Cloudy

The rabbit ate a lot of the morning glory vines but not the ones closest to the patio.  The first blue flowers opened.  The monarch chrysalis seemed to be doing OK.  A daylily rebloomed.  Lots of little brown parasols poked up in the grass. 

 A hummer came for lunch.  A foolish skinklet climed the feeder post, just begging to become a meal.  Finally it seemed to realize this was not a good place to be and came back down much faster.  Why do the best moments always come when I cannot get a photo?  At lunch, when my hands were sticky with barbeque sauce, blue jays were hitting the bark butter and a brown thrasher slipped in.  The jays weren't having that, but then they squabbled over which one was next.  Then a red bellied woodpecker tried to get a bite.  And then they all disappeared.

Bees and wasps seemed well fed on the mountain mint, but two monarch caterpillars ran out of milkweed.  The black swallowtail caterpillars had enough food but may have been more palatable to predators.  A goldfinch wanted a drink.  Then Carolina wrens came for bark butter, one of them very disheveled.  I'm not sure if it was a juvenile or a molting adult, but the other did not appear to be molting.  A couple of squirrels flirted. 

Ideal summer day

It was a lovely day with low humidity and all the sunshine anyone could desire.  Hummers joined us for breakfast.  After lunch, a goldfinch got a drink from the ant moat, so K hurried out with more water.  I saw a Carolina wren and blue jays during the day,  A raggedy bluebird wanted its supper. 


A fiery skipper fed on the mountain mint, along with the bees and wasps.  A red spotted purple was busy across the yard on the cherry.  A great blue skimmer monitored the yard from a bamboo stake.  A female widow skimmer took a post near the mountain mint but I don't think it was after the bees or wasps.  A black swallowtail took a turn at the mountain mint. I believe the big scoliid wasp I saw last week was the Blue-winged wasp (Scolia dubia) and the third kind of digger wasp may be a Katydid Wasp (Sphex nudus).

I decided I couldn't let summer pass without making sun tea once.  I enjoyed watching it steep.  Skinks enjoyed the sunshine.

The hibiscus put on a brave show, but I could see sawflies leaving eggs on the leaves.  I would have gone after them with the neem oil but it was too breezy.   The milkweed by the beautyberry was still overrun with aphids.  The beauryberries were close to full size, though still completely green.  The fruits on the hackberry were turning red.

Gusty

With all the outdoor items secured, we awaited the remnants of Hurricane Laura.   A squirrel made off with an entire green pine cone.  The hibiscus wasted at least nine blossoms on the blustery day.  A blue jay checked out the menu. 

After lunch the clouds looked very fierce but moved very fast as well.  They alternated with sunshine.  The wind did not deter the wasps or a buckeye.  An adult skink had a regrown tail.  A murder of crows gathered noisily, but I had no idea why.  Hummers ignored it.

I found a third monarch chrysalis, this one dangling from the rose bush.  There was rain around 4pm but it didn't accumulate to much.  The sky was mostly clear by sunset as birds flew home and dragonflies sieved the air of gnats.  Cicadas were very loud. 

Ruby throat!

There was a storm in the night that flooded the feeders and we were a bit late getting them refreshed.  A male ruby throated hummingbird slipped in and got a couple of good drinks in between the females.  Half the time the light was wrong and his throat appeared black. 
 A big skink with a tiny tail hurried under cover.  I wonder if it was the one I saw last week that had just lost its tail.  Black swallowtails seemed frantic to get eggs laid.  The usual bees and wasps were back at the mountain mint.  Like the hummer's throat, lighting that hit just right made the great golden digger wasp's face shine like metal.  A blue dasher kept watch from a bamboo stake. 

The storm had dumped tree debris in the water, including lots of pine needles.  I saved a scarab beetle clinging to some needles and a sidewalk tiger beetle swimming with its almost invisibly thin legs.  I also fished out a caterpillar and K found a horntail.  The caterpillar eventually revived and I left it in a clump of parsley.  I also moved another caterpillar from an almost denuded milkweed to the butterfly milkweed. 

In preparation for the remnant of Hurricane Laura, I turned the plastic end tables upside down, but I had to turn one back up because it had two monarch chrysalises. hanging from the underside.  The cottontail grazed under the azaleas.  

Warm and sunny

Titmice were up before breakfast.  Hummers were satisfied with the fresh batch of sugar water.  The black swallowtail caterpillars were growing fast.  First a small orange butterfly darted around clumps of grass, then I saw a red spotted purple in a cherry tree.   It was missing the red part of one wing.   A female pondhawk posed on a branch.

A Needham's skimmer guarded the lantana in the front yard.  A blue jay was coy about wanting bark butter.  Maybe because it had lost some head and neck feathers and looked quite strange. The mountain mint remained popular.  I found a dead cicada. 

A strange cloud formation in the East preceded the spread of a thin overcast.  It was a repeating feathery pattern that reminded me of the shape produced by wiping an old fashioned fountain pen.  Just before dark I saw a firefly or
two.  A loud storm rolled in around 11pm. 

Hawk attack

The hibiscus was covered with flowers and a daisy decided to bloom again.  A skimmer perched and two yellow-bodied dragonflies darted back and forth about ten feet up in the air.  I had no hope of photographing them.  All kinds of wasps and bees gathered on the mountain mint.

I spent too much of the day inside on video-conferences.  A Coopers hawk crashed into the window behind me. I turned and saw it fly off with empty talons, so no harm done.  Shortly after that I escaped outside to a hot sun in a cloudless sky.  A couple of small butterflies were attracted to the mountain mint.  One was a snout and the other a red-banded hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops).  A black swallowtail laid eggs but a monarch just kept going - male? 

A cricket rescued itself from the water using one of my escape sticks.  I rescued a millipede but it wouldn't wait for a photo.  Huge carpenter bees fed on the tiny mountain mint flowers.  A full grown wheelbug flew in to a landing on a hibiscus bug.  More caterpillars ate rue.

Several skinks were around.  A disheveled bluebird rested on the fence.  A blue jay sampled the melted bark butter.  And then I went back to more meetings.  I did sneak out after dark and catch the moon and Jupiter. 

Warm sun

It's odd how after a day that practically wears out the camera, the next day I get only a handful of photos.  I did have a lot going on today and will again tomorrow.  A great blue heron was in the same place as yesterday but it didn't look like the same bird.

The sky was blue and lightly hazed.  I was late getting outside.  I saw a sulphur and several swallowtails, and a skimmer of some kind.  The mountain mint was busy with bees and wasps.  I found two skinks in the skimmer but only one survived.  Hummingbirds continued to waste energy guarding the feeder.

The first quarter moon was visible in the afternoon.  A bright planet rose after dark, Jupiter, I think.

Cloudy

The hibiscus opened nine flowers!  Thank you neem oil for stopping the sawflies.  I cut off the parts of mountain mint with spider mites but I probably didn't get them all.  I'm not sure about using neem oil on the mountain mint since I planted it to attract insects.  A quiet breakfast was explained when the cat sauntered across the lower patio. 

Dragonflies were back on the perches.  The wind made waves on the creek and rumpled the feathers on a great blue heron.  A second heron was more sensible and faced into the wind.  Lots of birds were up in the hackberry but the only one I identified was a blue jay. 

The wind didn't keep the mountain mint's fans away.  Honeybees, megachile bees, and carpenter bees mixed with the wasps, including great golden digger, blue mud, sand, scoliid including a giant, and threadwaisted wasps, plus some I've yet to identify.  The hungry monarch caterpillars actually gnawed on the milkweed pod before they disappeared.  I'm hopeful that they went to pupate as there were still plenty of uneaten leaves.   A duskywing preferred the herb mint. 

It was a day for skinks.  I saw one in the mulch, several on the patios, and saved one in the water.  The ungrateful reptile jumped back in and I learned they can swim underwater.  But it did not escape me a second time.  Another scuttled into a crevice then peered out to see if it was safe.  I also extracted a small frog from the skimmer.  It too jumped back in and had to be caught again.  A glass snail hung on the pool wall just above the waterline.  I found another floating and put it on land in the shade. 

The rue was full of black swallowtail caterpillars of various sizes and instars from just turned orange to green and big enough to pupate.  An adult was flitting around the parsley.  An adult monarch didn't stop, not did a tiger swallowtail.  I glimpsed some snouts but not in good places for a picture. 

Meanwhile, a brown thrasher discovered the fresh bark butter.  A pair of Carolina wriens waited impatiently for it to be done.  The hummers got the last of a batch of sugarwater, and fought over it.  One kept watch on the feeder from the cherry.  Abother hummer hunted for something in the red cedar - bugs?  Maybe they are attracted by the smell of resin? 

Breezy

One of the finches didn't look exactly like the others and turned out to be a juvenile bluebird.  Hummers arrived so steadily they sucked the feeder dry.  They also wasted energy chasing each other.  A pileated woodpecker shot across the yard and disappeared into the trees. 

Honeybees joined the throng on the mountain mint. I noticed spider mites were starting to spread among the flowers.  This year I know enough to get rid of the infected areas.  Four monarch caterpillars demolished the butterfly milkweed.  An adult monarch flew past and kept going, wisely.

When I lifted the skimmer basket, it was far too heavy.  The reason was a bullfrog.  It leaped out and I threw myself across the skimmer opening to keep it from going down the pipe and drowning.  The next I saw of it was eyes above the water in the deep end, but before I could do anything, the wind pushed the beach ball right at it.  That was the last I saw of the frog today.  While prowling around the pool deck looking for the frog, I startled a skink.  I did rescue some beetles and bees and a couple of young spiders.

Dragonflies occupied two perches.  Some others stayed on the wing.  I found two black swallowtail caterpillars on the rue.  They were still in the orange instar that looks a bit like monarchs.  The one that got eaten the other day had turned green.  Bad camera focus revealed an early black-and-white instar as well.

A male goldfinch made several visits to the ant moat for a drink.  Blue jays kept their distance. 

in the late afternoon, the cottontail returned to eat my morning glories.  At supper, a bird grasshopper sauntered along the top step, appearing at times to lay eggs.  Sunset was very orange.

Rain

There was rain overnight and everything dripped.  Hummers chased each other all day long.

The monarch caterpillars fattened nicely.  The cardinal did not bother them.  I saw a small green caterpillar dangling from a thread at least ten feet below the branches, but getting a photo of a tiny object in midair was too challenging. 

A tiger swallowtail actually paused for pictures for once. The mountain mint attracted many great golden digger wasps and a few blue mud wasps  A great blue skimmer rested on a bamboo stake. 

A cherry leaf turned red, hinting at Fall.  Rain caught me around 4pm.  I tried to wait it out but gave up just a bit too soon. The sun returned but I did not.

Cloudy

A cardinal found one of the black swallowtail caterpillars in the rue.  Apparently a diet of rue was no deterrent.  A grackle visited but was too heavy for the feeder.  A blue jay watched from the hackberry.

A skink climbed the retaining wall right behind a squirrel.  A cloudless sulphur flitted across the yard without pausing.  Hummer wars continued.

The monarch caterpillars I transferred to the butterfly milkweed were big enough to notice. Two wandering gliders (Pantala flavenscens) dangled from the gone-to-seed parsley. 

I rescued a green June beetle with an unfortunate attraction to water.  The usual wasps fed on the mountain mint.  An adult skink lost its tail so recently its rear end was still unhealed.  It coiled as though to protect or hide its injury. 

Still fairly cool

The sky was mostly cloudy without being completely overcast.  I found two black swallowtail caterpillars on the rue, one older than the other.  An adult black swallowtail enjoyed mountain mint.  The usual wasps were busy.  A blue dasher perched on the cinquefoil near the rue. Earlier I almost bumped into a skimmer on one of the perches. 

A hummer took exception to the presence of a squirrel on the post holding up her feeder.  Meanwhile, crows were screaming about a predator which might explain why the squirrel was pretending to be part of the post.   

Later, I came outside and immediately heard a kingfisher.  Hoping to see it, I nearly stepped on a skink.  A brown headed nuthatch popped up on the feeder hanger and we looked at each other.  I didn't want to scare it off and I think it hoped it was invisible. 

Summer vegetation obscured the lake but I was able to see turtles on their log. I found a small monarch caterpillar on the milkweed in the front yard.  The days of rain washed away the fig crop.  The ripening and rotting figs just disappeared.  There were still green figs, but when they ripen one-by-one, the birds get there first.  A green June beetle walked around on the driveway. 

A female downy woodpecker had bark butter for supper.  K discovered a bean-size crab in the pool and very kindly returned it to the creek. 

The sky cleared somewhat for sunset.  A bar of cloud glowed bright orange in the North.  I saw dragonflies and swallows swooping through the humid air but all I caught was a gull.

Damp

K said there was fog at 6am.  Later there were fogged windows.  Swallows cheeped as they zipped through our airspace.  I rescued some beetles (scarab and tiger), a mother spider, and two frogs that really didn't want my help. 

A squirrel decided that in the pool I could be safely ignored and came very close. There were some dragonflies but I expected more in such buggy weather.  The wasps were thick as usual but the butterflies were not.  I did see a monarch and three kinds of swallowtail.  A swallowtail caterpillar munched on the rue. 

The hibiscus flowered again and had a bud ready for tomorrow.  A titmouse posed in the cherry.  The brown headed nuthatch was back, squeaking.  A male goldfinch brought color when he got a drink.  Hummers occasionally chased one another. 

A sprinkle of rain preceded a rosy sunset. 

Gorgeous day!

Bright sunshine, breezy with low humidity, and only in the mid 80s, that's my description of a perfect summer day. There were big bees, little bees, even a rescued honeybee, and wasps, of course. 

A duskywing skipper turned out to have a bright edge to its wings when the light caught it as a certain angle.  A buckeye could not stay away from the mountain mint.  A black swallowtail was focused on egg-laying.  A palamedes swallowtail rested on the gone-to-seed parsley for so long I thought it was caught in a web.  But when I came close to check, the butterfly took off.  Then a red spotted purple danced through the cherry.  I also glimpsed a tiger swallowtail. 

I rescued a woodlouse hunter twice, and a couple of sidewalk tiger beetles.  I also fished out small insects I think were nymphs of mole crickets.  A few dragonflies made brief appearances.  I spotted a June beetle in the top of the cherry tree when I was looking for dragonflies.. 

The molting pine warbler returned.  There were frequent hummer refueling stops.  A family of blue jays all got bark butter balls to go.  One blue jay had gone bald.  Even a bluebird looked pretty ragged.  But a Carolina wren scolded everyone because I was too close to the bark butter.  

Cool for August

Clouds kept the temperature down, but not the humidity. The first hibiscus flower of the second round of blooming opened.   Bees and wasps, and even flies preferred the tiny mountain mint flowers.  A duskywing skipper joined the crowd.  A couple of dragonflies zipped through without pausing. 

In the pool a spider walked on the surface tension.  A camel cricket was having a harder time so I rescued it.  Minuscule swallowtail caterpillars ate tiny holes in the parsley.  A black swallowtail laid more eggs on the rue.  The butterfly milkweed had seedpods started but the other milkweeds hadn't even bloomed. Caterpillars ate several of them to bare stalks.  And a monarch came to lay more eggs

Skinks enjoyed the reprieve from rain.  But one crept up on another and ambushed it.  A hummer rejected the feeder and checked out each plant, to no avail.  Eventually I got the feeder replaced, but then the recently refrigerated sugar water was too cold.  The hummers waited till it came up to air temperature. 

A red bellied woodpecker made a brief stop at the bark butter.  A Carolina wren sat on the chair and scolded the feeder.  A bluebird family visited and the fledgling confused me by going to the seed feeder.  A molting pine warbler chose bark butter.  

I heard a kingfisher about 4pm and eventually spotted it on one of the pilings, but redwood fronds were in the way and my wiggling around for an unobstructed view must have alerted the bird.  I think it had a fish.  I spied a rabbit in the grass beyond the maple tree.  The rain held off till 5pm and then was just a sprinkle.

Very wet

Although it did not rain in the morning and the wind blew, the humidity kept surfaces from drying.  The day never got very warm and the rain returned in the afternoon.  Fortunately I got outside early, did some yard work and went for a swim.  I found some peculiar eggs (?) in the mulch.  I moved a tiny caterpillar to the butterfly milkweed, hoping it would fare better than the bigger one that disappeared.  The two caterpillars on the far side of the pool were munching away. 

I twice rescued a woodlouse spider (Dysdera crocata) along with a wasp and a snail.  Only the snail posed.  A gray mushroom popped up halfway down the hill.  The mountain mint was still popular.  A brown thrasher with a very short tail fed on bark butter.  A Carolina wren waited beneath for the bigger bird to leave.  Hummers were too hungry to worry about other birds.  Titmice came at supper. 

The tide ran very high for three days before the new moon.  A bumblebee appeared to be buzz pollinating the ground cherries.  It then landed on a wet hackberry branch and slid off. 

Soggy

July was too dry and hot, and August has been too wet.  Birds, even hummers, fed in the rain, but insects mostly disappeared.  The brown headed nuthatch was back.  So were the Carolina wrens and titmice.

Something left evidence of a blue crab meal on the dock.  At least seven inches of rain had filled the fisherman's sink, not counting what flowed out through the debris in the drain.

There were two monarch caterpillars and a lot of aphids on the milkweed by the beautyberry but I could not find the one I put on the butterfly milkweed. 

High tide reflected the moon phase as much as the rainfall, but the National Weather Service put out flood warnings. At supper, in the rain hummers kept coming.  A brown thrasher pecked at the bark butter.  The light went quickly under the overcast. 

Off-and-on rain

Everyone slept in except K.  Then I spent a lot of time cooking and may have missed some wildlife.  A squirrel was eating green dogwood berries.  A molting pine warbler ate bark butter and rainwater soup.  The camera only wanted to focus when the bird's head was down in the food.

Apparently the rain did not ruin the hummers' nectar, though other hummers made it too risky for good digestion.

There were moments of sun and an apparent aerial battle between a palamedes and a black swallowtail.  There was also a little snout butterfly.  I glimpsed a male widow skimmer, but he didn't linger.  A couple of sand wasps were very close.  A spiderweb held raindrops.  A grasshopper nymph climbed a bamboo stake I hadn't used yet. There was a frog in the pool skimmer again. 

A snowy egret stalked the shallows below the dam.  A molting Carolina wren took some melted bark butter.  The brown headed nuthatch ignored me five feet away and let loose with some squeaks.  A brown thrasher in the cedar observed me in the pool.

Morning rain

For a change, it rained after breakfast.  Neither birds nor bugs put in an appearance before that. Too much of the rest of the day was spent on Zoom. 

The sun shone for the middle of the day.  A buckeye joined the wasps and bees on the mountain mint.  A monarch flitted around.  From the water I could see a second monarch caterpillar on the milkweed by the beautyberry.  I moved the first caterpillar to the butterfly milkweed.  I may move the second one tomorrow.  I attempted to rescue a fiery skipper but it was a goner. 

Quiet

A tattered buckeye butterfly guzzled mountain mint.  A black swallowtail had a few sips as well.  The monarch caterpillar had relocated to the other milkweed stalk.  I rescued a leaf-footed bug nymph that was captaining an oak leaf.  Dragonflies kept watch. 

I suspect a hawk was hanging around, scaring off the birds.  A male goldfinch had a drink from the ant moat, but then it caught sight of me and fled.  Hummers made frequent visits.  I saw a few skinks. 

Another deluge

Spider threads glittered in the early light after breakfast.  The third quarter moon was overhead.  I remembered when I was a kid, the moon terminology confused me - I could see 1/2 of a moon, not 1/4. 

 A great blue heron lurked on the lake.  Lots of dragonflies wanted a foothold on one of my perches.  A little green heron prowled along the mud shoreline. 


I rescued a mama spider, a green stink bug, beetles, wasps, and a tiny millipede.  A small frog was in the skimmer.  A couple of swallowtails danced in the air.  Bees and wasps enjoyed mountain mint.  Later I saw a fiery and a silver spotted skipper. 

 Hummingbirds visited and I saw at least one chase another away.  Skinks ran about the patio.   A swallow flew over but I missed it again. 

After lunch a black rat snake passed through, scaring a squirrel. It was headed in the right direction to catch whatever made the tunnels on the West side of the house.  It or something scared a frog so it jumped into the pool.  I think I saw a Coopers hawk pursued by a crow, but it happened very fast.

Big drops of rain fell around 3:30pm then trailed off until the thunderstorm hit around 4pm. 

Deluge

The morning was sunny, hot, and humid.  Hummers came for breakfast.  A squirrel atop the seed feeder appeared to be kneading it with its hind feet, or dancing in agitation.  Then I realized it was peeing as the liquid washed down the roof and dripped off.  I suppose it could have been nervous, or marking territory, or just had to pee. 

I saw a palamedes swallowtail but it would not slow down, much less land.  Sweat dripped off my nose after picking figs.  There wasn't any interesting wildlife in the fig patch this time.  Just wasps and lots of figs were furry with mold. More wasps were on the mountain mint along with a blue-black bee.  The monarch caterpillar was active but the aphid infestation was bad.  What became of all the ladybugs?  Blue dashers guarded but only against flying insects. 

After an hour of thunder, about 3pm the rain slammed down for most of an hour.  Lighting and thunder were simultaneous, and loud!  Good thing we picked figs in the morning. The roads flooded in the usual places even though the sky cleared and the sun returned.  The temperature dropped but not the humidity.  A Carolina wren dropped in for supper. 

Humid

The windows were fogged when we got up.  A white breasted nuthatch visited the seed feeder at breakfast, but it didn't come back. Aside from the humidity, it was a nice morning.  I puttered around the yard and went for a swim but I didn't manage to photograph much of what I saw.  There were more butterflies: a black swallowtail, a monarch, a snout, and a red spotted purple (I think).  A little bee in the water stung me.  Blue dashers and a tattered skimmer stood guard. The sun shone all day so the temperature rose to 91°.  Hummers visited and drove each other away.  I saw a mockingbird and a brown thrasher. 

First skirmishes

A male towhee visited the seed feeder briefly.  The beautyberry was done blooming.  The sky looked like imminent rain and thunder was a constant low rumble so I left the camera inside.  Thus my rescues escaped being photographed.  They were an adult skink and two beetles.  One was a June bug scarab and the other was a metallic green tiger beetle. A weevil rescued itself with the aid of one of the sticks I stationed around the pool for that purpose. 

The fiery skipper was back on the mountain mint.  A tiger swallowtail crossed the yard.  A monarch stayed and thoroughly egged all the milkweed.  A very small caterpillar was already munching on the plant by the retaining wall.  That plant was infested with aphids.  A few blue dashers hunted mosquitoes. The usual bees and wasps enjoyed their mountain mint.  

The hummer wars have begun and they seemed to infect the larger birds.  Brown thrashers and a red bellied woodpecker fought over the bark butter.  Even the bluebirds joined in.  I suspect the blue jays were involved.  A mockingbird was hanging around too.  The Carolina wrens stayed out of it.  A grackle stomped around the sakaki for a moment like it wasn't sure how it got here, or why.  An egret landed on the dock bench.

Rinse and repeat

I was gone in the morning, but the action at lunch and after more than made up for it.  Bluebirds feasted on bark butter till a blue jay claimed ownership.  A titmouse slipped in for a helping. Hummers made frequent visits to their feeder, fussing when other birds got too close. 

Skinks bustled about on their mysterious business.  I saw one actually rear up on its hind legs to nip something off a leaf.  A few slaty skimmers used the perches.  A worn black swallowtail egged everything in sight.  I rescued a millipede and a frog.  A honeybee and a fiery skipper joined the wasps and bees on the mountain mint. 

Over on the seed feeder, a brown headed nuthatch was determined to have a share despite being smaller than all the other birds. 

The cherry tree was also full of birds and a confrontation developed between a blue jay and a red bellied woodpecker and a brown thrasher.  It followed the woodpecker to the bark butter.  A brown thrasher booted the woodpecker off.  Then the titmouse dived on the thrasher till the bigger bird gave up and left.  And I thought titmice were timid! 

The male bluebird looked bedraggled with molted feathers sticking out.  A downy woodpecker was next.  A ratty looking pine warbler tried to share with the bluebird, and the camera confused the focus.  The warbler came back for a another try with the downy.  A Carolina wren scolded as it foraged.  Down at the water's edge a night heron swallowed its catch.  And then the rain began. 

Afternoon thunderstorm

A titmouse sampled the bark butter while a hummer breakfasted on sugar water.  I saw a black swallowtail and a blue dasher. Two orange furred carpenter bees visited the mountain mint.  I saw a lovely silver spotted skipper, but it got away.  A sprinkle began after lunch as I harvested more figs and by 2:30pm thunder was cracking overhead and rain was coming down like a waterfall. Rain fell more or less heavily for the rest of the day and toward evening lightning was almost continuous.  Thunder growled like a hungry belly. 

Everybody loves figs

The dark-morph tiger swallowtail was back at breakfast but we did not see it after that. We went to pick whatever had ripened since the storm.  Some figs had fermented and some had rotted or grown mold.  Others were being nibbled by all sorts of insects from big green June beetles to bald-faced hornets.  I even saw a cicada killer. 

The mountain mint was still busy with wasps and a few bees, and one fiery skipper.  A Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta) preferred the herb mint. Blue mud wasps were back.  I found a massive brown longhorn beetle dead in the pool skimmer.  A female blue dasher kept watch for smaller meals. 

A Carolina wren was pleased I dumped the last of a bag of bark butter balls (mostly fragments) into the tub of bark butter to keep it from melting.  A blue jay wasn't so sure. 

In the late afternoon, clouds gathered and thunder rumbled but nothing came of it.  Robins and mockingbirds feasted on the figs and the wild cherries.  One mockingbird scolded and chased a squirrel down the sidewalk.  I saw a question mark butterfly on a fig leaf but no sign of the cicada killer.  However, the cat was lurking around, probably hoping for an unwary fledgling. 

A yellow crowned night heron rested on one foot on a dock piling.  Hummers visited, glad to have the good feeder back with perches so they don't have to hover.

Hurricane Isaias

Isaias had calmed to tropical storm status by the time it arrived here.  A little before 1:00am my phone blasted a siren to announce a tornado warning.  I couldn't even hear any wind.  By morning there was plenty of wind thrashing the trees but I didn't see any damage in our yard.  I did see debris in the creek, downstream.  Maybe an inch of rain fell, or rather blew in on a West wind.  

The sun started coming through rents in the clouds around 10:00am.  Chickadees found the seed feeder that K had set down on the concrete.  We rehung planters and feeders.  A brown thrasher had some bark butter.  A blue jay saw me watching and flew off.  Crows were eating figs and trying to teach a fledgling to do the same.  It was really funny to watch. 

Insects swarmed the flowers like they were starved.  A black swallowtail and what I believe was a dark-morph tiger swallowtail fed on the butterfly milkweed.  A fiery skipper preferred the mountain mint despite the wasps. 

A female common whitetail dragonfly had an advantage because they stay low out of the wind.  Later I saw a blue dasher and a slaty skimmer. 

Gentle rain

I raced to pick more figs before I had to leave because the forecast suggested rain any minute.  A big green June beetle joined the wasps in the fig feast.  I did not see the spiderweb.  The grass was full of tiny pale brown parasols.  As it turned out, the sun was still shining when we got back.  However, I thought I should recover slowly, so I didn't rush outside.  A couple of doves promenaded on the patio.  A black swallowtail egged the rue.  I also saw a tiger swallowtail cross the yard. 

To the South, the sky was dark and congested, but the North was blue with a foam of white cloud.   A fiery skipper flitted around the driveway.  A couple of skinks prowled around the steps in back. 

The brown headed nuthatch came back.  It was smaller than a chickadee but determined to have a share of seeds.  The Carolina wren came twice to check for the bark butter I had taken inside for fear of storm winds.  There was no wind and the wren made me fell guilty, so I put the bark butter back outside for the rest of the day.  A couple of great crested flycatchers went chasing across the yard and into the trees. 

A four spotted skimmer took the bamboo stake perch.  Its spots were much darker than the one I saw a few days ago.  Maybe it was older, maybe even the same one? Fewer bees and wasps were evident, but some persisted on the mints.  The sky grew fully overcast and a light rain fell intermittently while I was in the pool.  There was a fair amount of floating debris and some gnasty noseeums hovering around me.  I could hear swallows but I didn't see them and in any case I'd left the camera inside because of the rain. 

The rain stopped for several hours and after supper I sat outside though the chair was wet.  The high-flying dragonflies were busy.  There wasn't any wind. 

Calm before storm?

Morning was cloudy and fairly pleasant.  A Carolina wren and a hummer came for breakfast.

A female blue dasher perched by the fence.  An amberwing lurked by the rue and a skimmer on a lavender stalk.  I couldn't identify the dragonfly at the top of the cherry.

A cicada landed on the patio.  I tried to deposit it on a dogwood branch but it flew off and landed back on the patio.

A buckeye found the mint.  A black swallowtail vacillated between the rue and the parsley. Both digger wasps, blue and golden, were busy on the mountain mint. 

A tropical storm warning was issued for Isaias with a predicted landfall in the Carolinas tomorrow night.  But midnight was calm with a bright round moon and Jupiter visible. 

Thunder and drizzle

Because rain was predicted, and the clouds cooled us down below 90, I put out a tub of bark butter instead of the balls.  Bluebirds, blue jays, a Carolina wren, a downy woodpecker, and brown thrashers were pleased. I switched out the regular hummingbird feeder for the cheap one that sheds rain better.  However, it has no perches and the hummers were not pleased. 

I rescued a camel cricket.  Usually I'm too late and have to fish out a corpse.  A biting fly drove me into the house.  I suppose it anticipated rain pools for its eggs, fortified with my protein.  Two fiery skippers fed on the mountain mint with the wasps.  The blue digger wasps were back. Blue dashers took the low perches, along with slaty skimmers, while a Halloween pennant stayed at treetop height. According to Allissa Bunner, I was not the only one to notice a scarcity of butterflies this summer.

Skinks came out and scurried around on whatever important business demanded their attention on the other side of the patio.  The last, I think, hibiscus flower bloomed, at least until a new batch of buds form. 

A brown headed nuthatch came to the seed feeder.  The bluebirds were feeding another set of nestlings.  I saw a mockingbird out front, as well. 

We waited and waited for the rain which finally started after 6pm.  Lots of thunder and gusty winds accompanied a meager drizzle.  I dashed out to plant assorted sunflower seeds, packed for this year, so I was late.  But nothing sprouted from the previous packets.  The trick is to get them in and wet and germinating before the birds or squirrels dig them up.  Sunset escaped the edge of the clouds and cast lurid color on them.