Still hot

Ridges of wispy cumulus looked like a gigantic fingerprint.  Below, larger cumulus sailed past.  A cloudless sulphur floated over the house roof but I didn't get a picture.  A Southern purple mint moth posed on a leaf.  The chrysalises looked fine. The remaining Argiope and the orchard spider appeared prosperous.  The orchard web reminded me of drawings trying ti illustrate how a planet's mass bends spacetime, only here it was a tiny spider.  

I rescued a ladybug larva, some beetles, an orange assassin bug with striped legs, and a leaf-footed bug.  I fished a tree cricket from the skimmer and went for the camera but it flew away too soon.   

Mackerel sky

The heat wave continued and the humidity seemed higher too. The West wind brought cirrus and altocumulus clouds making a classic "mares' tails and mackerel sky."  Some of it coalesced around contrails.  K said the sky was red at dawn.  Rain would be welcome but it wasn't in the forecast. 

I saw another butterfly but it was only a cabbage white.  A red spider mite scuttled around my chair arm.  Titmice and chickadees ate seeds.  A couple of tree swallows hunted aerial insects. 

Monster bug

For a day that was supposed to be gray and wet, there was a lot of sunshine and warmth.  A breeze felt nice and didn't disturb the reflections on the creek.  The tree colors were visibly further along but there was still plenty of green.  But the hibiscus lost almost all its leaves.  A berry-eating bird mooned me but I can't identify it from that angle.  Finally, a female downy woodpecker discovered the suet.  

I puttered around in the yard planting strawberries and pulling up oak seedlings.  Wasps were still active, especially yellow jackets enjoying the camellias.  I saw spider threads floating on the breeze, but not the spiders.  An egret stood on top of the bulkhead admiring its reflection.  

A bluebird watched from the top of the redwood.  First gulls, then swallows zipped across the sky too fast for my camera.  A mockingbird stayed hidden while eating dogwood berries till finally it forgot to be cautious.  The milkweed seeds stayed in their pods waiting for what to change in the weather?  Blue jays were still hunting acorns.  The red aster appeared to be finished flowering. 

While admiring the beautyberries, I spotted a huge insect that turned out to be a wheelbug.  I didn't recognize it at first because the abdomen was swollen.  Eggs?  The camera ran out of juice but the bug waited patiently till I came back with a fresh battery.  Then it slowly made its way onto a different leaf with twigs in the way.  

Rows of little cotton-fluff cumulus clouds replaced the cirrus wisps and ushered in a wall of solid overcast around 4pm.  After the tricker-treaters had gone home, I tried to take pictures of the first quarter moon through gaps in the overcast.  The photos were so bad I'm tempted to pass them off as Halloween ghosts. 

Still hot

The male red bellied woodpecker got up for a suet breakfast.  Much later, I heard one fussing in the trees because I was too close to the suet. 

The painted skimmer was back briefly at lunchtime.  I saw a tiger swallowtail fluttering around the wild cherry and a dark swallowtail that just kept going.  The brown thrasher pair foraged for suet crumbs while bluebirds went to the source.  Blue jays pecked at the remains of barkbutter balls. 

Since the temperature was predicted to drop back to normal after today, I made sure to get another afternoon in the pool.  This time I only rescued a few small black beetles.  Dragonflies zoomed past but didn't pause to be identified, much less photographed.  The sky was quite blue with lots of cottony cumulus.  And it was still windy.  When I came in, the pileated woodpecker landed on the post right behind me. I tried to ignore her but she spooked anyway.  

In the late afternoon, I heard a mockingbird again.  A bluebird perched on a vent pipe looked over his shoulder to where crows set up a racket.  If there was a predator, it didn't come our way.  Wasps and syrphid flies were attracted to the rue flowers.  A silver spotted skipper hid behind a rose leaf.  Cabbage whites flitted around like nothing was good enough for them.  A buzzard circled overhead. 

By evening menacing clouds covered the sky.  Dragonflies zipped across my field of view without the directional changes they make when hunting.  A crane fly brushed past me.  In between the low dark clouds I could see higher clouds turning sunset colors.  The stormy-looking clouds just kept moving past without a drop of rain falling.  But I think the temperature was falling because the wind began to feel chilly so I came inside.  

Misty and wispy

Morning started misty, not quite fog. The sky was full of wispy mares' tails.  The creek was still but reflections were grayed by the misty air.  A wheelbug rested on the screen door and threatened me when I came outside.  The heavy dew revealed one spiderweb in the grass.  Later, after the mist disappeared, mallards napped along the shore.   

Some branches of the oak turned golden brown but most of the tree was still green. Dogwood leaves turned to stained glass when back lit.  The wild cherry's yellow leaves could pass for fairy gold.  

In the afternoon I noticed a blue jay pouncing on something in the grass.  Then a squirrel jumped the bird and came away with an acorn.  I tried to photograph the crescent moon but the wispy clouds confused the camera.  At times, the thin ridges of cloud looked like gigantic fingerprints.  

 

A beetle scuttled across the patio.  Then a red spotted purple flitted around the trees looking for a sunny resting spot.  I thought I saw a bird drop out of the maple and hurry under the azalea.  It may have been the Carolina wren that was poking its beak into the leaves nearby.   

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. 

Soupy air

I couldn't stand being outside for very long in the morning because of the heat and humidity.  A black swallowtail flitted erratically around the yard.  Brown thrashers grew bolder with their desire for bark butter balls.  A young one walked around the back of the pool. 

Clouds drew in and lowered the heat a little.  Bluebirds followed blue jays to the feeder.  A female cardinal sought shade to eat her bark butter ball.  Later a Carolina wren did the same.  A female red bellied woodpecker inspected one of the dogwoods.  An egret rested on a dock piling. 

An ailanthus webworm moth (Atteva aurea) joined the bees and wasps on the mountain mint. A slaty skimmer used the perch nearby.    A Japanese beetle chewed on a hibiscus flower. 

Rain that was not predicted fell in the late afternoon but didn't amount to much.  It trailed off leaving the air to reabsorb the rain that fell.  An egret and a heron flew North toward mammatus clouds that bulged downward in round hemispheres.

Lull

Sunny and quiet.  The morning clouds lined up in rows.  The downy woodpeckers continued to work on the suet.  Lots of bees and wasps were active in the afternoon.  Turtles dried on the lake log.  I saw a heron fly downstream.  It seems to be the slack time when the winter migrants have disappeared but the summer migrants haven't arrived.  And the year around residents are busy with nests.

Surprising weather

Morning was gray and dripping and cold.  A myrtle warbler looked for food, but everything was wet.  At lunch, pelicans fished.  I saw nuthatches, but they got away. 

I had an afternoon program to attend and the sun came through during it.  The temperature rose too.  Unusual cloud patterns had formed. 

When I got home, I spied a pileated woodpecker way up in the neighbors' oak.  I tried to get a photo but it was too far away for the snapshot camera I had with me.  The sapsucker was busy in the pecan.  Other birds (warblers?) perched in the pecan and flew out to catch mid air bugs.   The downy woodpecker stayed in the back yard with the suet. 

The cat came back as the birds were fueling up for the night.  Sunset colored the clouds gold. 

Very warm

What does it mean when the first day of the new year gets up to 70°?  Could it be climate change? Morning was quiet with only a few buffleheads out on the creek. I glimpsed a flock of hoodies right by the dock as I was hurrying to leave.  Later a half dozen mallards paddled around, accompanied by one female bufflehead.  The geese watched from a neighbor's yard.

Birds came after lunch.  White throats foraged, warblers tussled over the suet, female orioles gorged on jelly, and a red breasted nuthatch sampled suet but returned to the sunflower seeds.  Titmice and chickadees stuck to the seeds.  A titmouse cussed me out for sitting too close to the feeder. 

The clouds were spectacular all day until they merged into evening overcast.  Crows flocked to chase a hawk.  Turtles basked on a log on the lake.  I began to get chilly from the wind so I left the wildlife to their own pursuits. 

Warm morning

A nuthatch came for suet.  But most of the birds didn't seem interested in the feeders.  I discovered they were enjoying hackberries.  First I saw a bluebird silhouetted against the sky.

A dove was in the redwood.  Then a mockingbird wanted hackberries.  A Carolina wren scuttled along the flowerbed outside the window. 

The creek was still and the sky mostly overcast.  The clouds began to clear as the temperature dropped.  Cormorants crowded the lake and flew overhead. 

At one point the clouds looked like they had been scraped off the sky leaving a thin, streaked residue like a bad spackle job.  

Thawing

The temperature rose above freezing at last.  Clumps of snow fell off trees and dripping roofs.  The sky was hazy with cirrocumulus ridge clouds that became overcast.  Before that I saw, briefly, a Kelvin–Helmholtz cloud.

Both kinds of warblers  two kinds of sparrow, blue jays,titmice, and Carolina wrens joined us for breakfast. Three kinds of woodpeckers visited in the morning: downy, red bellied, and pileated. 

Snowbirds (juncos) still flitted through our winter wonderland, but the bluebird had not gone away after all.  The female was back for lunch.

Mallards and herons prowled the melting edge of the creek.  The shovelers mostly stayed out of sight.

Hot wind

During breakfast, I saw a young mockingbird in the cherry tree.  Hummingbirds visited all day long.  By lunch time the feeder was dry so we put out fresh juice in a fresh feeder, and they kept coming. 

The sky was cloudless in the morning and the sun scorched all it touched.  I decided to swim while the pool still had shade.  A black swallowtail laid eggs on the rue.  A yellow crowned night heron stood on the dock in the drop-wind posture they us when hot.  A great blue heron chased it away, then performed its version of the I'm-so-hot look.  Later the night heron (or another) hunted in the spartina that was in the shade. 

I rescued beetles, a few tiny bees, and a couple of spiders.  A large black ant bit me which led to its demise.  I guess it was using me to get out of the water when my arm brushed it.  Blue dashers and a bar-winged skimmer perched around the pool.  A yellow-kneed wasp was thirsty.  I saw a pair of Carolina saddlebags flying mated, but they were gone before I thought of the camera.  A large blue-tailed skink also got away.

Clouds appeared in the afternoon.  Around 6pm they took over the sky and looked threatening, but we did not get rain.  What was strange was that the lowest clouds were rushing NNE, and the middle layer were rolling down from the Northwest, while the highest clouds - still in the sunlight - slowly moved West.

Down on Earth, wind from the South whipped the trees and grounded most flying creatures.  But not the hummingbirds.  I saw at least one male and two females with one chasing the other.   Finally the clouds passed, the sky turned silver, and the wind dropped to the evening onshore breeze. An egret passed overhead, flying home.

Clouding over

The downy male came for breakfast.  All this time I thought it had lost its mate but All About Birds asserted that the sexes separate in the winter with the male hogging the good stuff.  My sympathies were certainly misplaced!  Chickadees and squirrels arrived later along with an LBJ that stayed under cover of rosemary.  Hooded mergansers paddled around the glassy creek.  The air was cool and very still.  There was a hint of mist early on and some sun through breaks in the clouds.

At lunch I saw a white throated sparrow.  A couple of vultures circled over the creek.  Chickadees were back.  After lunch we went up to Pleasure House Point.  The sky was dramatic with mackerel clouds.  I saw yucca and prickly pear had escaped into the sandy ground of the nature preserve.  We walked between ponds out to Pleasure House Creek but saw no marsh birds, just a couple of robins.  Periwinkles and what I think were oysters were abundant. 

Afterward, we shopped and when we came out, the last streaks of sunset were going from pink to gray.  At supper, a small moth was attracted to the lighted window. 

Sun

Dawn tinted clouds pink and  the creek mirrored them.  As the sun gilded the pines, they too were reflected in the water.  A dove poked through the mulch at breakfast.

The sun felt hot at lunchtime but the wind was cold.  It ruffled the water on the near side of the creek leaving the much smoother.   Bees enjoyed herb flowers.  Small yellow-brown insects flitted around the trees.  There were fresh spider threads on several plants.  Did some eggs hatch too soon?

Chickadees came for lunch.  One posed in the camellia.  Squirrels buried nuts and dug them back up.  Mallards and geese paddled on the creek and a great blue heron flew low overhead to land on a dock across the creek.

Cirrus clouds made fantastic brush strokes across the intensely blue sky.

The day ended as it began with pink cloud streaks, only in the West this time. 

Overcast

The clouds were broken at first but congealed by lunch.  I glimpsed a brown thrasher in the dogwood by the corner of the house.  The kingfisher was fussing about something - it made a lot of noise on the creek, then flew over the house, TWICE, while we were cooking lunch.

Mallards paddled and geese flew by on the creek.  I roamed around looking at fungi.  Carpenter bees were working on the rosemary but not much else was around.  The sun attempted to glare through the overcast, ineffectively. Fortunately there was little breeze so I didn't freeze after swimming. 

Beautiful day

The cumulus are coming from the East but the higher clouds are moving slowly South. Just the regulars at the feeder, but a mockingbird visited the beautyberry and a dogwood.

A red spotted purple has been all over the yard but returned frequently to the cherry.  A cloudless sulphur and a dark orange butterfly (monarch?) hustled through toward the creek.  A honeybee and a thread waisted wasp visited the rosemary.  Something circled high up - osprey or eagle. 

The clouds disappeared in the afternoon.  An egret prowled the creek.

Sunny with big cumulus clouds

The female towhee poked around below the feeder, joined by a juvenile cardinal that hasn't figured out the feeder perch yet.  The two adult male cardinals got into a fight.  A hummer visited briefly.

I went looking for the Mississippi kite but had no luck.  There were fiery skippers on the lantana when I got home and a white cabbage butterfly flitted past.  The male towhee showed up at lunch.  He can erect a sort of crest when agitated.  I saw a skink after lunch.  

The sky cleared in the early afternoon, then clouds came back as the sun moved into the West.  I found a big dead green frog in the pool skimmer.  Lots of little, flat snails clung to the pool rim.  I saw a wolf spider and a reddish slater spider that preys on isopods.  A tiger swallowtail flitted over the pool.  While I was in the pool, two hummers fought over the feeder.  One looked like a male but the sun was behind it so I couldn't be sure.  Dragonflies perched along the retaining wall. 

While sitting on the patio, I saw titmice, goldfinches (M&F), a brown headed nuthatch, a mockingbird, and a blue jay.  The female towhee returned and the hummer warz continued.  I was on the phone and thus missed photographing the nuthatch which was soooo close.  The clouds brought their own drama and a brief downpour followed by the sun's return.  

Muted sunlight

A bank of clouds in the East is filtering the light and it is pleasantly cool, though humid. The hummers are feeding with no sign of the wasp. Chickadees, titmice and finches are also visiting. An interesting cloud wisp suggested either Aphrodite or the Little Mermaid.

With the afternoon, both sun and wasp returned. How can I get rid of the wasp? I don't want to spray the feeder and risk poisoning the hummers. I doubt swatting at it on the swinging feeder will do more than make it mad. Butterfly net? And is there just one or will there be an endless succession of them. I wouldn't mind feeding wasps if they'd leave the birds alone. But I definitely saw them chase the hummers.

Blue sky smoke-free

Last night had a lovely sunset. A shift in wind yesterday dispersed the swamp smoke but it is still this morning. No haze is apparent.

A humming bird and a chickadee were both in view for a moment and the size difference was shocking. I'm accustomed to thinking of chickadees as tiny birds but next to a hummer they are bulky - 3 or 4 times as big.

The hibiscus is blooming up a storm after its mid-summer rest. The Halloween pennant dragonfly is still hanging out on the same perch. And the mockingbird is still around.

It looks like one of the hummingbirds, the one who prefers to perch, may be turning into a boy. It got up in my face today and it has streaks on its throat. I think it may be a bit smaller than the other one as well.

And now the wind has swung around, smoke is in the air, and clouds are boiling up. I should have chosen a different blog title. No rain though thus far.

I changed back to the original hummingbird feeder base. No perch but no drips.