Damp

The rain trailed off in the morning but the day remained gray.  There were more birds at the seed feeder, including a Carolina wren, a very wet downy, a brown headed nuthatch, and a red bellied woodpecker.  A mockingbird ate beautyberries.  A mourning dove plodded through the wet. 

 An orb web was made visible by moisture.  The hummer feeder filled up with rain water so I took it down.  The ant moat filled too and a bucket left outside was more than half full.  While cleaning the pool, I found a brown marmorated stink bug.  I rescued a small beetle and a jumping bristletail.  Southern purple mint moths perched on many surfaces.  After I showered I noticed a bold jumping spider had joined me. 

Smells of gunpowder

There were far fewer insects in the water today, but I did save a bristletail, along with a few ground beetles.  The mama spider was holed up in the niche where the pool steps attach to the pool wall.    

The male hummingbird was still hanging around.  A female perched on the wire holding the feeder.  A white breasted nuthatch visited the seed feeder but I'm afraid I startled it.  A young night heron perched on a post and slept. 

A nymph assassin bug lurked beneath the mountain mint flowers, rubbing its legs together like a villain in a melodrama.  I think the bees may have been too big for it because some came quite close before seeing the bug and darting away.  I saw sand wasps, mud wasps, and a common threadwaist and about six kinds of bee, including honeybees, also a leatherwing beetle.

A slaty skimmer used the bamboo stake nearest the mountain mint but was after much smaller prey than bees.  A twelve-spotted skimmer patrolled about 15 feet up and seemed to be catching lots of prey.  I had better luck than usual trying to take its picture.  Another dragonfly rode the topmost pine candle. 

The crescent moon was overhead in the afternoon and still above the trees at twilight.  Even more than the usual amount of illicit fireworks made continuous noise from 8 to 11pm.  But for all the booms and bangs, I saw no sparkles except for a few fireflies.  

Very hot

A hummer visited briefly and I saw a titmouse and a chickadee share the seed feeder.  Dragonflies enjoyed the humidity, if not the heat.  Female blue dashers seemed to occupy every vantage point.

A variegated fritillary egged some plants growing in the french drain.  I rescued a spider that promptly dived back in.  I also rescued a robber fly, some beetles, and a couple of bristletails.

A curled leaf amused me with its reflections and illusions.

Windy

Juvenile titmice were everywhere all day, acting naive and silly.  An egret hunted in the dam outfall.  A blue tailed skink ran from the rosemary to the azalea, then back, then across the step to the birdbath, then who knows where.

The hibiscus was loaded with flowers and the canna began blooming.  The calendula was gone to seed, making me think its a biennial.  Gladiolus and the sakaki bush were finished blooming.  The double orange day lilies were taking their turn. The beautyberry was in flower.  And it looked like the blueberries came and went while I was away.

I husked corn I picked up from the farm stand at the library and dislodged a corn ear worm that appeared about ready to pupate.  There were dragonflies and butterflies, but they struggled with the wind.  It was hot enough to make the dragonflies obelisk.  Something left a nasty sploge of vomit or feces on the lower patio which engaged the attention of a cloud of flies.  I rescued the usual spiders and beetles and saw a water strider and a bristletail in the act of molting.  I caught aglimpse of a damselfly with a blue thorax in the mulch beyond the deep end.  A golden digger wasp was too late to get much from the rue, but bumblebees were even later. 

A cardinal landed on the windowsill and gawked at me but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.  A little green heron alerted me by squawking and I saw it fly to the bulkhead across the creek.  A brown thrasher picked wild cherries, as did a squirrel.  Hummers made regular visits.  Both male and female bluebirds came for mealworms but wouldn't wait for a picture.  Even more shy was a red bellied woodpecker that landed on the maple. 

The wind piled up clouds in a thin layer, then blew them away.  They made herringbone patterns that looked fractal.  More clouds arrived at dusk. 

Morning sun, afternoon rain

A leaf-footed bug landed on the window after breakfast.  Egrets fished in the dam outfall but elsewhere the creek was quiet.  A great blue heron showed up later.  Doves foraged under the feeder.  A Carolina wren poked its head in then disappeared.  The morning glories didn't close till noon.  Something hopped around the cherry and never let me get a clear photo but I think it was a white eyed vireo.

The tide was high at mid day.  The same or another argiope appeared in the same part of the spartina as the one I saw back in August.  I saw a cloudless sulphur and a red spotted purple flitted all over. Something else zipped past leaving an impression of eyespots.  I rescued a skipper from the water.  Also a spider, beetles, crickets, bristletails, and a two lined spittlebug.  Orange aphids infested one stalk of milkweed.  Despite the chewed leaves I could not find caterpillars.  One half grown black swallowtail caterpillar was finishing off a nearly denuded parsley. 

A sizeable gray russula mushroom popped up under the hackberry.  Speaking of which, I tasted a hackberry berry and it was kind of sweet and gritty like a pear.  A few stalks of goldenrod were blooming.

After lunch, a titmouse joined the regulars on the feeder.  The rain that had been threatening for hours finally arrived at 4pm.  It did not last too long.  But it got birds excited and I saw some kind of warbler with a yellow breast, possibly a yellow breasted chat.

The sun reappeared but not for long.  The sky was overcast when the sun set. 

Cloudy

Sunshine was predicted.  Humpf.  A couple of blue jays raided the mealworms and got away before I had the camera fired up.  Hummers visited.  At least three doves were hanging around.  The birdbath had dried out which disappointed a squirrel.  She came to the watering can and peered through the window at me.  I say "she" because another squirrel was following and attempting the sniff test. The sky cleared at lunch.  A downy woodpecker visited the feeder.

Afterward, I started to dismantle the birdhouse that blew down and discovered a paper wasp nest inside.  Now I know how hard a yellow-kneed wasp can sting.  It seemed to be hunting me for a while so I was reluctant to take the camera outside - too much to remember if I had to run. Naturally I saw all kinds of cool stuff without any pictures to prove it.  A cicada killer roamed the steps.  A palamedes and a black swallowtail hung around.  A yellow sulphur flitted through.  Skippers, dusky and fiery, fed on the lavender and the morning glory.  And a lovely emerald female pondhawk also hunted around the steps.  I rescued a spider. a two-lined spittlebug adult, a bristletail, and a blue tailed skink. 

In addition I saw a bird in the trees that I couldn't identify, especially as all I could see was its tummy and the head it cocked curiously at me.  The closest match seemed to be a red eyed vireo, which would be a new bird for me if I could be sure. The snowy egrets were still attracted to the dam outfall which was still emptying the excess rain from three lakes. 

Hazy and hot

A little rain must have fallen overnight and condensation blurred the windows at breakfast but it was already hot.  A hummer fed at breakfast.  The yellow crowned night heron was back on the rocks below the dam.  An egret fished along the bulkhead across the creek.  Two yellow crowned night herons flew upstream and a little later back down again.  Then one came back and perched in the pine beside the dock.

I saw a fiery skipper on the mealworm hanger of all places.  I rescued a robber fly, a green June beetle, a leafhopper, a bristletail, a caterpillar, and a sidewalk tiger beetle from the water.  I think the caterpillar, the leafhopper, and the robber fly were too far gone.  I also noticed that iridescent pieces of beetle exoskeleton and dragonfly heads had apparently been discarded.  A few dragonflies were on patrol, including a saddlebags. 

Birds flocked to the blueberries.  I saw robins and a blue jay for certain, and I think starlings and grackles, and possibly a mockingbird.  They paid no attention to my floating head but I couldn't take pictures like that.  The male goldfinch tore into the zinnias.  Crows were everywhere.  Hummer(s) visited flowers as well as the feeder.

Dark clouds boiled up around mid afternoon and there was a little lightning and thunder.  The tide was high when a yellow crowned night heron stalked along the spartina when I got back from my meeting. Finally, as we ate supper, a sprinkle of rain fell.  The sun shone the whole time as it was low in the West.I hoped for a rainbow, but couldn't see any. 

Another hot one

A couple of titmice queued up with the regulars.  A Carolina wren saw the mealworm dish was empty so I hurried to refill it but the wren didn't come back.  K swapped the hummer feeders which is possible now that we have two.  A hummer soon came to it.  An unusual looking bird was eating cherries.  It was a young robin with another behind it.

An entomologist friend pointed out that this is National Moth Week.  Who knew?  I saved another bristletail in the pool.  The female slaty skimmer was back and I also saw a big darner that never paused.  A black swallowtail visited the rue.  A yellow crowned night heron lurked in the dam outfall. A large reddish skink dashed under the rosemary. 

Still hot and dry

An egret stood on the dock bench.  I rescued a cricket, a beetle, another green leafhopper, and (I think) a bristletail.  A dragonfly monitored the proceedings.  We ate both figs and blueberries from our yard.  I don't remember their seasons overlapping before. 

At lunch, a male towhee landed on the wire holding the mealworm dish but was startled off by a Carolina wren.  Hummers were hungry and continued to check out the gladiolus.

Toward evening the sun descended into a smear of stratus clouds.  Dragonflies zipped around at suppertime.  A titmouse came for seeds.  The wrens cleaned out their dish.  The hummer(s) seemed off-put by something at their feeder, but  eventually settled in for a drink.  It may have been a wasp.  A dove just stood on the first step until suddenly two squirrels raced past.  The dove took off like a dowager surprised by urchins running under her skirts.  A bit later, I noticed one of the pool-brush poles was rolling toward the water.  It went right in and out came a dripping squirrel.