Wind shift

Yesterday there were squirrels and chickadees.  The wind and sun popped more milkweed pods but the fluff wasn't ready to let go.  A yellow jacket got a little too friendly.  I didn't stay outside long.  

Today was again sunny and breezy but the clouds rushed from East to West across the sky.  Down where I was, the wind seemed to come from every direction.   Gulls played with the gusts.  Milkweed seeds tried to escape.  Nothing was visiting the goldenrod when I checked.  The sky clouded over in the late afternoon.  Out on the creek, a great blue heron hunched on a post.  Then it stretched.  Cormorants commuted.  

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.  

Wet

Rain fell in the night and didn't try out very quickly during the day.  A downy came very early for seeds.  She continued to ignore the suet.  Chickadees streamed to the seed feeder.  At least three birds flew out of the dogwood but I could not tell what they were.  A photo revealed that one was a titmouse.  A great blue heron perched on a post, then flew down to stalk along the shoreline.  The sun shone briefly in late afternoon but then the weather turned to drizzle.  

 

Lovely day

Another summer day strayed into October, so I went swimming again and the cool, clear water sparkled.  A blue tailed skink perched on the handle of the skimmer waiting for rescue.  Its tale was not blue from the cold water but I let it warm up instead of posing.  I rescued some black ground beetles and a small brown click beetle.  A fat, tan spider lurked on the one remaining rescue twig.  When I came back with the camera it was hidden behind the stick.  A drowned wasp or bee floated amid bubbles.  Another big web was going up between the house and the dogwood where the birdhouse hangs.  

Chickadees came for seeds, blue jays chattered in the trees, and I heard a rattle that might have been a woodpecker.  The saltbush was budding and the milkweed seeds bobbed in the breeze.  

Dank

The hibiscus picked a poor day to bloom.  Rain slowly turned into drizzle.  The air was cool and damp and still.  Chickadees and titmice and occasional cardinals came for seeds.  The dish feeders stayed covered.  A hummingbird cussed out a chickadee.  The hummer visited both the milkweed and its feeder throughout the day.  A great blue heron landed up in the trees with a raspy honk.  A parade of squirrels leapt between the redwood and the hickory.  Some squirrels fed on either the immature seeds or the flower buds in the dogwood.  The Argiope was still hanging out in the azalea, but no sign of the orchard spider.  I didn't see any insects.  

Chilly

The prediction was for a sunny day but the sky took its sweet time clearing.  The gray sky at breakfast lacked wildlife even though I restocked the dishes.  At lunch a brown headed nuthatch bullied chickadees.  Then a cardinal took over the seed feeder.  The temperature was in the low 40s but there wasn't much wind and the creek was flat.  A squirrel leaped the tree gap.  

Later the black cat walked across the lower patio.  I went outside to see if I could see the round moon, but vegetation was in the way.  Three egrets flew over, one at a time, headed North.  Many cormorants flew every which way as the shadows got long.  

 

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.  

Wet

What a dreary day.  It was dark, gusty, chilly, and wet without significant rainfall.  The tide was still running high, driven by the Northeast wind.  The barkbutter fans were disappointed because we never uncovered those dishes.  The suet was down to a nubbin.  Only the seed eaters - cardinals, house finches, chickadees - got fed and they didn't like the weather either.  I could see the two spiders through the windows but I didn't go out to check on the other wildlife.  In the afternoon, a Carolina wren came around and had a little suet.  

 

Sticky

Rain fell at breakfast, but we had sunshine in the late morning.  Clouds built up in the afternoon and the humidity was beastly.  All I saw was chickadees, nuthatches, and thunderheads.  Some dragonflies zipped around but I couldn't guess what kind.  I was gone all afternoon. 

 

Goldfinch

Thin cloud cover muted the sunlight.  The weather was fairly quiet after yesterday's drama.  A male goldfinch inspected the menu, then moved on.  A less discriminating female bluebird helped herself to seeds.  A brown headed nuthatch waited impatiently on a female cardinal and even tried to sneak across the bottom of the feeder.  

The fledgling bluebird, if it was the same as yesterday, solved the feeder mystery and busily stuffed its crop.  What a difference a day made!  Still, the youngster spent a lot of time looking around for a parent.  Chickadees congregated on the suet.  A crow made a brief visit.  Late in the day, a Carolina wren wanted seeds.  A commotion in the wild cherry revealed two great crested flycatchers.  A red bellied woodpecker came and went in a blink. 

I spotted one great blue skimmer dragonfly but no butterflies.  The coral honeysuckle still had flowers which could feed any passing hummer.  A reddish wasp hunted in the cinquefoil and a greenbottle fly rested on a gladiolus leaf.  A little brown moth awaited night on my window.  

Gloomy and chilly

The early bird was a brown headed nuthatch.  A Carolina wren also wanted breakfast.  Then bluebirds arrived.  At lunch the wren shared suet with a chickadee.  Three other chickadees congregated on the dish hanger.  

Again there was a bar cloud across the Northeast.  Someone on a downstream dock was trying to discourage geese.  The geese behaved as though they were trying to rescue a gosling.  I don't know if he saw me watching but the man quit and went away.  A little later I noticed a heron on one of the pilings.  The light was poor but I believe it was a little green heron.  

Still cool

A Carolina wren was up early.  An orange daylily opened.  Dark clouds passed by looking full of rain, but none fell.  I thought I saw a bunny but it was a squirrel in an odd pose.  Out front, the lantana started to bloom.  White lilies, orange daylilies, and pink rain lilies put out flowers.  A strawberry plant popped up beside the dry stream bed.  A slaty skimmer used a perch outside my window.  

Bluebirds were busy so I thought they might still be feeding offspring.  A variegated fritillary fed on the butterfly milkweed.  Every so often it remembered that it needed to move around to confuse predators, but soon it was back at the milkweed.  The wind was much harsher than predicted and hard on small flying critters.  While cutting back the cinquefoil, I found some more wolf's milk slime mold.  I cannot imagine how it got that name.  

K hung more suet.  While pruning I surprised a blue jay.  An odd wasp-like flier wandered on the window.  It might have been an earwig.  A brown headed nuthatch came late to the seeds.  A couple of chickadees considered the dish feeders.  My impression was that one was a parent and the other a fledgling.  The bird certainly seemed clueless but eventually discovered the food.  

Pleasant

A Carolina wren worked on the last of the suet.  The wind, haze, and passing clouds made the day seem cooler than the temperature would suggest.  K put chlorine shock in the pool and it became blue again.  I rescued a camel cricket and a wasp from the water.  A bar-winged skimmer dragonfly used a perch.  A chickadee and a titmouse were each feeding another bird of their respective species, but I don't know if either one was a fledgling or a mate.  The tide ran high for the 3rd quarter moon. 

Afternoon rain

Overnight rain had left everything wet.  The crow returned but there was no fallen food because the dishes were still covered.  More rain was predicted.  Meanwhile the sun shone and a bluebird sang.  The brown headed nuthatch (which has a very pale head) also returned and claimed the perch from bigger birds.  Chickadees got into a fight with each other but did not challenge the nuthatch.  I spotted a bird circling very high that I believe was a black vulture.  

Lots of skinks were out but only a couple posed.  One climbed around a window.  Another actually ran between my feet, too close for the camera.  A dark paper wasp with yellow legs harvested wood pulp.  A white breasted nuthatch came for seeds and a Carolina wren for suet.  Soon the brown headed nuthatch was back.  

Dark clouds began to overtake the sky in the mid afternoon.  Birds flew across the creek but I wasn't fast enough.  I think they were crows chasing a hawk.  Strange riffles appeared on the creek but I couldn't tell if they were caused by wind or a school of fish.  I did manage to catch some egrets.  Then the rain came in  and soaked the ground.  It was gone by the time I ate supper and that persistent nuthatch was back.  

Hummer caught on camera!

Mockingbirds hoped for breakfast.  Even a chickadee wanted what was in the dishes.  Bluebirds supplemented seeds with barkbutter and mealworms.  The red roses opened.  The wild cherry flowers turned into green berries.  The wind whipped trees at mid day.  

At lunch I spotted a hummer so afterward I stationed myself just far enough from the feeder and waited.  The bird returned.  Alas his back was to the sun so his throat looked ebony instead of ruby.  Later, the female pileated came for suet.  Blue jays wanted barkbutter balls.  I got glimpses of dragonflies along with wasps and what I thought was a small, brown butterfly.  

Dismal day

Elsewhere there were exciting snow storms but we got cold rain.  K pointed out a trace of overnight white stuff, maybe snow, maybe ice pellets.  It looked like less than a tablespoon and rain soon erased it.  The birdbath was ice-free but rippled by rain.  Suet and seeds were the birds' only choices.  

Pine warblers and a downy went to work on the suet.  Cardinals and chickadees ate seeds.  A mockingbird didn't like the choices.  White throats were untroubled by the short menu but didn't like the wet.  A few egrets gathered around the lake.  

Drought?

On my way into Norfolk a little after sunrise, a big, pale full moon was barely visible in the West.  Coming home, as I drove into the driveway some sort of butterfly fluttered toward the blueberry patch.  A mockingbird, I think, flew across the driveway in front of the car and then flew back in front of it again.  When I looked at the back yard, chickadees were working on seeds.  I put barkbutter balls and grape jelly out in different dishes.  I meant to replace the hummer feeder contents - tomorrow.  

The new butterfly milkweed plant needed water so I moved it and the four caterpillars on it out front by the peppers.  Several peppers were ready to eat.  While out front I noticed a red banded leafhopper Graphocephala coccinea on one of K's bonsai trees. We have had no rain in October and it has been windy.  The last measurable rainfall occurred when Hurricane Helene hit the mountains at the end of September. 

Warm sun

Initially, the sky had looked gray but it soon brightened.  The female downy breakfasted on seeds.  Below, the immature male cardinal foraged for himself.  His beak color was definitely getting more adult.  At lunch a small flock of doves showed up.  Maybe they were a family having a spa day.  One sunbathed while others preened.  

A Carolina wren popped up and disappeared just as quickly.  Blue jays rushed around but never stopped for barkbutter balls while I was watching.  I thought I saw a nuthatch but it was a chickadee head-down on a pine trunk.  I wonder if it was caching seeds in the rough bark.  

A red spotted purple rested on a hackberry twig.  It was dingy and tattered but in different places from the one I saw yesterday.  Thin clouds like chalk smudges on a blue board were followed by wispy jellyfish, then a cumulus cloud all from the West.  I came inside for a meeting and never got back.  By evening the sky had clouded over.  And when I wasn't looking, a whole dish of barkbutter balls disappeared.  

Humid

The overnight rain was slow to dry but the sun shone on summer flowers. Butterfly milkweed, coral honeysuckle, daylilies, roses, and buds opening on the gladiolus.  The sky was a hazy blue. I saw a tiger swallowtail but it ducked into the trees.  I put out some barkbutter balls and blue jays materialized.  Chickadees appeared to be followed around by a fledgling they had stopped feeding.  K hung a fresh hummer feeder but I didn't see any activity.  I didn't like any of the photos today.

Spider

The female red bellied woodpecker was not upset at the disappearance of the suet.  She just kept on eating seeds.  A blue jay watched.  A male goldfinch fled into the trees when he saw me.  Blue jays got excited when I filled the dish feeders at lunch.  A crow couldn't figure out how to get some.  The female bluebird wanted barkbutter balls.  Chickadees ignored me in favor of seeds. 

I shook dead flowers off the azalea and one caught in an orb web.  I didn't mean to make work for the little spider.  I think it will grow up to be an venusta orchard orbweaver. A tiger swallowtail again fluttered around the yard.  An American lady butterfly spent time on the rue.  A spring azure perched on the sakaki.  Of course there were cabbage whites.