Windy

The temperature dropped hard overnight and today did not warm up as much, plus the wind peeled off the sun's warmth.  The wind also grounded birds.  A song sparrow hugged the patio but chickadees ventured after seeds.  Most of the leaves were gone from the beautyberry bush.  

Warm sun

The clouds cleared in the morning and the temperature climbed.  It was 70 most of the afternoon.  Another rose opened and so did a moonflower.  However, the wind was still pushing high tide over the dock.  With a first quarter moon, we would normally have moderate rise and fall.  I could not find the orchard spider but surprised a field cricket.  A Virginia creeper vine turned scarlet.  I saw an egret and some ducks and songbirds that didn't come close.  The moon rose as the sun set but the sky was too hazy to see much detail except along the terminator.  

Wet wind

Yellow rose buds didn't seem to mind the weather.  Rain washed leaves were colorful despite the gloomy overcast.  A squirrel ate dogwood berries.  Chickadees visited the seed feeder once the rain tapered off.  They were joined by a pine warbler and a cardinal, both male.  Then a female bluebird landed on the post.  The warbler moved over to the suet.  The rain returned and I didn't see anything more.  

Stormy

The Northeast wind blew high tide over the dock.  Rain spotted the windows.  No birds visited and I certainly didn't go out looking for bugs.  

 

Nuthatch & bluebird

The overcast sky let occasional sunbeams slip through in the morning.  Brown headed nuthatches competed with chickadees and house finches for seeds.  Tufted titmice had a harder time getting their share.  A bluebird watched from atop a dogwood but came no closer.  A squirrel carried a nut past the birdbath but took it somewhere else to bury.  

When I went out to close the feeders, a chilled wasp was sitting on the watering can.  

 

Arthropods

Cumulus clouds sailed on a North wind but the sun shone most of the time.  The mabel orchard spider's web had caught a lot of saltbush fluff but, as I watched, something tiny flew into the web and the spider ran to capture it.  When I came back inside I saw a brown stinkbug on the window.  I released it outdoors though I suspect it was a pest.  I did a little pruning and a red spotted purple flitted by.  It nestled into a clump of dogwood leaves out of the wind.  The milkweed seeds had mostly floated away but one was still stuck.  The sack of spider eggs that I moved to the sakaki was still in place.  I was too chilly outside and didn't linger.  

Still sunny and chilly

Thursday a cormorant landed on a dock post and hung its wings out to dry.  When it first flew in for a landing, I thought it was a buzzard.  The sky was a brilliant blue.  While I was on the phone before lunch Friday, a stream of titmice came for seeds and a Carolina wren for barkbutter balls.  I hung up and that was the last I saw of them.  A moonflower opened but only part way.  A squirrel ate dogwood berries.  

2 great egrets

While at the kitchen sink I looked out and saw a particularly energetic petal on a camellia blossom.  I was just beginning to think it might be a hairstreak butterfly when it flew away.  The orchard spider's web took a beating from the wind.   A titmouse hammered a seed in the cedar.  Two great egrets shared the back of the bench but one looked smaller than the other.  Size and proximity made me wonder if they were parent and offspring.  

Warm but gusty

A great egret rested on the neighbors' floating dock.  I wanted to photograph the insects that visited the yellow rose but the wind kept bouncing it. There was a spotted cucumber beetle   Diabrotica undecimpunctata, a honeybee, and a leafhopper.  A brown skipper landed on a gladiolus leaf.  Blurry, see-through clouds lined up in rows and later became cirrus brushstrokes.  Indoors, a little bumblebee bumbled around the bathroom.  I tried to swat a mosquito in the shower.  

Yellow flowers

In the back yard the yellow rose bloomed and in the front yard there was a flower on the Carolina jessamine.  They are not supposed to bloom at the same time.  The orchard spider's web caught fluff from the saltbush.  I took the scenic rout home from the library but saw nothing.  

Skink!

Despite the warmth, the Southwest breeze was gusty and there were passing clouds in a hazy sky.  While I was outside in the sunshine, a couple of blue jays flew into the red cedar.   A young lizard scuttled along the edge of the pool cover.   I checked on the sheet web and on the orchard spider whose web was a mess from the wind.  The moonflower that failed to fully open gave up and withered..  

Catching up

So little seemed to be happening that I skipped several days.  The weather was sunny but with a chilly North wind.  Last night, two little moths were drawn by inside light to cling to the window.  Since today was warmer, I spent the afternoon outside.  The sky was very blue with a few cirrus wisps.  

The sheet web spider seemed to have expanded its snare but I could not persuade the spider to appear.  The web caught a lot of non-food debris.  The mabel orchard spider was quite visible and active.  Its legs look green in the shade but black in the sun.  I also found a very small orb in the rosebush.  A cloudless sulphur flitted across the yard.  Even though butterflies appear to be moving without haste, they are very hard to photograph when they don't land.  I think the other flying insects I saw were wasps.  

A partially opened moonflower seemed stuck.  The moonflowers waited out the chilly evenings.  The beautyberries were at their peak.  The Siberian bugloss seemed to have finished blooming.  The saltbush seed fluff blew everywhere but the milkweed seed comas were not persuaded.  The hickory joined the dogwood in fall colors.  A bud appeared on the yellow rose.  I could hear a blue jay and crows but never saw them or what they were yelling about.  Maybe the black cat I saw later pausing below the steps to scratch?

A squirrel carried on with its tail, prompting me to wonder if it was in heat and trying to spread the scent.  Later I saw a pair of squirrels play-chasing up and down the redwood trunk, but I don't know if the same squirrel was involved.   A great blue heron grew upset with the disturbance.  I saw quite a few gulls or terns, not sure which, but they appeared small and white.    A cormorant paddled downstream.  Mallards paddled up, down, and across the water.  As sunset neared, a great blue heron stood on one of the dock posts.  

Water birds

Sunshine was promised but it didn't arrive till lunch.  Two moonflowers were slowly folding up.  I don't think any of the moonflowers have been fertilized.  I saw a pair of mallards but let them go without a picture since I got that nice one the other day of the female rising up and flapping herself.  Then I spotted a kingfisher on one of the dock posts, but unfortunately the photos were overexposed so I don't know if it was male or female.  A great blue heron seemed agitated.  It put on a threat display across the creek, but then flew to our side.  

 

Dreary

The rain stopped yesterday and I was outside for a short while but it was long enough to get bit up.  The tide was up in the grass again.  A Carolina wren had some suet.  I relocated one sack of spider eggs from the rose to the sakaki so it wouldn't get pruned.   I also moved the chrysalis to the feeder pole outside my window because the dead rue will probably be cut down.  I think the rue died of old age.  It must have been more than thirty years ago when I planted it and its an herb not a shrub.  The orchard spider was disturbed but its web was still intact.  

Purslane was still blooming around the front patio and the Carolina jessamine tentatively opened a few buds.  The lantana had quit blooming but spread all over the flower bed.  Peppers were ripening.  Today rain fell for much of the day but didn't amount to much.  A few birds ate seeds but there really wasn't much to see and nothing to photograph.  The tide continued to run high.  

Northeaster

I skipped yesterday because it was gloomy and windy and damp and lacking in wildlife.  Today was about the same with higher tides and a few of the usual birds - cardinals, chickadees, geese.  There were some flickers of sun before noon but mostly there was drizzle.  A flood warning will last into tomorrow, courtesy of what was briefly Tropical Storm Jerry.  Somewhere along the way we also had Karen named and dissipated.  Anyway, they left us with a wind from the Northeast to push water into the estuaries.  

Storm coming

There was sunshine early but it grew progressively weak and watery and by evening the cloud cover was thick.  The yellow long-haired cat prowled around the far side of the pool.  The temperature was too low to swim so I tried to skim leaves with a pole, not very successfully.  The orchard spider caught some fuzz from the saltbush.  Mallards were having a good time out on the creek.  Tropical storms were predicted for the next few days.  

Nutty squirrel

The sun was back but the Northeast wind was much cooler and gusty.  Birds flew too fast for me to identify.  A squirrel was more cooperative because it had a peanut to hide.  It seemed to be aware of me though I was inside and not smell-able.  Anyway, I think it faked me out and didn't actually bury the peanut by the birdbath.  

Rain

The sky was gray and in the late morning it started to drip.  A cardinal and a few chickadees wanted seeds anyway.  Carolina wrens poked their beaks into crannies.  The moonflower and the saltbush flowered white and the sky began to clear in the North toward evening.

 

Last summery day

I got a new angle on the orchard spider and it looked quite different in bright sun.   The swallowtail chrysalis was very brown.  Today was even warmer than yesterday so I got one last swim. I rescued two mama spiders that ran off with their spiderlings and an Asian horntail, but I don't know if it revived,  The mosquitoes were thick - they must have read the weather prediction.  Clouds were building up when I went back inside.  

Moonflower

Beautiful creek reflections enhanced the view at breakfast.  I went out in the afternoon determined to swim.  But first I admired the orchard spider and the swallowtail chrysalis to which the web was attached.  Crows were hanging out around the creek.  The pool water was full of field crickets and various sorts of black beetles.  I also rescued a leaf-footed bug and a couple of leafhoppers.  One was a greenish gray that would blend in with lichens and the other appeared black.  The angle of the sun revealed a big web next to the feeder post.  I think it belonged to an Agelenopsis spider that weaves sheets with a funnel where the spider lurks.  

The milkweed pods were open but the seeds weren't flying.  They make a simple gauge of humidity.  As I was dripping dry, I realized that a moonflower was starting to open.  I caught it in the act.   

 

Song sparrow

A blue jay noticed the fresh barkbutter balls and proclaimed its delight.  The sun caught a belated moonflower.  A stream of titmice came to the seed feeder.  Then a song sparrow landed on the bench but soon left.  A Carolina wren poked at the seeds and was joined by a chickadee.  

In the afternoon I walked around the pool.  Some small insects thrashed on the water.  The orchard spider was still in the same spot, just below the black swallowtail chrysalis.  The canna put out an impressive bloom.  Too bad the hummingbirds weren't here to appreciate it.  Two moonflowers opened.  I wish the air would warm up so I could get in a final swim.  

 

Berry picking

Sunrise light bounced off the opposite creek bank and painted the water orange and green.  Then I had a meeting.  A Carolina wren came for lunch.  After lunch, I went outside to enjoy the sunshine even though the wind made the low 70s feel chilly.  I heard but did not see crows and a blue jay.  The dogwoods were all showing some fall coloration, but everything else was still green.  Birds ate berries behind a curtain of leaves, frustrating the camera.  A branch moves differently when something tugs on a berry than when the wind gusts.  Finally I got a blurry shot of a mockingbird in the dogwood.  I never did see what was eating beautyberries, perhaps a female cardinal.  

Mallards dabbled under the bulkhead.  There were bugs in the water but it was too cold to rescue them.  One looked waspish.  The other was a spiny assassin bug.   A dark butterfly circled the yard but refused to alight.  One moonflower blossom opened.  

Bright sun, chilly wind

It is probably psychological, but ever since the equinox I've noticed the shortening of daylight.  Maybe the moonflowers affected my perception?  They were still open when I ate breakfast.  A titmouse had to wait for its breakfast because a cardinal was being grumpy.  A Carolina wren chose suet instead.  It looked grumpy too.  There were no moonflowers in the evening.  

 

Still cool

The state issued a [DRAFT] Wildlife Action Plan.  The day cycled through sun and clouds.  A Carolina wren refused to cooperate with the camera.  The drake that was hanging around yesterday flaunted his white belly.  Other mallards did not seem impressed.  I wonder if he might be part domestic duck?  The saltbush bloomed and the tide ran high again.  

I went outside after dark to close the birdfeeders and saw many moons.  A second moonflower vine had a blossom and the first had three.  Overhead, the original moon was waxing gibbous with a colorful cloud halo.  

Sunny

I got excited by the sunshine but the gusty Northeast wind held the temperature down and discouraged me.  The tide ran very high considering that the moon was neither new nor full.  The only wildlife was the feral black cat, some mallards, and a cardinal pair.  The moonflower vine continued to bloom.  Sunset turned the sky gold.  There must have been some thin mist to catch the light.