Insects

The goldfinches were our wake-up birds again.  Hummers were right behind after K hung a fresh feeder.  A lovely female slaty skimmer was posted on the lookout for annoying bugs.  Later a blue dasher took up the post and obelisked in the heat.  Fiery and dusky skippers were not dissuaded from the mountain mint by rude wasps and bees.  I also saw a variegated fritillary, a tiger swallowtail, and I think a cloudless sulphur. 

I was determined to get photos of leaf-cutter bees which wasn't easy as they kept moving.  The all-black bee, Megachile xylocopoides, was particularly elusive but I finally got it, dusted with pollen.  I also got the little grayish ones.  Great golden digger wasps posed nicely. 

A dog-day cicada, Neotibicen caniculariscicada, was in the skimmer.  It appeared to have drowned but I've seen insects revive so I left it on a table next to the house.  I also fished out a centipede and a shooter (a kind of leafhopper).  Along with May beetles I rescued a metallic green six spotted tiger beetle, Cicindela sexguttata.  A grasshopper came inside and my butterfly net was useful in returning it to the great outdoors.  My best guess is pine tree spur-throat grasshopper, Melanoplus punctulatus.  

With all these insects, skinks were out and about.  One headed right at me so I moved my foot and it darted off to the side.  But then it was curious and turned around to peek at me.  

Crows

The female downy was back for more seeds.  A male cardinal didn't want to share.  He was more tolerant of a male goldfinch, but not a male house finch.  The downy tried to sneak in underneath the feeder.  It didn't work.  When the house finch finally took over, he bullied the downy too.  Eventually the female goldfinch arrived.  The house finch ignored her but she wasn't as kind to her would-be mate.  

I have concluded that the second web was an abandoned effort, not the work of a second spider.  Maybe it caught so much debris the spider didn't feel it was worth mending.  The wind made the orchard spider bounce in its fresh web.  Then a gust ruined it.  Poor spider.  I don't know if it tried to mend the web or waited for the wind to drop.  

Aside from the wind, it was a lovely day.  A bluebird landed among the red flowers.  Then a murder of crows came to raid the barkbutter balls.  Because of their size, this was not easy.  Those balls must be really tasty because I'm sure they spent more energy than they got back in nourishment.  One rapped on the window as if it understood where they came from.  I wondered what would happen if I went out with a refill. 

Fireflies flashed and cicadas buzzed at twilight.  Something flew very fast over the house.  Cloud wisps and faint bars turned pink.  

 

Frog and skink

At breakfast, two wrens shared crumbs, embarrassing me into refilling the dish feeders.  Two yellow roses bloomed this week.  Wasps and honeybees worked on the mountain mint.  I think one wasp was after caterpillars, not nectar.  Meanwhile, a black swallowtail was doing its best to make more caterpillars.  

I finally got back in the water which was fortunate for a skink I found clinging to the wall of the skimmer.  It didn't move much and I checked a couple of times for a heartbeat, but finally it disappeared when I wasn't looking.  I also harassed the green frog with a slow pursuit around the pool.  I didn't try to actually catch it and I wonder if it was playing too.  

The sky was hazy blue until wispy clouds appeared in the evening.  A swallow flew over and was gone before I could think of moving the camera.  a dragonfly hunted at treetop level.  Cicadas provided accompaniment.  

Scorcher

The thermometer was stuck at 99° for hours.  A dragonfly perched on the topmost pine candle.  It might have been a bar-winged skimmer.  I found the gladiolus at the far end of the pool.  Goslings paraded up the creek.  While in the pool I rescued a bumblebee, innumerable beetles, and an earwig. 

I saw dragonflies in flight with spotted wings and wasted camera pixels trying to catch them.  A cicada started its buzz and woke the dog who looked all around for the source of the alarm.  An ant found a defunct beetle and proudly carried it off.  An egret stalked upstream along the bulkhead.  I saw a night heron fly over.  Either vegetation got in the way, or birds refused to pose today

As the fireflies came out, clouds covered the sky, then a little after 8pm, they turned yellow and orange and tore apart.  I thought the show was over and then fat raindrops began to fall.  Not long after I went inside, I started to hear thunder.  The temperature dropped twenty degrees.  

Green bee!

A male cardinal fed a fledgling that still had a dark beak.  I got both birds separately but not the tender moment.  I went after spider mites with neem oil and surprised a small brown mantis on the lavender.  I wonder if it was eating them?  

A cicada was floating on its back and when I fished it out, it proved quite alive and clingy.  My best guess is Megatibicen auletes.  It's the largest N. American cicada and I know I've heard them. I also evicted a frog.  A palamedes swallowtail teased me but never landed.  A summer azure flitted past the mountain mint and kept going.  

But then I found a bright green bee on the mountain mint. Because of the spider mites, I cut away a lot of the mountain mint flowers and I also sprayed neem oil on some that remained.  I don't know if the bees and wasps will forgive me.  One flew around my head urging me to go away. 

A flicker of movement revealed an amberwing dragonfly in the grass.  The Argiope by the rue still seemed prosperous.  Because a thunderstorm was in the forecast, I put out a fresh block of suet.  Despite that, I didn't see much in the way of birds except for chickadees.  The day seemed hot and muggy, especially while I was cutting mountain mint, but it wasn't as warm as it has been and the fitful breeze came from the North.  

 

Sweltering

At breakfast I noticed a big cicada on the window screen.  K said it was there last night.  

I didn't get outside till after lunch, which made me nervous because it was prime time for a greenhead attack.  But none occurred.  I found another minuscule monarch caterpillar and moved it to the butterfly milkweed.  

There was a dead skinklet in the skimmer and a live one swimming.  I also rescued a wasp and several crickets.  Surprisingly few dragonflies were around but a Carolina saddlebags flew reconnaissance overhead. I saw a tiger and a black swallowtail. A hummer fed.  The young bluebirds kept watch on the empty suet cage. 

Hungry birds & bees

A blue jay and a brown thrasher discussed the empty state of the barkbutter ball dish.  A male pine warbler went for suet instead.  Then a female bluebird took over. The brown headed nuthatches seemed to be everywhere because they liked all the different foods.  Of course a downy woodpecker had to assert ownership. 

The blue jays came back after I refilled the dish.  I think they may have been fledglings.  I found a defunct cicada floating.  An osprey alerted me with its musical cries.  I also heard and glimpsed a swallow.  Honeybees were the most common insect on the mountain mint but I also saw a great black wasp, lots of golden digger wasps and scoliid wasps, bumble, carpenter, leafcutter, and other bees.

Cicada

A Carolina wren was up early.  So was a skink.  A squirrel showed too much interest in the suet.  Woe betide us if they get over their aversion to hot pepper.  A brown thrasher did not approve. 

I'd been hearing an occasional cicada for about a week but I saw my first one today.  It was still quite green.  The annual cicadas emerge later than the periodic.  The cicada landed on the feeder hanger, a rather risky spot.  Maybe it agreed because it didn't stay long.  The mountain mint was full of bees and wasps again.  A blue dasher lit on the suet feeder hanger.  A tiger swallowtail explored the wild cherry even as the birds ate cherries.  

Catbird seat

A rather shredded red spotted purple visited the wild cherry leaves.  I found a cicada shell in the mulch.  A few wasps were hungry enough to ignore the breeze.  A few magnolia seed pods were splitting to show the red seeds.  Since it was too cold to swim, I pruned the witch hazel that was obscuring the view of the bluebird house.  K continued to cut away arbor vita.  

An egret took up residence on one of our pilings while mallards paddled past.  It is very hard to photograph a white bird in the sun.  The crows got upset about something, presumably a hawk.  I was annoyed at them because something carried off a nearly full tub of bark butter. 

I missed shots at a Carolina wren and a brown thrasher, but a pine warbler was kinder to me.  Then I spied a catbird in the beautyberry bush.  

Gusty

With all the outdoor items secured, we awaited the remnants of Hurricane Laura.   A squirrel made off with an entire green pine cone.  The hibiscus wasted at least nine blossoms on the blustery day.  A blue jay checked out the menu. 

After lunch the clouds looked very fierce but moved very fast as well.  They alternated with sunshine.  The wind did not deter the wasps or a buckeye.  An adult skink had a regrown tail.  A murder of crows gathered noisily, but I had no idea why.  Hummers ignored it.

I found a third monarch chrysalis, this one dangling from the rose bush.  There was rain around 4pm but it didn't accumulate to much.  The sky was mostly clear by sunset as birds flew home and dragonflies sieved the air of gnats.  Cicadas were very loud. 

Warm and sunny

Titmice were up before breakfast.  Hummers were satisfied with the fresh batch of sugar water.  The black swallowtail caterpillars were growing fast.  First a small orange butterfly darted around clumps of grass, then I saw a red spotted purple in a cherry tree.   It was missing the red part of one wing.   A female pondhawk posed on a branch.

A Needham's skimmer guarded the lantana in the front yard.  A blue jay was coy about wanting bark butter.  Maybe because it had lost some head and neck feathers and looked quite strange. The mountain mint remained popular.  I found a dead cicada. 

A strange cloud formation in the East preceded the spread of a thin overcast.  It was a repeating feathery pattern that reminded me of the shape produced by wiping an old fashioned fountain pen.  Just before dark I saw a firefly or
two.  A loud storm rolled in around 11pm. 

Calm before storm?

Morning was cloudy and fairly pleasant.  A Carolina wren and a hummer came for breakfast.

A female blue dasher perched by the fence.  An amberwing lurked by the rue and a skimmer on a lavender stalk.  I couldn't identify the dragonfly at the top of the cherry.

A cicada landed on the patio.  I tried to deposit it on a dogwood branch but it flew off and landed back on the patio.

A buckeye found the mint.  A black swallowtail vacillated between the rue and the parsley. Both digger wasps, blue and golden, were busy on the mountain mint. 

A tropical storm warning was issued for Isaias with a predicted landfall in the Carolinas tomorrow night.  But midnight was calm with a bright round moon and Jupiter visible. 

101°

I saw what I thought was a giant swallowtail flit briefly above the rue.  It could have been a palamedes.  Dragonflies were thick - blue dashers on every possible observation post. The mountain mine was still popular with bees and wasps.  A male widow skimmer stole a bamboo stake perch from a blue dasher.  Two Halloween pennants rode the windy treetops.  An amberwing lurked in the grass. 

Two ospreys soared and called with their disconcertingly sweet voices.  I also glimpsed a night heron when it took off.  A hummer zipped in and out, leaving me unsure whether the nectar needed replacement.  I saved a spider, a wasp and several beetles. 

K reported the temperature on our home thermometer at mid day.  The afternoon cumulus puffs merged into a threatening overcast at sundown.  There was distant lightning and faint thunder.  Sunset managed to add a rosy blush to the gray clouds.  Dragonflies swarmed at treetop height while cicadas sawed and scraped.  Too bad it didn't rain. 

Extreme UV

A hummer got up early and breakfasted with us.  At lunch, the Carolina saddlebags was back on its treetop perch.  By 5pm it was joined in the air by 12-spotted skimmers. I went out to swim during the fiercest sun in the afternoon and I may have overdone it.  I didn't bring the camera because of the sun, so naturally I saw interesting wildlife.  A minuscule green katydid (or something similar) sat on the edge of the steps.  Spiders ran around on the water, none with babies.   

Fresh growth was visible at the top of the oak.  A branch of the chaste tree drooped with the weight of blossoms and bumblebees.  A mockingbird checked to see of the wild cherries were ripe. 

Skinks enjoyed the heat and none went for a swim.  A tiger swallowtail liked the mountain mint.  So did a great golden digger wasp.  To my disgust, I discovered that Japanese beetles were using the hibiscus as a singles bar.  I gunked 'em good with neem oil. 

In the late afternoon while I was attempting to photograph dragonflies on the wing, two swallows, or one twice, zipped past me at roof height.  I'm not used to them flying so low.  Twilight glowed rose without clouds.  Fireflies went off like silent fireworks over the grass.  Crows and herons flew home.  I believe I heard a tentative cicada.  The waxing gibbous moon was sharply detailed. 

Cool nights

The last few nights have dropped into the high 60s though the days have been hot.  As a result, the water is cooler  A male ruby throat got a little breakfast before a female chased him away.  I suspect he blew in with the Northeast wind a few days ago.  Wrens and blue jays were disappointed that I'd not yet refilled their dish. 

A pair of goldfinches landed on the feeder hangers to check the place out.   They appeared to dislike the menu.  I saw a black swallowtail and a cloudless sulphur.  I rescued more skinks and a millipede.  Another cicada, bees and wasps, and a red caterpillar had drowned. 

A flock of cormorants joined an egret on the lake.   Another egret stalked downstream.  Leaf cutter bees scalloped the edges of the redbud leaves.  The patient mantis had relocated.  Monarch caterpillars hid under leaves on both the swamp and the butterfly milkweed.  A minute black swallowtail caterpillar was on the parsley.  I was amazed to discover the hibiscus was making more flower buds.  That neem oil was certainly the cure for the sawfly infestation. 

Rainy mist

I was up before sunrise, though I never saw the sun.  The clouds colored up briefly.  When the meeting finished, there was sunshine in Norfolk but I passed through a rain band on the way home and an other seemed stuck over our house.  It was warm enough but very damp and the wind was chilly.  The hummers drank the feeder dry despite one of them sitting on the feeder hanger guarding the sugar water.

I found a large cicada in the water, but I suspect it was already dead when it fell in.  A skink was on the top step of the pool ladder but that was slightly under water so I felt the need to rescue the lizard.  I managed to flip it out with a stick because it was cold and tired.

The little brown mantis looked like it was shrinking.  I hope it is finding enough food.  It was very well camouflaged but I haven't seen insects visit the roses. The great golden digger wasp was back at the butterfly milkweed but many of the wasps and bees were missing.  Whatever attacked the mountain mint caused it to quit flowering.  I glimpsed a dark butterfly, but no others. 

The tide was very high again but there are still three nights before the new moon.  The juvenile night heron was back on the dock.  A mallard pair, the drake in eclipse, trudged along the shore.  Crows harassed an osprey into flight. 

Skink skills

A blue mud wasp visited the mountain mint.  A buckeye came with the same goal.  A fiery skipper tried the daisies.  A male goldfinch drank from the nasty ant moat. 

I was sitting inside, digesting lunch, when I saw a disturbance in the water.  Thinking it might be a skink, I grabbed the pool brush as a rescue tool.  Well, there were three skinks, all blue tails, floating at the deep end.  The first I fished out ran to hide under my flipflop, with just a smidge of blue tail sticking out.  When I carefully lifted that foot, it dashed across the other foot and off into the shrubbery. 

The second skink when rescued ran back into the pool.  It refused to be netted by the brush and dived!  Then it swam under water.  Fine, I thought, I'll rescue number three.  That one was no trouble and quickly ran under the azalea.  I had another go at the escape artist and snagged its tail.  When I deposited it on the ground, it ran to the red cedar and climbed the trunk till it could hide behind a branch.  I checked the skimmer and, sure enough, there was a fourth little skink sitting on the handle. Since it seemed safe, I left it there.

It was gone when I came back, but I found a swimming skink that seemed the same size, so I'm guessing it was able to swim out of the skimmer.  I found a large dead cicada in the water.  I also fished out a scary mess of legs that I thought was some kind of spider, but the photo looks more like the remains of a leaf footed true bug.  I had counted the antenna as legs.  And I rescued a green eyed bee that was alive, but then stopped moving.  I thought it died, but when the ants came for it, the bee rose up and took flight, and promptly fell in the water again.  I rescued it again and this time took pictures. 

A Carolina wren hunted in the grass.  The neighbor's crape myrtle shed flowers on the wind that landed in the pool like pink confetti.  A tattered skimmer used one of the perches.  An amberwing perched on an azalea twig and glowed in the evening light.  A red spotted purple investigated the cherry that grew from a pit I tossed out.  A Carolina saddlebags used the dead twig atop the oak.  A squirrel ate green dogwood berries.  The tailless brown thrasher camped out under the shrubbery. 

I stayed up to watch for Perseid meteors and  I believe I saw a couple. It was the only opportunity because a storm was coming. I couldn't photograph meteors, but I did get the moon. 

Skinks and frogs

A house wren visited at breakfast.  A great blue skimmer awaited the little biters.  The palamedes swallowtail stayed out of focus but a black swallowtail posed.  Palamedes has a striped body, black has speckles.   A katydid nymph was head down on a rose cane.  A basilica spider built a lovely domed web. 

There was just one frog but two skinks.  I let the frog and a skinklet run off, but I made the adult skink pose - it was old enough to know better than to go swimming.  I also rescued a green June bug.  A spider with a pearly egg sac rescued herself.  I found a cicada shell in the water that may have tempted the spider.

A night heron preened while resting on a piling.  It had its wings dropped and spread the way they do when too hot. I found the outer skin of a monarch chrysalis, which I hope means a butterfly hatched out.  I still could not figure out where the monarchs go to pupate. The tailless brown thrasher prospected for insects. A gray gill mushroom popped up in the grass. My offhand ID was some kind or Russula.  I'm probably not qualified for the Mycoblitz. 

Buggy

Overcast periods were interspersed with intervals of sunshine. Several times the clouds separated into orderly rows and In the afternoon a sundog rainbow appeared overhead. After dark, I caught the crescent moon.   Jupiter was visible in the South. 

A Carolina wren pecked at the bark butter remains before I discovered the mess had gone moldy.  I replaced the food but didn't see any visitors.  A brown thrasher lurked around the edge of the yard, hiding that it had lost its tail.   A yellow crowned night heron landed on the dock and an egret took off. 

A black swallowtail visited the rue and I found a tattered gray hairstreak on the mountain mint.  A fiery skipper was attracted to the blue pool net.  All the same bees and wasps were there too.  I found a cicada shell quite high up in a dogwood, attached to a leaf.  A slaty skimmer used a perch while a Carolina saddlebags stayed in the air.  I rescued crickets and tiger beetles but the cicada I found was too far gone. 

Two blue tailed skinks roamed the mulch. The beautyberry was nearly finished blooming and had lots of green berries.  Something left silk and frass under the mountain mint flower heads.  

Creepy critter

It was a very hot day, so I waited till the sun wasn't hitting the patio any more before going outside.  There were dragonflies and butterflies, bees and wasps, as usual.  And I could hear cicadas.  But suddenly, a strange creature ran past me across the concrete and dived into the pool.  I scrambled to catch up before it was sucked into the skimmer.  It was a mole cricket, only the second one I've ever seen, and the other was at Back Bay decades ago.  I  rescued it and made it wait till I had some pictures.  Then it took off like an Olympic runner.

Blue dashers, a male widow skimmer, Carolina saddlebags, 12-spotted skimmers, and other skimmers with unmarked wings were all hunting.  A buckeye fed on mint and a black swallowtail rested on a dogwood leaf. I found a drowned skinklet, also a drowned lacewing and a drowned metallic green bee.  I left a Japanese beetle and a brown stinkbug to their fate but rescued an earwig and some other beetles.  The Argiope had a fresh zigzag in its web.  I startled a little katydid near the web, but it stayed away. 

An egret chased another off the dock.  Hummers weren't happy with the feeder.  Blue jays were around.  I saw something flying very high that had a raptor look. 

The moon was nearly full.