Curious young birds

I was up early for a meeting and sunrise looked like a nice day was coming.  But when I got out of the meeting there was a thick overcast, dark around the rim of horizon like an inverted bowl.  A few scattered raindrops fell, but the wind helped dry everything, and patches of blue sky even included sunshine.  An egret was preening on the dock bench again.

A hummer hovered just outside the window.  I wonder if she saw her reflection or me.It was very hard to convince the camera that I did not want to photograph the trees in the background.  Another tangled with a black swallowtail. 

The young brown thrasher was back.  Blue jays kept an eye on the yard.  A flicker flew down from the oak and hopped up the steps.  I think it too may have been hatched this year.  A titmouse visited the seeds and a mockingbird perched on the roof peak facing the front yard. 

A wild indigo duskywing enjoyed the portulaca flowers.  The a carpenter bee tore into the yellow ones.  A great golden digger wasp competed with little bees for milkweed flowers. Several dragonflies consumed tiny flying pests.  I saw a blue dasher, a great blue skimmer, and a slaty skimmer. 

A skink so tiny it must have been fresh from the egg dashed across the concrete.  A full grown one basked by the birdbath.  And with that, July passed into history.

Hummer wars

There was nothing but rain to be seen at breakfast.  The ant moat/rain gauge was full  already.  I was gone for the rest of the morning.  The rain stopped long enough for the pavement to dry then started again.  This pattern repeated all day.  At lunch time, an egret fished at the dam. 

The hummers wasted energy chasing each other.  On the other hand, the rain discouraged them from keeping watch over the feeder.

Young birds

A male hummer made several wary visits to the feeder.  It almost seemed like he was keeping his back to the light so his throat wouldn't flash and attract a female that would chase him away. 

A snowy egret hung around the dam outfall and soon a great egret showed up.  A young brown thrasher investigated things an adult would ignore.  But it couldn't figure out how to reach the bark butter balls.  Then a young mockingbird arrived.  A nervous titmouse was pushed off the feeder by the other birds.  Blue jays tried to sneak up on the dish of treats but they were too greedy.  One got into a dispute with the young brown thrasher.  A juvenile cardinal explored under the seed feeder.  A male towhee wanted sunflower seeds too.

A fritillary butterfly was obscured by leaves until it discovered the portulaca.  A black swallowtail headed for the rue.  The milkweed attracted a monarch but the small bees that had been feasting there tried to drive it away..  Eventually the bees won.  A blue dasher perched on the mint.  Later a  slaty and a great blue skimmer found perches.  In the pool, I rescued a few spiders and beetles, and a couple of crickets. 

The sky was very changeable from hazy blue to overcast to puffy clouds, but it stayed dry. Sunset was lovely with golden cloud streaks. 

Butterflies at last

I saw a fritillary, tiger and black swallowtails, a hairstreak, s silver spotted skipper, and a buckeye butterfly.  The milkweed attracted ones the mint had not.  Little wasps annoyed the feeding butterflies. Slaty and needham's skimmers perched above the other insects. 

I was gone to a voter registration drive from 2 to 6pm and came home tired and sweaty.  Lots of dragonflies prowled over the festival while gulls circled hoping for junk food. 

At supper, a brown headed nuthatch dashed to the feeder, snatched a seed and got away before I could get the camera on.  A Carolina wren and titmice visited too. A young cardinal investigated everything.  And one hummer chased another away.  A night heron watched a great egret below the dam. 

I looked up at twilight and saw a grasshopper on the window. 

Still dry

The clouds looked fierce but no rain fell. The wrens left the birdhouse yesterday.  I saw them around the yard. I rescued a couple of spiders and was too late for a camel cricket and an amberwing.  A few small butterflies were around and I glimpsed a monarch while swimming. Dragonflies were everywhere.  A leafcutter bee worked on the milkweed. 

I also saw what I think was a night heron, though it looked like an animated mop, up in the trees whistling.  A great egret stalked the dam outfall. 

A male ruby throat tried to feed but the female(s) interfered.  I wonder it he was already migrating South?  A female hovered around the red cedar as they do occasionally.  That behavior is still a mystery. 

I found two caterpillars on the rue.  The larger definitely appeared to be a giant swallowtail while the smaller could have been either that or a black swallowtail. 

After sunset there were frequent lightning flashes over the bay.  The camera saw it quite differently from my eyes.

Surprisingly sunny

I unfortunately spent most of the day inside between PT, a webinar, and a haircut. Coming out of PT I saw amberwings and a widow skimmer.  On the way to lunch, a fledgling mockingbird and an osprey.  Returning from the haircut, a silver spotted skipper.

A snowy egret prowled below the dam.  Bees and wasps covered the mint.  A four spotted pennant dragonfly clung to the tip of the swaying pine tree.  Later a Halloween pennant took its place.  Slaty skimmers glittered in the sunlight.

Hummers drank us dry. A blue jay lurked.  A full-grown skink disappeared under a window ledge. I investigated and there was a hole where mortar was missing.  Sunset was lovely with peachy cloud streaks. 

Monarch!

Hummers were glad to get fresh nectar.  I caught a wren carrying a fecal pellet away from the birdhouse.  Titmice, cardinals and chickadees wanted seeds.  The egrets gathered again below the dam. Late in the afternoon, a flock of robins descended on the cherry tree. 

Insects reappeared in the afternoon.  A monarch and a fritillary duelled over the milkweed.  I also saw a skipper and a palamedes swallowtail. Dragonflies set up shop on the perches.  A few wasps fed on the beaten down mint. 

Rain and sun sometimes occurred at the same time.  But I didn't see any sign of rainbows. The rainfall for this July was already twice average with a week to go and more predicted.  Increased rainfall here is related to climate change, just as are wildfires in the West and in the Arctic.

Soaked

It rained all morning, dried for about an hour mid day, and then started up again.  It wasn't stormy, just gray, though there was some wind.  The ditches and retention ponds were full, also badly drained parking lots.  And I had to go out both morning and afternoon.

A great egret and four snowy egrets clustered around the water spilling from the dam.  The hummer feeder got diluted to their disgust.  And their was no question of putting anything in the dish which was full of rainwater.  So only the seed eaters got fed, including titmice.  All looked pretty bedraggled.  The wrens had to keep going despite the weather. 

Come-and-go rain

Rain, overcast, wind, and sunshine made a very changeable morning.  There was activity in the cherry tree early on, but I couldn't see clearly which birds were involved.  Hummers, titmice, wrens, and blue jays were visible, along with the usual chickadees, house finches, and cardinals. 

A few dragonflies, bees and wasps, and a black swallowtail ventured out in the lulls.  I saw a full grown skink and then a tiny (new-hatched?) blue tail.

In the afternoon, a male goldfinch appeared to be trying to get something out of the ant moat in the hummer feeder.  A young mockingbird hunted cherries.  The cicada killer proved as impossible to photograph as ever.

Ssssssnake!

Clouds streamed out of the South but the day was mostly dry.  I got rained on in the pool and so did the camera.  But I was glad I had it when I discovered I wasn't alone in the water. No thicker than a pencil, the snake crossed the patio and went down the steps at lunch.  Later I encountered it in the pool and managed to flip it out.  It sat in a knot on the concrete for quite some time but finally disappeared when I was looking at something else. The best match was a juvenile black racer.

I fished a glass snail out of the water too and some June beetles, both green and brown.  Dragonflies enjoyed the humidity and the bugs it brought.  Two buckeye butterflies fed on the mint.  They ignored the wasps but occasionally quarreled with each other.  A dark swallowtail was not easy to identify, maybe palamedes, maybe black.  A sizeable skink climbed the wall of the house and explored the new window.  Later I saw one on the steps that may have been the same, 

Wrens went back and forth to their house and fussed at me when I came close.  Titmice came for seeds and hummers for sugar water.  A great and a snowy egret watched the runoff from the dam.  An osprey circled against the clouds.

I was calm with the snake but when a spider started hiking up my leg in the shower,that was another story.  I brushed it away and it waved its front legs at me in a crab spider pose. I told it, "don't walk on me and I won't step on you."  I left it sulking in the corner. 

Rain

I awoke to the sound of heavy, steady rain. It tapered to a fine mist as the day went on but the clouds continued to menace.  The wind was gusty.  The wrens stayed busy.  I was gone all afternoon. 

The big drama was a stinkbug flying into a web in the upper corner of the glass door.  The spider had quite a job subduing it.  In the evening the slugs came out.  A lacewing clung to the glass well away from the spider. 

Cooler

Puffball cumulus clouds drifted West at breakfast.  Hummers and wrens were breakfasting out. I missed the bulk of the day, but got outside in the late afternoon.  By then clouds were beginning to build up, and by sunset the sky looked stormy.

Dragonflies were thick - I saw red and yellow bodies, spotted, saddlebagged, and black tipped wings.  I also saw a cicada killer but could not get a good shot.  The cicadas were loud.  I managed to rescue a scoliid wasp from the water without either of us getting hurt. A sidewalk tiger beetle dashed across the patio, almost invisible against the concrete. 

A Carolina wren tried the suet feeder. The house wren cussed me out from so close I jumped. I heard jays and crows and suspect a hawk was involved. 

Hot sun

I was inside almost all day, and tired and sore.  K said the blueberries were about finished.  Next, figs!  The wrens were still busy with their house so the fledglings I saw must be from other nests.  Blue jays got excited about bark butter again.  Hummers were as hungry as ever.  More egret primping went on.

And the cardinals were still making kissy-beak.  I'm speculating that at least one of the pair is infertile.  If so, with no eggs in a nest, they could be stuck in a behavior loop.  One effect is that they haven't begun to molt like the other cardinals.  

Dragonflies seemed to be everywhere.  I saw several skinks around midday.  Butterflies were still scarce.

White sky turned blue

A little rain fell overnight.  At breakfast a house wren sat on the feeder hanger and cried pitifully for food, shivering and fluttering its wings.  A hummer was on the feeder when another showed up.  The bird in possession just glared at the other which flew away.  By 9am sunshine was getting through the cloud layer.  An egret preened on the dock - apparently those aigrettes itch.

The juvenile night heron stalked along the spartina but I had to peer through the foliage.  blue jays were upset about something.  A tiger swallowtail fluttered by, but was invisible to the camera. I missed an orange butterfly at lunch.  The insects on the mint included honeybees.  Later, as I waited "on hold," a Needham's skimmer darted all around the patio.  But I couldn't juggle the phone and camera.  A wren scuttled under the camellia.  Twelve spotted skimmers zoomed overhead.  Clouds rolled out of the West in the late afternoon. 

Windy

After picking blueberries, I had a morning swim.  Ants, two-lined spittlebugs, and tiny wasps were all that needed rescue.  Oh, and one big green Junebug beetle,  A few dragonflies were out hunting along with all the wasps and bees on the mint. At least one caterpillar was still on the parsley. 

The wren just watched me get out till I reached the top step.  Then she disappeared.  Hummers visited their feeder and the fledgling titmouse was back. The day was very busy.  The sky got quite threatening but no rain fell during the day.  Lightening flashed after dark.

Nice breeze

 A squirrel was eating something in the hackberry when I got up,  A fledgling titmouse liked the ant moat as a water dish.  A goldfinch and a hummer briefly shared the feeder area.  An egret preened on a piling.  Then I had to leave. 

The morning's mackerel sky cleared in the afternoon. A skink crossed the steps.  The wren in the birdhouse had its head in the doorway and beak open - panting?  Later she cussed me out for sitting too close. 

A black swallowtail visited the skeletal parsley.  Dragonflies were all around.  I saw blue dashers, amberwings, slaty skimmers, a four spotted pennant on the pine, something that cruised along the spartina, and I think the one that never perched was a Needham's skimmer.  Wasps were all over the mint, as usual.  A little brownish butterfly -- hairstreak, copper? -- was also on the mint.  A stink bug trekked all over the window. I saved a couple of spiders. Then, after midnight, I discovered a 12-spotted skimmer banging the window by the watering can.  The light was still on and attracting other bugs.

Pleasant

The sky was hazy, not the intense blue of the last few days.  Dragonflies were thick, but not so varied as yesterday.  I did spot an amberwing at the top of the dogwood.   A few butterflies looked for nectar and I finally saw some sort of blue or hairstreak.  I saved a baby skink. 

The wren house was still quiet though there were fledglings from some other nest. A titmouse hunted something in a dead leaf.  Hummers visited regularly.  Some bird that upset the crows soared overhead. 

Dragonfly day

There were also butterflies, bees (even honeybees), wasps, and beetles, but the diversity of the dragonflies was amazing.  I didn't capture the Carolina saddlebags, the widow skimmer, or the twelve spotted skimmer, but the others perched for me: blue dashers, a yellow sided skimmer, male and female great blue skimmers, and a glorious Needham's skimmer.

The wrens were as busy and the hummers as hungry as ever.  A hummer tried to get fed at the wilted hibiscus.  A great crested flycatcher took the perch atop the pine.  Blue jays were around, but shy.

I rescued the tiniest skink I ever saw.  I think it chased a cricket into the water.  later I saw several full grown lizards.

Water rescues

I was back in the pool at last. The weird weather yellowed many leaves before their time and the wind brought them down and blew them around till they got stuck in the water.  Insects were also dunked by the wind and appreciated the unsteady rafts.  But many had drowned already.  I fished out a big bee, little wasps, and lacewings that did not revive, and beetles and spiders that did.  One spider clutched her egg pearl.  There were a multitude of May beetles (brown Junebugs), a small, brown click beetle, and two green metallic tiger beetles only one of which was alive.  A widow skimmer watched from the nearest perch.  Small butterflies danced over the pool. 

I heard lots of birds including a mockingbird with quite a repertoire. Wrens sang and scolded.  Something whistled loudly.  Crows made their soft rattle of affection.  One hummer drove another away and all of them drank the feeder dry.  There were blue jays but they mostly stayed out of sight. Sunset made the contrails rosy.

Fickle sky

Half the time I expected rain and then the sun would reappear.  There never was any rain.  But there were surprises.  A house wren fledged.  Titmice visited the feeder along with the usual birds, including one very crestfallen cardinal.  A brown thrasher enjoyed cherries. 

And the hummers appeared to include one naive bird that tried every red flower including a tight hibiscus bud and a wilted gladiolus.  An egret monitored the dam outfall. 

A giant swallowtail thoroughly egged the rue.  I also saw black and tiger swallowtails.  There were dragonflies, but not a profusion. A wide variety of wasps and a honeybee enjoyed the mint.  I saw just one skink.  After dark, a spider built an orb over the window.

Hibiscus sawfly

I've identified the insect that ate the hibiscus leaves and left the plant with little energy for flowers.  It is actually called a hibiscus sawfly.  And I found ways to get rid of the infestation next year

I saw wrens, hummers, blue jays, and the regulars. during the brief moments I was at home.  Black swallowtails and smaller butterflies were out along with a glimpse of what I think was a hummingbird moth crossing the driveway.  There were saddlebags, pennants, widow skimmers, blue dashers, and some kind of yellowish dragonfly. 

Thunderheads built up in the afternoon and merged into an overcast by 5pm.  Dragonflies were very thick in the at treetop height  The heat finally broke with a thunderstorm around 8:30pm. 

Hot!

The Carolina saddlebags dragonfly reclaimed the pine candle perch. Hummers visited.  The wrens worked hard.  An egret preened on the dock.  The crazy cardinals were still courting.  A blue jay got into the cherries. 

Into the water

Today was less windy despite tropical storm Chris squatting on the Gulf Stream about at the latitude of Savannah.  The wrens stayed busy.  A hummer investigated the hibiscus.  A titmouse got away from me in a blur.  The dragonfly that got the top seat on the pine candle today was a four spotted pennant.  A bluebird replaced the dragonfly on top of the pine.  Another (or the same) four spotted pennant perched on a dead groundsel in the late afternoon.

Meanwhile a widow skimmer perched down low on the wire hanger for the dish of bark butter balls.  Then a blue jay landed to raid the feeder and startled the dragonfly.  The dragonfly startled the jay and both fled.  

At lunch time an osprey landed in the pines out of sight, but I could hear it.  A great crested flycatcher landed in the cherry.  Some small butterflies and a tiger swallowtail flitted around.  And then I went swimming!  It took a lot of advance planning and I took lots I did not need, but still,  I got in the pool for the first time this year.  The sky was intensely blue, almost ultraviolet, and I worried a little about sunburn. 

I fished out a tiny, drowned cicada that I think was a hieroglyphic cicada.  I'd never seen one that small.  For comparison, I laid it on a single wing I found floating.  There weren't many live insects to rescue, just a few tiny wasps.  But when I got out, a bee fell in.  It tried so hard to survive that I fished it out at considerable risk to my healing foot.  A spider scampered over the water and seemed fine with being there so I left it alone.  The wrens came and went despite my proximity, but mostly when I was looking elsewhere. 

Cool

The bright sun in a blue sky was hot, but only till the next wind gust.  The wind and the unusually high tide were the only evidence of tropical storm Chris, spinning in place off the Carolina coast.  Butterflies as well as dragonflies seemed to have decided they could not wait for the wind to drop.  I woke up early and discovered a red-spotted purple doing the same, warming in the sun even though the wind was tossing it around.  The great golden digger and smaller wasps fueled up at the mint.  Hummers and blue jays preferred fast food in feeders.  Wrens ignored all our offerings and foraged for bugs.  Then we left for church.

When we got home the cherry was full of birds.  Bluebirds, a mockingbird, and many finches made the tree thrash.  A goldfinch was displeased to share the ant moat water with a chickadee.  A titmouse was too nervous to come to the feeder while I was outside.  The wrens sang beautifully.  The juvenile night heron stalked along the water's edge.  And late in the day, a brown headed nuthatch came for suet. 

Snout butterflies perched on dead twigs and a silver spotted skipper landed on a rose.  A tiger swallowtail, an emerald green pondhawk, and a widow skimmer escaped my camera. Clouds at sunset blushed tangerine. 

Very gusty

 It turns out that a tropical depression developed late yesterday off North Carolina and was forecast to be named Chris.  It sent fast clouds and fierce wind gusts at us out of the Northeast.  The tide was pushed quite high considering that the new moon is a week off.  Late in the afternoon there were a few breaks in the overcast and a little sun in an otherwise chilly day. The wind grounded most insects, but not the wasps.  And it brought down a palamedes swallowtail that hugged the ground for a while before taking off.

The birds, even hummers, ignored the wind.  I saw several blue jays in the oak and think they may have been parents with fledglings.  Later, one chased off a brown bird that looked like a great crested flycatcher.  In the cherry, another brown bird looked like a brown thrasher but I could not be sure.  A fledgling bluebird landed on the feeder hanger.  The wrens, however were still ferrying food to the birdhouse.  House finch fledglings were still bugging their parents.  The goldfinches and cardinals seemed to be taking it easy, with a little courting.  Titmice returned.  Downy woodpeckers hunted lunch. A hummer chase almost ended in tragedy as one bird hit the window, but both flew off. An egret monitored the dam outfall. 

One squirrel nibbled on the suet, which suggested that its pepper was fading.  Another squirrel was quite athletic but still couldn't solve the seed feeder puzzle.  The clouds broke apart far enough to admit sunset light and some turned orange. 

Cold Front

Morning was sunny and hot.   The wrens were working hard. So were the wasps on the mint. 

I saw Halloween pennants and Carolina saddlebags at the treetops and blue dashers on the bamboo stakes. A dragonfly that didn't perch may have been the same as the red one yesterday.  There were small butterflies as well.  A skink came out at lunch. 

The cherry tree attracted bluebirds and blue jays.  A female house finch appeared to have a naked, featherless breast.  The male goldfinch was thirsty. 

Clouds built up in the afternoon and the wind grew gusty.  The thunderstorms arrayed along the front arrived around 4pm.  After the front passed, The sky stayed overcast and gentle rain fell off and on.  Hummers were not deterred.

Steamy

Alternating showers and sunshine and sometimes both at once, along with heat and high humidity, meant that we could see literal steam rising from the pavement.  The frequent rain put a damper on flight for both insects and birds.  It did not stop the blue jays from stealing soggy bark butter balls.  A titmouse came back.  House finches squabbled.  Wrens foraged.  A bluebird ate cherries.  A male downy woodpecker wanted suet. 

A Halloween pennant flew from the pine and a blue dasher perched.  Wasps fussed over the mint.  I wasted the morning on medical things.

Showers and firecrackers

The house finch was totally over his parental duties.  The fledgling vibrated and screamed "feed me" and dad snarled "get a job, kid."  The male towhee was still feeding his fledgling. The wrens were busy at the entrance to their birdhouse, feeding nestlings, I think.  I caught a bluebird at the entrance to its nestbox but didn't see what it had brought. 

A downy woodpecker came for the bit of suet remaining in the cage.  Later I saw it or another in the cherry.  Hummers almost drank the feeder dry.  A male goldfinch came to drink from the ant moat.  I saw a Carolina wren I think was a fledgling, and a couple of blue jays, but didn't get photos.  Even a titmouse showed up. 

A bluebird was in the cherry tree along with the house finches and woodpeckers.  I glimpsed a female red bellied woodpecker on the cherry trunk. Then the rain began and lasted about five minutes. 

A tiny black bee worked on the portulaca.  The two caterpillars had nearly run out of parsley.  A black swallowtail appeared to lay eggs on the skeletal parsley.  A jumping spider prowled on the door screen. 

A silver spotted skipper, and later a duskywing, visited the mint. So did several great golden digger wasps and a multitude of smaller wasps.  Soldier beetles seemed more into mating than feeding on the mint. 

There were dragonflies perching both high and low.  A Halloween pennant perched on top of the pine tree.  Closer to the ground were blue dashers and a skimmer of some sort. 

Clouds gathered and blew West during the afternoon but there were no more showers.  The chaste tree was beginning to bloom.  Well before twilight the amateurs were at their pyrotechnics. 

Still hot

Butterflies, dragonflies, and wasps were energized by the heat. A red spotted purple landed in the hackberry. 

A male goldfinch went after something in the saltbush (groundsel) which I'm guessing was last year's seeds  since saltbush doesn't even bloom till Fall. It also got a drink from the ant moat. 

A juvenile night heron stood in the sun to cool off.  It drooped its wings and bird-panted, aka gular fluttering.  It also tried hanging its head between its knees as though feeling faint.  I tried making a movie.

A male towhee worked hard to feed his fledgling.  I think he may also have been feeding a cowbird fledgling.  The wrens bustled around.  The hummers tried to slurp up all the juice before the heat crystallized it.  Blue jays finished off the dish of bark butter balls.  A male downy woodpecker showed up and tried to get some suet. Crows mobbed a hawk. 

Cherry season

Squirrels and birds discovered the first wild cherries to turn ripe black.  The male goldfinch was back for a drink from the ant moat.  The first hibiscus blossoms appeared, but alas, the leaves were already eaten to lace.  Two house wrens checked out the feeders, but one flew off before the camera was ready.  A carpenter bee fed on the mint and the two black swallowtail caterpillars continued to strip the parsley.  .

A bright red dragonfly sailed over the pool but I missed it.  Blue dashers and others I didn't get a good look at were all around.  Bluebirds were busy during our meeting but disappeared when I had time and the camera.  But then I caught the male in the cherry tree.  I also caught a blue jay raiding the bark butter balls.  Then a juvenile red bellied woodpecker attacked the cherries.

Hot and dry

I caught sight of the male bluebird at the nestbox.  The wrens also were domestic.  Hummers were more into territoriality, chasing each other away from the feeder.  An egret watched the dam outfall. 

Caterpillars were having a hard time finding any uneaten parsley.  Blue dashers and saddlebags dragonflies and snout butterflies found perches while scoliid and digger wasps and soldier beetles ate mint. 

The male goldfinch visited again.  But the house finch males got into quite a fight in the air.  The winner then bullied all the other birds that wanted seeds.  Blue jays continued to defeat my attempts to photograph them.