Rain

Another hibiscus flower appeared.  The sky looked ominous in the morning but I swam anyway.  A  few May and June beetles should have been thankful for that.  The frogs resented it.  I evicted three of them several times and also disposed of the one I found dead in the skimmer.  Meanwhile, the sky sprinkled me.  There was a brief interlude of sun when I got out, then a shower even though the sun kept shining.  The dark spider in the azalea was hard to see. 

A female great blue skimmer dragonfly hunted from the garden stake perches.  Carpenter mimic bees fussed over the mountain mint.  A yellow butterfly disappeared into the trees.  A skink hid from me, but not well.  A hummer flew at the kitchen window then to the feeder.  At lunch, I saw a brown headed nuthatch.  A Carolina wren seemed to be stuffing vegetation into the birdhouse.  Fingers crossed!  Mid afternoon, the showers turned to a hard rain that flooded Norfolk and cancelled events.  However, we only got about a quarter inch.  

Dank

The hibiscus picked a poor day to bloom.  Rain slowly turned into drizzle.  The air was cool and damp and still.  Chickadees and titmice and occasional cardinals came for seeds.  The dish feeders stayed covered.  A hummingbird cussed out a chickadee.  The hummer visited both the milkweed and its feeder throughout the day.  A great blue heron landed up in the trees with a raspy honk.  A parade of squirrels leapt between the redwood and the hickory.  Some squirrels fed on either the immature seeds or the flower buds in the dogwood.  The Argiope was still hanging out in the azalea, but no sign of the orchard spider.  I didn't see any insects.  

More rain

The hibiscus bloomed and a titmouse came for breakfast.  A hummer fed from the milkweed and the feeder. At lunch, the sun came out and a tiny skink appeared.  The squirrel raided the seed feeder again.  A skipper drank mountain mint nectar.  

Wind shift

The wind swung around to the Southwest which cleared the air, but heated it.  I got my swim in the morning.  Several May beetles needed rescue.  I also fished out drowned camel and field crickets and a big mulch roach.  A small brown diamond clung to the wall.  When I touched it with a twig, legs popped out and it transformed into a spider..  (Always use a twig!)  Bees and wasps worked on the milkweed and mountain mint.  The orchard spider worked on its  web.  A late daylily bloomed behind where the primroses had been.  I fear it's getting too little sunlight there.  There was a hibiscue blossom as well.  

Arthropoda

I got in a nice, early swim which was fortunate for a crane fly, a tiny moth, camel and field cricket nymphs, and a big May beetle.  A larger moth and a robber fly were, alas, defunct.  I did not rescue a Japanese beetle.  More interesting insects feasted on the mountain mint and the butterfly milkweed.  The green bee was back along with several other kinds of small bee.  A feather-legged scoliid wasp joined the thread-waisted wasps.  A Macrosiagon dimidiata beetle also fed there.  The orchard spider prospered but I fear the Argiope must have been eaten.  

The fallen cherries were fewer but instead there were hackberry leaves with what looked like shattered galls.  The beautyberry was finished blooming and was making little green berries. Two blossoms opened on the hibiscus.  As I ate supper, I could see a dragonfly in each stake, except when they dashed after prey.  The blue dasher took the shorter stake and the slaty skimmer the larger.   I took that as testimony that it was buggy outside.  Besides, it was very hot and we are at the edge of the smoke hazard from Canadian wildfires.  

Pine warbler

There were two hibiscus blossoms today.  A pine warbler came to breakfast.  Then we had a brief shower.  On my way to swim, I saw a tiny green bee on the mountain mint but, alas, didn't go back for the camera. There were many scarab beetles and a few spiders in the water. Afterward, the bee was gone and I only saw a thread-waisted wasp on the mountain mint.  The Argiope had graduated to a zigzag web.  

At lunch I tried to feed a squirrel peanuts but a crow got there first.  K put more out and the crow brought its offspring!  Seeing a bird that big begging was really funny.  And the fledgling knew how to feed itself, it just wanted mama to do it.  A mockingbird flew up into the wild cherry tree.  

Hibiscus blossom

The crow perched on the railing and thought about the food in the hanging dishes.  I think this was early for the hibiscus to bloom, and the plant was quite small so far this year - only two stalks instead of a half dozen and not very tall.  I didn't see the flower until I was in the water.  The usual beetles were swimming along with things I don't rescue.  Something eating cherries dropped some in the water.  The mockingbird I saw cherry picking was careful.  A Carolina wren was only interested in barkbutter and mealworms.  A brown headed nuthatch wanted seeds.  A hummer disdained the sugarwater so I discarded it.  I glimpsed butterflies and prince baskettail dragonflies.  The milkweed had more buds.  The noon sky was full of wispy patterns.  A shower in the afternoon kept me inside. 

Donnner & Blitzen

The hibiscus was still blooming.  The Carolina wren was still hungry for suet.  Brown headed nuthatches defied the cardinals, house finches, and chickadees for seeds.  A widow skimmer was in the same spot as last Saturday, but this time it was a male.  A loud thunderstorm and downpour came through right at lunchtime.  A second band of rain followed within an hour, but without the noise.  After that, rain fell with occasional lulls fo the rest of the afternoon, sometimes with thunder. 

Butterflies

The male goldfinch was back this morning.  I glimpsed a towhee for just a second.  A Carolina wren argued with a downy woodpecker but in the end they both got some suet.  A great blue heron preened on a dock post in the afternoon sun.  I didn't see any nuthatches or bluebirds till late in the day. 

The party on the mountain mint expanded to include a fiery skipper and a buckeye butterfly.  A blue dasher chaperoned.  The bee with the pantaloons was back.  A big carpenter bee showed up.  So did the first great golden digger wasp of the season.  Cicadas sang in the trees though I didn't see any.  I rescued a robber fly from drowning. 

A black swallowtail was more interested in the rue.  A Guinea paper wasp agreed, but for different reasons.   A bud on the hibiscus looked ready to open.  Unfortunately, the sawflies got way ahead of me and chewed up all the leaves and damaged many flower buds.  What I think was a tiger bee fly, Xenox tigrinus, landed on the retaining wall.  

Delayed post

A male cardinal carried on at breakfast.  Bluebirds came in the late morning.  I saw a Carolina wren earlier but didn't get any pictures till mid afternoon.  Something turned some mountain mint leaves yellow and something snapped one of the hibiscus stalks..  The sky was overcast and the air sticky.  

An egret landed on the dock then changed its mind.  At least three brown headed nuthatches tried to get past a cardinal to the seeds.  A hoard of tiny black ants found the kitchen.  Then the Internet went out in the evening. 

Buggy

The first daylily flower appeared.  Hibiscus and cannas popped up.  I had a morning meeting.  After lunch, the air was muggy, hot and humid, and the sky was hazy.  Thankfully, there was wind.  I glimpsed dragonflies, cabbage whites, and an orange butterfly.  A hummer checked to see if the milkweed buds had opened.  They hadn't.  A seven-spotted ladybird beetle rested on a cinquefoil leaf.  Wasps lurked around the rue.  Tiny bugs and mites kept walking on me which was unwise of them.  I tried to just flick them away but I think some did not survive it.  What we thought was a turtle was just a black trash bag floating on the creek.  It rained again in the evening.  We are rapidly catching up after a dry April. 

Warmer

The creek was placid and reflective in the early morning light.  Blue jays got up early for barkbutter balls.  So did a hummer, but for sugar water.  A mockingbird wanted plain water from the ant moat, also barkbutter balls.  Two brown headed nuthatches returned for seeds.  They made a larger chickadee wait for a turn. 

There was a flower on the hibiscus.  I had not expected that bud to open because the insects had bee at it, but it managed despite damage.  The business parts were working even if the petals were tattered.  The sunflower continued to open center flowers.  The beautyberries were bright magenta.  The polypore looked like bread dough gone wild.  A seedpod on the butterfly milkweed opened. 

Finally I got back in the water.  It was a bit nippy.  One frog sat on the ladder and two more were on the rescue stick.  When I got over to the deep end, I only saw one frog.  It was sitting on the rescue stick so I left it alone.  I fished out two pink and green caterpillars.  An ant decided the first one was dead meat and tried to tug it home.  It was only ten times her size but she got it moving.  The other one was in better shape and I think it was a double-lined prominent moth Lochmaeus bilineata. 

There were two caterpillars on the butterfly milkweed as well.  And I saw a monarch hurry across the yard.  Mainly, I was watching for red spotted purples and they were all around.  One showed great interest in dogwood and wild cherry leaves.  A black swallowtail flitted around me and some snouts dashed between trees. Toward evening a white breasted nuthatch visited the feeder. 

Skippers

The day was beautifully sunny and warmer than I expected.  The northeast wind still blew, but not quite as fiercely.  Still, there was more tree trash to clean up.   My brief time in the pool yielded two skinks, one dead alas, two frogs, and a black swallowtail butterfly.  The volunteer sunflower bud was starting to turn yellow.  There was another hibiscus flower today.  The butterfly milkweed was almost recovered from defoliation.  The beautyberries were getting their magenta on.  The fungus might be as big as it will get. 

The Argiope started the day with a fresh, clean web and she already had breakfast.  At first she hung on the outside, away from the glass, but switched at some point.  That nice new web collected a lot of detritus as the day went on.  A tiger swallowtail flew slowly enough for the camera.  Not so, a cloudless sulphur - it was a blur of butterfly-shaped yellow.  It landed on yesterday's withered hibiscus instead of today's flower.  Another duskywing flitted around the mountain mint.  Then a silver spotted skipper landed on the mountain mint.  I thought another skipper might be a Huron sachem.  A two lined spittlebug crept along a dried stem of money plant.  

A blue jay inspected the barkbutter ball dish.  A white breasted nuthatch yearned for seeds.   A wary hummer watched as much as she drank.   A Carolina wren objected to the crumbs that were left of the barkbutter balls, then hustled off to the seeds.   Brown headed nuthatches used ninja powers to get seeds.  A female cardinal looked like she had been dragged backward through a knothole.  Fortunately, molting is temporary. 

I saw a warbler with a yellow breast and brown head and back.  It seemed to have an eye ring though the angle of its head left me uncertain.  Also it was molting a bit so I couldn't see details of the wing bars.  Though it did not look like a pine warbler that is my best guess. 

Windy

A strong, cold wind out of the Northeast shoved clouds across the sky.  It blew the feathers backwards on birds.  The sun was bright but the temperature was only in the 70s.  Morning glories bloomed and there was another hibiscus flower, and two buds..  The wind filled the spiderweb with redwood needles and suchlike tree trash.  It batted at the spider but the Argiope still managed to catch a meal.  I noticed the spider had switched to the outside of the web where it was less likely to get banged into the window.

The hummer was hungry and protective of her feeder.  A brown headed nuthatch slipped between finches and cardinals more successfully than a chickadee. After I put out barkbutter balls, I saw a mockingbird and a blue jay and glimpsed a sparrow that might have been one of the chipping sparrows.  The wind kept me out of the water.  I could see a frog in the pool, maybe wondering why I wasn't chasing it.  Unfortunately, the wind blew down more leaves and pine needles to clog the skimmer.  

A monarch butterfly fought the wind but didn't alight on the butterfly milkweed.  Maybe that means it was a male?  A couple of snouts dueled in the air but perched where I couldn't see.  A female Horace's duskywing perched on a morning glory leaf.  Sunset turned clouds orange.

Chill wind

Despite the rain, the hibiscus surprised us with another flower.  A hummer sought breakfast during a lull.  The Argiope weathered the storm.  Brown headed nuthatches couldn't wait either.  In the afternoon, the wind flipped around to the North and cleared the sky, but lowered the temperature.  I cleaned tree trash out of the pool and evicted one frog.  It seemed tired and didn't really lead me on much of a chase.  

A honeybee was busy with the mountain mint.  As I dripped and shivered in the wind, I noticed lots of long-legged flies on the mountain mint, some red, some green.   Then a fiery skipper landed and a Southern purple mint moth flitted among the mountain mint stalks.  A white breasted nuthatch persisted until it got its seed.  A tree on the far side of the dam turned gold.  It looked to me more like the tree was dying than coloring for Fall.  The cormorants made their nightly commute.  

Waiting for rain

A couple of house finches went fishing or, at least, looked intently into the pool.  Meanwhile, a goldfinch craved seeds.  A bluebird wanted seeds too.  And then a brown headed nuthatch and a titmouse joined the feeder crowd.  Hummers finished off the sugar water so I put out some fresh.  The brown thrasher was disappointed that I hadn't refilled the barkbutter dish but foraged under the seed feeder..  A mockingbird wanted water.  A blue jay watched and commented.  The bald cardinal was beginning to get new feathers but a female showed up in a terrible state of molt.  A couple of other female cardinals got into a dispute.  I think one was hatched this year.  A dove wandered around.  A downy woodpecker got a turn at the seeds.  A white breasted nuthatch visited in the late afternoon. 

The Argiope web was empty in the morning and gone by afternoon.  In its place was a brown balloon of eggs.  Southern purple mint moths investigated the mountain mint.  Black swallowtail caterpillars were fattening on the rue.  I started pruning the mountain mint to see if it would make more flowers and, without noticing, I cut off a branch a monarch had chosen for its chrysalis.  I put the branch in a vase hoping it would keep the chrysalis supported and shaded.  The gold markings really glittered and I could faintly see the developing wings.  A small wasp worked on the mountain mint flowers.. I glimpsed some butterflies but none posed.  

When I first got in the pool, the sun was painfully intense but when I got out, menacing clouds blocked it.  A lot of leaves had fallen into the water.  I saw two frogs but I caught three so were there really three or was one a recidivist?  I also rescued a very young skink.  As it panted on the concrete, a much bigger skink ambled by.  The only bugs in the water were a couple of weevils and a spider I'm fairly sure was an orb weaver.  The hibiscus did make one more flower.  The volunteer sunflower appeared to be doing well, though rain would help.  Leaves were growing on the butterfly milkweed. 

H O T

The brown thrasher wanted to know where was breakfast, i.e. barkbutter balls.  So did a Carolina wren.  Since the goldfinches wanted seeds, they were happy.  Both a white breasted and a brown headed nuthatch came for seeds. Mockingbirds and blue jays feasted on dogwood berries.  Hummers half emptied their feeder. 

There were two flowers on the hibiscus and I think they were the last.  I didn't see any buds. The spider looked fat.  I didn't see the other spider that was behind the azalea for more than a week.  I extracted a bullfrog from the skimmer.  The only skink I saw was ambling past the pool which I was in at the time.  K pointed out a yellow crowned night heron along the shoreline.  

Buggy

A couple of seedling sunflowers popped up.  The hibiscus put on a real show with six flowers.  The fungus under the oak was visibly bigger.  The canna was blooming as though inspired by the nearby hibiscus.   Only two seedpods survived on the stripped butterfly milkweed.  Some dogwood leaves turned red or yellow, marking approaching Fall.

Although the monarch caterpillars departed, the black swallowtail caterpillars were visible all over the rue.  I rescued two blue tailed skinks from the water and evicted a frog.  I was too late for a bumblebee.  A glass snail floated on the surface but I put it out of the water too.  A busy honeybee was one of the few insects on the mountain mint.  The spiders hadn't moved since yesterday. A mosquito followed me into the house and feasted as I took off my wet suit. 

Bluebirds came for seeds.  A brown thrasher slipped into the mountain mint stalks.  The red bellied woodpecker was back.  Blue jays were happy about the barkbutter balls.  

 

Still cool

The hibiscus was still putting out blooms despite those wretched sawflies eating the leaves to lace.  The wandering Argiope seemed to have found a spot it liked on the window.  A bluebird surveyed the feeders.  A gray hairstreak visited the violet leaves.  I must remember to check for caterpillars. 

There was nothing in the pool but one young skink who was too tired to move when I rescued it.  A little later, it revived and ran off.  A persistent white breasted nuthatch wanted seeds, and despite finches, a cardinal, and a bluebird, it finally succeeded.   Of course the hummers came frequently and chased each other away.  Female downy and red bellied woodpeckers had seeds for supper.  After all the time the white breasted nuthatch spent getting a seed, a brown headed nuthatch slipped straight in and got one.  

Clouds made a very rosy sunset.  

Warmer

We had goldfinches for breakfast again.  The hibiscus continued to bloom and a rose bloomed too.  A scattering of leaves on one dogwood turned fall colors.  I had a mid day event which cut into my outdoor time.  On the way there and back I saw lots of dragonflies riding the asphalt thermals.  Some buzzards were doing the same only much higher.  

As soon as I got home I went straight into the pool.  I rescued a camel cricket and a fig beetle.  There was a frog but it mostly hid from me.  A blue dasher perched, waiting for its dinner to fly by.  Many black swallowtail caterpillars at all stages nibbled rue leaves.  I wonder if rue makes them taste bad the way milkweed does for monarchs?  The monarch caterpillars seemed fewer and bigger.  The wandering Argiope was still too close for comfort.  

A hummingbird kept watch over its feeder from a dead dogwood twig.  At supper, a yellow crowned night heron swooped onto a redwood branch.  A mockingbird checked for leftover barkbutter balls.  The goldfinches were frustrated by a miserly house finch.