Beautiful day

It was sunny and pleasant and fragrant - the white jasmine was blooming.  So was the pepper, the cilantro, the false indigo, the white lily, and the mountain mint looked like it was getting ready to bloom.  I put out bark butter balls and the blue jays weren't far behind.  One kept trying to land on the cup instead of the hanger with no success.  Another managed by climbing down. 

The slime mold was still white except where leaves and such had fallen on it.  I touched it and it was not slimy or sticky, but cool and a little damp and fairly firm.  There were two large patches and some small bits.  I found a snail on top of a patch that had been mostly hidden by vegetation.  Another glass snail was on a straw sticking up from the slime mold.  I wonder if they eat it? 

Long legged flies were flitting around the pepper leaves and I spotted one that was bright metallic red.  It was a little smaller than the ones I usually see, but I decided I don't care enough to catch the fly and investigate its personal parts for a specific ID.  They're all supposed to be predators on small garden pests.  

Ar lunch, two small skinks went tearing across the top step too fast for me to react.  A hummer made several visits so I guess she built a nest in the area.  Three squirrels, all with a noticeable dark streak above the nose, interacted in ways the made me suspect they were siblings not long out of the nest.  Two of them put their noses together as though kissing.  One stayed up the post or on the feeder roof while the other two foraged below. 

A female bluebird settled on the tub of bark butter so they must have eaten all the balls.  Unfortunately the window screen was in the way of the camera.  Then a couple of pine warblers showed up and one bumped the other off the feeder.  A Carolina wren sat still on the feeder for some time.  Then one of the warblers returned. 

As I are supper, I noticed a spider on the window.  The bullfrog was still calling.  The new camera did not want to take pictures of the moon.  Good thing I kept the old one. 

Slime

Bubbles rose in the creek shallows, whether methane or some critter I've no idea.  I caught the male bluebird in a tree.  He had been after something in the grass.  

Honeybees, bumblebees, wasps, and syrphid flies crowded around the rue. The parsley also had syrphid flies and leatherwing soldier beetles. A red bellied woodpecker made its querulous warble which alerted me to look for it up in the oak. 


I found a large white slime mold under the purple witch hazel in the front yard.  After reading up on this strange life form, I think it is a tapioca slime mold Brefeldia maxima. 

 A pine warble showed up for bark butter, the first I'd seen since winter.  A female hummer found the juice acceptable. 


The late afternoon rain brought out slugs.  I found one in the feeder eating the soggy remains of bark butter balls, another crawling over a parsley flower head, and another inside a day lily flower.  Others were just eating leaves.  Also on the parsley was a tiny orange caterpillar pretending to be a dead stem. 

The bullfrog was quite loud today, morning and evening. K thinks there's a frog under the pool cover, but I doubt it.  I wouldn't be surprised if there were decaying, drowned skinks, but how would a frog stay alive?  I suspect the bullfrog discovered how to use the pool as an amplifier. 

More rain

I was really busy and didn't see much.  I did hear the bullfrog's love song.  Somebody ate all the bark butter balls when I wasn't looking.  A Carolina wren went for the little tub of bark butter instead.

Steamy

Morning was wet so I didn't put out more BBBs, so no birds. Water was higher in the ant moat showing overnight rain.   The white breasted nuthatch lurked behind the downspout and refused to come get a seed.  Finally I decided to put out one of the little tubs of bark butter.  When I got home, a downy woodpecker visited the bark butter, but it spooked.  A bluebird followed.  In the afternoon, a couple of titmice visited. 

Intermittent sun and heat lured the skinks out.  One was very nervous about a squirrel.  A house finch appeared to be having hiccups, or hacking up a hairball, or choking? 

A squirrel tried to break-and-enter the seed feeder, but got no joy.  I saw lots of bees and wasps on the rue, a soldier beetle and more bees and ants on the parsley, but only a cabbage white butterfly and an unidentified dragonfly in the air.  Two swallows made a couple of passes overhead hunting bugs.  The wind picked up and by mid afternoon it was raining. 

Fog burned off

I could hear the frog calling in the fog. A blue jay raided the feeder. 

The fog dissipated around 9am and the temperature took off.  Bluebirds showed up at the feeder.  A skink ran across the steps at lunch. Rain started in the late afternoon and came through in waves. 

Mist

More chilly, damp weather.  The male downy managed the bark butter ball feeder.  A Carolina wren dived in head first.  The bluebird pair made it look easy.  The feral cat came prowling along the creek edge and headed up to the feeders.

White breasted nuthatch

It was another dank, gray day until the overcast broke up about 6pm.  It was a little warmer and not quite as breezy, so I did some outdoor work.  I was sitting, watching clouds flow over from the Northeast when the nuthatch came to the seed feeder.  I was too close to move the camera into range, but fortunately the nuthatch returned after I went inside.

Carolina wrens, bluebirds, a titmouse, and a blue jay made off with bark butter balls. K saw a hummingbird but I missed it.  A chickadee wedged itself inside the wrought iron feeder hanger. 

A pair of cardinals seemed very anxious as they stuffed themselves full of seeds.  Soon the other pair showed up and chased them away.

Quite a few honeybees buzzed around the rue.  I found a gray russula toadstool. 

Dank

Up one day, down the next.  Today saw a high of 63°F but the humidity steadily rose past 80%.  I would have preferred the reverse.  So,  I think, would the wildlife.  The seed feeder regulars showed up occasionally.  Bluebirds,a titmouse, and a blue jay were lured by fresh bark butter balls.  I discovered two Carolina wrens exploring in front of the front patio.  One was up on the wall with something in its beak I thought was a bug.  The other was down among the stones.  Then the cat with the turquoise collar put them to flight, and the one on the wall dropped its beakfull. I went out and discovered it wasn't a bug, but rather some plant fuzz and detritus.  Nesting material?

Summery

It was a bit sweaty on the front patio but lovely in back with shade and a breeze.  At least it was lovely till neighbors decided to operate their own shipyard and run exceedingly loud motors on their dock.  Oh well.  At breakfast we saw a male ruby throat but he didn't stay long and didn't come back.  And the camera focus betrayed me.

In the afternoon I checked out the front patio.  The first critter I saw was a magnolia green jumping spider on the wall.  Lyssomanes viridis. I tried to coax it over to the potted plants but it jumped out of sight. 

Something attacked the pepper leaves and a minuscule praying mantis was standing guard over a hole in a leaf.  It didn't like me to get too close but it seemed determined to stay. 

A yellow jacket queen prowled over the stones in the stream bed.  The jasmine was blooming and smelled fragrant.  The many bells and the ice plant were blooming too, but without scents.  I picked a strawberry, but it wasn't in very good shape.  The false indigo shot out of the ground and put out flower spikes. 

The bluebirds were back in the nest box.  One watched me watch them.  The heat became unpleasant so I moved to the back yard.  The bluebirds followed after a while.  A wren and a blue jay also visited the bark butter ball feeder. 

Pollinators jostled each other on the rue.  I saw wasps, honeybees, carpenter and bumblebees.  One bumblebee fed very close to a first instar caterpillar.  The sky kept changing moods from wispy haze to big cumulus clouds and back.

A great crested flycatcher hunted in the oak.  A couple of swallows passed over.  A red bellied woodpecker worked on a limb higher in the oak.  And a female hummingbird came to the feeder.

Sauna

The day started wet and then the sky went from overcast to big piles of cumulus streaming out of the Southwest and finished with a thin white cloud layer in the twilight.  The temperature worked its way into the 80s and the humidity was not far behind,  I cleared out a mess of sprouting poison ivy, but left the big ones alone.

Carolina wrens worked on the bark butter while the feeder hanger still dripped.  Our ad hoc rain gauge was brim full.  A red bellied woodpecker struggled with the shape of the feeder.  I hope to hang some suet soon.  A blue jay, and bluebirds soon found the fresh bark butter balls.  The wretched feral cat acted like it owned the backyard. 

A red headed skink was on the West wall of the steps when a striped skink ran across the top step to the East wall. The striped skink waved its tail, then held it sideways and scuttled forward.  It certainly looked like "come hither" to me.  The red headed skink came part way but lost sight of the striped one and then lost interest. 

My distant view of the lake revealed a lineup of ten turtles on two logs, watched over by a cormorant.  Honeybees were back at the rue. I was just bemoaning the lack of dragonflies when one appeared.  It has been a bad Spring for both dragonflies and butterflies.  I found glass snails in the mulch.  In the evening I hoped for swallows or bats but got the bullfrog calling instead. 

Gray day

I was gone in the morning.  While putting bark butter balls out at lunch time, I noticed a very tiny black bee on the parsley.  I know it was a bee because it had pollen saddlebags.  The bumblebee was back in the rue. 

The Carolina wren pair soon found the BBBs.  When I walked around after lunch, the female bluebird got her lunch to go.  There were a few glimmers of sunlight, but they were quickly gone. 

Rain started up again in the late afternoon, dimpling the creek.  Several periwinkles had slithered up the spartina.  By then I was in webinars and saw no more. 

Windy

The wind continued to growl, pushing the creek over the dock and beating the trees till green leaf fragments flew.  There wasn't much rain but the air was damp and the sky was gray.  Nevertheless, I found a bumblebee working on the rue! 

Wrens visited the bark butter balls frequently, but mostly with their backs to me.  Bluebirds came but the camera wouldn't focus. 

Even the mallards headed for higher ground.  I spotted goslings in the yard across the creek.  Apparently the water was high enough for them to get out over the bulkhead. 

Tropical storm

Wind from tropical storm Arthur pushed the tide into the grass and blew the watering can around.  The rain stopped in the morning and things began to dry out, but the next band came through in the afternoon.  I tried to have bird food out but not to waste it.  A blue jay made off with a good part of it.  Carolina wrens got some.

A goose brought two goslings to the pool for a drink.  One little rascal attempted a bath but K put a stop to that. The limping goose that's one of the parents of the two goslings did not appear and K feared the worst.

A yellow crowned night heron prowled along the water's edge looking for crabs.

One of the many seeds I planted came up and turned out to be a pink evening primrose, Oenothera speciosa.  The local native has smaller yellow flowers but this one was certainly "speciosa."  However the plant was quite spindly and bent over. 

Rain

Judging by the ant moat, we got about half an inch.  In the morning I heard the bullfrog again even though the windows were closed.  Wrens and titmice joined the feeder regulars.  A blue jay took a look but I'd let the bark butter go empty on account of the rain.  Parsley collected the raindrops till it looked like the model for a chandelier.

Last nice day

The weather forecast was upended by the formation of a tropical storm off the Carolinas and we appear to be in for a week of rain.  Today was cooler and cloudier but quite pleasant till the wind picked up in the afternoon.  The humidity rose steadily as the temperature dropped.  If I embedded sound files as well as photos, today would have featured a woodpecker drumming and a bullfrog calling in addition to the usual bird songs.  The first daylily opened.  The parsley started blooming which should attract different insects. 

Skinks wandered around the patio looking for bugs or love.  A squirrel had the nerve to run past me with a pecan. A hummer visited but I didn't get a picture. Wasps were busy, especially paper wasps.  And I saw a queen yellow jacket hunting. 

A damselfly lurked on the rue. I believe it was a Rambur's forktail.  Speaking of lurking, today I saw a female cowbird.  I hope it wasn't looking for a bluebird nest to leave a little present.  I saw a male brown headed cowbird on the 13th.

I finally spotted the male red bellied woodpecker high up in the oak.  I think he was the one drumming.  Did his girlfriend leave?  Blue jays, bluebirds, and wrens did not get along with the camera.  I lined up great shots and the camera focused on the background.  A titmouse also came for bark butter balls. 

Hot again

The breeze and low humidity made 88° comfortable, but didn't do as much for insects.  A big darner passed overhead and caught me by surprise.  I glimpsed a couple of small butterflies and the ubiquitous cabbage white.  Bees and wasps were attracted to the rue. 
A starling got some bark butter balls.  A blue jay watched for an opening.  A crow preened in the oak.  The male bluebird found that the bathroom vent pipe made a good perch.  Then I saw the fledgling in the oak. 

Squirrels flirted in the oak. Hibiscus sprouts emerged and a sawfly was waiting.  Time for the neem oil. Swallows briefly danced in the air over the trees. 

I went down to the dock where I found ants had taken up housekeeping in the sink drain hole that was plugged with tree detritus.  A couple of small, dead, blue crabs floated by.  A yellow crowned night heron was at work on the dam.  Five egrets perched on the lake logs along with a couple of cormorants and turtles. 

Goose girl

I saw many things for which I have no evidence, a little green heron in flight, a soaring osprey, wrens, bluebirds, and a few butterflies.  Eventually a blue jay took pity and posed. 

I missed some of those because I didn't have the camera when I chased off those waddling poop-machines called Canada geese.  There were two families, one with five and one with two goslings, A South wind blew the water out of the creek.  But I got only the rear end of a yellow crowned night heron as it passed under the dock. 

Despite the wind, the rue had some interesting visitors including a bumblebee that was distinctly striped.  There were mason and paper wasps and other kinds of bees buzzing around the rue.  The temperature rose to 89°F.

Another cat!

A mockingbird perched on the cement pineapple at the entrance to the physical therapy place.  

A striped skink basked where the red headed one was yesterday.  

I thought I was seeing a fox at first,but the cat was striped. At least it had a collar. But it settled in for some birdwatching and of course the birds left.

Later the bluebirds returned for more bark butter bits.  The tide was blown very low. 

Bluebird fledged

The sun brought temperatures up into the low 70s but the breeze was still a tad chilly, especially in the shade.  Skinks dashed about.  A painted lady flitted around.  Honeybees and wasps worked on the rue.  The lake turtles were joined by a duck and a cormorant. And K got the necessary accessories to make my new camera work!  

Papa bluebird fed a speckle-breasted youngster on our roof, alas behind the window screen. 

In other news, a starling and a red bellied woodpecker startled each other at the bark butter ball feeder and both fled.  One or more wrens stayed ahead of my focus finger, as did a blue jay.  A goldfinch streaked across the yard.  A night heron preened while I was on Zoom and would have been rude to turn around to take pictures. (I saw it reflected in the screen.)  A hummer zipped all around the patio, ignoring the feeder.  Later when I was inside, it came and looked in the window, or possibly at its reflection.  Cardinals courted, again.  Geese escorted goslings.  A brown headed cowbird landed on the steps. 

Sunny

There was still wind, but it didn't seem so fierce.  Nevertheless, the birds were most uncooperative.  I saw the two Carolina wrens when I had my hands in dishwater.  A blue jay hit the feeder and kept on going.  A house wren landed on the railing, slid, and flew away.  The bluebirds only went to the feeder that I have to shoot through the window screen.  At least the one turtle on the lake stayed put. 

Then, in the late afternoon while I waited to get into a Zoom meeting, a yellow crowned night heron perched on a piling and proceeded to preen.  It was definitely shedding and it appeared that the long head plumes might be about to let go.  At least seven more turtles were basking on logs in the lake.  An egret preened nearby. 

Still windy

The only creature that cooperated today was a skink.  And the wind grounded most insects.  I did see honeybees and, I think, yellow jackets.  The wind pushed another low, low tide. 

Blue jay and bluebirds and even cardinals ate and ran flew before I could get focused. Rude, ungrateful birdbrains!  The hummer came for breakfast but I did not see it again.  In the afternoon, I glimpsed a crow harassing an osprey. 

Blue sky and birds

The air and water were calm when I got up, and the sky was blue.  I refilled the bark butter balls at breakfast and immediately the blue jay started up with the 'betcha can't get a photo' game.  Well I did.  Bluebirds came too, and a starling.  A feisty hummer chased a chickadee off the seed feeder.  But I didn't see the hummer again. 

A photo revealed spider mites on the rue.  It will be a good trick to spray them without bothering the bees and wasps.  And the honeybees were back but surprisingly few wasps.  The West wind started up again and pushed the low tide even lower.  I had given up on birds and was pulling weeds when a damselfly landed.  My best guess is that it was an immature female Citrine forktail. 

World Migratory Bird Day

The weather was sunny but windy.  The temperature climbed from the 40s to the 60s. I did my part for Migratory Bird Day, I submitted two checklists.  In addition to birds, I saw a couple of small skinks, honeybees on the rue again, an earthworm, a snail, a couple of isopods, a small rusty brown butterfly, and a crane fly in the wild, not on a window screen.  Some. turtles were basking on the lake logs.  

Great egrets were around all day and I believe I saw a yellow crowned night heron fly upstream.  The bluebirds paid many visits to the bark butter balls. Carolina wrens joined then and I also saw a house wren poking into everything in search of food.  A frustrated chickadee was kept from the sunflower seeds by a house finch.  The male downy woodpecker checked in to see if the suet was back.  A blue jay tried to sneak past me to the bark butter balls. 

The wind calmed briefly before sunset.  Clouds were colored cream to rose to smoke.

Honeybees

Two squirrels were flirting and they scared a third who might have been too young to know what was going on.  Bluebirds just wanted breakfast.

I wasted the sunny morning inside and when I finally got out, clouds were taking over and it was very gusty.  Between the wind and the lack of sun, I felt chilly even though the temperature was higher outdoors.  Honeybees worked on the rue.  I wonder how that honey will taste?  Lots of white clover flowered in the lawn which I attribute to honeybees stimulating the plants.

A blue jay tried to sneak past me.  A pair of Canada geese brought their five little goslings to eat our grass.  One gosling kept sitting down and another appeared to be pecking at it, except that a gosling's bill couldn't do much damage.  Anyway, a parent goose put a stop to it. 

An opportunistic crow hung around on the dock pilings.  Maybe that's why the geese decided to leave.  The wind blew the water out of the Lynnhaven tributaries.  Rain started in the late afternoon and the temperature dropped thirteen degrees over the course of the afternoon.  The downhill weather resulted from yet another kink in the jet stream drawing down a polar vortex.  The real cold was supposed to stay North of us but we got the wind.

Hummer again

An overnight rainstorm faded away and the sun gradually got equal time with the clouds.  A Carolina wren had a tantrum on the empty bark butter ball feeder.   The bluebirds and a blue jay demanded bark butter balls.


The male red bellied woodpecker stopped in to see if there was suet.  Then a female hummer breakfasted. 

It was a bit nippy but the afternoon sun brought out a pile of turtles.  I glimpsed a couple of butterflies.  A titmouse was after something in the violets. 

Frog and squirrel

Raindrops decorated every surface when I got up.  A Carolina wren inspected the bark butter ball feeder and found it wanting.  After I refilled it, bluebirds came.  Then the cat tried to catch a cardinal. 

At lunch, my eye caught a squirrel jumping straight up.  Then it turned and made a cautious approach to something that turned out to be a sizeable green bullfrog.  The squirrel seemed to want to play with the frog which just wanted to finish its journey to the puddle in the middle of the pool cover.  Much jumping ensued till the squirrel gave up, or didn't want to get wet. I would have videoed it but the railing and other objects were in the foreground. 

In the late afternoon I wandered around the front yard.  Storm clouds were blowing in from the West.  In the back, I could see an egret downstream inspect a trap of some sort.  Then the rain hit.

Gray day

Gray does not suit Cinco de Mayo but that's what we had.  Only one turtle made the effort to climb out of the water.  A few raindrops landed on the windshield as I left for Newport News and by the time I arrived it was really raining.  The process reversed as I retraced my route.  All I saw in the estuary was two gulls on a light pole. 

After I got home, not only did the rain stop, the sky lightened and there were even a few minutes of sunshine.  A male goldfinch hung out in the dogwood.  The hummer returned or else another female arrived.  Bluebirds gave me the look that signaled the bark butter balls were all gone so I hobbled out with more.  And a blue jay swooped down to stuff its beak.  I saw but didn't get a picture of an osprey and a red bellied woodpecker.

First hummingbird!

The cat got an early start so there were no birds at breakfast.  A female hummer had a drink at our feeder at lunch time.  Bluebirds and Carolina wrens competed for bark butter balls. 

A big skink dashed across the pool cover.  Honeybees worked on the rue.  Turtles were sunning on their log.  A downy woodpecker came by to see if suet had reappeared. 

Hot day!

The hot wind from the Southwest made waves on the creek and drove the thermometer up to 88°F.   It energized wasps and made them thirsty.  Honeybees joined them on the rue. 

I saw a cloudless sulphur and a red admiral butterfly.  The red admiral actually flew between my legs as I added water to the birdbath, but I'd left the camera off so it wouldn't get splashed.  Skinks were around, though not as many as I thought the heat would bring out. Squirrels sprawled in the shade. 

There were two pairs of house finches coming to the feeder and the two males got into a fight.  I'm not sure if the original or the interloper won, but he hustled over to the female to affirm his affection.  That pair left and the remaining male called another female to the feeder, so maybe it was all a misunderstanding. A downy woodpecker came for bark butter balls as did the bluebirds. 

The waxing gibbous moon was high and bright at twilight.  I could make out the mountains and crater ridges at the terminator. 

Beautiful day

I think it was warmer than predicted.  A house wren paid an early visit.  Later I went to the Farmers' Market for strawberries and bought a bunch of veggies plus seedling tomatoes and peppers.

A cloudless sulphur flitted past us as we ate lunch.  A Carolina wren got into the bark butter balls.  A titmouse seemed wary of something.  The female bluebird gravitated to little feeder in the shade.  A downy put on a show trying to perch on the BBB feeder in the sun. 

I was in the front, potting the tomatoes and peppers and patient strawberry plants, where I had a good view of the bluebird nesting box.  The male rewarded me by landing on the roof of the nesting box.  A couple of skinks scampered away when they thought I wasn't looking. 
Yellow jackets were busy under the cedar so I suspect a nest.  It's a good location for them and us. 

Potting complete, I retired to the back yard which displeased the female bluebird.  She wouldn't come any closer than the maple.  A Carolina wren had business under the azalea at the far end of the pool.  High up in the oak a blue jay ignored me.  A male red bellied woodpecker looked like it was anting up there. 

A flock of gulls circled very high up - they were just dots.  The moon was high in the late afternoon

Many birds

Yesterday's rain left everything scrubbed clean, and still wet. The creek was so still I could see the reflected hardware on the boat across the water.  Bluebirds were disappointed in their soaked breakfast.  Egrets collected below the dam to fish.  The cat arrived and the songbirds left. 

By midday there was a breeze.  I spotted a pair of goldfinches in the saltbush.  The sky kept changing from dark overcast to sunshine and back.  During a sunny moment I saw a really large skink skirt the edge of the pool cover.  A cardinal hunted in the wild cherry, I think for caterpillars.  He didn't seem to have any better luck than I have.   An osprey soared in circles over the creek but mostly behind trees. 

A Carolina wren was lured to the bark butter balls I had refreshed.  A blue jay was the picture of greed. It or another had words with a squirrel.  Then it knocked the feeder and sent fragments of bark butter flying.  Both downy and red bellied woodpeckers took turns with the bark butter balls despite how awkward the feeder was for them.  I think a brown thrasher was planning the same but diverted when it saw the competition.

I went out front to empty the plant saucers of rainwater and caught the male bluebird sitting on the nesting box with (I think) a spider.  I hardly got back indoors when the rain started.  On the lake, cormorants and turtles waited it out.  An egret joined them when the sun returned.