Piles of cumulus

Menacing clouds crowded the sky but did not deliver.  I was mostly busy.  A couple of doves dropped in.  So did a goose family and they left evidence behind.  Later I surprised a mallard with two well grown ducklings down at the water's edge.  They left immediately.  I saw blue jays but got no photos.  Hummingbirds were more cooperative.  Lots of Japanese beetles were eating and mating.  The tide ran high as we neared the full moon, invisible behind the clouds. 

Extreme UV

A hummer got up early and breakfasted with us.  At lunch, the Carolina saddlebags was back on its treetop perch.  By 5pm it was joined in the air by 12-spotted skimmers. I went out to swim during the fiercest sun in the afternoon and I may have overdone it.  I didn't bring the camera because of the sun, so naturally I saw interesting wildlife.  A minuscule green katydid (or something similar) sat on the edge of the steps.  Spiders ran around on the water, none with babies.   

Fresh growth was visible at the top of the oak.  A branch of the chaste tree drooped with the weight of blossoms and bumblebees.  A mockingbird checked to see of the wild cherries were ripe. 

Skinks enjoyed the heat and none went for a swim.  A tiger swallowtail liked the mountain mint.  So did a great golden digger wasp.  To my disgust, I discovered that Japanese beetles were using the hibiscus as a singles bar.  I gunked 'em good with neem oil. 

In the late afternoon while I was attempting to photograph dragonflies on the wing, two swallows, or one twice, zipped past me at roof height.  I'm not used to them flying so low.  Twilight glowed rose without clouds.  Fireflies went off like silent fireworks over the grass.  Crows and herons flew home.  I believe I heard a tentative cicada.  The waxing gibbous moon was sharply detailed. 

Cloudy

Even though there was a risk of rain, I put off swimming till afternoon.  I thought I saw a greenhead fly so I got out of the water.  Robber flies began to appear.  A crane fly cllung to the door screen. 

Blue dashers occupied every reasonable perch.  A Carolina saddlebags made a dead twig at the top of the hackberry tree its base of operations.  That led me to notice that the wild cherries were about half way to ripe.

Since the rue was going to seed, wasps switched to the mountain mint and the lavender.  A great golden digger wasp reappeared.  The sakaki flowers attracted bees.  A half dozen bumblebees had fallen into the pool and some actually revived. 

Toward evening, dragonflies of some sort zipped around at treetop height.  Then a yellow crowned night heron landed in the oak.  At lunch, K had spotted a juvenile night heron up in a pine tree but the one in the oak was an adult.

The clouds took on strange appearances during the day but only a handful of raindrops ever landed.  A fragment of rainbow floated overhead for a while. I saw but failed to photograph blue jays and hummingbirds

Bright

Titmice returned to the seed feeder.  The sakaki bloomed and attracted bees. I fished bumblebees out of the water, dead and alive.  A skink was swimming hard but willing to climb onto my hand.  I made it wait for selfies before I put my hand ashore.  I also rescued a mother wolf spider. 


Several crows craved bark butter balls.  I noticed that mimosas were blooming downstream from our yard.  A skink darted across the hot concrete.  The female bluebird was pushed away by one of the crows. 
A few clouds passed over but the sun still pushed the temperature into the high 90s.   I went outside during an afternoon break and saw a tiger swallowtail and a Carolina saddlebags. Other dragonflies used the perches.  I finally got some good first quarter moon shots with the new camera. 

Mostly invertebrates

The sky was intensely blue and the sun was hot.  I found lots of glass snails in the pool and transferred half a dozen to the birdbath.  I also fished out a bumblebee, a pine borer, and a mama wolf spider.  Blue dashers a widow skimmer, and a female great blue skimmer used the perching stakes I set out. 

Butterfly milkweed popped up suddenly and had already made flower buds.  The other milkweeds have been growing slowly all Spring but have no sign of blooming.  Only one turtle was out in the sun and it soon slid into the water.  And then I was in a meeting all afternoon and evening.

Overcast

A gray day turned to rain mid afternoon.  I found more glass snails in the pool.  An egret or heron defecated while flying over the pool railing.  I hope the rain washed it off.  The bark butter balls were popular in the morning.  Blue jays, chickadees, bluebirds, and the odd downy woodpecker all wanted some.  Hummers came for their juice even in the rain. 

Hot sun

I went swimming in the morning because I was busy in the afternoon.  Snails and spiders floated but a bumblebee need rescuing.  As I was getting out of the pool, a tiger swallowtail had a long drink at a daisy.  But it wasn't long enough for me to get the camera.  Later, I saw a very small butterfly, maybe a spring azure, that never alighted.  From my seat at the computer in the afternoon, I saw dragonflies and a night heron.  The chaste tree had begun to bloom.

Windy

I didn't see anything at breakfast.  When I got to PT I saw a strange fungus had erupted in the mulch.  The little camera I keep in the car was good enough to show how it looked.

After lunch, as I was backing the car down the driveway I noticed the male bluebird hanging around the nest box.  I had the good camera along, so I wore out the battery.  The bird seemed aware but not too concerned about my presence.  Toward evening I noticed bluebirds hanging out on the chimney and the bathroom vent pipe. 

When I got out of the pool, I spied a male widow skimmer on one of my perches.  It was very windy and the dragonfly was barely hanging on.  The wind had filled the pool with tree detritus but the wildlife apparently had enough sense to avoid being blown into the water.  Except for spiders.  I rescued a mama but another spider came running across the water at me, triggering my arachnophobia. 

Passing clouds created sunbeams and shadows.  A couple of egrets flew over and a night heron landed in the oak but it didn't stay. 

In the evening, two hummers came to the feeder but one scared the other away and kept on feeding instead of giving chase.  Wrens, blue jays, chickadees, and the oddly colored downy woodpecker all went for bark butter balls.  There were fireflies again. 

Storm

I found aphids on the milkweed so out came the neem oil.  The thunderstorm later probably means I need to repeat tomorrow.  A crab spider hung on the side of the railing with no visible support.  One blue dasher obelisked while waiting for prey while another clung to the edge of the pool in the shade.

Yesterday's glass snail had moved a couple of inches.  I rescued foolish beetles and tiny halictid bees.  The skimmer had two wolf spiders and a skink that was old enough to know better.  I saw another, smaller skink at lunchtime.

While working on the computer I noticed something strange down at the water's edge.  A yellow crowned night heron was putting on a display that would have done a turkey proud.  I don't know if it saw a rival, a predator, or a potential mate but Cornell says it's a mating display.  After a minute of so, it turned and stalked off looking very fierce.

I counted four turtles enjoying the sun and didn't notice the great blue heron next to them.  Around 4:30pm, the light level dropped and so did the temperature.  Hard gusts of wind drove the rain.  A night heron hunted along the water's edge.  If it was the same one, all its feathers were back in place.  Lightning, thunder and heavy rain finished the day though I did see some sunset color in the West.

Rabbit!

Hummers pronounced the juice satisfactory.  An abundance of dragonflies included blue dashers, skimmers, and a big darner. The mountain mint began blooming. 

Hot sunshine was frequently interrupted by clouds, some wispy, some heavy with unshed water.  Daylilies were at their peak, as were gladiolus.  A rabbit led me to the blueberries, that is, to discover that some were ripe or almost ripe.  Rabbits have been scarce since the fox years.  Of course we haven't been growing vegetables either. 

A happy blue jay settled in on the bark butter balls.  But then crows arrived.  The furious blue jay kamikazi dived on its larger corvid cousins. 

A skipper feasted on the daisies.  I found quite a few spiders in the pool.  Some were wolf spiders that like walking on water but others looked like baby crab spiders.  I also found two kinds of snail, a big glass snail and a tiny, perhaps freshly hatched snail with a pointed spiral.  A fly with a shiny green body rested on a violet leaf. 

A bluebird caught the late sun from a high twig in the oak. 

Dark solstice

There was a little sun in the morning, but otherwise overcast prevailed.  Insects were mostly missing.  I did see one margined leatherwing beetle.  A Carolina wren wanted a bark butter ball.  A female bluebird thought about it. 

A pine warbler came for a bark butter lunch.  Afterward, I could hear a variety of birds but all I saw was the red headed downy, and the cardinals booting house finches and chickadees off the seed feeder.

Intermittent rain all afternoon brought the temperature down and left the air dank and chilly.  At supper, a blue jay chased a cardinal off the bark butter balls only to discover they were all gone.  It was a most unsatisfactory Midsummer Day.

Dragonflies

I made up for yesterday and took two days worth of photos.  Still, I missed the osprey landing in the pine, a heron that soared over me, a very fast skink, a cabbage white that was the only butterfly, and goldfinches even though they came back and gave me a second chance.  Instead, it was a dragonfly day.  A glorious Needham's skimmer was harassed and finally driven off a perch by a female great blue skimmer. A similar looking female slaty skimmer took a different perch.  I also saw a female widow skimmer.  A big darner zipped around over the pool until the duck commotion scared it away. 

Two mallard drakes chased a female into the pool and all three got into a fight.  One drake finally drove the other off, though I saw it lurking in the bushes later.  The remaining pair got out and started to put their feathers in order when K came out and chased them away. 

The bright, hot sun was frequently masked by clouds, some of which looked like they were feeling stormy.  The breeze helped keep the heat from becoming unpleasant.  A Carolina wren got into the bark butter, but I discovered it was starting to melt so I took it indoors for a few hours.  Unfortunately that feeder hanger is to close to the hibiscus.  Birds have already snapped one stalk.  The odd-looking downy with the red crown hunted everywhere for the bark butter. 

Hummingbird visits were frequent.  The male bluebird settled on the same branch that the red bellied woodpecker liked a few days ago.  I wonder if there are ants in the knothole in that limb. 

I saw some rosy clouds to the South at sunset but the North had already gone silver and smoke.  I waited outside hoping to see a bat or more dragonflies but instead the little bugs found me so I gave up and went inside.  Unfortunately, a firefly came in too.

Clearing

Massive thunderheads at lunch did nothing and the sky cleared by supper.  The two Carolina wrens were on the bark butter ball feeder together but I was not fast enough to photograph them, or anything else.  Three crows hung around the yard.  After I replaced the bark butter tub, I saw a bluebird.

Osprey down!

The threatening overcast broke up by mid morning and released the sun.  The rain had beaten a lot of flowers into the ground.    A male Eastern pondhawk posed in between bug snatching.

In the afternoon while I was in a virtual meeting a commotion reflected on the computer screen caught my attention.  An osprey was in the water.  I was really afraid it was going to drown but we had no way to reach it even if I had abandoned the meeting and run out of the house.  Finally it got both wings out of the water and rose up with the fish it had hung on to while it struggled in the water.  A cardinal perched on a post to watch. 

A downy woodpecker called me names when I went to photograph the new lily.  A blue jay showed up almost immediately after I put out bark butter balls.

Rain

The day was chilly, windy and wet.  Rain came through in waves but even when it stopped there wasn't much to see.  A squirrel did its best to break into the feeder.  The Northeast wind drove the tide up into the yard.

Gray

The day was wet and windy but the rain was too light to reach under trees.  Nevertheless, I decided to start transplanting moss to bare spots.  Bluebirds weren't the only ones to like the little tub of bark butter.  A downy woodpecker got a share. The downy with the red cap argued over the bark butter with a regular female downy, then a normally marked male.  Later a Carolina wren had some too. 

A brown thrasher tried all the feeders.  A hummer got some liquid refreshment.  Blue jays were around.  Raindrop rings marked the water.  Periwinkles climbed to avoid the high tide. 

Cool

Something carried off the fresh,full tub of bark butter so I fastened the replacement with rubber bands.  Bluebirds were fine with the arrangement.  There were several crows hanging around.  I suspect one of them was the thief.  A yellow crowned night heron slept on the dock in the sun. Five turtles enjoyed the sun. 

The afternoon was cloudy and eventually drizzly.  Bluebirds worked on the tub of bark butter.  Blue jays kept checking but I didn't put out more bark butter balls.  There were frequent hummer visits which makes me think more than one bird was coming.  One glared at the sky.

A margined leatherwing beetle (Chauliognathus marginatus) lifted its wing covers (elytra) to clean its abdomen. The cloud cover tore apart at sunset and the pieces blushed in the fading light. 

Temperate

Sunny, breezy, warm in the sun and cool in the shade, with blue jays everywhere.  At lunchtime I saw seven basking turtles on the lake and a big flock of geese in the yard that lies between the lake and the creek.  Lots of blue dashers suddenly appeared but they were all females. 

After lunch I was finishing the newspaper and my eye was caught by motion outside.  One skink was chasing another around the lower patio and it chased the other right over the edge of the pool.  I hustled down there and fished the victim out.  By then the aggressor had disappeared. 

I think two hummingbirds came to the feeder but it's hard to be sure unless they arrive at the same time.  A tiger swallowtail laid eggs on the wild cherry and a cabbage white spent time on the cinquefoil.  I rescued a tan scarab beetle from the water but now I suspect it was an invasive oriental beetle.  Bees and wasps were plentiful. 

I saw bluebirds and wrens but didn't get pictures.  The male red bellied woodpecker was in his happy place, sunning and preening, and a crow rudely took over.  Eventually the woodpecker got his spot back. 

Rosy sunset

The wet, gray morning was without wildlife. I remember seeing a bluebird at lunch and a blue jay mooned me.  A hummer had a liquid lunch.  

Then a busy afternoon left me with only the sunset to admire. But there were fireflies.

Drizzle

The bluebirds ate from the blue dish so I figured the black one must be empty.  A hummer approved of the juice.  We got glimpses of blue jays and a pine warbler.

A pair of goldfinches drank from the ant moat.  In the afternoon we had the kind of rain the newspaper refers to as a trace. 

Blue water

The gladiolus bloomed and so did a daisy.  Two brown headed nuthatches showed up on the feeder hanger, but my only photo was a blurred rear end.  I think they might have been a parent and fledgling.  A hummer was satisfied with the juice.  Clouds streamed up from the South on a wind that thrashed the trees.  Meanwhile, the pool was finally opened! And I finally saw a firefly. 

Woodpeckers

I was snipping off dead roses when this little woodpecker moved right into the feeder dish, less than six feet away. The top of its head is still red so there go several theories.  All the markings say downy, but that red cap doesn't fit.

At lunch a red bellied woodpecker tackled the other feeder.  K mistook it for a pileated.  And like magic, shortly thereafter, three pileated woodpeckers showed up!  I think at least one must have been a fledgling, maybe all three.  They weren't close enough together to get more than one in a picture, but I know what I saw.

A hummingbird preened on a dead branch but I never saw it near the feeder. The male red bellied woodpecker sunbathed on a broad oak limb. Bluebirds stopped in for a snack. 

A couple of blue dashers perched and one let me get a photo.  I found a large orb web with its resident Venusta orchard spider in the front yard.  Leucauge venusta. There were daylilies and Asiatic lilies to photograph. 

Busy

Mostly I didn't have the camera ready.  The red bellied woodpecker conquered the bark butter dish.  Blue jays and bluebirds and Carolina wrens also got their bark butter.  A dragonfly was too fast but I got a Magnolia green jumping spider.  There haven't been any turtles on the log for a while.  Is it too hot or are they busy laying eggs? 

Buggy

I hustled to get bird brunch ready and they couldn't be bothered to come.  And the few that did were too fast for me.  A night heron and an osprey sailed overhead, not at the same time or even in the same direction.  I saw several skinks but only one paused long enough to be photographed. 

After lunch, a black swallowtail egged the rue and the parsley. A squirrel climbed to the bark butter only to discover it was repellent. A skipper nectared on the lavender.  Wasps quarreled over the parsley. 

The female bluebird looked disapprovingly at the bark butter balls.  The diving blue jay seemed to be getting fed.  The male red bellied woodpecker came several times but spooked easily.  A Carolina wren thought the bark butter balls were good enough.  Then I discovered three Carolina wrens flitting around the front patio.

The male downy woodpecker came back for bark butter crumbles. It had the normal amount of red on its head.  I think it must have raised its feathers to expose more red yesterday.  I thought I saw a house wren there as well but it was gone as soon as I noticed it. 

Dragonflies patrolled the treetops while I got bitten on the ground.  And the bullfrog was too busy calling to catch bugs.  I tried to triangulate by ear on the frog and it seemed to be somewhere under the rue. 

Sticky

Morning was overcast and we were supposed to get rain, so I was cautious with the bird food.  Blue jays and bluebirds were our guests at breakfast.  One blue jay insisted on diving at the bark butter balls instead of climbing down like a sensible bird.

Then the sun burst out and stayed all day.  There was little wind so it felt hot and sticky. At lunch time a yellow crowned night heron stalked the edge of the creek.  Several crows had a domestic dispute.

When my meeting was over the tide was out and bubbles were rising near the water's edge.  I don't know if it was methane from decaying vegetation or respiration from crabs or insect larva.  I saw a couple of dragonflies and a butterfly, but too fast to identify.

A downy woodpecker had difficulties with the shepherd's crook feeder hangers. He bullied a bluebird into leaving but then tried to cling to the upright of the slick metal pole and went down like a fireman.  He then tried a tail prop and swung under the food dish.  Next he landed on the wall of the house.  Finally he got right in the dish with the bark butter.  He had the biggest red patch I've ever seen on a downy, but he cringed when the female red bellied woodpecker flew over it. 

The red bellied woodpecker landed in the oak and inspected a limb I think is dead.  A great crested flycatcher poked its head out of the leaves.  A magnolia green jumping spider walked around on the window glass. The storm finally arrived near midnight.

Still hot

Lots of sky drama, but no rain.  I was rushing around in the morning.  I did see the hummer reject fresh juice.  At lunch the male bluebird joined us. I saw one little skink. 

A breeze tempered the heat in the late afternoon so I visited with the pollinators on the rue.  There were lots of little ones that tend to be overlooked, I think.  A sizeable bumblebee carried bags of orange pollen.  The great golden digger wasp and the blue mud wasps were back.  The ggg wasp was nervous and fussy, but pretty much a pacifist, even though smaller bugs harassed it.  The mud wasps zipped around constantly. 

The red bellied woodpecker whooshed in for some BBBs and then saw me.  He missed a good snack.  And I still got pictures of him later up in the oak.  It looked like he was sunbathing with his wing spread out against the tree limb.

One blue jay kept flying at the feeder, apparently trying to catch a bark butter ball on the wing.  The lovesick bullfrog called all evening. 

Blood temperature

A Carolina wren came for breakfast.  The cardinal looked silly on the hummer feeder.  A pair of goldfinches dropped in. 

The male downy woodpecker worked on the bark butter at lunch time.  A hot South wind blew us up to 98.6°F.  The humidity was higher as well.  At some point in the afternoon, the bark butter melted and spilled on the hibiscus leaves. 

I saw my favorite wasp, the great golden digger, amongst many other kinds of insect on the rue.  There were hover flies, greenbottle flies, and one big dark fly, honeybees, bumblebees, carpenter, leafcutter, and tiny sweat bees, paper, mason, and blue mud wasps, and a yellow jacket.

A Canada goose family relaxed in the mouth of a drain pipe downstream.  A blue jay flew at the BBB feeder instead of landing.  It did not end well. 

After dark, the moon rose round and bright behind the trees. 

HOT!

It was 95° mid day and nearly sundown before the temperature dropped below 90°.   The low humidity and a strong, gusty wind made the outdoors fairly pleasant.  Bees and wasps were fighting over the rue.  A black swallowtail flitted around the parsley while a leatherwing crawled on the flower head. 

A Carolina wren dived into the bark butter balls.  Chickadees acted like siblings.  Cardinals acted like lovers.  A skink hid but forgot its tail.  One turtle basked on the favorite log. 

Flowers

The morning was a loss.  I saw a dragonfly in front of the garage when I came home.  The wind was fierce so I'm not surprised it preferred the more sheltered South side of the house.  After lunch I spotted the pine warbler again.  A house wren investigated the seed feeder.  Wasps were getting competitive on the rue.  A small bird chased a larger across the sky.  The white breasted nuthatch and the blue jays got away without photos. 

The slime mold looked unchanged.  Jasmine and forget-me-nots bloomed nearby.  Coriander and freesias shared space.  The false indigo was already making pods.  Magnolia blossoms were open all over the neighbor's tree.  And the white and red lily flowers had opened.  I found a red russula mushroom in the grass. 

Five titmice rushed around the yard.  One sampled all the different feeders.  A downy woodpecker liked the bark butter tub.  A hummer got her fill of juice.  In the late afternoon, a pair of geese made a V through the still water as they escorted one large gosling.  It is amazing how fast geese grow

Rare June day

Lowell's verses tend to pop into my head around this time of year, a legacy of my mother.  Nevertheless, this was a lovely day with an intensely blue sky. Too bad I missed the whole morning, except for seeing a skink outside of the medical building and finding an earwig in my coat after two hours in the waiting room.  But the afternoon made up for it, beginning with blue jays.  At least three were raiding the bark butter balls except one still could not manage it.  A squirrel watched the commotion with a very doubtful eye.  Bluebirds soon arrived. 

A pile of oak branches with dried  but not yet brown leaves were a clue that a squirrel's drey overhead had not been well engineered.  Honeybees, carpenter bees, and paper wasps were still nectaring on the rue.  Little gray Megachile rotundata leafcutter bees were loving the lavender.  So was a bumblebee with huge orange pollen bags.   Another very yellow bumblebee looked like a golden snitch.

Soldier beetles preferred the parsley as a sort of singles bar.  Because it's still Spring, they were probably margined leatherwings, Chauliognathus marginatus.  Later in the year the goldenrod soldier beetle takes over.  And that, at last, solves the mystery of the little velvety black "caterpillars" I see every summer.  No wonder I couldn't find a beetle larva in a butterfly book.  I located the orange inchworm again, but my focus was off and the battery died just then. 

The coral honeysuckle was blooming again.  I wonder if the hummer found it?  The white breasted nuthatch returned but I think I made it nervous.  I spotted a wren but the camera couldn't get the focus. A skink ventured out onto the patio when a little cloud cast some shade. 

The waxing gibbous moon was very bright but it has a hazy halo.