Pleasant

Sunshine was reflected by the quiet creek.  K put peanuts for the crow but two squirrels squabbled over them till they were all gone.  Titmice came early for seeds.  Then, at lunch, a mockingbird was determined to get barkbutter balls, even while K was outside at the grill.  A bumblebee staggered across the patio - too much mountain mint?  I saw hummers at the feeder several times throughout the day.  Also, a monarch and a tiger swallowtail flitted past but only the fiery skippers posed.  

In the afternoon, fluffy cumulus blew past from the WNW.   A skink lay on the step wall mostly in the shade.  I discovered that the Argiope was not missing.  It had simply moved to the other side of its web.  A hummer guarded the feeder from an old hibiscus stalk.  A robber fly and a lacewing did not revive after I fished them out of the water.  I twice caught a frog but I think it was the same frog.  

 

Thunder

I had a lot of running around town before I could swim.  In the water with me were beetles, tiny bees and wasps, two bumblebees, and too many spiders.  One soon-to-be-mother perched on the twig I had propped on the ladder as an escape route.  She clutched her pearl of eggs with her back legs.  As I dripped off, a hummer visited the feeder.  A brown thrasher, a mockingbird, and other birds visited the cherry tree.  Another hummer tested the milkweed and the roses for nectar.  

The mountain mint hosted carpenter bees and leaf-cutter bees, thread-waisted and scoliid wasps, and skippers.  The orchard spider was still above the azalea.  We had a flower on the hibiscus.  Thunder began in the late afternoon but the sky was blue to the North.  So I looked out the front windows and that was another story.  But the rain didn't reach us till 6pm.  A wren hurried to get some supper.

!@#$% fly

For various reasons I didn't swim till late in the day.  There was still a lot of tree trash in the water but also some interesting critters.  I rescued a bumblebee, a mama spider, a robber fly, and numerous scarabs.  The twig I propped on the ladder gave escape to a beetle and a spider.  I found an odd-looking insect on a floating leaf.  It appeared to be a small yellow-green fly but the hind legs were splayed like a frog.  It didn't move and its wings may have been stuck to the leaf.  But as I was looking at it, a tabanid fly came at me.  It chased me dripping all the way to the house and I left puddles inside.  I have no trouble understanding why Beelzebub is demon.  And that is why I got no pictures.

The tale of squirrel and crow

After the storm it was much cooler and very nice.  The crow came looking for a handout.  The squirrel helped itself to the birds' food in the hanging dishes.  The crow watched and thought about trying to do the same but didn't quite figure out how.  At one point they were nearly nose to beak and the squirrel was feeling feisty.   The pool was full of water and detritus.  I helped a bumblebee and a wasp and a few beetles.   A skink rushed across the steps faster than I could focus.  

Fierce heat

A crow got breakfast where K had scattered barkbutter balls on the patio.  I noticed it had some white spots on its right wing.  A mockingbird ate from the dish which I refilled.  So did a bluebird.  There was water in the birdbath from yesterday's rain and enough humidity to keep it from evaporating.  

The temperature rose so fast that I went swimming in the morning while there was still shade.  Storm winds had re-trashed the water with leaves, needles, catkins, bark, and unidentified tree fragments.  I rescued a bumblebee, a huge black ant, and three black beetles, but mostly I just kept sweeping up armloads of vegetative detritus.  

The thermometer registered 98°.  Only chickadees and titmice came out in the midday sun.  I also saw a few wasps and one tiger swallowtail, but no dragonflies.  Later in the afternoon, a fledgling crow begged outside my window.  Its parent was refusing to feed it but keeping an eye on it.  

At supper, a brown headed nuthatch joined the queue for seeds.  A Carolina wren shopped around the feeders.  

 

End of the hear wave

A myrtle warbler breakfasted on barkbutter balls.  Then three starlings argued about who would eat first.  A white throat headed for the mulch to look for seeds.  A blue jay followed the starlings.  A different myrtle warbler tried the jelly.  One white throat appeared to be molting and looked a mess.  I saw an orange butterfly about the size of a cabbage white.

The sun was still bright at lunch.  Afterward I took the camera to the front yard.  Pollinators were busy around the jessamine but too fast for me to photograph.   The bumblebees buzz-pollinating the blueberries were a little slower.  Clouds rolled through and the wind made 70° feel a little chilly.  

I spotted some money plant flowers.   The birds stayed away while I was outside but showed up as soon as I came in.  Bluebirds and the red bellied woodpecker scarcely waited for the door to close.  A mockingbird came but by then the barkbutter dish was empty so it headed for the jelly.  I hadn't refilled the barkbutter balls because rain was predicted.  Around 4pm the sky darkened and the wind picked up and the temperature started dropping.  A rain shower passed through around 5:30pm but hardly wetted the birdbath.  A very red sunset glowed through the trees.  

Warmer

A blue jay demanded breakfast.  The song sparrow hunted for its own meal.  A starling arrived after the dish was empty.  A white throat posed flaunting its field marks.  A downy worked to extract the last morsels of suet, but dropped some.  The sunshine felt warm but the breeze did not. 

The temperature sneaked above 70° at lunch before dropping back to the upper 60s.  While I only saw a bumblebee, I expect the birds found more insects to eat.  The regulars visited the feeders but didn't seem especially hungry. The male pileated wanted some suet but little remained.  Annoyingly, a brown thrasher on the barkbutter dish kept its back to me.  A pair of doves perched in the oak.  Bluebirds ate seeds.  They like something in the mix I bought from WBU.  A crow hoped to find something tasty.  

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.  

Many rescues

After a week without sunshine, it blazed all day!  A Carolina wren picked through the stale barkbutter balls.  I found a monarch chrysalis in the mountain mint.  The black swallowtail chrysalis was unchanged.  The two Argiope spiders were prospering.  A cloud of no-see-ums entangled with the rosebush web.  The Berkely's polypore was buried in tree debris.  

At last the air was warm enough for me to consider swimming.  This was fortunate for two young skinks, a wheel bug and a leaf-footed bug, something that looked like a small Mayfly, a lacewing, a bumblebee, several crickets, a mama spider with a load of spiderlings, some things I couldn't identify, and a brown furry lump that I think was a puss caterpillar.  I was extremely careful with that one.  One of the skinks took a close look at the leaf-footed bug, then left it alone.  Later I saw a wasp hunting around the area where the caterpillar had been floating.  I wonder if the wasp had captured and dropped it.  

Butterflies

A Carolina wren greeted the morning with suet for breakfast.  A downy followed.  The spiders hadn't moved.  The creek was quietly reflective now that the hurricane was gone.  I found three black swallowtail caterpillars and lots of evidence of hornworm feasting on ground cherry leaves, but no sign of the monarch caterpillars. 

There were clouds today but otherwise the morning was as nice as yesterday.  Butterflies thought so.  I saw a tiger swallowtail, a monarch, a dark butterfly that behaved like a red spotted purple and a small, yellow butterfly I think was a sleepy orange.  The name would fit because at noon it was trying to get nectar from a morning glory that had already been pollinated and was closing up.  Only the monarch cooperated with the camera.  

I rescued a small threadwaisted wasp and a bumblebee.  After my swim, a fig beetle sauntered across the patio.  Hummer wars were heating up.  I believe I counted three hummers zipping around preventing each other from drinking.  A male did get a good, long drink.  Wrens came back for more food.  A young cardinal with a dark beak and one crest feather foraged under the feeder.  Then to my surprise, a mockingbird sampled the barkbutter balls.  A titmouse followed. The afternoon  was frequently overcast and more humid.  I spent too much of it in a meeting.  

 

Rain

Another hibiscus flower opened.  A male goldfinch came for seeds but he was very anxious and twitchy.  I hustled outside early because of the rain prediction.  That proved fortunate for a bumblebee and a mama wolf spider.  A green planthopper, maybe Acanalonia conica, occupied a twig I use for fishing spiders out of the pool skimmer.  Afterward, I spent some time drip-drying and watching the show on the mountain mint.  Clouds blew our of the South, passing in front of the sun so I didn't have to keep to the shade.  

I saw honeybees, black Megachile bees, scoliid wasps, threadwaisted wasps, potter wasps, and the big wasp I thought was a horse guard but am informed is a Feather-legged Scoliid Wasp Dielis plumipes.  A hummer rushed through the yard, taking a sniff at various plants but ignoring the feeder.  A brown headed nuthatch decided I was harmless.  I could only find one of the two Argiope spiders in the mountain mint.  A widow skimmer was back on the short perch by the yellow rose.  The rain began after lunch and fell gently all afternoon.  At first, a Carolina wren ignored the rain and ate suet.  The window got wet and I quit watching.  

Pool rescues

The dew was heavy when I got up but the temperature rose and the humidity dropped.  A brown headed nuthatch, a bluebird, a blue jay, and a Carolina wren visited. I glimpsed egrets flying down the creek.  The nuthatch argued with a titmouse.  A hummer investigated the gladiolus buds and the feeder but didn't stay.  A downy had some suet.  Something dug a tunnel under the grass next to the patio.  In the evening, an egret flew upstream. 

During this morning's swim I saved an ant queen, a two-lined spittlebug, a May beetle, a largus bordered plant bug, and a bumblebee.  Two bumblebees appeared to be clutching each other while drowning.  Using an oak leaf, I fished them out and one revived.  The spittlebug had a tiny ant gripping one of its legs which threw it off balance so it fell in again.  I had never seen a largus bug Largus succinctus before last year.  Wasps and a cabbage white flitted around but I didn't see any other butterflies.  A looper caterpillar drowned.  The baby Argiope spiders continued to lurk under the mountain mint. 

Scorcher

The wind was very strong.  I decided it was safest to swim early before the heat brought out bloodsuckers.  I rescued two bumblebees from the water, very carefully.  Queen ants fell in, drowned, and bloated so their abdominal segments were visible.  Sad but interesting.  I also fished out another oriental beetle.  

When I got out, an Eastern amberwing dragonfly was clinging to the mountain mint, but it didn't wait for me to get the camera.  I found another infant Argiope spider, this one on the aster.  The reddish slime mold looked shriveled.  A larger dragonfly with dark eyes used a garden stake.  It might have been a bar-winged skimmer but I didn't get a good look at the wings.  A skink headed across the patio toward me, then noticed me.  The thermometer registered 97° but the wind made it bearable.  

In the evening, I wasted pixels trying to capture a firefly.  I finally got a golden streak.  

Opossum

As we were eating breakfast, a portly possum ambled across the lower patio.  A blue jay watched and a mockingbird ate suet.  Sometime later the possum returned and I went outside hoping for a clear photo.  We looked at each other but there was too much vegetation in the way for the camera.  The possum went downhill, then right between the bank and the creek, and out of sight. 

A bluebird watched from the post before settling in on the seed feeder perch.  A Carolina wren opted for suet but also grabbed a seed.  White throats continued their foraging.  A dove wandered around thee pool puddle.  It was a perfect day for turtles but they must have found somewhere else to bask.  A bumblebee pollinated the Solomon's seal.  I saw some flowers on the blackberry brambles by the dock. 

Windy

Mid morning, bluebirds dropped in for a few seeds.  A Carolina wren snacked at the barkbutter & mealworm dish.  A bumblebee bustled among the azalea blossoms.  All the wild cherry trees were flowering.  In the afternoon the wind grew very strong and petals blew sideways like a blizzard.  The temperature was warm but the wind must have discouraged wildlife.  The black and white cat didn't help.  

Chilly

A thin overcast veiled the sun and muted its warmth.  The wind gusts dumping tree detritus in the water.  I rescued a bumblebee from a sinking leaf but found no other wildlife afloat.  K saw two frogs earlier.  A monarch and a red spotted purple flitted around without alighting.  I could only find one fat caterpillar today.  I spotted the kingfisher on the bench on  the dock, but then it spotted me.  

After dark a pink and green grasshopper or katydid with very long antennae landed on the window.  

Still nice weather

I was mooned by a mockingbird when it found the barkbutter dish empty.  Brown headed  and white breasted nuthatches were also ready for breakfast.  A hummer plunged its beak deep into the feeder.  I might need to refill it tomorrow.  A bumblebee visited the sunflower. Later I saw a skipper feeding there, but it kept its wings up and I could only see them on edge.  

The kingfisher was back atop the post at the end of the dock.  It had a lot of blue in patches on its breast and a faint hint of a rusty belly band.  Some Southern purple mint moths fluttered around.  A Guinea paper wasp was curious about the ant moat.  A little black Zethus spinipes wasp hunted flowers on the mountain mint.  Both monarch caterpillars were doing well.   Three frogs entertained me but there were no skinks.  Blue jays showed up after I finally put out more barkbutter balls. 

Lovely weather

Blue jays and hummers were early again.  The creek shone with reflected sunlight.  A bumblebee visited the sunflower.  The sky was very blue, the air warm, and the breeze light.  A bumblebee pollinated the sunflower.  When I went for a swim, I rescued a young skink, or rather, it swam up to me and demanded my aid.  And I evicted two frogs.  

After some searching I located the two monarch caterpillars, each underneath a leaf.  Two dark butterflies danced or dueled, then flew in separate directions.  I'm fairly certain the nearer one was either a palamedes or giant swallowtail.  A new-to-me butterfly hid behind vegetation.  I only saw it because I was tracking a weevil.  After considerable research my best guess was Common Checkered-Skipper, Burnsius communis.  It's irritating when something new to me is named "common."  Also, the authorities changed the genus from Pyrgus.  

I thought there was a strange bird on the dock but it was only a pair of mallards, one behind the other.  Then I realized that above them was a kingfisher.  My day for seeing a surprise while focused on something else. 

Buggy

A couple of seedling sunflowers popped up.  The hibiscus put on a real show with six flowers.  The fungus under the oak was visibly bigger.  The canna was blooming as though inspired by the nearby hibiscus.   Only two seedpods survived on the stripped butterfly milkweed.  Some dogwood leaves turned red or yellow, marking approaching Fall.

Although the monarch caterpillars departed, the black swallowtail caterpillars were visible all over the rue.  I rescued two blue tailed skinks from the water and evicted a frog.  I was too late for a bumblebee.  A glass snail floated on the surface but I put it out of the water too.  A busy honeybee was one of the few insects on the mountain mint.  The spiders hadn't moved since yesterday. A mosquito followed me into the house and feasted as I took off my wet suit. 

Bluebirds came for seeds.  A brown thrasher slipped into the mountain mint stalks.  The red bellied woodpecker was back.  Blue jays were happy about the barkbutter balls.  

 

Hot

Goldfinches started the day with cuteness.  A Carolina wren added a few notes.  There was some competition for seeds as the female cardinal was in a mood.  A pine warbler put in an appearance that looked very much like the female goldfinch.  Fortunately their beaks are quite different.  I pulled up a lot of cinquefoil that was creeping onto the patio. 

I had a leisurely morning swim, saved some beetles, and evicted some spiders.  While I was dripping off, the mountain mint's fan club entertained.  I saw more bumblebees today.  The usual wasps and skipper were feeding.   A squirrel bopped up the steps then caught sight of me and crept quietly away.  A black swallowtail egged what remained of the rue.  About two thirds of the rue died after blooming. 

Small clouds flowed from the West and the thermometer showed 100° again.  I saw high-flying dragonflies and some kind of raptor.  A four-spotted pennant perched at the top of the oak and was only visible when a gust of wind parted the leaves.  I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't been trying to photograph the raptor.  The predicted rain did not fall.  Maybe it will come overnight? Clouds turned orange at sunset.