched on the lawn chair right outside the patio door.  But I had left the camera at the other end of the house. As I ate supper, a female hummer (maybe several) guzzled from the feeder.

Humid

There were lots of dragonflies, but not many birds. A titmouse showed up for breakfast.  Later, a crow went after the mealworms but had a hard time of it, being too big for the job.  Another crow watched.  Wasps including the golden digger were busy with the mint.  A Halloween pennant perched on the dried up gladiolus stalk. 

After lunch, I saw a dragonfly atop the pine bud couldn't identify it.  Heavy clouds seemed to promise more rain, but they lied.  The pool rescues were mostly beetles, though I did save a tiny green bee.  I also rescued a metallic green tiger beetle that seemed to need recovery time. A sidewalk tiger needed no rescue as it preyed on debris from the pool skimmer. I noticed a small brown click beetle nearby.  In a corner, I found a small reddish beetle that looked like a June bug cousin. 



Many of the dragonflies were just blurs, especially those with yellow bodies.  I identified slaty, blue dasher, twelve-spotted, and a pair of pondhawks.  Snout butterflies did their dance in the air and then one rested on an oak leaf. A fiery skipper dined on the single zinnia flower.  When I cane to the steps, a large black fly zoomed at me, but it was only the bee-mimic.  K harvested the first figs of the season.  The clouds cleared off at sunset and the sky turned lovely colors.  The usual congregation of crows at the highway interchange was underway as I drove home. 

Rain

 Nothing happened at breakfast.  Later as I was leaving, a small, black butterfly landed on the mint.  I think it was a wild indigo duskywing.  Weird wasps and bees or bee-mimic flies also feasted on mint.  A couple of threadwaisted wasps were mating which looked kind of cannibalistic.  There were lots of fiery skippers and a hairstreak.  

All the dark clouds finally let loose at about 1:30pm.  After the rain, I saw a yellow crowned night heron hunting in the spartina.  A house wren foraged in the wet mulch and a squirrel above picked wild cherries.  Titmice came for seeds. 

More clouds

Morning was gloomy and not particularly warm.  By afternoon, the overcast had broken into individual cumulus that looked stormy, but nothing happened except the sun got through and heated the day. 

Titmice were hungry at breakfast.  When I went out to swim, a night heron stalked the tide-exposed mud.  A great blue heron did the same only under the bulkhead on the other side of the creek. Later an egret followed the same routine.  Something upset the crows, but I never saw what.  Their cries attracted a blue jay. 

I had thought the black widow was gone, but I saw a couple of spidery feet up near the top of its hideout.  The wolf with the egg ball was still hiding close by.  I rescued a lot of beetles including a small, brown click beetle.  Sidewalk tiger beetles dashed after invisible prey.  So did a few dragonflies, blue dashers.and great blue skimmers. A tiger bee fly rested on the windowsill.

A fiery skipper fed on the mint alongside wasps and flies.  Later a cabbage white did the same while the mint dripped with spittlebugs. Still later a hairstreak arrived on the mint.  A black swallowtail spent time with the rue.  A variegated fritillary preferred violet leaves. 

I saw a skink in the mulch, then another.  The first had a blue tail, but the second had a brown, regrown tail.  Brown tail pounced on the other and they wrestled and thrashed, ignoring me though I was close enough to touch.  Eventually they separated and the blue tail disappeared into the mulch while the brown tail went to bask on the retaining wall.

Cloudy

It looked like rain all day, but none fell.  As we were leaving for church, I spied a cicada killer buzzing around the lantana.  Fiery skippers were also feeding on the lantana.

Wasps, the buckeye, and dragonflies were out in the noonday heat.  A dragonfly with only three wings seemed to fly without trouble.  A tiny skink, not much longer than an inch, zipped around on the hot concrete, then hid under the morning glory.  A tiger swallowtail flitted across the yard.  A couple of night herons appeared to be disputing space on the dock but both flew off as soon as I glimpsed them. 

Something landed in the redwood but was obscured by the foliage.  I thought it was a little green heron, but now I'm not sure.  In the pool, I found lots of beetles and small wasps, and robber fly.  A wolf spider protected her egg "pearl."  The black widow may have moved on since the water level rose.  Titmice came for seeds. 

Dry thunderstorm

We had thunderstorms in waves all night and they left about an inch of water.  Fish were attracted to the increased volume flowing from the dam and egrets took advantage.
I was fooled in the morning by a sprinkle of rain under an overcast sky.  Then in the afternoon, a noisy thunderstorm rolled through, and again only sprinkled. Both male and female hummers made repeat visits.  Titmice came to the seed feeder.  Today was probably the last for the hibiscus because of the leaf damage. 

A black swallowtail egged the rue.  A buckeye came back to the mint.  It flashed its eyespots at wasps that got too close.  A fiery skipper also was annoyed by wasps.  A variety of dragonflies appeared, including a widow skimmer, slaty skimmers, and of course blue dashers. 

Evening storm

At breakfast, the male hummer slipped in for a drink.   I saw an eagle later, but it was gone too fast to react.

Wasps transferred their interest from the rue to the mint.  . A couple of buckeye butterflies joined them.

I discovered that the web by the pool steps belonged to a spider that looked to be a black widow.  It had red on its black abdomen.   A mama spider occupied the top step of the ladder.  K found another on the wall of the house.  It was in the clutches of a cobweb spider and appeared dead.  But the spiderlings still clung to it.

An egret waited by the dam outfall.  A night heron landed in the trees beside the dock where it was only a dark shape obscured by leaves.  Toward dusk, a great blue heron stalked across the dam spillway. 

Dragonflies were all around.  The 12-spotted skimmer made occasional passes overhead.  While I was in the pool, a blue dasher darted around over the water.  Late in the afternoon, two spot-winged gliders dangled from the lavender.  I also saw a female widow skimmer. 

We'd had fair weather cumulus clouds sailing ENE all day, but the clouds that boiled out of the West looked different.  Soon I could see dim flashes as the light from lightning bounced off the cloud cover.  Eventually a wave of rain passed through as darkness fell.

Hot and windy

Rambunctious titmice scared off a hummer and a wren.  A very persistent squirrel was determined to get into the feeder.  A blue jay wanted mealworms.  The digger wasp was back and so was the buckeye butterfly. 

A humongous roach was floating in the water, dead fortunately.  It looked like one f those strange creatures from the Burgess Shale.  A spider built a web across a corner of the pool.  I rescued a mama spider and a few of her minute offspring that jumped ship.  

Dragonflies held their own despite the wind.  The herbs - rue, mint, parsley, rosemary - attracted a host of bees wasps, flies, and other insects.  I saw a sharpshooter land on a morning glory leaf. 

A male towhee flew across the yard and then popped out from under the azaleas. 

Lost day

It was in the 90s, but that would have been fine in a bathing suit. But I was stuck inside.  I did see the male ruby throat at breakfast.  And a bit later, a juvenile night heron came walking along the pool side.

Dragonflies were around, but I didn't get any photos.  On my way home I had glimpses of the sunset behind me. The sun was a red ball with rosy cloud streaks around it. 

Pool in the morning

Still more bugs than birds.  The great golden digger wasp breakfasted on mint.  I rescued a blue mud wasp, many beetles, and some smaller wasps and bees.  Dragonflies were standing guard.

A male hummer hovered but didn't drink.  But a female settled in and had a meal.  An osprey flew over and a blue jay raided the mealworms. 

I had an evening meeting and when I came out at sunset, I could hear swallows.  On the way home I saw grows congregating at the 64/264 interchange. The sky was hazed over at dusk again,

Entomology continued

The day still lacked birds except for the regulars at the seed feeder.  I did see a blue Jay and a family of wrens.  An egret and a great blue heron posed across the creek.  The hibiscus was a red riot again, but leaf miners and Japanese beetles chewed it badly.

Many kinds of dragonflies filled the day: a blue dasher, a female great blue skimmer, a male slaty skimmer, a male amberwing, a Halloween pennant, and a couple of twelve-spotted skimmers.  The great golden digger wasp was back, as were many smaller wasps.  A bumblebee fussed over the wilted, fallen hibiscus blossoms.  A palamedes swallowtail visited the fresh hibiscus flowers and a black swallowtail went for the gone-to-seed parsley.  I rescued a couple of sidewalk tiger beetles and lots of "June bugs," both green and brown. 

Haze thickened and made the sky mostly white.  A mature skink with a red head slipped into the rosemary.  I thought sunset might tint the cloud cover rose, but it only turned gold.  Fireflies were out.

Entomology day

It was definitely a better day for bugs than birds.  There were at least four titmice squabbling over the feeder.  Before church we saw the ruby throat of the male hummingbird.  At lunch, a male bluebird ate cherries.  I saw a blue jay, a swallow, and an osprey in flight. The hibiscus was ablaze with flowers and a late gladiolus spear began blooming. 

A glorious male Needhams's skimmer perched on one of my bamboo poles.  Later, a female great blue skimmer hung out on the same stake.  A blue dasher lurked on a camellia leaf and a twelve-spotted skimmer hunted above the pool.  A great golden digger wasp and an buckeye butterfly gorged on rue nectar.  Other wasps harassed the butterfly.  A black swallowtail was more interested in laying eggs than in feeding. A tiny southern purple mint moth hung around the rosemary. 

Sidewalk tiger beetles scuttled around the patio, but a bigger, metallic-green tiger beetle got into trouble in the pool.  I sloshed it onto the ladder step, then discovered the step was already occupied by a mama spider covered with spiderlings.  The two predators faced off.  Something I think may have been a scarab beetle lurked in the shadows.  Elsewhere a June beetle had climbed a pine needle to rescue itself from the water. 

And if that was not enough, I found a small, brown pupa bobbing in the water.  I assumed it was dead, but when I laid it on the hot concrete, it thrashed around, so I found it a relatively pleasant place to wait out its metamorphosis, and I can find out what it is.

An egret perched on the dock bench.  I heard a squawk and saw a night heron fly off.  Then a smaller bird I think was a green heron flew downstream.  While the sky was clear all day except for wispy cumulus, it grew hazy in the evening.  There were a few clouds to catch color from the sunset. 

H O T

I was in a meeting from breakfast till mid afternoon.  The car registered 99°F on the way home.  A black swallowtail visited the parsley and the rue but escaped me.  Dragonflies hunted from their perches.  A sidewalk tiger beetle kept its body high off the hot pavement.  A trashline orbweaver left the evidence hanging over the azalea by the window.

Later, bluebirds came for more wild cherries. Squirrels continued to bully each other.  A buzzard flew upstream.  Toward sunset, the clouds that had been streaming East got thicker and darker.  North and South they picked up sunset color, but not overhead.  No chance of seeing the full moon rise.  But fireflies were flickering and cicadas buzzing when I bricked the feeder.  Thunder finally rumbled after 10pm followed by a hard rain. 

Windy morning

Shreds of clouds streamed East on a mostly blue sky, but at ground level the wind whipped around from all directions.  The bluebirds sought wild cherries in addition to mealworms. Squirrels were acting nutty all day.  An eagle circled over the creek and I got one decent shot. 

The clouds got bigger and darker in the afternoon.  The wind did not drop as much as I'd hoped, but it was enough to bring out dragonflies.  I also saw a few small butterflies, mostly snouts.  There were a lot of spiders in the water, some of them mama wolf spiders with spiderlings clinging to their backs.  One mama found a leaf raft and was joined by a ground beetle that kept a very low profile.  As I was watching to see if another mama would also climb aboard, rain began.  It did not amount to much, but by then I had taken the camera inside.

As I came up the steps, I surprised a skink that had been basking on the retaining wall.  It hid under rosemary that did not conceal it very well.  The great golden digger wasp was back on the rue.  A hummer visited the feeder - I'd begun to think it was dry.  A couple of egrets got territorial about the dam outfall.  A pair of doves foraged around the dry birdbath.  The female bluebird gave me a dirty look because she'd carried off all the mealworms. There were fireflies again at dusk.  Better than fireworks any time!