Mockingbird

Yesterday was still too windy. It was still when I first got up but that didn't last.  I tried to spend time outside in the sunshine but I got too cold.  Finally, today there was just a moderate breeze.  At breakfast, the creek was a mirror.  The sky was very blue all day.  

I went out in the afternoon and found that squirrels were up to all sorts of things, leaping and tail waving and scolding.  The trees were still mostly green, partly because the wind stripped leaves away as fast as they turned.  Chickadees did not let my presence keep them from the seeds.  A mockingbird feasted on beautyberries.  

The mockingbird landed briefly on the feeder post and then on the barkbutter dish.  A couple of vultures soared in circles.  A downy woodpecker was hungry enough to overcome my presence.  Later, cormorants flew home in the low angled sunlight.  

I went around to the fig trees to see if the spiders were still hanging on the wall.  They and their webs had disappeared but I saw single threads glinting all over the fig trees.  However, I did not see any spiders there either.  In front of the house, the purslane had a small flower but it looked about done for the year.  The goldenrod by contrast was in full bloom.  

Catbird

At breakfast, a catbird found the beautyberries and had a feast.  The creek was glassy and full of color in the bright sunlight.  At lunch, some guys K hired cut down two dogwood trees because they had some dead limbs.  My heart hurts.  Flotillas of geese passed by on the creek at supper.  A fat or pregnant gray cat sauntered through the backyard at supper.  

Hot sun

Thinking that the sun would be less intense this close to the equinox, I didn't wait for shade.  The larger bullfrog awaited me in the skimmer.  It acted lethargic but eventually it hopped off my palm and into the water.  I didn't see it again.   A skink rafted on a sinking leaf and I assisted it onto a rescue stick so it could have the satisfaction of saving itself.  A field cricket was also rafting so I set its leaf raft on the concrete.  I also fished out a couple of black ground beetles and a mint moth.  Something tickled my back and after brushing it off  my skin, I saw it was a very tiny spider.  The long-haired yellow cat sneaked past while I was swimming and I yelled at it.  An egret flew behind the trees and something that might have been a kite soared in the hazy blue sky.  The seed eaters were all I saw at the feeders.  Squirrels were busy up in the trees.  The only photos I got were plants.  

Too busy

Yesterday I didn't get outside till very late.  There was a dead frog in the water.  One monarch caterpillar was still feeding.  Today I was a little earlier but all I found swimming was one black ground beetle.  Neither I nor a paper wasp could find any caterpillars.  A few mint moths flitted around the milkweed.  The Berkley's polypore appeared fully developed.  The beautyberries were ripe.  One milkweed pod had opened.  

Dragonfly nymph

I found the monarch caterpillar again and it was growing fast and dumping fress.  A couple of black swallowtail caterpillars ate parsley stems.  A small sulphur butterfly alighted briefly.  I also saw a red spotted purple. When I went for a very late swim, there was a bigger frog with a green jaw under the lid of the skimmer.  It jumped down into the basket full of leaves so I let it stew there for a while.  When I lifted the basket to empty it, the frog jumped into the pool.  I saw it a couple more times but then it disappeared so I think it must have jumped out.  Just in case, I checked the skimmer again and here came a young skink swimming out,  I carried it out onto the patio and took photos.  

I also encountered a dragonfly nymph, perhaps the same one I've seen before.  This time it obligingly clung to the side of the pool steps where I could photograph it.  A kingfisher landed on one of the pilings but didn't stay long.  The Berkley's polypore looked bigger. The hibiscus bloomed again.  The beautyberries were colorful.  A lot of cloud cover and a North wind kept the temperature down but the air was humid.  

 

Steamy

The weather was beastly again, hot and humid.  At least there was a little breeze late in the day.  Another hibiscus flower opened and I saw a bud.  Fearing the green-eyed fly, I put off swimming until late afternoon.  A disgustingly dead frog floated in the water.  A larger live frog hopped out when it saw me.  They are trainable!  I didn't see anything else and I didn't get bit.  Buzzards soared while I dripped.  Beautyberries ripened.  A small plant produced a spray of pink flowers.  Squirrels played under the oak while the polypore fattened.  

Cool

The temperature overnight crept below 70°.  Morning felt cool and damp, in part because a large, heavy cloud seemed stuck overhead.  Once again there were two frogs which I caught.  I have been persuaded that they are young bullfrogs.  In addition, there was a half-grown grasshopper in the skimmer, which amazingly revived.  When I tried to urge it away from the water, it shot straight up into the air.  Is it "pronking" if an animal has six legs?  

A few beautyberries were beginning to blush.  A tiny wasp drowned in the one-hole hummer feeder.  The hummers did not approve.  They were happy when a fresh feeder appeared.  The squirrel was back but, alas, I had no peanuts.  A black swallowtail hunted for parsley, of which there was none.  It shamed me into going to the nursery and buying a pot full.  Toward evening, a little flock of eight mallards gathered on the creek.  The males were in eclipse and only their yellow bills indicated their sex.  

 

Arthropoda

I got in a nice, early swim which was fortunate for a crane fly, a tiny moth, camel and field cricket nymphs, and a big May beetle.  A larger moth and a robber fly were, alas, defunct.  I did not rescue a Japanese beetle.  More interesting insects feasted on the mountain mint and the butterfly milkweed.  The green bee was back along with several other kinds of small bee.  A feather-legged scoliid wasp joined the thread-waisted wasps.  A Macrosiagon dimidiata beetle also fed there.  The orchard spider prospered but I fear the Argiope must have been eaten.  

The fallen cherries were fewer but instead there were hackberry leaves with what looked like shattered galls.  The beautyberry was finished blooming and was making little green berries. Two blossoms opened on the hibiscus.  As I ate supper, I could see a dragonfly in each stake, except when they dashed after prey.  The blue dasher took the shorter stake and the slaty skimmer the larger.   I took that as testimony that it was buggy outside.  Besides, it was very hot and we are at the edge of the smoke hazard from Canadian wildfires.  

Donner und Blitzen

A small sunflower bloomed yesterday.  Then it rained substantially overnight.  More was predicted so I swam in the morning.  Beetles, ants, wasps, and roaches were afloat but I only rescued beetles.  Afterward, I glimpsed a dragonfly and a cabbage white.  The New England aster was blooming.  So was the beautyberry.  At lunch, crows and squirrels ate mealworms.  Carolina wrens and bluebirds were unhappy that the dishes were covered against future rain.  A blown leaf fragment fooled me into thinking it was a mantis.  

A thunderstorm arrived around 2:30pm  and rain hammered the pavement.  By 3pm the thunder was loud and the lightning close, while the light was very low.  We lost Internet connectivity for about 22 hours.

Solstice

I swam in the morning while there was still some shade and rescued a handful of brown scarab Phyllophaga May beetles and one ladybug.  I think the ladybug was dead though.  A tiger swallowtail tried to wrestle nourishment out of a fancy daylily.   The beautyberry started to blom.  We went to a sunset vigil and a mockingbird circled overhead.  The first quarter moon had a faint halo.  

 

Too much running around

Yesterday the money plant pods were fully dried and ready to disperse seeds.  A green pod appeared on the milkweed.  The sky was mostly cloudy.  I saw a young rabbit on my way home. Today, instead, I saw an egret perched on something sticking up out of Pretty Lake.  

At home, a Carolina wren visited the glass dish.  A mockingbird followed but the crow stuck to the easy pickings off the patio.  I rescued many beetles but left alone a yellow fly, a bit bigger than a housefly but the same shape.  The New England aster began to bloom and there were tiny pink buds on the beautyberry and the mountain mint.  I saw a skink but it hid behind foliage.  Wasps were busy.  

Nuthatches

The birds slept in but after breakfast they came in a wave.  Two brown headed nuthatches appeared to be courting.  A mockingbird, a bluebird, and a Carolina wren were more interested in eating.  So were the seed feeder trio - chickadee, cardinal, and house finch.  A brown thrasher got away without a photo.  Bluebirds and blue jays were more cooperative.  The male red bellied woodpecker returned.  

I went outside after lunch and saw lots of butterflies.  The black and tiger swallowtails were recognizable but not the brownish orange ones.  I think there were dragonflies as well but I didn't get any pictures of them either.  Wasps worked hard.  Rain started after 2pm but wasn't heavy and didn't last very long.  The pink evening primrose started blooming.  Bud clusters formed on the milkweed.  The beautyberry leafed out.  White throated sparrows were still here but rushing around and hard to capture.  A vulture and an osprey flew over.  

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.  

Spiders

The roes bush Argiope made an egg sack.  No change to the black swallowtail chrysalis, but I located two monarch chrysalises.  The puss moth caterpillar was definitely dead.  I learned that it was a Southern flannel moth Megalopyge opercularis and that puss moth also refers to a quite different caterpillar.  A mabel orchard spider, Leucauge argyrobapta, moved in next to the black swallowtail chrysalis.  The wind made the web bounce, frustrating camera focus.  A sizable web under the hackberry had snagged some leaves.  There was no sign of its maker which I'm betting was an Araneus.  A couple of butterflies had a dance-fight in the air over territory.  The tattered winner, a red spotted purple, rested in the wild cherry.  A skink scuttled out of view into the mulch.  

Unlike yesterday, nothing needed rescue from a watery grave.  I identified the little blue flowers as Siberian bugloss, Brunnera macrophylla.   Two moonflowers opened at the base of the step railing.  The beautyberry was at its peak.  The first camellia flower of the season opened.   The rain last week got into the bird feeder and sunflower seeds germinated.  The sky clouded over as afternoon became evening.  

Caterpillars

Thin, high clouds reduced the warmth of the sun and the breeze felt cold.  I found one missing spider.  It had just moved upward a couple of feet.  The Argiope by the rosebush enlarged its web.  I occurred to me that for several weeks I haven't seen any of the mama spiders that walk on water.  Nor have I seen much in the way of web-building spiders except these yellow garden spiders.  All five monarch caterpillars and one black swallowtail caterpillar were still present.  The monarchs were still eating but the swallowtail was motionless.  The chrysalis had not yet opened.  

Between the dogwood and the beautyberry there was plenty for birds to eat but I didn't see any doing so.  In fact, the only birds I noticed were two flying fast upstream as they glinted silver in the sunlight.  I don't know what they were.  My only water rescue was an assassin bug nymph.  Two red spotted purples hung around the pool.  

 

Chilly

By lunch, a white sky dimmed the sun and the breeze came in chilly gusts.  The caterpillars were all still present and I located the three Argiope spiders, though one had moved up to the wall above the door which seemed like an odd place to hang out.  It also seemed strange that the monarch caterpillars chewed on the milkweed pods which I'd think would be tougher than leaves, not to mention needful for future generations of caterpillars.  

I found a defunct cicada afloat.  The millipede, Oxidus gracili, from yesterday was definitely a goner.  On the other hand, I rescued another millipede, an isopod, a wasp, a small brown spider, and four pale green assassin bugs, two of which were quite lively.  The other two were tangled together and I moved them near one that was recovering.  It scuttled over to investigate, and possibly cannibalize!  A red spotted purple briefly danced over the water.  Dogwood leaves began to lose their chlorophyll.  Beautyberries turned magenta.  A Carolina wren hid behind rose thorns.  I startled a young skink.  This has been a memorably dry August.  Rainfall was only 1.6" and the average is 5.8" though I'm sure that includes some hurricanes.  

Cloudy

The wind ruffled feathers as a great blue heron perched on a dock piling.  I saw a little azure flitting around the beautyberry.  It might be what ate the leaves off one branch.  More berries turned red.  I swam, and disposed of a very dead skink, despite dark clouds that discouraged lingering.  The spiders each had a snack wrapped up.  I startled a Carolina wren on the patio.  After I put out fresh hummer juice, a female appeared.  

Pleasant

The weather seemed to have a theme for late August, post Erin.  The days have been sunny, breezy, and mellow 80s.  As usual, a Carolina wren and a house finch were the first visitors of the day.  Small, shredded cumulus clouds drifted out to sea.  Erin did not blow the hummers away, not even the male.  I got many pictures of his gilded gorgeousness today.  

Birds nibbled unenthusiastically on the shriveled wild cherries. A blue dasher obelisked on a perch but soon gave up.  I don't know why because there certainly were mosquitoes.  There were butterflies but they were unwilling to be identified.  I am still wondering what ate the leaves off one branch of the beautyberry.  I don't mind the leaf loss, I just want to know that king of butterfly or moth to expect.  The "authorities" all say beautyberry has no insect pests which is not helpful.  

While swimming, I rescued a black bee and a weary skink.  I thought I saw a frog but, if so, it disappeared.  Another blue-tailed skink crept down the steps.  The lobes of the fungus make it look a bit like an unfolding flower.  The largest black swallowtail caterpillar looked like it was thinking of pupating.  The largest Argiope caught its dinner while we ate ours.  They are so still most of the time that it is startling how quickly they move to secure prey.  A young cardinal foraged around the birdbath.  

 

Cicada

The morning sky was white from a thin overcast and not much was happening at breakfast time.  Cornell shared a link for a Fall bird Migration Dashboard but it indicates this is not yet the time for Virginia.  A Carolina wren finally came for suet.  The spiders were, of course, patient.  Around 2pm, the sky cleared enough for sunshine.  Fluffy cumulus blew away to the West while a high layer of cirrocumulus slid slowly East.  I went outside and a cicada buzzed past to land on the feeder post.  A blue dasher decided that was way too big a bug.  

The clouds dissipated and the sun became very hot.  The fungus under the oak seemed bigger but still looked like fresh bread.  Some beautyberry clusters showed a hint of red.  I located the three black swallowtail caterpillars again, though I was expecting the biggest one to have gone off to pupate.  It looked like it might stay right there for the change. 

Lots of butterflies were on the wing but few stopped to pose.  One that did was a dark swallowtail that I think might be a dark phase tiger swallowtail.  It rested on a dogwood leaf long enough for me to get out of the water, get the camera, and stalk it.  Eventually it flew to a lower bush and then danced in the air with another dark butterfly.  It disappeared, then a dark butterfly I thought was the same one flew to the top of the wild cherry where it seemed to be laying eggs.  Seeing the wings against the bright sky lent some proof to the tiger hypothesis.  

A red spotted purple drank from the pool, then rested on the concrete.  Unlike the swallowtail, it was quite tattered.  Another, in better shape, rested on a maple leaf.  I also glimpsed a monarch, a hackberry emperor, a summer azure, a sleepy orange, and others I couldn't identify.  

In the late afternoon, a fresh sheet of cirrocumulus rolled out of the West.  It moved on through quickly and the sunlight returned.  A female widow skimmer landed on one of the perches, then switched to another.  A male hummer visited the feeder but the light didn't catch his gorget. 

Thunderstorm

The suet-loving Carolina wren was up early.  A white breasted nuthatch repeatedly visited the suet, as did the Carolina wren.  Another fledgling cardinal showed up with papa bringing it food from the feeder.  A molting bluebird (a fledgling, I think) landed on the post, got a drink from the ant moat, inspected the empty barkbutter dish, then turned to the suet.  

A fresh search of the milkweed revealed two monarch caterpillars.  One was eating flowers and the other was hiding under a leaf.  When I checked the rue, the two minuscule black swallowtail caterpillars had more than doubled in size.  A wasp was prowling around the canna.  The little Argiope there looked about the same.  I couldn't find any caterpillars there, but bare stalks of ground cherry proved at least one was at work.  Something ate all the leaves off a beautyberry branch, leaving the berries alone.  

In the water I encountered the crab I spotted yesterday.  It tried to pinch my toes but its claws were too small.  Anyway, I caught it and set it on the patio as I thought it was a mud crab, not a swimmer.  It scuttled into an expansion joint but I hope it later made its way back downhill to the creek.  A dark skipper hunted for the few remaining mountain mint flowers.  I glimpsed a prince baskettail on patrol overhead.  

Dramatic clouds piled up to the South and West and the prophesied storm finally arrived around 6pm.  There wasn't a lot of lightning but plenty of rain fell.  By the time it stopped, the light was failing, but I saw the intrepid wren come back for more suet.  A downy followed.  A very wet cardinal landed on the seed feeder.