Wet

The cold front blew in at last.  Something thumped against my window last night  I don't know if it was something blown by the wind or maybe a confused owl.  Things that go bump in the night before Halloween!  All I saw today was a couple of chickadees and the downy.  The temperature slowly dropped and enough rain fell to wet everything without accomplishing anything.  Nasty weather for trick-or-treat.  We weren't planning to give out treats and I didn't see or hear any kids.  

Windy

The creek was rumpled, not reflective.  But the sky was still blue and the South wind blew warm. In fact, it matched the record again - 84°. A gull played with the air currents.  Mallards occupied the dock.  Overnight, a lot of maple leaves began to turn.  I saw flying insects catch the sunlight, but couldn't tell what they were.  Wasps, most likely, or maybe small lepidoptera.  The female downy was back but something spooked her and there was a lot of peering around first one side of the feeder post then the other.  If the cold front comes through tomorrow, the birds may be a lot more hungry. 

Black & white birds

The unseasonably warm weather has also been dry.  Today was breezier than the past several days and the creek was not a placid mirror.  Leaves dotted its wrinkled surface.  A Southwest wind hustled shreds of cloud across the sky.  A stream of chickadees came for seeds and water. The female downy was content with suet.  I saw a cabbage white again and after dark a moth lit on the door.  Wasps were still active.  The temperature matched the record for this day, set in 2020.  

Tarzan of the squirrels

I caught the squirrel in mid-leap between the hickory and the redwood.  Birds in the trees stayed hidden except for chickadees.  The weather continued to be summery under a blue sky.  I saw a few wasps and some small moths. 

Strange weather

While it's been summery here, deep cold dropped down over the Northern plains states.  The NWS weather map resembled a rainbow flag except that the stripes dividing hot and cold were pinched very narrow.  This newspaper map isn't as colorful.  I looked up "Indian Summer" (which is now not polite) and learned that the current weather doesn't qualify.  "It’s a period of abnormally warm weather occurring in late autumn between St. Martin’s Day (November 11) and November 20."  

A mulch roach scuttled along the side of the house.  Virginia creeper turned red on a tree trunk.  The fungus developed toasty edges.  A cabbage white butterfly flitted around the trees.  Earlier I saw a cloudless sulphur. 

Despite the pleasant weather, I didn't see much else.  The female downy couldn't stay away from the suet.  A small flock of swallows zipped around the sky.  Then camera battery died and they were gone when I got back with the other battery.  They had the white underside of a tree swallow but appeared to have swallow-tails like a barn swallow.  I thing I'll go with tree swallow.

Still summery

Turtles were out basking on their log.  Contrails turned to cirrus wisps.  I thought I found a puffball.  I definitely found an empty monarch chrysalis.  The fungus by the oak appeared to be finished growing.  Beautyberries were disappearing, helped by a mockingbird.  

A great blue heron stood on a piling at low tide while mallards paddled around.  Sassafras leaves turned yellow.  Small clusters of golden leaves popped out of the green oak foliage as well.  Milkweed parachutes opened.  Red magnolia seeds poked out of their pods.  Yellow rumped warblers jittered among the trees. 

Very warm

A blue jay was up very early.  The rising sun's light bounced off the far bank, then off the creek surface and into my eyes.  The creek was mostly flat all day and the sky cloudless.   Later, I saw a bluebird sitting on a dock post.  

The day warmed into the 70s.  A few wasps prowled around the rue.  At lunch, a Carolina wren joined us for barkbutter balls.  Some fallen sunflower seeds germinated, but much too late in the year.  In the late afternoon, all I saw were geese and an egret flying.  

Home at last

On my way to Northern Virginia last Thursday, I saw a flock of pelicans off Willoughby spit.  A circle of them were bobbing in the waves.  Others flew parallel to the bridge.  After the tunnel, it was nothing but  buzzards all the way.  I passed a road-killed deer.  There was a wildflower garden at the rest stop on 95.  It had beautyberry, black eyed susan, I think mountain mint, a familiar-looking composite gone to seed and other plants I didn't know.  A couple of ladybugs and a bumblebee were attracted to the oasis. I didn't take any photos. 

Trees in Chantilly were turning fall colors and losing leaves.  I saw another dead deer between hotels and yet another this morning.  The garden at today's rest stop was smaller and the only wildlife was a yellow jacket.  A little flock of house sparrows clustered at the base of a light pole.  More buzzards monitored the highways.  

When I got home I sat outside to appreciate the beautiful day.  The trees were mostly still green except for the dogwoods and hickory.  Camellias bloomed but the red asters were fading.  The polypore fungus was still huge and cream-colored.  Chickadees came to the feeder. a yellow rumped warbler wanted food but was wary of me.  Bluebirds flitted among the trees.  The quiet creek reflected sunlit trees.  

 

 

 

 

Sunny

The creek was glowing again this morning.  Birds were hiding in the dogwoods again.  One was a mockingbird.  I had to go through some gymnastics to catch enough of it to identify.  Crows were perturbed about something, maybe one of the cats?  The downy woodpecker was oblivious as long as there was suet.  It was a very pretty day that I wasted too much of on the computer.  

Autumn chill

The creek glowed at dawn.  Lots of clouds kept the temperature down, or maybe it was the North wind that shoved them along.  I saw a few wasps.  Birds harvested dogwood berries but they were hard to see.  Titmice and chickadees kept the sunflower feeder busy.  There were cardinals too, and the downy was back.  The black cat sat by the pool cover until the dog noticed, then there was a mad dash around the back of the house.  As I drove to a meeting, the sun (when it wasn't blinding motorists) focused golden beams on the underside of a massive cloud.  But I didn't have the camera or a good place to stop.  It was dark when I came home with a bright planet, probably Jupiter, rising in the East and clouds visible from reflected lights.  

Clearing

Morning was wet.  A water bottle floated on the flat creek.  Two Carolina wrens came for mushy barkbutter balls.  

Glimmers of sunlight leaked through at lunch.  The North wind picked up and tore at the clouds.  Titmice and chickadees wanted seeds.  The female downy wanted suet.  I saw two fast flying birds head upstream, probably kingfishers.  An egret flew downstream to the neighbors' dock.  The setting sun tipped trees and clouds with orange. The saltbush was silvery.  

Rainy day

There was a flicker of sunlight at breakfast and then it was gone.  Gray light made the creek dull even though it was placid.  Chickadees queued up for the fresh seeds in the feeder.  A white breasted nuthatch checked out the suet and barkbutter balls as well.  

Once the rain began, a mockingbird only registered as a blur on the camera.  A cardinal dripped.  A Carolina wren was fine with rain-mushed barkbutter balls.  The downy woodpecker's suet shed rain.  As the afternoon wore on, the rain got heavier and the sky darker.  

We were well outside the path of the annular eclipse or else I would have been quite upset with the weather.  I tried the NASA website which was mostly talking heads but did show the eclipse.  Too much of the sun was visible around the moon for prominences to show up. It was just a thin gold ring, lopsided first one way then the other.  

Blue sky

The warm sun was tempered by a nippy breeze. Chickadees, of course, didn't mind me, but the other birds were being difficult.  Blue jays flew over but I only got one in silhouette.  A tiny warbler perched briefly on a hibiscus stalk.  A white breasted nuthatch ran around a pine trunk.  I know there were birds eating dogwood berries, but they hid.  

Berry battles

Sunshine was predicted but I didn't see any till after lunch.  The creek reflections were dull, grayed, and muted.  A male cardinal sampled the breakfast buffet from barkbutter balls to dogwood berries.  A female downy woodpecker found the suet.  When I arrived for my haircut, the staff were holding a wake for a bird that had hit the window and apparently died.  I'm afraid it was a yellow billed cuckoo.  There was also a small black mop I was informed was a shih tzu puppy.  It wanted to eat my hair - should I be flattered? 

At home, I saw two mockingbirds squabbling over dogwood berries.  Other birds were flitting around in the trees and I could certainly hear blue jays.  Carolina wrens were scolding as was something I didn't recognize that sounded like an irate grasshopper.  I picked a couple more peppers.  And I glimpsed a kingfisher. 

Not much to report

 There were ducks on the dock.  A great blue heron perched on a piling.  That's all.  

Quiet

The creek was fairly quiet all day.  There wasn't much sun at breakfast, but by lunch time the sky was blue.  The first buds on the sasanqua camellia opened. All I saw were cardinals and chickadees and a wasp.  An eroded area appeared in the sand buffer that was planted with spartina last Spring.  

Two days

Ooops, Sunday slipped away.  It dawned with lovely reflections.  A mockingbird escaped the camera but a Carolina wren posed.  Passing clouds didn't stop the sunshine.  But I didn't take many pictures.  

Monday also began with a placid creek mirroring the far bank.  Blue jays visited early.  I went outside in the late morning but I guess I was too late for the moon.  The giant fungus, as best I could tell is a polypore.  It was still a little soft and bendable but I couldn't see underneath.  I couldn't feel anything like gills or teeth so the most likely spore-producing surface would be pores.  The red aster and the beautyberries were both magenta but the canna was more orange.  Another saltbush toppled over. 

There was a commotion in the grass but I only got a brown blur.  I think two birds were fighting.  One flew into the dogwood and began to sing.  I thought it was some exotic warbler but the photos convinced me it was a Carolina wren.  The tail would have been a giveaway had it not been hidden by a leaf.  

I checked out the venusta orchard spider without a window between us.  It glowed like sun shining through glass.  This time I noticed the small loops of silk in the hub where the spider waits.  

Midday rain

The creek glowed in the early sun while fluffy clouds floated by.  A Carolina wren poked through the sunflower seeds and the barkbutter balls.  A pale female cardinal fledgling visited.  By mid morning it was raining.  

The rain cleared off around mid afternoon and the sunshine returned.  A wasp visited the mountain mint.  The orb web outside my window turned iridescent in the sunlight.  The sun on the window screen made photography difficult.  I believe a turtle was out on the log catching the last rays of the day. 

Humid

I spent most of the day inside at a conference.  When I got home, I saw a mockingbird eating dogwood berries and a blue jay after acorns.  A fuzzy caterpillar crawled along the doorway.  A wasp buzzed around the mountain mint.  The saltbush turned white. 

Farewell for blue water

The pool was closed today.  That always is a sad moment, though the mid September weather put an end to swimming and filled it with tree trash.  I got one blurry shot of a sulphur butterfly.  High clouds streamed past on an East wind and in late afternoon, the sky clouded over.  The red asters were the same color as the beautyberries. 

Humungous fungus

It was another lovely, blue skied day.  A lot of morning glory bit the dust and I think the yard work scared off the birds.  I took myself over to the oak to get some good photos of the fungus.  The milkweed seeds were beginning to fly.  

One skink a-swimming

Brown headed nuthatches came for seeds for breakfast.  Little puffs of cumulus didn't last and the sky was a clear blue in the afternoon.  The temperature came up but a breeze kept it from feeling really warm.  Clumps of dogwood leaves turned yellow and red but everything else was still green.  The canna started another flower and the red aster was blooming.  The fungus by the oak got very big.  A couple of butterfly milkweed pods opened but the seed parachutes weren't quite ready to take off.  Between the beautyberry bush and the dogwood trees, migrating birds should think they've arrived at Berryland. 

I saw ripples in the water and discovered a skink had fallen in.  A little wasp tried to hitch a ride on the skink's tail.  I tried to lift the skink out with a brush, but that scared it and I was forced to use a net.  When I set the net down for it to escape, I saw a skink dash into the vegetation.  But that skink lacked a tail, so I was afraid I'd pinched it off.  I put the net back and went back up the steps to let the dog inside.  When I looked back, the skink I'd rescued emerged from the net with all its tail intact.  

A Carolina wren nibbled at the barkbutter balls.  Chickadees and cardinals ate seeds all day.  I heard blue jays but none came to a feeder while I was watching.  But a bluebird landed on the seed feeder, figured out its mistake, and flew to the barkbutter balls.  I thought I'd spotted something exotic in the trees, but it was just another cardinal fledgling.  

The orchard spider's web caught the afternoon sun again.  Backlighting made the Leucauge venusta spider's legs look like green glass attached to a dark gray striped lozenge.  It makes a web that's almost horizontal compared to other orb weavers.  

Spotted birds

At breakfast, the creek was burnished and glowing russet and green from sunlight on the bank.  Crows noticed the fresh barkbutter balls but had difficulty with feeder dishes designed for songbirds.  

The afternoon sun highlighted an orchard spider's web billowing in the breeze.  Bumblebees found the goldenrod.  A squirrel with a pecan gobstopper clung to the redwood bark. 

I think a turtle was basking on the lake log, but late summer vegetation almost filled my view.  Mallards rested on the dock.  Later a pair paddled away, flirting with head bobs.  

A bird I glimpsed and snapped turned out to be a thrush, probably a hermit thrush.  But a different spotted bird showed up a little later -- a female flicker.  They were both after dogwood berries but the flicker watched all around while I took a dozen pictures before it finally reached for a berry. Got it!.  A mockingbird got a barkbutter ball and escaped while I was watching the others.  Of course the cardinal clan ate seeds.  One of the male fledglings was beginning to get a black mask.

Lovely day

Alas, I missed most of it.  A female cardinal fledgling was thirsty.  A Carolina wren found the fresh barkbutter balls and hammered them into bite-size bits.  High tide washed over the dock.