Yellow crowned night herons

The wind finally shifted around to the West and blew cumulus clouds out to the Atlantic.  In between the clouds, the sunshine felt strong.   Again, a Carolina wren was the early bird, seeking suet to start the day.  A blue jay was disappointed to find only crumbs.  A fledgling bluebird landed on the seed feeder but didn't partake.  A second wren joined the first.  Then a red bellied woodpecker wanted suet.  

To avoid a possible afternoon storm, I swam in the morning.  But first, I went looking for the horntail caterpillar and found a skink instead.  Also, yet another Argiope, this one still at the striped leg stage.  A red spotted purple butterfly floated near me as I swam and it rested on the volunteer redbud.  Of course when I got out it was gone.  In the afternoon, I saw a buckeye, a tiger swallowtail, and two monarchs.  A great blue skimmer and a blue dasher were the only dragonflies.  A skink hiked up the brick wall of the house.  It amazes me that their little legs are so strong and so fast. 

After lunch, hummers visited their feeder.  I think one also visited the roses at the bottom of the hill.  A cranky, molting crow paced the roof and scared the songbirds off the feeders.  When they flew back, a white breasted nuthatch landed under the suet.  After It had enough, it moved to the seeds.  Young titmice tried everything.  Blue jays discovered I'd added fresh barkbutter balls to the dish.  The juvenile cardinal discovered wild cherries.  I glimpsed a mockingbird in the dogwood.  It was probably after either dogwood berries or wild cherries.  A great crested flycatcher was mostly hidden by leaves.  

Then a yellow crowned night heron landed in the redwood.  It bounced in and out of view and it wasn't till they flew off that I realized I'd been seeing two of them, just never at the same moment.   Rain fell in the afternoon and left the air very humid.  

 

Still hot

I didn't notice much in the morning.  The sky was hazy.  Wasps fed on the mountain mint.  A small black bee stung me but it raised no welt.  I picked more blueberries.  A blue jay was almost too wary to get the barkbutter it wanted.  A nuthatch ignored me and got seeds. 

Afternoon heat sent a couple of prince baskettails soaring.  A bluebird pair wanted to visit the feeder but I was too close for comfort.  The great crested flycatcher popped up on an oak limb.  I think it was panting in the heat.  A skink appeared and disappeared before I could react. 

Elusive butterflies

It was another scorcher so I swam in the morning.  Floating in the water were a queen ant,  a robber fly, a firefly, a woodlouse hunter spider, a largus bug, and many more ants, flies, little wasps, and mulch roaches.  I thought the spider was a goner but when I next checked it had disappeared.  I complained because there weren't any butterflies or dragonflies, but they appeared in the afternoon.  I think I captured a wasp killing another insect, but it might have been mating.  

A blue jay came for barkbutter balls and brown headed nuthatches for seeds.  The sakaki was nearly finished blooming.  A great crested flycatcher made a commotion chasing something through the oak leaves.  A skink wanted to get behind my chair and made a detour through the grass.  A female downy had a go at the suet.  A pair of geese with three half-grown goslings paddled upstream while a fish jumped in the background. 

A tiger swallowtail and a dark butterfly proved impossible to photograph.  Wasps and bees were more cooperative.  A very dark skipper visited the mountain mint.  I could see insects going to the asters but I couldn't tell what they were.  One might have been a Southern purple mint moth and another some kind of beetle.  Prince baskettail dragonflies patrolled the hazy sky.  A different dragonfly perched on a dead twig at the top of the wild cherry.  And a Needham's skimmer used one of the perches.  

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.  

Squirrels like oranges

It was lunchtime before I got to see any wildlife.  A brown headed nuthatch ignored me.  Wasps hunted, as did dragonflies.  The only way I could catch the fliers in a photo was against blue sky.  One was a twelve spotted skimmer.  Others had unmarked wings.  A beautiful painted skimmer, Libellula semifasciata perched briefly  

A commotion in the trees heralded a great crested flycatcher.   A bluebird found the barkbutter balls.  A cardinal male perched on the feeder hanger and fluttered his wings like a fledgling asking for food.  A skink scampered out of sight. 

I cut away the moldy half of a clementine and put the nice half outside for the birds.  Instead, a squirrel discovered it.  The rodent would eat a bit then wander off then come back.  Eventually nothing was left but fragments of rind. 

Cool gray day

The rain finally stopped but the sky stayed overcast and that kept the temperature down and the air damp.  A cool breeze persuaded me to stay dry.  When I went outside I saw a tan jumping spider, Platycryptus undatus.  I took my eyes off it to grab the camera and when I looked back it was on its back with legs curled, acting dead.  It had been lively seconds before so I flipped it right-side-up.  It slowly recovered and tottered away.  Did I discover a spider that plays possum?

A skimmer used one of the bamboo perches.  Some of the usual wasps were missing but all the regular bees showed up.  Some flies liked the mountain mint too.  I saw a fiery skipper, a monarch, a tiger swallowtail, and a dark butterfly.  Bees harassed the monarch while she laid eggs on the butterfly milkweed.  

Hummer wars have begun.  I saw a hummer keeping watch on the feeder.  It was all fluffed up as though it too was feeling chilly.  Then it dived on another that tried to feed.  It also flew up to me and hovered about four feet away.  I wish I knew what that meant.  A couple of skinklets wandered around the patio but I saw no adults today. 

A bird perched atop the maple - a mockingbird?  Then I saw great crested flycatchers.  There were at least two, maybe three.  I thought they were fledglings because they seemed awkward and pale. 

Great crested flycatcher

I saw a titmouse on the seed feeder as I left in the morning.  I also saw the yellow cat on my way out.  After I got home, I dumped the rainwater out of the dish and filled it with barkbutter balls.  That drew blue jays.  Goldfinches and the bluebird with the bent feather stuck with seeds.  In the evening, blue jays queued up for seeds too. 

The flycatcher didn't sample any food but it tried its best to come through the glass into the house.  It didn't seem to learn and tested all the windows several times.  But since it was just fluttering at them and not striking them, I didn't interfere.  I'm pretty sure I saw a second flycatcher fly over the house which eventually the first one did too.  I wondered if they were fledglings because they didn't seem very smart. 

The day heated up into the 90s and I didn't do much outdoor puttering.  The breeze wasn't as helpful either.  A cabbage white wanted mountain mint nectar but was bugged by wasps.  A tiger swallowtail bobbed around the wild cherry.  I assume it was laying eggs.  Bees feasted on mountain mint.  The tux cat tried to catch a squirrel.  I had a hard time finding the orchard spider after the rain.  The red flowers were spent, replaced by white daisies, a yellow daylily, and a yellow sunflower.  

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.  

Hummingbird wars

I got up late and the mockingbird and blue jays were already eating.  One of the blue jays was getting bald.  A great crested flycatcher hunted through the trees.  The camera did not want to focus on that bird.  

The hummer feeder was empty. When I refilled it, a male swooped in, but the juice was still refrigerator cold to his disgust.  A little later it was warm enough for females to fight over.  The hibiscus made a second flower and the canna also put out a spike of flowers, as if to advertise the hummer feeder.  One hummer found the hibiscus to be a convenient perch for guarding the feeder.

Again there was no rain nor thunderstorm though the afternoon clouded over.  In the pool, I rescued one mama spider with countless babies, two winged female Camponotus pennsylvanicus ants, a skink, and a green frog.  A little skink crossed the patio one way and a cricket went the other.  A bar-winged skimmer used one of the dragonfly perches. 

One or more white breasted nuthatches made regular visits from mid day on.  Carolina wrens ate whatever wasn't being eaten by a different bird.  Both found the house finches annoying.  The tux cat took up bird-watching again. 

Monarch

A pine warbler was the early bird.  The goldfinches soon followed.  Bluebirds discovered that there was food in the hanging dishes.  Yellow roses came out to join the red hibiscus.  Birds were eating the wild cherries and something was eating the cherry leaves. 

While I was in the water a blue dasher flew right up to my face.   I wonder if I had a bug in my hair?  I carefully fished a woodlouse hunter spider out of the pool but it did not revive.  The mydas fly was back among the honeybees, leafcutter bees, bumblebees, carpenter bees, and sand wasps on the mountain mint.  A monarch butterfly found the aster, but not the milkweed.  A skink crossed the top step.  In the evening a few dragonflies patrolled the air over the patio. 

I saw a great crested flycatcher way up in an oak.  A great blue heron stood on a downstream dock.  While I was sitting beside the hummer feeder, the male visited twice.  I played dead but he still seemed nervous.  So I moved farther away.  Then the female came instead.  neither would stay long enough for me to aim the camera.  At twilight, I think I saw a swallow, but the camera focus was confused and the shutter wouldn't click. 

Hungry birds

The creek was quiet under a hazy sky.  Hummingbirds fought over access to the feeder.  A juvenile bluebird watched from the feeder hanger but didn't figure out how to get a meal.  

Blue jays flocked to the barkbutter balls but a female red bellied woodpecker wanted them too.  At least two brown headed nuthatches made repeat trips for seeds.  A white breasted nuthatch joined them. 

I got just a glimpse of a great crested flycatcher up in the cherry tree.  A Carolina wren foraged on the ground.  A female downy woodpecker came to see if the suet had returned but only found the hummer feeder. 

Some kind of swallowtail was flitting around.  I caught two skinks and three frogs in the pool.  Around 3:30pm ugly clouds moved out of the South but no rain fell. 

Solstice

As I ate a late breakfast, so did a hummer.   The aster began blooming.  An odd-looking bee, black with a pale abdomen, preferred the mountain mint.  I saved many beetles including several scarabs with copper-colored legs and undersides and lined wing covers.  My best guess is that the were shining leaf chafers Anomala binotata.  There was also a Japanese beetle which I did not rescue.  A few wasps and a bumblebee also got lucky.  

Birds began to be interested in the cherries, or were they after bugs?   The photo I got looks like the tail of a great crested flycatcher.  After I got out of the water, a mockingbird landed on the mealworm feeder.  I didn't have my camera with me when we came out of the temple, but there was a beautiful sunset of orange cloud shreds and swallows were flying and calling.   

Five skinks

All the spiders were safe in their webs, but the one in the mountain mint might outgrow its skin at the rate it was catching meals.  The hornworm was stuffing itself too.  There were some red leaves and berries on the dogwood, and the beauty berries were beginning to turn color.  The spartina was in bloom. 

The sixth skink had drowned, but I rescued four bluetails and one full grown five-lined skink.  I also rescued a cicada and several beetles. 

A couple of great crested flycatchers hopscotched around the trees.  Carolina wrens and a brown thrasher also played hard to see.  A downy woodpecker wanted suet but was anxious about our proximity.  Brown headed nuthatches landed on the suet as soon as we went indoors. 

The dog has chosen a napping spot in the violets right next to the first Argiope.  Today the spider ignored the dog.  

Bombs bursting in air

The hibiscus burst into bloom for the holiday.   A blue jay stopped briefly.  The "Fairy Garden" seeds I scattered out front produced plants I don't recognize. 

We had company so I wasn't taking photos.  I got hit in the neck by a green eyed fly but managed to get under water before it could do much damage.  An orange butterfly, probably a fritillary, visited the asters.  I saw a mockingbird and other birds eating wild cherries.  A great crested flycatcher perched on the same branch as yesterday.  It's welcome to the green head fly.  Chickadees and titmice warily ate suet though we were nearby. 

 As soon as we went inside the birds came back.  A brown thrasher prowled the steps.  I discovered that the bluebird house was in use!  Papa brought what looked like a spider home for supper. 

Starting at sundown, the local amateur pyrotechnics terrorized the birds.  I saw an egret fleeing in the twilight while something cheeped querulously up in the oak.  It was mostly noise but I saw a couple of starbursts through the trees.  Fireflies did their best to make up the visual component. 

Like June

It was in the mid 80s, sunny and breezy with lots of fair-weather cumulus clouds floating East to temper the sun's rays.  I picked a full basket of blueberries and left at least that many for the birds.  The wild cherries attracted a mockingbird.  A brown thrasher tackled the suet cage. 

A widow skimmer settled on a low perch among the herbs.  Honeybees took over the mountain mint. Some seemed darker than others.  Lots of wasps and native bees joined them.  A great golden digger wasp as twitchy as usual.  A skipper found it too crowded.  A tiny green bee fed inside and aster. 

A skink almost ran into a squirrel.  It smartly camouflaged itself among long thin leaves that made its stripes look like shadows.  

A great crested flycatcher preened on a dead oak branch.  A squirrel sprawled on a different branch.  A brown thrasher moseyed along the top of the fence.  A blue jay perched over the hummer feeder, as if remembering the barkbutter that hung there in the Winter.  

I was happy to see coral honeysuckle blossoms as I feared that, in the enthusiasm of forsythia removal, the honeysuckle had been killed.  

Another rare June day

A hummer visited the new, little feeder.  Leatherwing beetles feasted on parsley flowers.  A few blueberries turned red.  Saddlebags dragonflies cruised under fat cumulus clouds.  A silvery spider blended in with the pool ladder railing, at least from the water.  It was more visible from outside.  Mud dauber wasps worked on fresh nests.  A swallowtail butterfly was attracted to the rue.  A brown headed nuthatch paid a visit to the sunflower seeds.  The titmouse tribe were all over the place, fledglings acting silly.  But something stole the fresh barkbutter tub I put out.  The moon was getting on toward the first quarter. Toward evening, I was watching a downy woodpecker up in the oak when I spotted a great crested flycatcher.   

Between seasons

Sunshine on the glassy creek spoke of Fall thought the heat and humidity belonged to Summer.  The third chrysalis still had not opened.  Black swallowtail caterpillars continued chowing down on rue. A Carolina wren speared a bark butter ball and wore it like a clown nose, alas out of focus.  Hummers started drinking early.  

At lunch, a squirrel flattened its belly against a cool patch of shaded patio.  A fiery skipper insisted on a place at the mountain mint.  Afterward, I saw a juvenile night heron hunting along the edge of the creek. 

A female pondhawk guarded the rue while a bird grasshopper hung out on the hibiscus.  A sharpshooter was also on the hibiscus, but I was too close to it.  In trying for a photo, I disturbed the grasshopper who flew to the gladiolus leaves.  I saw a tiger and a palamedes swallowtail, and some sulphurs, but they didn't pause. A black swallowtail was more cooperative. 

I rescued a skink despite its best efforts to drown.  Many other skinks were out and about.  The rabbit hopped past me while I was in the deep end of the pool.  A female eastern amberwing dragonfly hung out with the wasps around the mountain mint.  Wikipedia claims that both appearance and behavior mimic wasps. 

We had to refresh the hummers' juice.  I heard a crow and then saw a red tailed hawk fly away.  After that lots more birds appeared.  Great crested flycatchers appeared to find plenty to catch in the trees.  A young mockingbird might have been after dogwood berries or hackberries.  Brown headed nuthatches wanted sunflower seeds and one made the ratcheting squeak for which they're known. 

I came in to shed my swimsuit and when I next looked, a brown thrasher and a downy woodpecker confronted each other across the barkbutter.  Then two squirrels chased madly up the feeder pole and back, disturbing a female bluebird.  After that, it got quiet again. 

Gentle rain

I raced to pick more figs before I had to leave because the forecast suggested rain any minute.  A big green June beetle joined the wasps in the fig feast.  I did not see the spiderweb.  The grass was full of tiny pale brown parasols.  As it turned out, the sun was still shining when we got back.  However, I thought I should recover slowly, so I didn't rush outside.  A couple of doves promenaded on the patio.  A black swallowtail egged the rue.  I also saw a tiger swallowtail cross the yard. 

To the South, the sky was dark and congested, but the North was blue with a foam of white cloud.   A fiery skipper flitted around the driveway.  A couple of skinks prowled around the steps in back. 

The brown headed nuthatch came back.  It was smaller than a chickadee but determined to have a share of seeds.  The Carolina wren came twice to check for the bark butter I had taken inside for fear of storm winds.  There was no wind and the wren made me fell guilty, so I put the bark butter back outside for the rest of the day.  A couple of great crested flycatchers went chasing across the yard and into the trees. 

A four spotted skimmer took the bamboo stake perch.  Its spots were much darker than the one I saw a few days ago.  Maybe it was older, maybe even the same one? Fewer bees and wasps were evident, but some persisted on the mints.  The sky grew fully overcast and a light rain fell intermittently while I was in the pool.  There was a fair amount of floating debris and some gnasty noseeums hovering around me.  I could hear swallows but I didn't see them and in any case I'd left the camera inside because of the rain. 

The rain stopped for several hours and after supper I sat outside though the chair was wet.  The high-flying dragonflies were busy.  There wasn't any wind. 

Rare visitors

We picked the last (probably) of the blueberries and a big bowl of figs.  A spinyback orbweaver protected the figs though it was far to small to catch the wasps and hornets I saw.

I rescued a firefly, so they were still around even though I hadn't seen any flashing in the evening.   A brown thrasher hunted under the sakaki.  A blue dasher used one of my perches while a Halloween pennant rode the top of the hackberry.  A tattered skimmer made short forays from its bamboo perch. 

A zebra swallowtail feasted on the butterfly milkweed until it disappeared in a flurry of hungry birds.  The blue jays and bluebirds wanted bark butter balls so I hope the butterfly just fled. A while later, a monarch arrived on the butterfly milkweed. 

Titmice were content with seeds.  A few hummers visited.  A great crested flycatcher darted around the trees.  A red bellied woodpecker sunbathed up in the oak.

The waxing moon was gradually enveloped in clouds.  A bright Jupiter trailed behind.

Much greener

The rain revived everything.  A Carolina wren gobbled the rain-soaked crumbs of bark butter balls.

At lunch, the Halloween pennant was back atop the hackberry.  A couple of great crested flycatchers prowled through the trees.  They could have dined well on the bees and wasps that crowded the mountain mint.  Something stung me in the water. 

A yellow crowned night heron perched on a redwood limb and preened despite our presence.  Blue dashers, a slaty skimmer, and twelve-spotted skimmers hunted the tiny biters that wanted blood for their eggs.  A swallow flew over heading West in a hurry.