!@#$% 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.

Too much running around

Yesterday the money plant pods were fully dried and ready to disperse seeds.  A green pod appeared on the milkweed.  The sky was mostly cloudy.  I saw a young rabbit on my way home. Today, instead, I saw an egret perched on something sticking up out of Pretty Lake.  

At home, a Carolina wren visited the glass dish.  A mockingbird followed but the crow stuck to the easy pickings off the patio.  I rescued many beetles but left alone a yellow fly, a bit bigger than a housefly but the same shape.  The New England aster began to bloom and there were tiny pink buds on the beautyberry and the mountain mint.  I saw a skink but it hid behind foliage.  Wasps were busy.  

Flies and other fliers

In the morning a brown thrasher visited.  A bluebird investigated the blue dish and found a tidbit.  The furnace heat returned.  I was tabling again, this time mid afternoon on a hilltop.  Fortunately we had a tent.  An ambulance came for someone a few tents away.  Thunderheads crowded the horizon, but nothing happened before I left.  The car thermometer crept up to 100 on the way home.  

K said I looked bedraggled.  I got into the water and soon felt better.  And I rescued a damselfly.  It perched on my finger and used its long abdomen to unstick its wet wings.  Then it flew.  A beetle I rescued also flew away.  Other rescuees may not have made it.  There were more beetles, flying ants or sweat bees, and of course spiders. A blue dasher kept watch from a low perch.  As I sat to drip off, I was attacked by a Tabanid fly, a deer fly, I think, as I didn't see green eyes.  So I dashed dripping indoors.  Not too long after that, we had a short rain shower.  

102°F

After waiting to swim till late in the afternoon, I rescued a lot of beetles and a few spiders, including one woodlouse hunter.  The beetles were mostly black ground beetles along with one scarab.  A damselfly watched from the pool edge but paid no attention to a fly.  A squirrel drank from the ant moat.  A crow bathed on the top step of the pool.  

 

End of summer

At breakfast, I glimpsed a snowy egret on the bulkhead and got just one photo before it flew.  A monarch was duped by the bright red of the dogwood berries, but found no nectar.  A red spotted purple found a resting spot under an azalea branch.  Now there are three sacks of spider eggs and three chrysalises to monitor.  A bluebottle fly was sitting on my chair, all gorgeous metallic teal on an absolutely icky body.  

The orchard spider was in the same spot, as were the Argiopes.  Rather than venusta, it better fit mabel orchard orbweaver, Leucauge argyrobapta.  Something had taken down the big org web across the pool.  A red-banded leafhopper sat on one of the moonflower leaves.  Passing cclouds and a Northeast wind muted the sun's warmth. The water was not warm and the wind was chilly but worse were the mosquitoes.  Not a dragonfly was to be found.  

Caterpillars

Suddenly four caterpillars appeared on the milkweed.  Two great egrets had a territorial dispute which the camera missed.  A belated money plant kept opening small flowers.  I made my daily check of the chrysalis and located the four black swallowtail caterpillars.  The rue did not look healthy so my fingers are crossed that it lasts long enough for them to pupate.  

A tiger swallowtail swooped past the yard.  A greenhouse millipede pretended to be a branch stub on a floating twig.  I rescued it without dislodging it and got some photos.  Spittlebugs infested the rosemary.  Again a long-legged fly wandered around the morning glory leaves.  I could only find two of the three Argiopes.  A drain fly shared the shower and, no, I did not have a camera with me.  

Chrysalis and sack of eggs

Again the Carolina wren breakfasted with us.  The seed eaters were up early as well.  When I went to swim, I located three black swallowtail caterpillars on the rue, but the caterpillar that was quiet yesterday made a chrysalis overnight, right where it had been.  Something kept biting me and cut short my swim.  An adult black swallowtail rested on a morning glory leaf.  So did a long-legged fly.

And the larger Argiope made a brown bag of eggs.  However, the mother spider left its web and moved around the corner to the spot where the smaller spider had been, beside an outside light.  And the smaller spider?  It scooted to the other edge of that door pane, as far as it could get from the big one.  

Quiet day

I don't know why but I didn't see much until the afternoon.  A pair of wrens dined on suet.  The brown headed nuthatches continued their forays.  A bluebird seemed quizzical.  A very large, hairy flesh fly sat on the window and intimidated me.  I found a venusta orchard spider in the camellia.  The coral honeysuckle had attached itself to the neighbors' birch tree so I cut it loose.  Red buds appeared on the gladiolus. 

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.  

Woodpeckers

Rain fell overnight.  Several roses opened.  The male red bellied woodpecker got down on the step wall, perhaps hunting suet crumbs.  He certainly looked out-of-place.  Bluebirds concentrated on seeds.  A blue jay tried to reach the suet.  A downy had not trouble getting plenty of suet. 

The day grew very windy and more cloudy than sunny.   A black swallowtail hung around the rue, understandably as there wasn't much parsley..  A picture-wing fly clung to the window but the camera didn't want to focus.  First the male pileated then the female came for suet.  A mockingbird dug into the mealworms and barkbutter balls.  Two Carolina wrens seized opportunities to get some suet. 

The day's temperature reached the mid 80s.  Both pileates came back for more suet but this time the female got to eat first.  A blue jay got some seeds. Then an early evening rain shower hit shortly before supper.  After the shower when the feeder was surely flooded a hummer appeared.  He next tried a rose  and then looked around the post as though maybe he'd been here last year when the feeder hung there.  I hope he fount the coral honeysuckle.   

West wind

The six monarch caterpillars will need more leaves soon.  I hope I can buy a plant.  I saw butterflies, dark ones, a sulphur, and the ubiquitous cabbage white.  An American snout perched on a dragonfly stake.  A field cricket hopped around on the concrete.  A paper wasp circled over the pavement.  A blow fly rested on a leaf.  

There were no clouds to show the gusty wind's direction but it brought warm air that emptied out the creek.  A buzzard flew across the intensely blue sky.  The kingfisher was back on the post.  It dived once and caught a small fish.  

Hot

I spent the morning at a fair out near the oceanfront.  A monarch fluttered by.  The day was sunny and grew really hot.  Hurricane Helene switched the wind direction so the clouds flowed up out of the Southwest, finally.  I startled a couple of skinks on my way to the water.  Another skink was floating on a waterlogged leaf so I lifted it, leaf and all, onto the concrete.  Two bullfrogs were in the skimmer, one little and one "almost eatin' size."  A third frog swam past me headed for deep water.  A leg cramp made me get out before I caught up with that frog.  

While drying in the sun, I witnessed a battle to the death.  A skink had caught a cricket.  Much rolling and thrashing ensued, but the cricket was doomed.  A jet passed over with no contrail.  Those little purple mint moths were everywhere.  I also spotted a picture-winged fly, Delphinia picta.  

Hazy

It was still very comfortable outside but the haze suggested to me that this might be the last of these beautiful, low humidity days.  The goldfinch pair came early for seeds. A hummer was next.  Then the orange cat tried to catch something by the birdbath.  One hummer appeared to have a dark collar.  A mockingbird and blue jays came at lunchtime for barkbutter balls.  I think the bluebird was after seeds rather than barkbutter balls. but I was too close to the feeder for her comfort. 

The Argiope spider that had moved to the mountain mint moved back. It picked a new spot just inches from my chair so I decided to sit elsewhere.  I may have scared it because it began pumping its web like a child on a swing.  A tiger swallowtail flitted among the trees and at one moment was chased by something that might have been a hummer or a cicada.   Black swallowtail caterpillars were all over the rue.  The monarch caterpillars were harder to spot but they too were plentiful. 

Despite the sun, I went swimming after lunch.  I found a mama spider in the skimmer and persuaded her to ride a stick out.  A full grown skink was dead in the skimmer, alas.  A  commotion at the far end of the pool turned out to be a live adult skink which I carried over to the ladder thinking I might get pictures.  Another skink, nearly as big but with a still blue tail, had also gone for a swim.  I carried it over to the ladder but it dived back into the water rather than share the step.  So I assisted it to climb out.  Then I saw a frog was watching.  All in all, I caught and evicted three frogs.  Meanwhile, the skink on the step got tired of waiting so I helped it climb out too.   

A squirrel was hanging upside down to eat green dogwood berries.  The nearby hackberry tree looked loaded but nothing was eating those berries.  A yellowish skimmer perched briefly, then left.  Later a great blue skimmer occupied the perch.  A black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, perched on a morning glory leaf.

Very hot

Morning brought goldfinches and hummers.   The one Argiope made it through the rain.  I caught a blur of the coy tiger swallowtail.  A gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, enjoyed the mountain mint.  And a monarch visited the butterfly milkweed. 

The sun was fierce so I swam in the morning while there was still shade.  Among my rescues were two small brown click beetles.  I also fished out a mama spider covered with spiderlings.  An anglewing katydid was too far gone. 

A skink climbed the wall.  A widow skimmer used a bamboo stake as a perch.  A different species perched atop a twig on the wild cherry.  Another, maybe a blue dasher, landed on the metal cap on the post which must have been hot.  And a slaty skimmer clung to another stake.  I got some pictures of the small gray leafcutter bee and took too many of the great golden digger wasp.  An odd orange fly turned up. 

The brown thrashers put in an appearance mid day but kept screened by vegetation.  The rain turned the blueberries to mush.  I've never seen that happen before.

Skinks

The sky was hazy to overcast and the breeze seemed ineffective against the humidity.  I saw a bird perch at the top of a pine that I'm fairly certain was a great crested flycatcher.  The light was poor so I judged by shape.  Blue jays were happy that I put out more barkbutter balls.  Lots of red flowers bloomed - roses, gladiolus - but no hummers. The first daisy bloomed too. 

Skinks prowled but I didn't see dragonflies.  Since they're both insect eaters I thought the humid weather would attract them both.  The first skink was very wide in the middle and had a regrown tail.  I couldn't see all of the second but it looked more streamlined.  Both were very red in the face.  Later, a glittering greenbottle blow fly walked slowly on the patio concrete.  Apparently they tend to seem docile like that.  

Cold water

It was lunch time when the birds finally got theirs.   Blue jays and mockingbirds were happy.  By afternoon, the sun was hot but the water was only 68.  Still, I got in till a black fly drove me out.  Butterflies continued to tease me.  A wasp worked on the rue.  Skinks went about their business around the steps.   A blue jay sunbathed on an oak limb.  A mockingbird grew bold enough to pretend it didn't see me.  Two downy woodpeckers argued over the suet.  Strange things moved beneath the surface of the creek.  Rings formed with no visible cause.  A line of turbulence moved downstream. 

A different oriole

 Morning was lovely but chilly.  Reflections on the creek were dusted with pollen.  The red bellied woodpecker female breakfasted on seeds, lunched on seeds, and snacked on seeds.  A white throated sparrow ate seeds too, but only those that had fallen to the ground.  A brown headed nuthatch sneaked around house finches to get seeds.  Even the downy female ate seeds but that was because the suet was gone.

A mockingbird scraped the bottom of the barkbutter dish and then hunted suet crumbs beneath the empty cage.  Something carried off yesterday's jelly dish!  Pelicans made frequent passes along the creek all day, probably to avoid stronger wind on the bay.  It was plenty windy here.  

I put barkbutter balls out for the mockingbird but a crow took a big helping.  Soon the two mockingbirds were back to hunting for suet crumbs.  K hung another block of suet.  That attracted a couple of pine warblers.  A mockingbird kicked a downy off the suet. 

A white breasted nuthatch arrived in the afternoon.  A Carolina wren scurried around the mulch then flew away.  A hefty fly tried to come inside but it was moving slow in the cold wind.  The afternoon was much cloudier and windier.  A molting oriole inspected the dish feeders but they were empty again.  The oriole looked like a female turning into a male.  Maybe  young males look like females?

Dreary

A mockingbird got away before I got a photo.   Something thrashed in the dogwood, probably a squirrel.  The North wind, in addition to bring a damp chill and gray skies, pushed the tide over the dock again.  A yellow rose opened anyway.  A fly and a tiny bee or wasp visited the flower.  Goldenrod was beginning to get yellow. 

Too many photos

The young cardinal stood around on the roof of the feeder looking foolish.  Eventually it dropped down to the perch to eat.  Its beak was beginning to change color.  

On my way to pick figs, I discovered a life-and-death drama.  A full grown tobacco hornworm caterpillar was thrashing on a ground-cherry stalk, trying to keep a parasitoid tachinid fly from landing on it.  Two more caterpillars were hiding out on a nearby stalk, hoping the fly wouldn't notice them.  I thought the fly looked pretty distinctive -- pale gray with red fore and aft -- but I didn't find a clear match online.  

The Argiope spider was still guarding the figs.  Two red spotted purple butterflies flitted around the fermenting fruit.  Green June beetles, bald faced hornets, and cicada killers slurped up fig insides.  I think another tachinid fly was enjoying fig juice too.  The whole area smelled like a brewery.  Mosquitoes and other small biters were thick even though a strong breeze funneled through.  On the way back, I spotted a little green bee but all three caterpillars had disappeared. 

I was so ready for a swim to wash off my hot, stick, buggy skin, but the pool offered another round of critters.  Twice I rescued a mama wolf spider and had to chase her away from taking a third dip.  I also very carefully rescued a Polistes wasp like the one that stung me when I moved a birdhouse she was using.  And, I found a small crab on the bottom which I was able to catch.  K kindly took the pictures since I couldn't get my hand far enough from the lens.  It had some odd markings and folds on the back and was missing at least one leg on the left.  I wonder if it was a soft shell? The back leg was a claw, not a paddle, so it wasn't a blue crab.  

A blue dasher occupied the perch by the red aster and another was on the perch by my window.  But the perch by the hibiscus had a bar winged skimmer.  I think a saddlebags flew overhead.  Bees and wasps worked on the mountain mint.  A thread waisted wasp splooted on the concrete!  A snout butterfly flitted around my head and later a duskywing did the same.  I don't understand the attraction.  A fiery skipper stuck to the mountain mint like a sensible butterfly. 

A female hummer chased a male away from her juice.  Blue jays dropped in for barkbutter balls.  A mockingbird appeared to be miffed at having to wait for a turn, especially since the blue jay took all it could cram into its beak.  I heard raptor cries and looked up to see three circling.  

A skink chased another across the patio.  I only got a picture of the chaser.  Maybe its regrown tail made it grumpy?  It's amazing that they can regrow the tail but cannot re-pigment it.  Another with a similar tail climbed the step wall later.  I stopped taking pictures around 1pm because I had well over three hundred.  

Two days

I missed the 18th because I was too tired to even look at the pictures I took.  So this is fro both days.  Yesterday, a brown headed nuthatch was the early bird eating suet.  A bluebird was thirsty but the ant moat was down to sludge.  

I found a camouflaged looper, Synchlora aerata, on the mountain mint.  It should grow up to be a wavy-lined emerald moth.  I can only recall seeing the moth once but they must be around.  However, BugNet added, "from Maryland southwards other Synchlora spp. are also present and only raising to adulthood can yield a definite caterpillar ID."  The mountain mint was busy with wasps and bees as well as the mydas fly and a big, green June beetle.  I think one of the bees was a cuckoo bee Epeolus scutellaris.

I rescued a bumblebee from drowning.  In the afternoon, the amberwing again lurked in the mountain mint, obelisking to cool off.  A black swallowtail egged the rue.  The goldfinches worked on their sunflowers.  A mockingbird perched and panted in the heat.  The male hummingbird visited but I didn't see red. 

While swimming today, I found a drowned caterpillar.  It was brown with eye-spots, so probably a tiger swallowtail.  I tried to revive it to no avail.  I also saw a wolf spider on the pool ladder step, and of course beetles.  A beetle wasp, Cerceris spp, joined the mountain mint diners.  Then along came a summer azure.  A skipper also popped up on the mountain mint.  I found three more camouflaged loopers on the aster.  

At lunch, two skinks got into a chase.  The winner basked on the wooden step wall.  The other wandered along the edge of the patio.  I noticed its tail was still blue,. unlike the winner.  In face, the winner had a short, regrown tail unlike the long, slender, twitchy, blue tail. Maybe that made short tail grumpy?  

An odd bird on the fence turned out to be a bald cardinal.  The afternoon got very dark and dropped buckets of rain accompanied by rumbles of thunder.  The storm finished and the sky cleared in time for late afternoon sunshine.  But it was still humid and wet everywhere.