Sick chickadee?

After I got home I saw a pine warbler on the suet, then some very strange bird behavior.  A cardinal tried to land on the seed feeder perch but a chickadee sitting in the middle wouldn't budge.  The cardinal gave up and I noticed the chickadee's feathers were standing on end, making it look fuzzy.  At first I thought it was a fledgling begging for food.  I went up close for a better look and the bird paid me no attention but seemed to shiver and raise even more feathers.  Remembering the stories about sick birds around D.C. I got a shallow box and but a grocery bag over my hand.  I actually picked up the bird to put it in the box and it seemed to come out of a trance, batted my hand away and flew off.  

New butterfly

A stupid monarch caterpillar ate half of the only seedpod even though there were still plenty of leaves on the butterfly milkweed.  A blue dasher waited on a perch.  Later, a slaty skimmer hunted from a different perch.

A tiny gray and white butterfly joined the wasps on the mountain mint.  After much paging through azures and hairstreaks, I found out it was a Common Checkered Skipper Pyrgus communis.    

A great egret used one of the dock posts as a perch while grooming feathers.  

When the cars backed up on the way to the HRBT, I took some sunset pictures.  

 

Muggy

 K was "air layering" all over the yard - no tree was safe.  Somehow the morning slipped away and in the afternoon I was at a canvassing for VO, outside in the heat.  We heard some interesting answers about community concerns.  When I got home, I was too tired for much, but I saw a pine warbler on the suet.  A hummer looked for the feeder in its former location and then gave up. Clouds colored with the sunset and dragonflies cruised overhead.  

Hot and humid

I finally got pictures of a little leaf cutter bee, less than half the size of a honeybee.  I sprayed more oil on the hibiscus because the sawflies have been making lace of the leaves.  Then I picked figs and got very hot and sweaty.  The water felt wonderful afterward but I didn't see anything but mosquitoes.  The argiope was in the same place again.  The birds were not very active, except titmice. 

Figs!

Calamity!  The suet was empty, the barkbutter  balls were soggy, and the sugar water was diluted.  The downy woodpecker couldn't believe it.  Titmice didn't care.  A blue Jay discovered that soggy barkbutter balls had to be eaten one at a time.  The bird was none too pleased. 

A neighbor called for help and on my way back home I saw that there were ripe figs so I picked a handful. Then I noticed how ripe the yellow bell peppers had gotten so I tried to pick the small one and pulled off half the plant, including the big pepper.  The figs were delicious.  I haven't figured out what I want to do with the peppers yet.  

The Hymenoptera kept the mountain mint humming.  Mosquitoes were thick but I only saw a couple of dragonflies.  The caterpillar I transferred to the milkweed across the pool must have been satisfied as the plant was half eaten.  There was a drowned pink caterpillar in the water, but I don't know if it was pink in life.  I was just thinking that I hadn't seen any org webs when I noticed one next to the hibiscus.  It looked like an Argiope. . 

K went to the garden center and came home with two big pots of portulaca.   Most of our summer flowers were finished blooming.  K had gotten supplies to try "air layering" to convert a branch into a miniature tree.  An egret preened on a dock piling. Huge cumulus clouds built up in the South and then spread across the sun. It appeared to me that the tops of the clouds were being blown away.    I got a glimpse but no picture of two swallows. 

Evening storm

I moved the hummer feeder over to the hibiscus but I don't know if they found it.  I put the bark butter dish out next to the mountain mint and that was discovered right away.  Blue jays and brown thrashers wasted no time.  It sure beat trying to reach the last bit of suet.  .  A dragonfly used the perch outside the window.

There were birds on my windowsill, I don't know why.  I think they were a cardinal and a titmouse  A great blue heron stalked along the shoreline.  One turtle was out on a lake log.  By 4pm the sky was getting dark.  I picked blueberries and nothing happened so I went for a swim.  The thunder and lightning persuaded me to cut it short.  I did rescue a wasp and dispose of a defunct skinklet.  The rain began before 6:30pm. 

Not much

A titmouse and the pine warbler tried to share the nubbin of suet but both of them spooked at something.  A Carolina wren tossed what it didn't want out of the seed feeder.  I hope the squirrels were grateful.  Two blue jays landed on the post and one tried to get at the suet but gave up.  The other looked for crumbs on the steps.  I saw a skink briefly.  I never got outside till evening.  Then I found he blueberries, while plentiful, were shriveling in the heat without rain.  Despite that, I was the target of mosquitoes.  

Too many photos!

I took nearly four hundred pictures today.  I was reasonably sensible in the morning.  Mostly I took the hummers and the mountain mint gang,  A Carolina wren needed some suet.  So did a pine warbler.  A bald female cardinal wanted seeds.   Another female hanging around had all her face feathers still attached.  The sky was variable, sometimes overcast, sometimes with puffs of cumulus, and sometimes almost clear.  The hibiscus and daylilies were nearly finished. 

At lunch time, a male widow skimmer found one of my perches convenient.  A hummer found a perch on a dead twig in the dogwood that let her monitor the feeder.  Later she used a hibiscus twig. 

A great black digger wasp Sphex pensylvanicus, has been dominating the mountain mint pollinators.  It's just as twitchy as the great golden digger wasps.  Another big wasp looked like a relative of a cicada killer, or a sand wasp.  

A fiery skipper and a snout butterfly managed to get some mountain mint nectar.  A hairstreak landed on a hibiscus leaf.  A summer azure settled on a violet leaf, then sampled the mountain mint.  A female bar-winged skimmer took over the perch the widow skimmer had vacated. A female pondhawk rested on the steps. I found one of the caterpillars I relocated.

Two brown thrashers were dust-bathing and possibly anting.  They had their beaks open, heads lolled back, feathers sticking up, and glassy eyes, like they were drugged.  They looked so funny I took many photos.  

An osprey flew over, then a turkey vulture passed by.  Downstream, an egret fished.  Then a brown headed nuthatch, maybe two, came for seeds.  A mockingbird landed in the oak.  I suspect it had been eating wild cherries.  A large fungus erupted next to the oak.  

As I was dripping after I got out of the pool, a praying mantis asked to use my chair to climb up onto the glass door.  For some reason it wanted to lurk at the top of the glass.  

Bugged

I didn't have the camera at lunch so naturally nature performed.  A skink climbed half way up the feeder post, for no reason that I could see.  Fortunately it went back down before any birds noticed and decided it was part of the food.  I saw another skink on the lower patio.  A monarch flitted past the milkweed where caterpillars were hiding. 

In the afternoon, a buckeye tried the mountain mint along side many kinds of wasp.  A fiery skipper got some too.  I got some pictures of a Great Black Digger Wasp,Sphex pensylvanicus.  The only dragonfly I saw was one of the high fliers with spotted wings toward supper time.  That was odd because the mosquitoes were fairly thick by then.  

The day didn't get quite so hot, but it was dry, so I'm not sure what brought them out.  The butterfly milkweed made one seedpod from its first clump of flowers.  An inchworm hiked up the glass door.  As the light level dropped, a downy woodpecker attacked the suet.  A titmouse was next.  A Carolina wren poked around.  

Caterpillars

Four caterpillars were devouring one spindly milkweed plant so I dispersed them.  One went to what I believe is milkweed in a shady spot and two went to the butterfly weed.  I was surprised because I never saw a monarch near the plant. 

In the pool, I rescued a wasp, a scarab beetle, a tiger beetle, and I found a very small skinklet floating belly up, alas.  The big, black, mud wasp was back at the mountain mint.  It was considerably bigger than the great golden digger wasps.  I love its steely blue wings.  A variety of other wasps and bees crowded the mint and milkweed.  

The peppers, red and yellow were almost ripe.  The slime mold returned to the exact same spot as last summer, only the spot was not as shady since the vegetation was cut back.  I found more basil and caterpillars found more parsley.  

In the evening, female hummer(s) showed up at the feeder.  But some bug harassed the bird.  The hummer left and returned several times. Finally it vented frustratino on a chickadee at the seed feeder and actually chased the poor bird into the camellia.  

Humid

A Carolina wren started the day.   When I went out to swim a gray hairstreak and a snout butterfly were enjoying mountain mint, but only the snout was still there when I came back with the camera.  Later, a black swallowtail  looked for places to lay eggs.  A dragonfly kept watch on one of the perches. 

 I spent most of the pixels on bees and wasps that I hoped to identify.  There were way too many caterpillars on the parsley, so many they were eating the seeds.  I relocated most of them to other plants.  Then I noticed that the milkweed had at least four caterpillars.  The plant's barely big enough to feed one.

Titmice took over the feeder, mostly fledglings from their behavior.  I glimpsed the pine warbler.   The humidity made the heat oppressive while K picked blueberries.  

Pictureless

A wet, gray morning was relatively cool.  While I managed some time in the pool, I didn't see much.  I did rescue a woodlouse hunter spider.  Then I scrambled to get ready to go speak at a hearing in Norfolk.  On the way into Webb Center, I spotted a tiny skink.  The day really heated up by the time that let out.  I came home to a pile of messages and a quick turn-around to another meeting.  As I came out of that meeting around sunset, I saw swallows swooping after the mosquitoes that infest that part of town.  But not one nature photo did I get.  

Intermittent showers

A Carolina wren started the day with some suet, then a pine warbler wanted some.  A female bluebird was next, then a downy woodpecker pair.  Rain filled the ant moats and the pool to near their brims.  My only rescue was a scarab beetle but a green six-spotted tiger beetle rescued itself using one of my carefully placed sticks.  

When I got out of the pool I found an orange assassin bug nymph on the glass door.  A blue mud wasp fussed around the mountain mint but wouldn't pose for me.  The bees and wasps ranged widely in size.  But none were as big as the praying mantis I found lurking on the mountain mint.  I didn't see it catch anything so I don't know what size it preferred.  

I was surprised by the lack of dragonflies but finally a blue dasher landed on the feeder hanger.  It didn't stay.  A female cardinal acted like she was starting a nest in the camellia.  That would be a first.  

Toward evening, a blue jay took a turn at the suet.  I thought I saw a brown headed nuthatch but a chickadee bullied it and it didn't come back.  The overcast began to break apart into individual clouds.  

One swallow

A Carolina wren greeted the sun with a beak full of suet.  Then a male pine warbler showed up wanting suet. 

The mountain mint was throbbing with bees and wasps.  I rescued a metallic green six-spotted tiger beetle.   A large blue tailed skink paused for a photo op.  The blue was nearly gone from its tail so I guess it was close to adulthood. 

I had noticed a complete absence of swallows this summer until I saw one today over the playground at the elementary school.  The proverb, “one swallow does not a summer make" dates back to Aristotle, I discovered.  I also saw a rabbit at the library, but it saw me too.  

The reason I had the pocket camera out was the dramatic clouds closing in from the South.  But I missed quite an impressive lightening strike. And not too much later, all that drama came raining down. 

Another hot one

A female bluebird arrived for breakfast.  A skink picked its path along the brick wall.  A male goldfinch wanted wild cherries.  A great golden digger wasp dug into the butterfly milkweed. 

The pool felt like bath water.  I found a dead female pondhawk floating, but other dragonflies were lively.  I glimpsed one with spotted wings that I think was a common whitetail female.  A female blue dasher lurked behind foliage.  Some of the high fliers were hunting.  And a lovely slaty skimmer was the color of the blueberries we picked.  I spotted a very young swallowtail caterpillar on the rue. 

A sidewalk tiger beetle seemed unsure whether I might be dangerous.  Its legs looked far too thin to support its body, much less run so fast.  The bees and wasps stayed busy with the mountain mint.  The hibiscus sawflies got ahead of me because either wind or rain kept me from spraying neem oil.  A blue jay landed in the oak.  A house wren landed on the seed feeder. 

The first quarter moon floated high in the late afternoon sky.  

Downpour

 The afternoon was a washout.

Citizen science

I signed up to drive around with a sensor sticking up from the window to measure heat and humidity at 6am.  That meant getting up two hours early.  

So hot!

A female bluebird wanted suet for breakfast.  The male hummer came back and while there was enough light, his ruby throat stayed in shadow.  A Carolina wren notified me to stay in the pool while it fed. 

By noon the temperature was in three digits.  A blue dasher kept watch on the pool and a saddlebags passed overhead.  I rescued innumerable grown scarab beetles, a few wasps, and a cricket.nymph.  Sidewalk tiger beetles were everywhere except in the water.  Sand wasps joined the throng on the mountain mint.  The honeybees and wasps far prefer it to the spearmint.  The were all bustling around so much that I wasted lots of pictures.  Good thing I don't need to get them developed. 

Crows chased a hawk that appeared reddish in the sun.  The hawk was only a little bigger than the crows but it was way too fast for me.  The wind strengthened and blew in afternoon clouds that lowered the heat a little.  

After dark I went outside to take pictures of the crescent moon.  Lightning flashed far off to the Northwest though the sky seemed cloudless.  

Bugged

I finished breakfast outside and a male hummer joined me.  I didn't think I dared move to pick up the camera.  Later in the morning, a blue jay perched on the post and fanned its feathers out.  Perhaps it was hoping the sun would disinfect them?  Usually they seek dusty ground or an anthill for that.  

The hibiscus continued to open almost a dozen big, red flowers each day.  I need to spray it again.  A volunteer portulaca bloomed rose pink.  The mountain mint was like a grocery before a hurricane with bees and wasps as customers.  A black swallowtail egged the rue while a tiger swallowtail fed on the daisies.  I never got in the pool because that nasty greenhead fly prefers mid day.  Then I had a meeting to attend and they decided to stay outdoors.  And of course there were fleas or gnats or something in the grass. 

When I got home the sun had set but there were still tinted clouds.  A hummer showed up but just then K returned from the blueberry patch.  The hummer returned a little later but there wasn't enough light.  When I went outside to close the seed feeder, the crescent moon was sliding behind the trees.  Fireflies were blinking.  

Too hot

I saw 103° on the thermometer before noon but the heat moderated a little in the afternoon.  A few dragonflies and many bees and wasps found lunch in the back yard.  A greenhead tried to take a chunk out of me, but I think I was quick enough to submerge.  But the fly escaped.  I saw hummers repeatedly but never when I had the camera ready. 

Still hot

I turned the hummer feeder around so it faced away from the bees.  That succeeded in agitating them less but it also meant the hummers had their back to me.  There were still a great many honeybees and somewhat fewer wasps.  The great golden digger wasps were plentiful.  Dragonflies made use of the perches.  I rescued a mama spider and a couple of grasshopper nymphs.  Also, I saved what I thought was a millipede but on closer examination appeared to be a beetle larva.

Crows lurked in the vegetation.  A Carolina wren and a bluebird came for suet.  A blue jay seemed confused about why it was here.   I went swimming in the morning because of meetings in the afternoon.  Just as well as I heard thunder in the afternoon and K said there was a little rain.  

Cloudy

The mountain mint vibrated with pollinators,  Unfortunately, they've gotten an attitude about their mountain mint and they try to scare away anything that encroaches.  I ignored their threat displays but the hummingbirds were more easily annoyed.  That made it harder for me to get photos.  

A black swallowtail retreated to the rue.  A blue jay was more curious than hungry.  A wren defeated my picture taking.  All I got was a moon shot.  A female slaty skimmer occupied one of the perches.  

An egret and a couple of turtles on the lake were not easy to see through the vegetation.  Low tide revealed shells among the barnacles on the bulkhead.  

A wet bird preened up in the oak. Eventually it turned into a bluebird.  A few dragonflies hunted overhead.  

After the storm

The storm cooled air and water but the temperature climbed right back up.  A four-spotted pennant, Brachymesia gravida. rode the highest candle on the pine tree.  

I found a couple of snails and some beetles in the water, nothing else.  The usual insects were busy on the mountain mint. 

A skink with a regrown tail ventured away from cover.  A blue jay and a brown thrasher landed together on the feeder post.  The bluejay ate suet while the brown thrasher pretended disinterest. 

Afternoon thunderhead clouds unexpectedly brought more rain. And that brought dragonflies.  A ghostly red bellied woodpecker checked out the mysterious spot where a limb was removed.  I need to pick up the sticks that came down

Tropical Storm Elsa

The peppers were getting ripe  I moved some potted plants in preparation for the storm.  I suppose all the flowers will be shredded.  A new variety popped up from the fairy garden seeds.  I sneaked in a swim just before the storm arrived - nothing but brown scarab beetles.  Oh, and a mama spider rafting on a curled leaf. 

A female hummer and a male came separately to their feeder..   As the rain began, a house wren poked around but didn't find anything satisfying.  The brown thrashers visited and one went to work on the suet.  A squirrel sat on the feeder and washed itself.  Birds ate the wild cherries.  A female bluebird sampled the suet and then a catbird did the same. 

As the light failed fireflies came swirling into the wind.  Around 8pm my phone  let out a screech and said to hide from a tornado that was on its way but, fortunately, nothing happened.  Those winds were still howling as I typed this. 

Cicada killer

A black swallowtail visited the rue.  A tiger swallowtail posed with the asters while I was in the pool with no camera.  A female skimmer used a perch but a Halloween pennant clung to the topmost pine candle.  A male widow skimmer rested on a dried stalk of spartina.  A blue dasher found a different stake to perch on. 

The giant wasp roamed around the patio and especially the birdbath as though certain there was a cicada around.  I wondered if it could sense the one that landed on the feeder hanger a couple of days ago.  Other wasps and bees obsessed over the mountain mint. 

A couple of turtles basked in the sunlight.  The male hummer returned and a female also fed.  The sugar water was almost gone by evening.  Sunset was orange and streaky.  

Male hummingbird

A Carolina wren had breakfast with us on what remained of the suet.   At lunch there were three hummingbird visits and at least two were a male.  It may have been the same bird.  

The hibiscus was covered with blooms but I also saw a Japanese beetle and a sawfly attacking the plant.  The canna also started blooming.  A blue dasher monitored the pool from the tip of a daylily bud.  T saw a new kind of wasp among the honeybees on the mountain mint.  The great golden digger wasp was back.  Thank goodness the greenhead was not!  

Cicada

A Carolina wren was up early.  So was a skink.  A squirrel showed too much interest in the suet.  Woe betide us if they get over their aversion to hot pepper.  A brown thrasher did not approve. 

I'd been hearing an occasional cicada for about a week but I saw my first one today.  It was still quite green.  The annual cicadas emerge later than the periodic.  The cicada landed on the feeder hanger, a rather risky spot.  Maybe it agreed because it didn't stay long.  The mountain mint was full of bees and wasps again.  A blue dasher lit on the suet feeder hanger.  A tiger swallowtail explored the wild cherry even as the birds ate cherries.  

Bombs bursting in air

The hibiscus burst into bloom for the holiday.   A blue jay stopped briefly.  The "Fairy Garden" seeds I scattered out front produced plants I don't recognize. 

We had company so I wasn't taking photos.  I got hit in the neck by a green eyed fly but managed to get under water before it could do much damage.  An orange butterfly, probably a fritillary, visited the asters.  I saw a mockingbird and other birds eating wild cherries.  A great crested flycatcher perched on the same branch as yesterday.  It's welcome to the green head fly.  Chickadees and titmice warily ate suet though we were nearby. 

 As soon as we went inside the birds came back.  A brown thrasher prowled the steps.  I discovered that the bluebird house was in use!  Papa brought what looked like a spider home for supper. 

Starting at sundown, the local amateur pyrotechnics terrorized the birds.  I saw an egret fleeing in the twilight while something cheeped querulously up in the oak.  It was mostly noise but I saw a couple of starbursts through the trees.  Fireflies did their best to make up the visual component. 

Like June

It was in the mid 80s, sunny and breezy with lots of fair-weather cumulus clouds floating East to temper the sun's rays.  I picked a full basket of blueberries and left at least that many for the birds.  The wild cherries attracted a mockingbird.  A brown thrasher tackled the suet cage. 

A widow skimmer settled on a low perch among the herbs.  Honeybees took over the mountain mint. Some seemed darker than others.  Lots of wasps and native bees joined them.  A great golden digger wasp as twitchy as usual.  A skipper found it too crowded.  A tiny green bee fed inside and aster. 

A skink almost ran into a squirrel.  It smartly camouflaged itself among long thin leaves that made its stripes look like shadows.  

A great crested flycatcher preened on a dead oak branch.  A squirrel sprawled on a different branch.  A brown thrasher moseyed along the top of the fence.  A blue jay perched over the hummer feeder, as if remembering the barkbutter that hung there in the Winter.  

I was happy to see coral honeysuckle blossoms as I feared that, in the enthusiasm of forsythia removal, the honeysuckle had been killed.  

All day rain

I never did spend much time outside.  Sometimes the rain trailed off but it always started up again.  A couple of cloudbursts flooded the gutters.  A Carolina wren must have been quite hungry because it made repeated visits in the drizzle.  A blue jay landed on the post several times but didn't attempt the suet.

A blue dasher dragonfly landed on the windowsill.  Other than that, insects were scarce and the mountain mint had no visitors.  A great blue heron fished off our dock.  The sky began to clear in the evening and sunset was colorful.  But the air, though cooler, was still very humid and muggy.  Fireflies were thick.  

Triple digits

The thermometer read 100 at lunch.  

When I finally got outside in the late afternoon, the temperature had dropped back to 95 and cumulus clouds were transforming into overcast.  I saw one high flying dragonfly against the clouds.  Wind gusts from the West whipped trees to such an extent I wondered if it was wise to be underneath.  But surprisingly little fell. I guess previous windy days had cleaned out the loose stuff. The usual beetles and gnat-like pests were floating in the pool.  In the skimmer basket I found a mole cricket, Neocurtilla hexadactyla.  I figured it for a corpse but saved it for photos.  About an hour later it began crawling so I put it in the mulch.