Reynard!

As we were making breakfast, K noticed a red fox sniffing around the squirrel sculpture.  By the time I saw it, the fox was trotting down the path behind the pool, headed to the creek.  It soon came back up and we next saw it going downhill again, this time on the far side of the fence.  I'm guessing it was working its way downstream.  I never got a photo as there was always too much vegetation in the way.  It could have been still hungry, or a youngster looking for a territory of its own, or looking for a mate.  The morning was not frosty, but the folk song came to mind. As did the character from folk tales. 

In other news, I put grape jelly out in the low feeder as soon as I got to the kitchen.  Not two minutes later the oriole came for breakfast.  White throats squabbled in the mulch with pine warblers.  Then a Carolina wren took over the suet.  A nuthatch swerved in mid air when it saw a cardinal was already on the seed feeder. This was all before the sun was strong enough for good pictures, and before the fox.

Out on the creek, a couple of buffleheads fished among the geese.  I saw herons, egrets, cormorants, and a pelican fly past the birds on the water.  The kingfisher was back with another fish. 

By mid afternoon, the sky was intensely blue.  The downy woodpeckers worked industriously on the suet.  The orange crowned warbler got a turn on the suet.  And the myrtle warbler finally showed up near sunset.  Then they all disappeared as the feral cat appeared. 

Planting time

A mallard couple snoozed on the dock while a cormorant looked around from the neighbors' dock.  A titmouse abandoned the seeds for suet. One lone turtle was sunning on the log in the lake. 

A romantic triangle developed among the geese, who staged their drama in the back yard, and pooped everywhere.  I hope it's good fertilizer.  I planted the carrot top, not to grow a second carrot, but in the hope the foliage will attract swallowtails.  I planted a variety of lavender with scalloped leaves that I hope will please hummingbirds.  The day had warmed enough that I was able to do this in just a sweatshirt. 

As I sat recuperating, I saw red bellied and downy woodpeckers, and a brown thrasher with nesting material.  A bumblebee worked over a money plant.

A male cardinal took over one of the dock pilings.  Then a little green heron seized the other.  The cardinal apparently tried to drive of the much bigger heron. Strange. Later, an egret paced along under the bulkhead. Cormorants clustered on the dead snags on the lake. 

In the early evening a red fox visited.  It ran across the yard down by the creek.  A pair of brown thrashers ignored it.  The fading light and intervening twigs defeated me. 

Warm wind

A blue jay got a drink at breakfast.  A goldfinch got a drink from the oversized ant moat protecting the hummer feeder. K saw a hummer at the front yard feeder but I did not see any in back.  I did glimpse an osprey soaring and an egret fishing.  However, the wind grounded a lot of fliers. A family of geese with three goslings waddled up to the pool cover.  The goslings seemed to be either very attached to each other or trying to establish a pecking order.

The female goldfinch returned at lunch.  A blue tailed skink paused in the sun.  As usual, there was an egret fishing below the dam. 

A brown thrasher, I think, sang and sang in the afternoon, but I never saw him.  I did see, but failed to photograph, a downy woodpecker and a tufted titmouse.  A young fox came to the door but my reaching for the camera spooked it.  Later, a turtle trundled along the edge of the pool walkway.  I suppose it was looking for a good nest site. 

Warm sunshine

A male and a female hummer came for breakfast. White throats foraged for seeds and visited the birdbath, splashing a dove.  An egret fished.  A Carolina wren wanted mealworms. 

When I got home, I could see both bluebirds watching me from the tree.  But when I came back out with the camera, I couldn't find them again.  I thought I saw a swallow or maybe a martin swoop over the creek.  Later, I saw a big bug that was gone in a flash, leaving an impression of a dark head, thorax, wings, and an abdomen banded in bright yellow fur.  It was the size of a cicada killer, but wasps don't have fur and cicadas are months away.  A hummingbird moth was my best guess, but none of the pictures fit. 

It got quite windy in the afternoon. Cabbage butterflies flitted around the irises.  Wasps fed on the rue and prowled around other plants, especially rose leaves.  I saw both kinds of Polistes and a black & white mason wasp.  The rue also hosted a lot of caterpillars, first, second, and third instars of black swallowtail. And a megachile bee was interested in rose leaves.

Turtles were basking on the logs by the lake.  And a pair of wood ducks were relaxing and preening on the neighbors' floating dock.  While I was watching them, a fox sauntered through the yard.  A short while later, as I was watching cardinals hunt bugs, the fox came dashing back and the birds shot up into the trees.  I suppose the fox discovered the neighbors' dogs.

The West glowed orange through the trees at sunset.  And the feral cat came looking for supper which scared the white throats away.

Possums and foxes!

There was a sprinkle when I left home at an hour I'm usually asleep. The birds were singing to wake the sun.  But when I got to Norfolk It was like being thrown into a shower.  I had 20 feet to cross and I was soaked.  But it was over an hour and a half later and the cloud cover was getting thin spots.

As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I saw a mockingbird and a crow about a yard apart on a wire, glaring at each other.  The crow tried to fly off and the mocker bopped it.  Then the crow hid behind a street sign but the mocker was not fooled.  They flew over me and the crow landed in the street while the mockingbird lit on a branch above.  I had to leave while they were still at it.

The sun shone sporadically and the day warmed into the 70s.  In the afternoon, two opossums drank from the pool cover puddle.  I saw an orange butterfly.  As dusk was falling, two foxes walked under my window.  Something I'm guessing was a muskrat swam very fast and disappeared under the dock.  After dark, when I went out to brick the feeder, I thought I smelled skunk. 

Hazy sun

A goldfinch was up early but had trouble figuring out where to hammer the seeds open.  We cleaned and rehung the hummer feeder. The hibiscus has been very happy without the shade of the cedar we cut down.  Other years it stopped blooming by now. 

At lunch time there were swallowtails and dragonflies.  A hummer approved of the fresh juice.

I put off swimming till rather late.  A house wren had a scolding hissy-fit at the foxes as they hung around the neighbors' gazebo.  Lots of dragonflies were out - blue dashers, slaty skimmers, a common whitetail, and up in the air, saddlebags and 12-spotted skimmers.  The hummers continued to battle over the feeder. 

A few dogwood leaves have turned fall colors.  The beauty berry finished blooming.  The sun blazed golden-orange as it set. 

Sun

A Carolina wren was atop the post when I came out to start breakfast, but it flew off.  Female goldfinches and hummingbirds came for their preferred foods, though the goldfinch spent time on the hummer feeder and the hummer moved off to the rosemary.  Titmice joined the regulars at the seed feeder.  An osprey circled in the sky.

The hummer warz continued at lunch.  I would love to get a photo of that but it is unlikely.  A black swallowtail and other butterflies were out.

Things got more interesting when I went out to swim.  First there was a Halloween pennant dragonfly on a perch.  Then I saw a yellow crowned night heron in the redwood.  A fox trotted along the edge of the marsh but I didn't see it till it was almost to the next yard.  In the pool skimmer I found a sizable frog.  It jumped back into the pool and we played tag for a while.  I gave up and it jumped out on its own.  Skinks were around as well.

Sunset was glorious.  Egrets sailed over headed North.

Sunny start to August

Wrens showed up but were too fast for me.  The same was true of a brown thrasher.  The regulars ruled the feeder.  A great blue heron stood briefly on the back of the dock bench. 

I saw a flicker under the cherry but it got away.  Wrens scolded and one Carolina wren walked up the oak trunk while I was in the pool.  A female cardinal hunted for something in the grass.  The hummers were very possessive.  One actually chased a skinklet! 

Dragonflies included a common whitetail female, an amberwing female, and a blue dasher male.  Swallowtails and other butterflies were too fast.  Ants were still farming aphids on the sunflower.  A fox cub looked at me from about 8 feet (upwind) but dashed off when I moved the camera.  Later I saw it and another in the neighbors' yard. 

The afternoon sky was full of big clouds but they moved on without precipitation. 

Hummer warz

Several hummingbirds got very possessive of the feeder and even the rosemary.  The best part is that they hung out in the trees to keep an eye on the feeder so I could get a "natural" photo.

The female goldfinch showed up early.  Robins and grackles prospected in the grass and doves in the mulch.  Juvenile mockingbirds screamed for food.  And Carolina wrens scolded.  An egret preened on the dock and an osprey circled up in the clouds. 

Two foxes hunted in the neighbors' yard.  Later, when I was in the pool and without a camera, one boldly walked past me - the floating head in the water.  I chirped at it and it gave me a look but didn't hurry.  In fact, it stopped to sniff my flipflops that still have teeth marks from the kits two years ago.

Tiger and black swallowtails flew around.  The black swallowtail appeared to be laying eggs on the rue that currently has at least four caterpillars in their third instar.  Dragonflies were out as well.  A male widow skimmer cruised low over the grass.

Clouds passed through all day but toward evening they got thicker.

Lovely weather continued

And flocks of starlings and robins attacked the cherry tree.  A brown thrasher sneaked in too.  But the goldfinch stuck to the sunflowers.  Meanwhile, the buckeye butterfly came back.  And a large dark butterfly passed through. 

A male Needham's skimmer tried every perch.  Both sexes of slaty skimmer also hunted from perches.  And both sexes of widow skimmer did the same.  An Eastern amberwing was down in the grass.  I also saw blue dashers, two kinds of saddlebags, and a green female pondhawk.  Black and tiger swallowtails passed through.  A hairstreak joined the scoliid wasps on the mint. 

Hummingbirds found the juice worth coming back for.  At least three great crested flycatchers were wheeping it up.  And I counted four brown thrashers but I don't know if there were two parents or three offspring.  The beauty berry was still blooming though berry clusters had formed.  And I glimpsed a fox in the neighbors' yard.

I didn't see the moon till after dark.  The silent fireflies were accompanied by the jingle of tree crickets and a variety of buzzing sounds.  

Windy morning

The chickadees got interested in the sunflowers.  The titmice stayed with the feeder, whenever they could get past the finches.  A house finch tried the hummer juice!  The male goldfinch came to work on the sunflowers.  Young grackles tackled the cherry tree.  Doves foraged on the ground.  And then a fox dashed past pursuing a bird.

The afternoon was full of butterflies and dragonflies.  I saw a black saddlebags patrolling and something greenish flying in tandam - mated.  Later a female slaty and a Halloween pennant took perches.  A couple of giant swallowtails flirted and tigers flitted around.  A duskywing fed on the lantana.  A hummer took an interest in the rosemary which was just starting to bloom again.  It was not interested in the feeder, so we will refresh that.  The blueberries have been amazingly productive this year. 

An egret and a heron fished the dam outfall.  A cardinal began to eat budding acorns.  The male goldfinch used a leaf stem to reach a drooping seed head but then didn't know where to hammer the seed open.  A Carolina saddlebags zoomed around at eye level but finally perched for a moment.  When it came back to perch again a slaty skimmer drove it off.  Then another skimmer contested ownership of that perch.  The temperature today was very pleasant, cooler and less humid. 

After dark, the crescent moon lighted from behind thin clouds that flowed from the West.  Saturn was overhead in a gap in the clouds. 

Blue sky morning

Goldfinches joined the regulars for seeds.  Dragonflies were out by mid morning.  The black swallowtail was back.  White spot the squirrel came to forage.  The day grew hot and humid.  Egrets gathered at the dam outfall where the fresh water splashed into the brackish creek. The two smaller were snowy egrets. 

Clouds passed through, but no storm today.  A skink enjoyed the heat.  I saw titmice, a brown thrasher, and a great crested flycatcher.  A snowy egret and a great blue heron joined the egret at the dam outfall.  A blue dasher shared a bamboo pole with a widow skimmer.  A biting fly drove me inside. 

Toward evening, a small fox nosed in the mulch across the pool.  The sun descended into a band of cloud on the Western horizon.

Cloudy

The hummer paid a brief visit as did a house wren.  Goldfinches and titmice came back for more.  A chickadee looked into the sunflowers but mostly stuck to the feeder.  A dove and a squirrel foraged on the ground.  And a yellow crowned night heron perched on a dock piling. 

In the late morning while I was cooking, a hummer stayed for a nice long meal, trying each hole in the feeder, and scanning the skies for UFOs.  The very tiny skink caught my eye just as it slipped under the rosemary.  A brown thrasher shook the azaleas.  A palamedes swallowtail and an orange butterfly were again too fast for me but a dragonfly took up a perch.  The wrens were still using the birdhouse. 

Later, the same or another yellow crowned night heron stalked along the edge or the grass.  A little green heron preened on the dock.  A gray hairstreak shared the mint flowers with scoliid wasps.

It seems the bunny was not a good predictor: as I ate supper, a fox hunted along the far side of the pool.  

Wet

The only rain this morning was blowing off the trees but everything was dripping.  A brown thrasher forged in the mulch at breakfast, followed by a female towhee.  I had only seen the male for at least a month.

A fine mist began to fall at lunch.  The wren hatchlings were louder today and their parents cursed when I got near the birdhouse.  A hummer rejected the juice in the feeder so I took it down to clean.  A dragonfly clung to the wall of our house. The air outside felt dank and mushrooms were popping up. 

The regulars competed for feeder space because the number of chickadees increased.  I think I glimpsed a Carolina wren on the feeder too.  Meanwhile the house wrens relayed bugs to the family.

A fox went by on the far side of the pool, too fast for me to pick up the camera. 

Sunshine and thunderheads

A fox plodded past us at breakfast, headed home after an night of hunting I suppose.   Titmice and a hummer visited in the middle of the morning.  The wrens came and went and a couple of blue jays passed through.  A cabbage white flitted around.  Then I ran around on errands and saw a great blue heron soar across the road.  A fledgling chickadee huddled outside the florist.

Lunch was hand-held and sticky so naturally lots of birds showed up while I couldn't touch the camera.  A downy woodpecker apparently hoped for more suet, but not in this heat.  A white breasted nuthatch came just once for a seed.  The titmice were back along with the regulars.  Chickadees have been getting drinks from the birdbath.  Osprey alighted in the pines across the creek after I'd washed my hands. 

Like yesterday, but hazy

Sun, wind, and a clear sky.  A Carolina wren came to the feeder a couple of times so I put out some mealworms.  But then the squirrel with the white spot showed up and ate them.  Meanwhile the cardinal pair tried to court on the feeder perch and tipped it shut.  The house wrens went about their business.

Titmice ignored me to get at the sunflower seeds, probably to feed hungry youngsters.  A house wren peered out of the birdhouse.  Perhaps it got bored sitting on eggs inside?  A female downy woodpecker appeared and inspected a dogwood trunk.  A cabbage white flitted around and a much smaller butterfly (hairstreak?) perched for a moment. 

After lunch, small clouds appeared and haze muted the blue sky.  The sun was hot but the wind was not.  Chickadees fledged and there was tse-tse-ing for food in all the trees. Yellow flag iris bloomed down near the creek.  I discovered recently that they are considered invasive.  Mea culpa.  A skink saw me first. 

In the late afternoon, the haze cleared and the crescent moon hung in a cloudless sky.  An osprey flew over and later I heard but couldn't see swifts.  A brown thrasher alighted on the fence.  A couple of great crested flycatchers chased across the trees and only one returned.  The male cardinals continued to argue and the chickadees to feed their progeny.  A fox sauntered across the neighbors' yard.  Something bit me on the inside of the knee.  I photographed it but it was too small to identify. 

Sunny and hot

As I wandered out to the kitchen to start breakfast, a fox was crossing the yard.  It was gone before the camera warmed up. The squirrels appeared soon after and did not seem perturbed.  We had the windows open and lots of birdsong filled the morning.  The cardinals were still making up.

At lunch time skinks were all over the patio.  One heaved itself up from a narrow crack that was quite a struggle.  The house wrens were busy.  I saw a silver spotted skipper and another dark butterfly.

Coming back from my meeting, I saw two mockingbirds chasing a crow that was fleeing as fast as it could fly.  I spotted several other mockingbirds on patrol along the way.

We ate supper outside and titmice wanted some too, but not with us.  Finally deer flies drove me inside. 

Getting warmer

I refilled the seed feeder.  Turned out the hummer feeder was empty too.  The poor hummer was persistent and tried all three holes but, of course, that didn't help.  Not much was stirring in the morning except squirrels.  Fluffy, transparent clouds blew East but there was only a light breeze. 

I saw a skink, and the house wrens, and the regulars.  The cardinals were still courting.  A chickadee repeatedly dangled off the ends of twigs for no apparent reason.  A cabbage white was interested in the rosemary.  A queen yellow jacket hunted around the top step. 

While I was swimming a painted skimmer dragonfly took up post on the stick I had out for that purpose.  I rescued a five-legged woodlouse spider, pinkish with a gray abdomen, and also a young wolf/grass/fishing spider.  Skinks were all over the place.  One looked into the pool while another peered over a plank like a kid outside a circus.  Wrens cursed in the shrubbery.  A goose family with four goslings attempted to visit but K sent them away. 

While we were eating supper, Mama fox looked up the steps, then went over and lay down under the maple for a spell.  The camera complained that it was too dark. 

Bright and breezy

At breakfast it was just the regulars. The cardinals courted on the feeder perch.  I suppose that means they've had a nest failure and are getting ready to start over.  Mid morning a fox sauntered past the pool.  The house wren took an interest in something under the cedar.

The hummer finally showed up at lunch.  The house wren sat on the bench watching its house when something startled it into cocking its tail.  Skinks scampered around.  A cabbage white. a tiger swallowtail, and a small butterfly that may have been a hairstreak flitted by without landing.  The wind cut through the sun's warmth. Wispy clouds were swept East. 

Foggy morning turned sunny

The male towhee evicted a finch from the feeder.  I think the house wrens finished their nest in the birdhouse - I didn't see twigs going in any more.  The hummer made frequent visits to the feeder.  An egret fished by the dam outflow.  The fog lifted around 9am. 

Clouds streamed out of the SE, occasionally cutting off the sun.  I got the pimento into a pot and the seeds planted.  Hopefully I marked the site well enough that they won't get weeded this year.  There was a lot of competitive singing going on, with occasional fisticuffs in the bushes.  One wren trilled its Rs very effectively. Meanwhile a Carolina wren discovered the mealworm dish and made repeated visits.

I saw a heron go overhead when I didn't have the camera ready.  A black and a tiger swallowtail dodged around the yard staying out of my direct view, perhaps they were males?  One of the caterpillars has molted into the second instar.  Two foxes came past me as I sat outside.  One was anxious but the other was blasé.

I got in the pool today, a brisk 72°. There I rescued two mining bees that flew off as soon as I lifted them from the water.  A skink moseyed up to the edge while I was in the water.  I had to get out to chase geese.  I tried to tell them Foxy Loxy had just visited.  As I sat and dripped after getting out, another skink ran up to me and under my chair. I saw spider silk in the air and one tiny spiderling landed on me.