Vacation

We picked a rainy, hot, and humid time to visit Virginia's Eastern Shore.  Sunday, before we left, I admired the hibiscus flowers and the spider web.  In Cape Charles I saw a pair of osprey circling, a mockingbird, and a couple of buzzards.  A saddlebags dragonfly cruised up the main street but my photos missed it..  By the time we arrived, the sky suggested a storm was brewing.  On Monday we drove around Chincoteague.  The road to get there looked like it was only a foot or two above high tide.  Low tide revealed oyster beds around the island.  Laughing gulls and egrets were everywhere.  We discovered that NASA Wallops is powered by a field of solar panels.  The dregs of Chantel passed through adding to the humidity. 

At lunch Tuesday, we watched what I think was a white ibis probing creek mud for goodies.  Small dragonflies congregated in the vegetation along the creek.  We had good weather for a boat trip around Chincoteague and Assateague.  The ride was a bit choppy but the wind was a relief from the humidity.  Oystercatchers loafed on the oyster reefs.  Island ponies grazed near the saltmarsh.  Egrets and cormorants joined the gulls.  An eagle sat on a stump.  Swallows darted through the air.  Dolphins swam in the strait between islands.  A thunderstorm held off till evening.   

The bed and breakfast where we stayed had some garden pools and I surprised a frog.  On the way home, we stopped at a plant nursery and I saw a red admiral, skippers, and a digger wasp on the flowers.  We had lunch in Onancock.  Jellyfish were pulsating beside the wharf.   When we reached the CBBT, there were large birds atop some light poles, that I think were eagles.  The weather was horribly hot at home and the pool water had dropped too low.  Apparently none of the rain on our vacation fell at home.   A Carolina wren visited the no melt suet.  The spider relocated to a safer spot.  I saw a monarch hanging around the butterfly milkweed.  K reported that a hive of some sort took up residence in a bush between the driveway and the sidewalk.  

Blue sky

The sun shone and the wind gentled, but it was still chilly. The Argiope disappeared, leaving its web intact and a well-protected egg sack nearby.  The orchard spider was undisturbed.  Birds were elusive except the seed eaters like titmice.  Squirrels looked liked zombies with their skin showing in patches around the warbles. 

I rescued a couple of caterpillars, though perhaps I shouldn't have left them free to eat my plants.  One was all white and fuzzy and I thought it was drowned till it moved.  My best guess was Virginian tiger moth, AKA yellow woolly-bear, but that's not certain.   The other caterpillar was something I've seen before, much smaller and velvety black. I also saved a ground beetle. 

A large jellyfish was slowly pulsating between the two posts beside the dock.  The stinkhorn fungi all dried up. I saw a dragonfly and a butterfly in the Central Library parking lot but didn't get an ID on either. 

Cold front arrived

It was still hot, and sticky, most of the day.  An egret monitored the dam outfall.  A song sparrow hopped around the mulch.  A blue jay raided the mealworm dish for gifts to take courting.  It appeared that blue jays are just like cardinals in this respect.  Hummers were happy with fresh juice in cleaned feeders. 

Swallows and dragonflies indicated that there were lots of small insects flying.  But they were very hard to photograph on the wing.  An osprey was not much easier. After lunch, I was on the phone when I saw a snake swimming beside the dock.  I got the camera ready as fast as I could, but not fast enough.  Also fish kept leaping out of the water and I would see something making a bow wave from under the surface, but I could not tell what.  Canada geese paraded their goslings everywhere.

I saw a few butterflies, including a black swallowtail in the rue.  Most of the dragonflies were great blue skimmers.  I sat too close to one and it tried to steal a perch from another.  After a mid-air argument, they shared the perch.  The orb spider was still in the iris. 

I went down to the dock to investigate a bird that has been making a very loud buzzy call.  Whatever it was, it was across the creek. I saw a jellyfish and more dragonflies, but no birds.  The pool was full of critters.  A glass snail was floating as were beetles.  I rescued several spiders and a wasp.  Then a storm blew out of the NW.  Clouds gathered for about an hour before the rain began at 6pm.  It got very dark before the rain, but grew lighter once the rain was falling.

Solstice

The longest day began with a fierce sun.  A squirrel fell in the pool.  I heard the splash and looked in time to see it scramble out and shoot up the red cedar where it sat and dripped.  One of the female cardinals also lost her head feathers.  Titmice seemed to be everywhere which suggests a nest-full fledged.  The white breasted nuthatch also visited but kept running into more aggressive birds.  The same thing happened to a downy woodpecker.  The goldfinches showed up separately and the female stayed in the dogwood. 

Dragonflies were out.  Blue dashers used the patio perches while a Carolina saddlebags cruised over the creek.  It finally perched by the neighbors' bug zapper, over a spiderweb.  And in the creek, I saw a jellyfish.  A periwinkle snail was stuck up in the hot sun at the end of a stick in the mud. 

A couple of skinks escaped being photographed. A bluebird appeared at lunchtime.  It was either female or immature without much blue.  It did not notice the mealworms, alas.  

Swallows flew over the pool and I heard a lot of chatter up in the oak.  A hummer visited the feeder in the late afternoon.  I saw a small butterfly, maybe a spring azure or a hairstreak.  While I was tying up the hibiscus stalks, a female pondhawk flew past my legs.

This is the first full moon to coincide with a solstice since 1948, according to National Geographic.  I did not pay attention in 1948. 

Down to the creek!

The wind switched around and is coming out of the West, pushing fat cumulus along.  It is very clear and the sun is intense.  A hummer visited early.  A blue dasher was up already. 

Skinks were out at lunch.  A tattered hairstreak pollinated the portulaca.  A yellow ladybug climbed the morning glory. 

I got down to the dock, I think for the first time this year. I saw an amberwing, a dark dragonfly that wouldn't stop, an orchard spider, and a jellyfish, but it was high tide with not much action.  The sun was intense, so I didn't stay very long.  A white feather was caught in the roots by the creek bank.

Later when the tide went down I saw a great egret and a great blue heron.  The wind made the late afternoon more chilly than I had expected. The clouds put on a show.