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.  

Warm and wet

It was raining when I got up.  A downy mourned the lack of suet and ate a few seeds.  A couple of white throats ran around.  A myrtle warbler perched on a chair arm, maybe to remind me about empty feeders.  Mallards collected on the dock.

Sunshine appeared around lunch time so I refilled the barkbutter dish.  That brought bluebirds, blue jays, a myrtle warbler, and a female oriole. A pine warbler became interested in seeds.  The wind became very strong.  I noticed that the camellia buds had survived last week's freeze and were blooming.  A pair of ruddy ducks bobbed in the water beside the dock.  

Rain returned in the night.  According to the weather report, we were one degree shy of the record high for the last day of January.  However, the month was unusually dry. 

Turning leaves

Clouds streaming from the East made the sun flicker occasionally.  The tide flowed over the low end of the dock in the morning.  Mallards ignored it.  Hickory leaves were beginning to toast.  The clumps of oak leaves that had turned yellow were now brown but most of the tree was still green.  Despite ham-handed pruning at the wrong time of the year, the camellia put forth flowers.  The saltbush flowers became seed fluff floating on that East wind.  Of animals, all I saw were chickadees and a squirrel.  

Summery

The sky was strongly blue again, the breeze light, the creek a mirror, and the temperature rose to 78°.  Evidence of things unseen: at lunch, the bamboo stake that I'd stuck in the ground near the birdbath began to jerk and swing.  Nothing around it was moving so it wasn't wind.  My guess would be a vole or mole.  The yellow iris seeds were ripe.  The heat persuaded a violet to flower. More camellia flowers opened. 

Today I found six, not five, monarch caterpillars.  There may not be enough leaves for all of them.  I thought I saw a red spotted purple but it disappeared.  A wasp landed on a table with its prey but it seemed dissatisfied and abandoned the morsel.  It looked to me like part of a grub.  After dark, a plume moth landed on the window. 

I saw only the usual feeder birds.  A bit of seed hull got caught in a silk thread and twirled in the breeze.  A boat on the creek startled a great blue heron. A cormorant and a mallard paddled upstream together.  Then a kingfisher alighted on the dock post.  It didn't stay long but I heard it cackle several times after it flew.  

The first camellia

It was another hot day, and humid.  In the morning, the male juvenile cardinal was begging his mother for food.  Titmice and chickadees streamed to the deed feeder.  A downy woodpecker made a face at the barkbutter mush.  The first camellia of the season bloomed.  I was away all afternoon and when I got back, the male juvenile cardinal was begging his mother for food again. I also saw the adult male cardinal but not the juvenile female.  

Warm

72° today!  The day-long gray overcast finally began to rain in the late afternoon.  A pelican perched on one of the dock posts, looking like a figurehead or a gargoyle.  Other pelicans frequently passed over the creek.  A great blue heron stood on the dock for a long time. 

Crows perched in the redwood, then flew over the house.  I wonder if there was a hawk?  I know there was a cat, but the crows ignored it.  Warblers also ignored the cat while they ate.  A myrtle warbler followed the orange crowned warbler on the jelly dish.  Pine warblers stuck with barkbutter balls.  A red bellied woodpecker did too, but was too fast for the camera.  The bluebirds argued about who got to eat first.

On the ground, a song sparrow enjoyed the barkbutter balls I'd let fall.  A white throated sparrow was more interested in fallen seeds.  The camellia still had flowers.  Last week's cold snap did not freeze the buds.  

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.  

 

 

 

 

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.  

Pelicans

The ice that lingered through yesterday had disappeared by breakfast.  Pelicans were fishing throughout a rainy, gray day.  Hoodies, buffleheads, cormorants, gulls, and a heron joined the fun.  

Between the wet and the warmth, songbirds were less enthusiastic about the feeders.  Plus I left the cover on the upper dish of barkbutter balls to keep out the rain.  And I brought the jelly dish inside for the same reason.  Still, I saw two kinds of warbler (pine & myrtle), two kinds of sparrow (song & white throat), bluebirds and blue jays, Carolina wrens, juncos, and brown headed nuthatches.  And those vegan goldfinches were entirely too interested in barkbutter.  They will, however, eat mountain mint seeds, it appears. 

During a lull, I scrubbed the windows to get rid of the flecks of debris that confused the camera's focus.  Yesterday, I finally downloaded a month's worth of photos the hard way.  I still need to decide which are keepers.  The cold damaged a lot of leaves and destroyed all the camellia flowers, but fresh buds were beginning to open.

Bees in the camellias

The day was sunny and warm though in the early morning everything was wet.  I only got outside when the dog insisted.  Yellow sassafras leaves contrasted with the blue sky reflected in the creek.  A couple of the birds' sunflower seeds germinated.  I doubt they would survive being potted but they won't survive outdoors.  Both honeybees and yellow jackets buzzed around the camellias.  I think I saw larger wasps as well.  A lone turtle basked on the lake.  

Misty, moisty morning

We went to the Norfolk Botanical Garden and walked part way around Mirror Lake.  The lake was covered with aquatic vegetation which got in the way of reflections. Camellias were blooming and dripping.  I found an orchard spider with a really big web.  Pine needles were dangling from it.  

The camera battery died after I took pictures of the statue of one of the Black women who made the garden.  I brought a spare but the camera got fussy so I missed the bumblebee visiting the hellebore flowers.  It recovered when I spotted a mushroom.  On the way home we swung by the upper end of the lake.  Later, I saw a wood duck drake on the turtle log.  The mist became rain and settled in for the day.  And the temperature dropped. 

Spotted birds

Thanks to the drop in temperature, there was a lot of activity in the beautyberry bush, the dogwoods, cherry, and hackberry.  A thrush and a catbird were busy eating beautyberries.  A mockingbird ate dogwood berries.  I think something was even after the redwood cones, but I'm not sure what species were working on the others.  And there was enough cold North wind that sometimes I couldn't be sure if the movement was bird or breeze.  I think the blue jays were after acorns.

A squirrel showed up with a warble, just when I thought they'd escaped that misery this year.  Nuthatches were loyal to the sunflower seeds.  A flicker flew from the closest dogwood across the pool to the cherry but I saw no sign of snacking.  Its pompom rump displayed in flight and its yellow shafted tail at rest.  And it was the second spotted bird I spotted. 

A great egret perched on a dock piling while two drakes and a female mallard dabbled.  Mysterious ring ripples popped out of nothing and spread across the creek.  I think the fallen pine shifted because it looked like more of it was on the dock.  A great blue heron landed on the neighbor's floating dock, claimed ownership, then went stalking downstream. 

The now moldy fungus looked sinister and skull-like - triceratops skull, that is.  Apparently the weather was right for milkweed seed dispersal.  I collected some.  The camellia opened its first flower.  The saltbush was frosted with feathery white flowers.  

Wet

Rain fell during most of the daylight hours, beginning after breakfast.  But before that, I got a lot of pictures, starting with the female pileated woodpecker.  A white breasted nuthatch was driven off by that pest of a myrtle warbler.  Starlings and blackbirds came and went quickly.  Bluebirds, thankfully, weren't so flighty. 

White throated sparrows and juncos stayed on the ground.  Carolina wrens seemed to be everywhere.  A brown headed nuthatch slipped in for a seed.  When I put out the very last tub of barkbutter, a brown thrasher was first in line.  A pine warbler got a bit of suet.  House finches had a tender moment.  A mockingbird struggled to reach the suet.  Goldfinches watched from the dogwood.  

The camellia was still blooming, proof it has been a mild winter.  I got a glimpse of a female towhee.  A downy and a red belled woodpecker, both female, each had a turn at the suet.  

Sunny

Though morning began with some ice, it soon became another sunny day in the 40s.  The mockingbird was up early.  A different cat, a tabby, came prowling.  Once it was gone, the bluebirds came out, then a brown thrasher and a Carolina wren.  Some camellia buds survived the two winter storms.  

Two mourning doves looked for lunch under the azalea.  Warblers, pine and myrtle, went back and forth between suet and barkbutter.  So did the bluebirds.  A mockingbird hunted where the doves had been, apparently after a hosta berry.  I spotted a female pileated woodpecker in the trees.  Of course, the white throats stayed on the ground.  And then at least three brown headed nuthatches monopolized the sunflower seeds, or tried to.  

The pelicans never stopped fishing all day but I missed a lot of shots.  Toward evening, two great blue herons kept watch on the creek, one from the dam the other on our dock.  I spotted a pied bill grebe in the last rays of the sun.  It dived and a cormorant came up.  Strange!  

Changing season

The big bracket fungus that I hope is living on dead oak roots looked like toffee.  Dogwood leaves were turning many colors and so were the first sassafras.  The first camellia opened.  The feathery white saltbush flowers were close to open.  

Wasps and bumblebees still visited the mountain mint and I think beetles tried to walk on water.  A yellow jacket wanted to drive me away from the end of the pool.  I found a caterpillar I didn't recognize hustling across the patio.  

Sunset painted vivid colors on the water.  

Cool

Early morning was cloudy.   One more hibiscus blossom opened.  Meanwhile camellia buds were beginning to fatten.  Carpenter and bumblebees stuck with the mountain mint. A beetle swam back and forth, seeming unable to make up its mid on how to escape the water.

A skink clambered up the wall.  Another slipped over the step.  Then two encountered each other and dashed away in opposite directions. 

I thought I saw a spider at work but it was only chaff caught in a web.   Then I did find a bold jumper hanging out on the chrome railing. 

A mockingbird enjoyed some beautyberries.  A woodpecker landed in the oak and hid.  I could hear it and I think it was a red-bellied.  The last thing I saw was a Carolina wren hopping around the table.  

Fishing birds

The early daffodils shot up and blossomed in the balmy air.  The sassanqua camellia still had a few pink flowers and there were bees around.  Blue jays were frustrated that I insisted on soaking up some sunshine when they wanted barkbutter balls.  The downy woodpeckers grew daring and made little dashes in to the suet.  A brown thrasher tried the same with the barkbutter balls, but left so fast it dropped one.  The bluebirds took their time.  

I saw two adult and two juvenile pelicans. The noonday tide was very low again.  Over a dozen turtles crowded onto the logs on the lake.  The immature eagle returned to the dock bench.  It made a foray toward the obnoxious crow which retreated to the top of a post.  I think I made the eagle nervous because it flew up into the pines.

Toward evening, a male kingfisher perched on one of the posts of the neighbor's dock.  It had been on your dock earlier and plunged after a fish.  That got me to thinking about the different ways that different species of bird do their fishing.  Only eagles and osprey use talons, as far as I know.  Pelicans scoop and kingfishers grip with their beaks.  Do herons stab or grip?  

Still warm

The sky was mostly overcast but there were flickers of sunshine and I saw the thermometer reach 68°.  The yellow rumped warbler stayed busy minding the suet.  Bluebirds stopped in for barkbutter balls.  The woodpeckers stayed with the suet.  Blue jays hunted in the trees and bushes.  Two mockingbirds showed up at the same time and didn't get into a fight.  I wonder if they were potential mates? 

I think this is the first year that the weather hasn't damaged the camellia buds before they were finished blooming.  Despite the warmth, pelicans and cormorants did not desert the creek for wider waters.  But I saw another dead fish floating and I think a buzzard spotted it too.  I caught glimpses of a hooded merganser. Turtles blanketed the lake logs and a pintail drake floated past them.  I caught a goose peeking through the fence.  

Wet

Overnight rain filled the birdbath and ant moat.  A female oriole was busy with the suet as soon as there was enough light to take a picture.  An hour later there was a flurry of birds, including a red-winged blackbird.  Then they all disappeared and soon I had to leave as well.  But as I was going I spotted a female pileated woodpecker on a pine trunk.  She was chipping away the base of a dead branch stub.  

At lunch, Carolina wrens competed with yellow rumped warblers for suet.  White throated sparrows looked for fallen treats.  Later, female downy woodpecker ventured out to the suet so a pine warbler joined in.  I thought I saw a hawk flash past. 

Pelicans flew over the creek.  Hooded mergansers fished from the surface.  There were only a few sasanqua buds left and only a few flowers.  Thick, dark clouds rushed Eastward and sporadically drizzled.  The sun occasionally found a rent in the clouds and lit up the trees against a stormy background.  

Rain

The first camellia bud burst open.  I don't think we've ever had the last hibiscus and the first camellia coincide, not to mention the daylily that was also still blooming.  But of mobile life, all I saw were a couple of house finches.