Rain, finally

Overnight rain left drops on water-repellent leaves.  A blue jay toyed with me and the camera sided with the bird.  First a great shot was waste because the camera focused on the background, then the camera cut off the bottom half of the blue jay.  Then I went off to do things all day.  When I got home, a wren came and sang at me until I pointed the camera at it.  A downy woodpecker tried to pretend it only was interested in the dogwood, not the suet I was sitting beside.

There were lots of interesting insects.  An assassin bug nymph delicately tiptoed down a juniper trunk.  A skipper loved the lavender.  So did some bumble bees.  Wasps were happy with the rue, as were flies.  A stinkbug dangled from a hibiscus leaf.  A larger assassin bug nymph lurked on the rue. 

The sky had looked threatening at mid day but became sunny again later.  It was hot but not as beastly as the last two days.  Clouds returned about the time I got home.  They thickened as they slowly rolled East.  And after the fireflies had been out for a while, there were lightning flashes and a long pause, then thunder.  The temperature seemed to be dropping too.  The weather sites attributed the heat to a high pressure ridge across the Southeast that also caused a deep dip in the jet stream to be stuck in place over the Rockies. Thus the West was cold, the Midwest flooded, and we sizzled. 

Triple digits

The car claimed 102°F in the late afternoon.  But by firefly time, the temperature was pleasant - warm but not uncomfortable. In the morning, I cut back some overgrown cinquefoil and soon sweat was running into my eyes and dripping off my nose.  Thankfully, that stopped when I got into the water. 

I had to rescue a mama spider twice because after she dried out she ran back into the water.  I also fished out a scarab beetle of some sort.  A whole slew of drowned roaches were circling on the current.  Dragonflies resumed their flights across the yard, but some dropped out to rest on a perch.  Bees celebrated the flowering of the lavender. 

We put fresh juice out for hummers, but they didn't stay long.  That feeder lacks perches and it was windy.

Sweltering

By mid morning, the temperature had passed 90F°.  As I ran errands, dragonflies were everywhere.  It surprised me somewhat as there has been little rain recently and few mosquitoes, midges, or gnats.  The hummer(s) kept drinking like it was the last day before Prohibition. 

When I returned, I found still more dragonflies flowing across the yard together..  A black swallowtail tried to wrestle nectar out of a blue indigo flower.  A flock of chickadees were all over the yard acting as if they had no sense.  Fledglings, I suspect.

Almost everything in the pool had drowned.  There was a camel cricket, two carpenter bees, and assorted spiders and small wasps.  A ground beetle had a reddish ant clamped on one leg.  I think the ant was dead, but the beetle was lively.  The rue still hosted a variety of wasps

Two geese with three goslings paddled upstream.  Later a couple of mallard drakes kept to shaded water.  A couple of cormorants occupied the snag on the lake.

Giant swallowtail

A stream of dragonflies flowed over the patio, then over the roof, and I believe circled around to do it again.  Fortunately some perched because I'm not able to catch them on the wing.  A female common whitetail landed on the cement.  A male bar winged skimmer rode the top of the pine tree despite wind gusts.  I found a female on one of my perches.  I also found a Needhan's skimmer on a stake, a plastic one the dragonflies usually ignore.  It didn't stay long. 

When I came to the door to go inside, a small wasp was trying its best to use a hole in the frame, but the metal was unforgiving.  I waited till it gave up because I didn't want to have to chase it around indoors.  A wide assortment of paper and mud wasps fed on the rue.  One bully slammed into a smaller wasp. 

A comma butterfly perched on my windowsill and embarrassed me with the detritus on the glass.  I got just a glimpse of what I think was a painted lady.  Then the giant swallowtail arrived and loved the rue.  It shivered with egg-laying joy, then departed all too soon. 

I rescued several spiders but didn't bother with pictures because they were the usual water striding kind.  I also very carefully saved a wasp from drowning.  It's tricky in the deep end with a short twig.  Hummer(s) visited their feeder throughout the very hot day.

Spiders

 A dragonfly perched on a twig beside the creek.  Another chose a stick up by my window.  I startled an egret that flew off.  Cormorants rested on the snag on the lake but I didn't see any turtles.  Hummers came regularly for a pick-me-up. A soldier beetle was on the cilantro. 

I was not as successful at spider rescue today. I did save one that was rafting.  But after I got out, a little green spider visited me.  It was probably a magnolia green jumper, not a young green lynx spider.  Certainly it did jump from one toe to another.  And I found a useful resource: Spiders in Virginia. The rue was full of little dome webs. 

Still sunny

I got busy and watered at breakfast time and noticed a little blue morning glory flower.  At lunch, a bold jumping spider took over the window.  A Needham's skimmer dragonfly had damage to the tips of all four wings.  I cannot figure out what could cause that.  The day grew hot enough that some blue dasher dragonflies were obelisking. 

For several days I had thought I was catching glimpses of a great crested flycatcher and today I saw it clearly among the green wild cherries.  A skink galloped through the birdbath and was gone before I could get a picture.  Hummers visited all day long.  Baldy showed up with his lady cardinal.  I went out front to move a hanging basket that we'd been treating for an infestation and found it was being guarded by a female great blue skimmer dragonfly. 

I rescued some spiders, one a mother-to-be, and one small bug I thought was a spider but closer inspection made me think it was an assassin bug nymph, possibly a wheel bug.  It seemed to be drowned in either case.  I also fished out a drowned beetle with glittery wing covers and metallic abdomen.  I was surprised when it revived.  I think it was some kind of borer, hopefully not a major pest because it flew away.  My best guess is Dicerca divaricata - Flatheaded Hardwood Borer. 

After supper, I sat outside to read,  There was enough light until a quarter to nine.  By then, I'd seen two swallows high above me and a host of fireflies about two feet above the ground. There have been fireflies in the evening for about a week.  Tonight there were also firecrackers.

Summery

A male goldfinch came for a drink.  Then the feral cat walked through the yard.  The twitchy male cardinal made frequent, nervous visits to the seeds, but the balding male and his lady love did not appear.  On one occasion, Twitchy was scared off by a chickadee.  There were lots of female hummer visits.  Other birds buzzed around in the trees. I'm pretty sure one was a great crested flycatcher. 

But the arthropods were more interesting.  I rescued three spiders, one twice, from drowning. Another spider worked on a web in the parsley.  Dragonflies included a male common whitetail, a female great blue skimmer, and a Needham's skimmer.  A wide variety of bees and wasps (and a few flies) feasted on the rue.  There were fewer butterflies, but I saw for certain a tiger and a black swallowtail and a silver spotted skipper.  A green stinkbug nymph was stupidly trying to climb the edge of the pool steps. 

Sweaty

The day was pretty much wasted as far as enjoying outdoors went.  The hummer feeder was dry, a pleasant change from moldy.  Hummers appreciated the fresh juice. 

Nice day

The hummers sucked the feeder dry during the day.  The romantic cardinals (bald forehead male) carried on courting.  The fully feathered male sneaked in for seeds that must have given him indigestion, he was so twitchy.  The blue jay beat me again.  Late in the afternoon, a pair of Carolina wrens snacked on the suet. 

A white moth spent the day on my office window.  A big stink bug landed on the glass too.  Dragonflies were everywhere despite the gusty wind.  I put out stakes for them to perch on.  Butterflies ventured out but I couldn't catch any of them.  Tiny ants were up to something on the mountain mint.  I pruned myself a view of the turtles.

Clouds in the afternoon looked like immanent rain, but they lied.  In an hour, blue sky was back.  A chunk of driftwood fooled me into thinking I was seeing a dead goose.

Into the water

I circumnavigated the pool today and made my first rescue.  It seemed early in the year to encounter a mama wolf spider, but there she was, sucked into the skimmer. Dragonflies were many and varied, as were wasps.  I also sprayed the hibiscus with Neem Oil in the hope of counteracting the sawflies. 

 At least two hummers visited because a chase ensued. The blue jay won today and got away without a photo. 

Cooler

A cold front came through over night with pounding rain briefly around 11pm.  Wind had dried most things by dawn.  A blue jay and a hummer came by at breakfast, more as though they were checking out the buffet than eating.  Dragonflies began banging on the windows. They were the only critter that would hold still for a picture. 

A dragonfly day

The dragonflies were really thick at lunch but there were some around from sun up till after sun down.  It was hot and humid but windy. 

Back home

I left after lunch Friday and got back toward evening on Sunday.  A female hummer met me. Other than that, I spent most of a beautiful weekend inside in meetings. 

Pool opening

The cardinals were still billing, though not cooing.  I think the chickadees were flirting too.  Little birds flitted around in the trees, but I could not get a good look.  The a pair of Carolina wrens came to the feeders. 

While the pool crew worked, I potted some plants on the front patio.  Dragonflies zipped past.  There were two mud dauber tubes on the wall.  A female hummer came for lunch.  I camera-chased a butterfly all over the yard.  It turned out to be a black swallowtail, but there were others: cabbage whites, a tiger, snouts, etc.  I saw one skink survey the pool and then skitter off.  They had been soaking up the warmth under the cover,  The tide was surprisingly high, again. 

At supper, I left the camera in another room.  And so, the male red bellied woodpecker showed up for the first time in months.  How do I know it was the same bird?  He went to the old feeder location. 

Hummingbird!

At breakfast, the blue jay was teasing me again.  Lunch brought a female hummingbird. The male cardinal with the black forehead kept watch from different trees in an arc around the seed feeder. 

In the afternoon, I worked on gardening.  It was chilly in the back yard and sweaty in front.  Something had dug around my new plants, again.  I went to deadhead a rose and startled a spider. Its safety line snagged a rose petal and hung it in mid air.  A ladybug moseyed down a stalk of rue.

Drying out

The blue jays were playing hard to photograph again, but at least they were eating the rainwater-barkbutter-mealworm soup in the feeder.  The house finches were still courting.

A second yellow day lily began blooming.  The cat came by for a little bird watching.  Bees and wasps and other pollinators were hungry after the long rainy spell.  I looked for the spider but only found the soldier beetle. One was was a black & yellow mud dauber Sceliphron caementarium. Another was a Polistes exclamens paper wasp.

The tide was surprisingly high for midway between new and full moon.  There was still a lot of cloud drama and the temperature was back down to Spring.

Spider!

Morning was misty and I could barely see the egret at the dam.  Red birds (cardinals & house finches) were courting their beloveds with sunflower seeds.  The female finch resorted to baby talk, fluttering her wings like a fledgling.

As I chopped vegetables, I noticed a spider on the wall.  I captured it and released it outside on the rue.  On my first attempt, I pulled the pill bottle away too quickly and discovered the spider had a safety line attached.  The second time the spider moved onto the rue and I slooowly moved away.  It certainly looked like a green lynx spider.  A beetle (possibly a lightning bug) was hiding on the other side of the rue

The clouds moved away shortly before sunset and the sky was almost clear when I looked for the moon.  It had waxed past the first quarter while hidden by clouds.

Wet and gray

Overcast with gusts of wind and bands of rain discouraged wildlife. The downy woodpeckers still land on the post where the suet used to be before going on to its current location.  Chickadees and cardinals ventured out for seeds.  The caterpillar on the parsley was a little bigger.  Crane flies appeared at every break in the rain.

Rain

The morning was just overcast and humid.  And I was running errands anyway.  After lunch we tried to figure out where to put the second bluebird house, but no luck.  The redbuds on the West side had grown too big.  The posts on the dock were too hard to reach.  And the already installed house is unoccupied as yet.  Hmmm.  

Bolted parsley started to bloom but one stalk was being nibbled by a black swallowtail caterpillar.  A cabbage white wafted above the vegetation.  Blooming Japanese honeysuckle invaded the wooded area.  The coral honeysuckle, however was nearly finished flowering.  Poison ivy popped up all over, but the rain should help me pull it out.  Oak leaves carried the marks of leaf cutter bees. A patch of elderberry bloomed a couple of lots downstream.

The mud shore of the creek was covered with bright green algae or seaweed.  I've no idea if that's good or bad.  Lots of periwinkles were available to graze on the green stuff. 

Two wrens appeared.  one sat on the hummer feeder and sang.  The other hopped all around the feeders in an agitated manner, coming closer and closer till both flew off.  Were they courting or arguing over turf?   A blue jay slipped in while I was changing camera batteries.  The downy was around and the male cardinals were still chasing each other.  An osprey flew over while we were looking for a location for the bluebird house. 

I finally settled on a set of pottery for the vines in front and went off to buy them. I had just got back and got everything unloaded when the rain began, very tentatively at first.  A goose family drank from the pool puddle before the rain got harder.  And waves of downpour rolled through with breaks when insects reappeared.  Something had a web waiting in a corner of the door.  Slugs were climbing the walls to escape the wet.  Thunder growled sporadically and a few lightning flashes were close, but it was mostly just rain. 

Humid

A blue jay hid from me.  Cardinals romance continued.  The male downy was getting bolder but a titmouse was very shy.  A wren landed on the roof but the screen was in the way. 

A soldier beetle found the rue, as did a wasp, a bee and a fly.   Cabbage whites and a palamedes flitted around.  I think I saw a dragonfly at dusk.  And I saw two bats! 

Breezy

I was on the computer too much for a pretty day.  But I got the mountain mint into the ground.  And I saw a brown thrasher and two blue jays.  And the wretched cat. 

Overcast

Frustrations continued, but at least I got to see a couple of yellow crowned night herons.  A palamedes butterfly flitted around but didn't land anywhere I could see.  Some little orange butterflies danced around each other, courting or fighting? A dragonfly perched on a stick. 

Frustrating day

Murphy's Law was very much in evidence on what was otherwise a pretty day.  Among other issues, the cat seemed to have moved in.  And the geese weren't far behind.  I had some hope that one would discourage the other, but apparently not.  The cat behaved as though there were fish lurking under the pool cover.  I hope it wasn't a drowning skink. 

Something dug up another plant, the hardest one to reach of course. Even the butterflies refused to cooperate.  I saw an emerald pondhawk in a parking lot.  A few turtles hung out on the log in the lake.

A downy woodpecker wanting suet was all I saw at home.  Swallows swooped and chattered in downtown Norfolk.  (I don't understand why they deserve swallows.)  A thin crescent moon hung over a rosy sunset in Norfolk. But I bumped the settings and took a video instead of a snapshot.  The moon was still up when I got home, but it was full dark and the crescent moon was insufficiently bright to take a sharp  photo.

Goldfinches

 The morning sky was overcast but it cleared by afternoon.  The temperature was delightful - warm in the sun and a bit brisk in shade.  I planted the back yard plants except for the mountain mint.  There was another cardinal chase today.  At least three goldfinches came for a drink.Two were female.  Does he have a harem, or is one an offspring helping out till she's ready for her own family?

A male bluebird perched on top of the pine tree where wind gusts gave him some difficulty.  A male downy woodpecker worked on the suet.  And a squirrel leaped onto the feeder perch in a vain attempt to get some seeds before the trapdoor shut. 

Great crested flycatcher

Because rain was predicted, I planted seeds and set the plants out close to where they will live.  That's when I discovered that something had dug up the day lily I bought Tuesday. I replanted it, but it looked pretty sad.  A downy woodpecker had some suet. 

I went to a lecture about Filipiino-Americans in Norfolk and got drenched when I came out.  The rain followed us home. But just before it got heavy, I saw the flycatcher.

The rain was followed, briefly, by sunshine.  A cabbage white, wasp, and skink ventured out.  The wasp became very interested in the mountain mint even though it wasn't blooming.  A very wet squirrel tried to dry out.  An egret fished downstream.  Then fresh clouds rolled in and we had another downpour around 5:30pm.

When that cleared, a couple of Carolina wrens flew in.  Then the lurking feral cat kept birds away from the feeder for too long.  Gastropods crawled on the window to escape the wet.  There were slugs and what I thought was a slug wrapped around itself, till it dawned on me that it was a snail. Another oozed across the patio.  More clouds blew in and the sun set. 

Plant sale

The sun coyly peeked out then hid. Two male cardinals both claimed the seed feeder. I could tell them apart in photos because one was missing feathers just above his beak.  A bird with a yellow breast bathed in the pool puddle.  The house wren hunted bugs under the feeder. 

Then K came with me to the Master Gardeners' sale at the Farmers' Market. We came home with two vines, two pollinator attractors, and two pots of spikemoss. Also strawberries, asparagus and broccoli.  While waiting for an expert's advice, I tool a couple of pictures of a starling with nesting material, I think. It may have been dinner. 

Butterflies and dragonflies were out when we got home.  I could identify a cabbage white, a palamedes swallowtail and a female Eastern pondhawk.  There were orange-brown butterflies as well. A brown thrasher scuttled around on the pool cover.  I don't know what it was after.  Clouds menaced and then went away but there was no rain all day, but plenty of sweat..

Hot sun

At breakfast, a male cardinal caught another having a sunflower seed and ran him off.  A blue jay tried to get some bark butter without getting photographed. Several swallowtail butterflies flitted about.  Then I went off to register voters.

The law of the jungle prevailed at lunch.  The feral cat stalked something in the azalea bush by the breakfast room window.  A skink made a foolish dash across the patio and the cat got it.  I did not capture the drama because I'd never before seen the cat catch anything.  More butterflies, wasps, bees, crane flies, and a damselfly flew past the window. Then the clouds went pink and the day was done. 

HOT

Actually, it has been hot since Tuesday.  But today I needed to be dressed up and then had to walk some ways from where I parked, so I noticed the heat.  The car claimed 92°.  I was busy both morning and afternoon and didn't notice much in between.  I did water the three new plants. There were butterflies, bees and wasps, and of course crane flies.  I heard the wren at breakfast before it got too warm to have the windows open.  I glimpsed a hummer at dusk and realized I'd let the juice go too long in the heat.  You can just barely see the top of its head.

Little green heron

The feral cat hung around waiting for breakfast.  When I was leaving for my morning appointment, I was surprised by a house wren singing atop the bluebird house.  What ambition!  But later, the same wren or another was moving into the birdhouse hanging in the back. 

We moved a sculpture and discovered an ant nest beneath.  Up on the lake, the turtles were basking in the afternoon sun.  Toward evening, I was puzzled by a strange bird perched on a dock piling.  After a bit, I realized it was a green heron that the low sun was turning red.  Then the camera battery announced its imminent demise.  Then a couple of wood duck drakes came paddling by.   I kept snapping and hoped for the best.