Mosquitoey

Before my morning meeting, a little green heron was sitting on the dock.  Lots of leaves blew into the water and made Rorschach images.  I visited the Berkley's Polypore and got thoroughly bitten by mosquitoes.  The chrysalis was showing some wing color - fingers crossed that I'm there when it emerges.  I found only one black swallowtail caterpillar and no monarchs.  A monarch butterfly flew past the butterfly milkweed without a glance.  The remaining Argiope seemed fine.  A large silvery feather poked into the ground.  

 

Rabbit

A pair of goldfinches came for breakfast but didn't find anything to their taste.  Bluebirds were easier to please.  The juvenile cardinal discovered barkbutter balls.  It also ate seeds.  A couple of Carolina wrens ate suet.  Curiously, low clouds flowed quickly out of the Northeast while higher cumulus slowly drifted East.  I wonder if that indicated vertical wind shear?

Both spiders seemed fine and I discovered another web over by the rose, though it appeared deserted.  The young one still had black-and-white striped legs while the adult had all black except the section closest to her body which was orange.  Unexpectedly, rain fell just before lunch and the moisture outlined the orb webs.  Afterward, a prince baskettail dragonfly hunted at treetop height

During lunch, the brown thrasher was back, still a raggedy mess.  A white breasted nuthatch developed an attitude and bullied the house finches instead or the other way around.  A wet crow prowled around.  A brown headed nuthatch was able to get past the house finches to the seeds.  Another was frustrated and ate a bit of suet instead.    A couple of downy woodpeckers came for suet but I didn't get a good look at either one.  Blue jays argued over the barkbutter balls.  Titmice managed to get some.  

A skink paused in front of the violets.  In the mid afternoon, a cottontail grazed on the slope above the shoreline.  That made me notice that the spartina had filled in thickly this summer.  A green heron perched on the back of the dock bench.  The only wildlife I found while swimming was a mosquito but when I put my hand down on a chair arm something stung me.  

Gloomy and chilly

The early bird was a brown headed nuthatch.  A Carolina wren also wanted breakfast.  Then bluebirds arrived.  At lunch the wren shared suet with a chickadee.  Three other chickadees congregated on the dish hanger.  

Again there was a bar cloud across the Northeast.  Someone on a downstream dock was trying to discourage geese.  The geese behaved as though they were trying to rescue a gosling.  I don't know if he saw me watching but the man quit and went away.  A little later I noticed a heron on one of the pilings.  The light was poor but I believe it was a little green heron.  

Buggy

A brown headed nuthatch greeted us at breakfast.  Then I was busy till late afternoon when it was very hot and critters kept flying at my face since the rest of me was submerged.  I rescued a few beetles and gave up.  A duskywing joined the bees and wasps on the mountain mint. 

As I dripped off behind a screen of wasps and dragonflies, I saw a green heron preening on a dock post.  An osprey dived on the creek but there was too much vegetation for me to know whether the bird caught anything.  I also saw a hummer seeking nectar from a hibiscus. 

Most of the perches were occupied by dragonflies, slaty skimmer, widow skimmer, maybe other species.  Bees dominated the mountain mint but there were some wasps.  Two silver slashes on the thorax indicated one was Ammophila procera.  I checked on the Argiope spiders and found the one in the rue.  Of the other two, one clung to a ruined web and the other web seemed empty.  

Green heron

We got up late.  Fledgling cardinals begged and their mother fed them so this must be a new batch.  There appeared to be a boy and a girl.  A Carolina wren ate mealworms because the barkbutter balls had all been eaten.  The bird gave me a dirty look so I put out more later.

The hummers continued to battle oblivious to the benefits of sharing.  Honeybees and wasps were back at the mountain mint. Today's rescues were a mama spider and a skink.  The frog was in the skimmer basket till I rapped on it to loosen the leaves.  It leaped out and dove into the water. Later I caught up with it at the ladder and it hopped out before I could give it a nudge.  Maybe it's getting the point?

In the afternoon, a little green heron preened on a dock piling.  It seemed to have some itchy spots.  One big turtle occupied the lake log.  

Hibiscus flower!

Despite the depredations of sawflies and Japanese beetles, the hibiscus began blooming again.  A white breasted nuthatch was up early but still had a frustrating time getting seeds because of the cardinals and finches.  Carolina wrens scraped up the dust at the bottom of the mealworm dish.  The goldfinch pair didn't find anything they wanted.  Hummers were pleased with a fresh feeder.  I think I counted three of them.  The mockingbird looked less ragged today, but still molting.  Blue jays showed up after I refilled the feeder dishes.  I glimpsed a green heron fly across the creek and a sulphur and a tiger swallowtail flit through the trees.  A stubborn green frog kept getting back in the pool after I caught it three times!

Green heron

A Carolina wren popped up at breakfast.   The canna put out a fresh flower spike.  Two squirrels streaked across the gap between the redwood and the hickory. 

I spent the day in virtual meetings and didn't get outside till after 5pm. Two baby skinks were in the water, one alive, one not.  I also rescued another mama wolf spider.  The mosquitoes were still hungry.  I looked for the hornworm caterpillars with no luck, though I did find a spider web trap.  Instead, I spotted a little green heron on the dock bench.  On my way back, I found another Argiope garden spider.  

At supper, an adult and a fledgling bluebird visited.  A hummer turned up its beak at the juice so I'll put out fresh tomorrow.  A Carolina wren bustled around under the feeders.  

Insects

A white breasted nuthatch showed up after breakfast.  The canna decided to try another blossom.  I found a big swallowtail caterpillar on the gone-to-seed parsley, but no sign of the monarch caterpillar, so I hope there is a chrysalis somewhere.  I blew another shot at a great golden digger wasp.  In addition to all the beetles that I fished out of the water, there was an insect I didn't recognize that looked midway between a beetle and a wasp.  The mountain mint was full of many kinds of bees. 

A four spotted pennant rode the topmost twig of the wild cherry.  Something denuded all the highest branches on the wild cherry.  I suspect tiger swallowtail caterpillars.  I saw an orange fritillary butterfly that appeared to be laying eggs on violet leaves.  A black butterfly showed no interest in either parsley or rue so I wondered if it was a dark tiger swallowtail or a red spotted purple.  A fiery skipper popped around the mountain mint. 

Toward evening, a green heron landed on a post in the creek.  It didn't stay long, but I was grateful to have seen it.  Great egrets were also in flight.  It had been a very hot day and was still in the 90s at supper. 

Nuthatches

There were brief times of sun in an otherwise gray and windy day.  A monarch managed to fly where she wanted despite the gusts.  I assume the butterfly was female because it appeared to lay eggs. 

A mud dauber wasp nest inside the seed feeder fell down and looked like an unshelled peanut in the seed dispenser.  A caterpillar hunting wasp lurked around the butterfly milkweed and the hibiscus.  And a skink almost caught it. 

Nuthatches, both brown headed and white breasted, flocked to the seed feeder but a cardinal wasn't entertaining guests.  Hummers continued to guzzle and fight. 

A canna stalk bloomed.  The conk fungus grew a rim, engulfed some sticks and no longer looked like a bun.  The fungus that attacks morning glory leaves was spreading fast.  

The wind became a Northeaster, pushing the creek over the dock as twilight faded.  That was also roughly high tide.  There are still three days till the full moon, but combined with the wind, the tide filled the creek to the brim.  And, surprise, a green heron was watching the water on the dock! 

Hot sun, cool breeze

A pine warbler came for suet but settled for barkbutter balls.  Starlings and crows had the same idea. The birds finished off the suet so I switched to barkbutter balls.   Two bluebirds got in a fight over the dish.  The barkbutter also attracted brown thrashers, blue jays and a Carolina wren.

A green heron flew downstream squawking. An egret stalked along the bulkhead and the green heron flew back upstream.  A cormorant and a turtle shared a log. 

I saw a couple of skinks.  A female great blue skimmer used one of the perches.  I also saw wasps and a ladybird beetle. Since I had taken advantage of the weaker wind to spray neem oil on the mountain mint and other plants that were infested with spider mites last year, the insects didn't hang around.  I also sprayed the hibiscus sprouts to ward off sawflies.  

The butterflies seemed to prefer treetops anyway.  There were tiger swallowtails, a cabbage white, a much smaller pale butterfly, and a dark orange butterfly.  A black swallowtail caterpillar munched on parsley

H O T

At lunchtime, a painted skimmer dragonfly. Libellula semifasciata, used one of my stakes as a perch.  

The temperature went over 90°, breaking the record, so I got in the pool which was only 72°.  I rescued numerous black beetles and a few wasps.  One wasp rescued itself, climbing the vertical pool liner.  An earwig rafted on a leaf but I couldn't reach it.  A black bee was alive when I rescued it but appeared dead when I checked on it later.  As I stood there, a big skink popped out of the flower bed and then saw me .  Instead of going back into the plants, the lizard sneaked around me along the edge of the the pool.  The bee never did revive. 

Two pairs of cardinals disputed possession of the seed feeder.  Bluebirds also acted territorial, and one seemed to be panting in the heat. A red bellied woodpecker gave up on the suet to get away from the feuding cardinals.  I heard a mockingbird run through its repertoire up in the pecan, but I never saw it.  I did see a green heron that I startled.  

I saw several spiders.  The first was a jumper that I think had been rafting on the first beetle I rescued.  Then I fished a crab spider out of the water and it menaced me.  Finally, another spider was waiting at the door to the house.  it scuttled off looking rather guilty, I thought.  Apparently it was a "stealthy ground spider, Cesonia bilineata, so maybe I was right.  I took a handful of photos of a silver spotted skipper on the money plant and not a single one came out right. 

So many photos!

There were simply a lot of interesting sights today and I completely missed photographing the skink, the dragonfly, and the maple pinwheels.  The sky rotated through cycles of sunshine and clouds which kept the temperature in the 60s.  At breakfast, we were joined by the pair of mockingbirds, a brown thrasher, the female pileated woodpecker, and briefly a bluebird.  I spotted a yellow rumped warbler in the trees. 

The Solomon's seal popped up and immediately dangled flowers.I mean, the plants were not even visible on Wednesday.  Poison ivy shot up several tree trunks.  I think everything had leafed out except the hackberry.  The turtle log looked like a commuter train. 

Crows called my attention to an unfortunate fish lying many feet from the water.  I assume they had harassed an osprey or eagle, or possibly a heron, till it dropped the children's lunch.  The soft parts were gone and the crows picking at the fish were having difficulty penetrating the scales.  My best guess is that it was a spotted seatrout.  

The crows and fish attracted the attention of a green heron, the first I saw this year.  With a shovel I carried the carcass down to the water and dumped it for the crabs to enjoy.  It was beginning to smell pretty strong and attract flies.  Besides, the crows certainly did not catch a fish that size so they weren't entitled to it.  

Along with disposing of the fish, we hung the new birdhouse.  I owe K for the knots, but I believe it was a two-person job.   The birdhouses are assembled from sheets of recycled plastic printed by a company that called them Tweet Tweet Home.  I thought they were out of business but Amazon still listed some for sale.  Lots of negative reviews by idiots who expected wood or didn't have the gumption to hang it securely.  Harrumpf.  

I plopped down outside which frustrated the birds that wanted suet.  A mockingbird got bold.  White throated sparrows ignored me as they gleaned fallen crumbs.  A tiger swallowtail ignored my frantic chasing after it with the lens.  But the wretched tease would not land anywhere.  I had better luck with an odd bee, at least I think it was a bee.  It was small and black and appeared to have yellow pollen bags.  Wasps don't collect pollen.  

I went indoors and that brought the bluebirds, at least two males, and a starling.  A brown thrasher appeared to clean up the starling's mess.  A pale pine warbler and a goldfinch watched a bluebird eat suet.  And then a female hummingbird sailed in to the hummer feeder.  She didn't stay long because the blasted feral cat showed up.  (Where was it when the fish was lying in the grass, just waiting?)  

After the cat gave up and left, a brown headed nuthatch came for supper.  It couldn't get a seed because a cardinal was on the perch so the nuthatch had suet.  But as son as the cardinal left, the nuthatch abandoned the suet for a sunflower seed.  A couple of egrets fussed at each other for encroachment.  Great egrets invented social distancing. A blue jay hunted crumbs on the steps where occasionally I saw its head bob up.  And that was almost twelve hours after the beginning of this photo safari. 

Another deluge

Spider threads glittered in the early light after breakfast.  The third quarter moon was overhead.  I remembered when I was a kid, the moon terminology confused me - I could see 1/2 of a moon, not 1/4. 

 A great blue heron lurked on the lake.  Lots of dragonflies wanted a foothold on one of my perches.  A little green heron prowled along the mud shoreline. 


I rescued a mama spider, a green stink bug, beetles, wasps, and a tiny millipede.  A small frog was in the skimmer.  A couple of swallowtails danced in the air.  Bees and wasps enjoyed mountain mint.  Later I saw a fiery and a silver spotted skipper. 

 Hummingbirds visited and I saw at least one chase another away.  Skinks ran about the patio.   A swallow flew over but I missed it again. 

After lunch a black rat snake passed through, scaring a squirrel. It was headed in the right direction to catch whatever made the tunnels on the West side of the house.  It or something scared a frog so it jumped into the pool.  I think I saw a Coopers hawk pursued by a crow, but it happened very fast.

Big drops of rain fell around 3:30pm then trailed off until the thunderstorm hit around 4pm. 

Fay-less

Tropical Storm Fay passed us by and hurried on to New Jersey.  Not one drop of the 3-4 inches fell on us.  It was breezy and there were more clouds than usual, and that was it here.  I put out a tub of bark butter thinking it would endure rain better than the balls, but instead we had heat.  I expect a half dozen hibiscus blossoms tomorrow. 

Three female house finches argued over a turn at the seeds.  Not only did one hog the perch, one of the two that wanted a turn chased off the other.  Siblings?  A Carolina wren investigated all the feeders. 

A monarch butterfly finally found the milkweed.  It seemed to have a strong preference for one I grew from seed, either Asclepias syriaca (common) or Asclepias incarnata (swamp).  It ignored the butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa. It also ignored a milkweed that had aphids. 

There were dragonflies but I think they were all blue dashers, mostly obelisking.  The mountain mint attracted leaf cutter, carpenter and bumblebees, scoliid and digger wasps, and an all-black bee a little bigger than a honeybee. I rescued two sidewalk tiger beetles a ground beetle, and several ungrateful spiders. One with babies onboard hung onto the bug she'd sucked dry.  I felt something creepy which turned out to be a half-grown grasshopper. 

A little green heron paused on the end of thedock before hopping down to the floating dock out of sight.  Something made bubbles rise in the creek as it reflected tinted clouds at sunset. 

Time slipped by

I took pictures but I didn't make time to look at them till now.

July 2: A black swallowtail found the parsley despite the dragon(fly) guarding it.  Mallards had their vacay on the dock.  The sakaki bloomed and hummed with bees and rained spent flowers.  Gladiolus sent up more spears to replace the flowers broken by the rain.  Some wild cherries were ripe.  I think I saw a brown thrasher feeding on them.  The male bluebird posed in the late afternoon sunlight.  I did not get a picture of the two little green herons along the shoreline that K flushed. 

July 3: I went out a little after midnight to look at the night sky.  Jupiter trailed the moon.  At lunch, I saw a blue jay preening.The butterfly milkweed started blooming.  No sign of a bud on any of the other milkweeds.  Papa bluebird was hanging around again.  I rescued what I thought were a couple of assassin bug nymphs but was to late for several more, also for two skinklets.  Matching photos suggests the bugs were leaf-footed bugs, Acanthocephala terminalis.  To me they look like qheuens, an alien species in David Brin's Uplift series.  I also saved a firefly.  A squirrel got into the wild cherries and I found a patch of eggs on a cherry leaf.   

July 4: Another hot, sunny day brought out a few butterflies.  I saw a tiger swallowtail, a cabbage white, and a red admiral.  Blue jays came for bark butter balls.  The orange double daylilies joined the daisies.  While in the pool, I noticed an orange bluet damselfly on the concrete.  A blue jay left a small, bright feather. Illegal fireworks reigned from dusk to about 10:30pm.  I did see the rising moon and Jupiter.  

Goose girl

I saw many things for which I have no evidence, a little green heron in flight, a soaring osprey, wrens, bluebirds, and a few butterflies.  Eventually a blue jay took pity and posed. 

I missed some of those because I didn't have the camera when I chased off those waddling poop-machines called Canada geese.  There were two families, one with five and one with two goslings, A South wind blew the water out of the creek.  But I got only the rear end of a yellow crowned night heron as it passed under the dock. 

Despite the wind, the rue had some interesting visitors including a bumblebee that was distinctly striped.  There were mason and paper wasps and other kinds of bees buzzing around the rue.  The temperature rose to 89°F.

Little green heron

The feral cat hung around waiting for breakfast.  When I was leaving for my morning appointment, I was surprised by a house wren singing atop the bluebird house.  What ambition!  But later, the same wren or another was moving into the birdhouse hanging in the back. 

We moved a sculpture and discovered an ant nest beneath.  Up on the lake, the turtles were basking in the afternoon sun.  Toward evening, I was puzzled by a strange bird perched on a dock piling.  After a bit, I realized it was a green heron that the low sun was turning red.  Then the camera battery announced its imminent demise.  Then a couple of wood duck drakes came paddling by.   I kept snapping and hoped for the best. 

Cool

It was actually cool outside when we got up.  It was so pleasant that I sat for a while on the front patio.  The morning warmed up but never got really hot. A Carolina wren perched on the post, but flew too soon. 

I saw a monarch and a black swallowtail and small yellow-brown butterflies.  A fiery skipper visited the portulaca but was harassed by wasps. A great blue skimmer occupied the perching stake.

A little green heron flew downstream.  A great and a snowy egret fished below the dam. The afternoon got quite windy as a sheet of cloud slid out of the South.Nevertheless, a skink ventured onto the patio right next to me.  

On the way home I saw the bright crescent moon looking very large as it dropped toward the horizon. 

Cooler

The prediction was for a perfect June day.  I got up early again and was rewarded with a little green heron, fishing from the neighboring floating dock.  Another little green heron buzzed the first one and they both took off upstream.  One returned before I got tired of waiting, and conveniently, moved to my side of the dock where I could watch its technique.  When it sighted something in the water, it unfolded that long heron neck and pointed its beak well below its toes.  It looked a bit like a snake, or a dart. Then it dove at the morsel and actually splashed into the water.  I didn't know they were divers!

While I ate breakfast a squirrel ate the half a rotting tangerine we'd put out for fruit-loving birds. When we got back from an appointment, I caught a flash of blue as a male bluebird zoomed away from the nest box.  The white trumpet (Easter) lilies were blooming out front. 

Dragonflies were thick while only a few small brown butterflies were out.  The perchers all seemed to be blue dashers or great blue skimmers.  12 spotted skimmers zipped around above the roof level.  A black wasp visited the parsley. 

The blue jay won more times than I did, but I got a few good photos of the bark butter ball gobbler. I saw a hummer seeming to hunt around the red cedar as though looking for flowers.  I saw this last summer, but still don't know if the bird is attracted by the smell or if it's hunting bugs for the babies. 

Sunny then stormy

At breakfast all I saw was an egret and the regulars. Hummers learned there was fresh juice.  Blue jays got the better of me, again.  Interesting cloud patterns formed, but the sky was mostly blue. 

At lunch, there were cumulus towers that could justify the "Flash Flood Watch" NOAA issued.  Dragonflies were everywhere - blue dashers, a great blue skimmer,and others, I think.  A little green heron joined the great egret at the dam outfall.  Geese invaded but I intimidated them.

Around 5pm, the weather changed.  Storm clouds seemed to come from multiple directions.  But the rain did not begin for another 45 minutes.  There were momentary deluge-level cloudbursts, but all together, not enough fell to significantly raise the level of the ant moat, our sad hoc rain gauge. 

Hummers arrived during every lull to stoke their furnaces against the cold wet.  One cardinal was feeding a fledgling, and raiding the blue jay's bark butter to do it.  The Flash Flood Watch was in effect for the rest of Saturday.