Very hot

Morning brought goldfinches and hummers.   The one Argiope made it through the rain.  I caught a blur of the coy tiger swallowtail.  A gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, enjoyed the mountain mint.  And a monarch visited the butterfly milkweed. 

The sun was fierce so I swam in the morning while there was still shade.  Among my rescues were two small brown click beetles.  I also fished out a mama spider covered with spiderlings.  An anglewing katydid was too far gone. 

A skink climbed the wall.  A widow skimmer used a bamboo stake as a perch.  A different species perched atop a twig on the wild cherry.  Another, maybe a blue dasher, landed on the metal cap on the post which must have been hot.  And a slaty skimmer clung to another stake.  I got some pictures of the small gray leafcutter bee and took too many of the great golden digger wasp.  An odd orange fly turned up. 

The brown thrashers put in an appearance mid day but kept screened by vegetation.  The rain turned the blueberries to mush.  I've never seen that happen before.

Skinks and frogs

A house wren visited at breakfast.  A great blue skimmer awaited the little biters.  The palamedes swallowtail stayed out of focus but a black swallowtail posed.  Palamedes has a striped body, black has speckles.   A katydid nymph was head down on a rose cane.  A basilica spider built a lovely domed web. 

There was just one frog but two skinks.  I let the frog and a skinklet run off, but I made the adult skink pose - it was old enough to know better than to go swimming.  I also rescued a green June bug.  A spider with a pearly egg sac rescued herself.  I found a cicada shell in the water that may have tempted the spider.

A night heron preened while resting on a piling.  It had its wings dropped and spread the way they do when too hot. I found the outer skin of a monarch chrysalis, which I hope means a butterfly hatched out.  I still could not figure out where the monarchs go to pupate. The tailless brown thrasher prospected for insects. A gray gill mushroom popped up in the grass. My offhand ID was some kind or Russula.  I'm probably not qualified for the Mycoblitz. 

Still hot

I saw a lot more than the camera did.  A blue jay got bark butter balls for breakfast.  There was a heron on the dock next door but the camera was at the other end of the house.  When I cleaned the skimmer, and anglewing katydid hopped out.  I tried to get it to step onto my finger but instead it flew away.  There was a dead frog in the deep end and the wind brought traces of the previously deceased.  A black and a tiger swallowtail flew by.  A few cicadas were still singing along with blue jays. Crows were everywhere.

A hummer perched overhead in the cherry.  A skink imitated the Loch Ness monster as it humped along the seam in the concrete.  Titmice came for seeds.  I couldn't find the argiope I glimpsed in the spartina but the one guarding the rue was handing quietly behind the zigzag.  Periwinkles were high and dry on the spartina which was in bloom.  A very successful mother cobweb spider in the window frame guarded four egg sacks, one of which was hatching. 

Hummer warz

First thing in the morning, they were chasing each other. And that wretched (but gorgeous) goldfinch continued to torment me. Small orangy-brown butterflies flitted around and a black swallowtail did its Muhammad Ali imitation. A hummer buzzed a squirrel on the post but then decided to wait it out.  Afterwards it took out its frustration on a chickadee.

A pileated woodpecker came looking for a handout but we'd moved the suet to the front patio. A bluebird landed up in the oak.  A couple of blue jays flew from tree to tree, possibly a parent trying to ditch an offspring.  I think I heard a brown headed nuthatch squeek. 

In the pool, I rescued a weevil, an earwig, and a female fiddler crab!  Blue dashers, slaty skimmers, a saddlebags, and an amberwing dragonfly hunted bugs, but even so, some no-see-ums found me.  Bees and wasps swarmed the milkweed.  Several skinks ventured out. 

After dark, moths and a stinkbug came to the window.  So did a greater angle-wing katydid.

Eclipse day

A red-spotted purple flitted around the cherry.  The hummer made frequent visits.  And the male goldfinch came back.

There were lots of butterflies around lunch time.  I saw a monarch several times.  Also a sulphur, black and tiger swallowtails, and smaller skippers and such.  The monarch investigated the yellow birdhouse.  The tiger tried to drink from the hummer feeder and appeared to sip from the orange fungus on the morning glory leaves.

We used a pinhole, a mirror, my fingers waffle-style, dogwood leaves, and passing clouds to view the eclipse.  The mirror failed but the other methods worked.  The clouds were the best and I thought they would just be a problem. 

I rescued a very lively skink that tried to out-swim me.  Then after its photo session, it didn't want to let go of my hand. I saw several more skinks during the afternoon. 

The two argiopes were back at opposite ends of the shoreline.  A female red-backed jumping spider prowled through the violets.  The angle wing katydid perched at the tip of a hibiscus stalk.  There were a few dragonflies but I guess there was less to catch today. 

Something dropped a whole (but pecked) fig in the pool.  A night heron appeared at the edge of the dock, then flew up into the trees.

I thought I was finished for the day, but as dusk turned to night, a barn spider, AKA Charlotte, began an orb web across the patio door. Several slugs, a foolish plume moth, and smaller bugs all clung to the glass.  I believe the web took about two hours. 

Hot

I squeegeed the window in order to see out at breakfast.  The overnight rain wasn't heavy and it left the air humid.  A Halloween pennant perched on a dead rosemary twig.  Hummers got fresh feeders.

A variety of butterflies defeated my attempts to get pictures.  I saw a palamedes swallowtail, a monarch, a cloudless sulphur, a couple of red spotted purples, battling snouts, and all I got was a duskywing. Skinks of all sizes were all over, including one at the bottom of the pool, alas.

An angle-wing katydid kept popping up among the retaining wall plants.  I saw both a male and a female amberwing.  A slaty skimmer took up the post the Halloween Pennant had left.  Both argiopes were hanging in their webs.  A stinkbug climbed a stalk of rue.  The usual variety of wasps made the rounds. 

A small cicada clung to the stick I wedged on the pool ladder so insects could climb out.  It was under water and not climbing but when I lifted the stick and attempted to remove the cicada, its vibrator went off like a firecracker.  We argued and eventually I got it to sit on my finger for a photo session.  It soon took wing.

Some clouds finally appeared in the South, but they dissipated into an overall haze.  As we ate supper, a white breasted nuthatch landed on the feeder.  A chickadee hassled it and it left.  Then a male goldfinch appeared.  It drank from the ant moat and then left. 

The haze turned golden then rose.  A cardinal was the last bird at the feeder.  A few fireflies greeted the twilight.

From blue to gray and back

A dove showed up at breakfast.  So did the first morning glory flower.  The most bedraggled, molting hummingbird bossed the feeder.  She was annoyed by silly titmice. 

I went swimming before lunch under a hot sun with the sky so blue it seemed ultraviolet.  I fished a green caterpillar out of the water.  A common whitetail posed on the patio.  A small skink clung to the brick wall.  A blue dasher perched on the bamboo stake.

After lunch a black swallowtail egged the rue.  A large Scolia dubia wasp fed on the mint flowers.  The blue dasher moved up into the trees.  Meanwhile threatening clouds moved in.  I was focusing on a hibiscus bud when I realized that one sepal was a katydid nymph. A slaty skimmer perched on a dead twig in the spartina.  A hummer landed in the hibiscus but departed before I'd adjusted focus.  It ran straight into the molting mama and they had it out by the camellia.  I think the ragtag one won.

Then a bird call drew my attention up, and there was a Cooper's hawk sitting in the oak.  It too looked a bit worse for wear. The sky cleared quickly after 6pm.  A long tailed bird caught a bug up in a pine.  I finally found the argiope but by then the light was going. 

More sunshine

A great blue heron flew upstream over the glassy creek.  A Carolina wren came for mealworms.  A white throated sparrow kept to the shade under the azalea.  I swapped out the suet block and put the old one in the new hanger I bought for the front patio.

At lunch time a smaller flock of cormorants fished, but not with the frenzy or other birds of the last several days. Mallards were out on the creek along with geese. 

Later a katydid landed on the window.  I also saw bees on the rosemary.  The pine trees are loaded with cones.  I wonder if that will attract different birds?  Toward evening, a kingfisher dived several times from a piling.  A male hoodie paddled around with the cormorants and geese.

Still pleasant

Wispy mare's tails sometimes coalesced to cover the sky.  A great blue heron fished under the bulkhead.  Titmice joined the regulars for seeds.  Hummers fought.  I went out front and sat on the new patio.  Some small and delicate mushrooms popped up in the mulch.  A hummer fed on the lantana along with skippers.  Geese flew North in a V formation, but they were just pretending. 

The cardinals occupied the feeder area and frustrated the finches and chickadees.  A Carolina wren hopped up but then hid out in the rosemary.  A cloudless sulphur nestled into a hibiscus blossom. It has been a summer for second bloomings - gladiolus, hibiscus, and today a late flower spike on the chaste tree. 

Palamedes and tiger swallowtails floated and flitted but never perched for a photo.  Snout butterflies did and so did skippers.  A spring azure landed briefly on the milkweed.  Bees and wasps were busy and milkweed bugs joined them.

A cough-like sound alerted me to a red bellied woodpecker up in a pine tree.  The rue was full of black swallowtail caterpillars and a tiny orchard spider.  A question mark butterfly visited the birdbath.  And an anglewing katydid landed on me.  I wonder if it was because my suit was the same color?  I rescued a honeybee bur was too late for a cicada.  A little blue tailed skink come out in the late afternoon.  The patio was scorching from the sun but the breeze was chilly after I was wet.

Lots of birds

More chickadees than usual tried to edge in among the cardinals and house finches.  So did a tufted titmouse.  A female goldfinch got a drink form the hummer feeder.  Meanwhile, a hummer checked out the morning glories but appeared unsatisfied.  Bees liked them better.  K said the full moon was setting when she opened the sunflower cafe.

A pair of doves poked through the mulch.  A male goldfinch showed up and the female returned.  Yellow butterflies - cloudless sulphur and tiger swallowtail - defeated the photographer as usual.  A hairstreak was too far away.  A damselfly hung around the pool till I tried to photograph it.  A gray tiger beetle ran across the patio.  I also glimpsed a young skink.  A brown thrasher scuttled under the cedar.  A squirrel ate dogwood berries.  The hummer feeder ran out of juice.

While there was plenty of blue earlier, the sky clouded up in the late afternoon.  I found the dragonfly nymph dead but may have seen another still alive.  It appears to be a wandering glider (Pantala flavescens) or at least something in the Libellulidae family.  The water was murky from my brushing algae so I cannot be sure about the second one.  The algae had gotten so out-of-hand that it made biofilms and when I brushed them off the pool sides they made green veils in the water.  I rescued a beetle and a wasp and found a feather.  The brown thrasher and the hummer came back.  Two wrens cussed at each other in a dogwood.  The spartina has begun to bloom. 

After dark the window became a bug magnet.  An angle-wing katydid looked huge.  Smaller stuff scurried around the glass.  Moonlight penetrated the clouds, but the moon itself wasn't visible.

Fog burned off

It was misty over the creek but an absolute whiteout on the Lesner Bridge.  By my return, the fog had lifted but I could see it as a solid layer over the Bay.  It was all gone by 10:30am.  Finches came to the feeder early.  Later it was chickadees.

After I got all my errands done, I sat outside and heard lots but saw little.  An egret circled over the trees.  A kingfisher zoomed downstream.  Hooded mergansers sailed by on the glassy creek.  Black swallow caterpillars were still growing and bees were busy.  The puffballs doubled in size. 

At lunch a crow chased off a red tailed hawk but I couldn't get the camera operating fast enough. The sky stayed clear through sunset.  At dusk, a katydid showed up on the window along with the ubiquitous little beige moths.  Overall, it was very pleasant with a light breeze. 

Mostly gray

Cardinals and chickadees visited the feeder at breakfast.  A spider visited the kitchen. There were titmice at lunch.

Then I went to Town Point Park where there were amazing dragonflies and lots of gulls, mostly laughing gulls, I think, at least they had black heads.  There was way too much noise to hear them.  The clouds over the Elizabeth River were very dramatic while the dark rain bands were off East.  Around 4pm the clouds began to break up and the sun got quite hot.  The dragonflies disappeared except when the sun was covered. 

Back home, a dove explored the mulch.  I noticed that the tail-less cardinal seems to have new feathers growing.  Another mama spider was in the skimmer.  A katydid had drowned, I think, with its wings all spread out like a specimen.  Rain fell around 7pm, enough to wet everything but not enough to pool in the birdbath.  A great blue heron stood on the dock bench in the rain.

Farewell swiming

The pool is covered - no more beetles rafting on leaves or spiders walking on water.  Birds have not been much in evidence, possibly because of the pool guy.  I did see the squirrel with the white spot.  She's getting a bit long in the tooth and has a sore on her left shoulder.  It has been very dry but supposedly rain is coming in a few days.

It's quite warm, but there's a breeze.  Afternoon cumulus built up, then blew off East.  Something pale green flew by and resolved into a katydid when it landed.  Cicadas are still buzzing.  Jays are calling too.  Mallards paddled past and crows and cormorants flew busily hither and yon. The pink camellia is bursting into bloom. 

When it's this warm, it's hard to remember that the equinox is well past, so I get surprised by how early sunset comes.  And we are just past the dark of the moon too. 

Berries

A sparrow had a morning shower while chickadees and cardinals ate overhead.  Later a mockingbird came to eat beauty berries.  It is warm and sunny with a light SE breeze and some high haze.

A blue tailed skink crossed the steps and then the patio, moving a bit slower than they do on hotter days.  Despite the prediction, clouds moved in and the afternoon was cooler than I'd hoped.  The water is down to 70.  Spiders were rafting and a cricket attempted to climb me.

Another katydid perched on the pea vine.  A yellow-green spider was working on its threads and suddenly disappeared - I suspect the katydid.

I stepped outside at just the right moment to catch a spectacular sunset!

September's end

A Carolina wren came to the feeder first this morning. The creek looks polished but the reflection has a slight ripple.  There's a light breeze and there are clouds but the sun is bright. 

At lunch the song sparrow emerged.  And the sun went away. I checked the feeder because so few birds were coming, but it is full.  The breeze has picked up and without the sun, it's chilly.

By mid-afternoon the sun was back.  A katydid lurked on a pea leaf that was too dark for camouflage. But, since this species comes in pink and orange as well as green, perhaps it doesn't know any better. 

More warmth

A katydid nymph has been on the glass door since yesterday.  It has moved a couple of feet so it is alive.  Buffleheads again paddle and dive on a glassy creek.  Seven doves wandered around the patio along with a sparrow.  Cardinals, chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches visited the feeder.  An oak across the creek is shedding leaves which fall like glitter because the sun catches them but has not yet reached the lake behind. And, finally a finch arrives.

Later, juncos show up.  And the Carolina wren comes for lunch.

Cold front came through

I missed yesterday between meetings and errands.  Ominous clouds turned to rain after dark.  A katydid clung to the window, attracted by the light inside I suppose.  It rained all night but seems to be tapering off now.  The feeder has been busy. Yes, the sun is out and the clouds are pulling apart, briefly - gray is back. 

It continued come-and-go till lunch, but now it is quite blue.  And cool!  Butterflies are flitting around.  Oh frass, clouds have returned.

The temperature is lovely, but too cool to encourage swimming.  A juvenile night heron is occupying the tallest piling. 

Sunny start

Over night lightning kept lightning up swirling clouds and there was rain.  I did see one bright planet rising before dawn.  The windows are fogged again.  Doves have been hanging around for the last several days.

The sun has been come-and-go, but no rain till just now, about solar noon, a few sprinkles.   A little while ago butterflies were very busy around the vegetation on the far side of the pool.  I couldn't identify the dark ones at a distance, but the tiger swallowtail was unmistakable laying eggs on the wild cherry.  See how its wings shiver as it lays?   At one point it flew very purposefully across the creek and later it buzzed the bird feeder scaring off a cardinal.  I suppose the vivid color is a warning to birds of foul taste but I wonder what kind of thought sends the butterfly across the creek.  That's more than a random search program. 

A couple of Carolina wrens foraged in the mulch with a tufted titmouse.  All their kicking and scraping has excavated a depression under the feeder.  One of the wrens looks like a fledgling to me - I'll have a better idea when my computer comes back and I can use photo editing software again.  Meanwhile something was thrashing at the far end of the pool.  K nobly rescued a skink.  Another very small skink slithered across the top step a little later. 

I saw a palamedes and a backlit katydid.  A dragonfly went by in a blur.  Lots of caterpillars are chewing on the rue.  I found two fritillary caterpillars drowned in the pool.  It stayed sunny and hot till about 4:30pm. Then clouds poured in from the Southeast accompanied by thunder grumbles but no rain.  A cardinal called in his wayward fledgling who flew past my ear and made me jump. Finally, after 6pm, light rain.

Back to hot

The amazing, breezy, pleasant weather is past and we are back to Tidewater summer. With the heat came the smell of peat smoke and haze. The sky is a mottled gray and white with some sun leaking through.

An angle-wing katydid nymph got in the house somehow. It thanked me for rescue with a bit of frass.

The little bird that I've been noticing is indeed a Carolina wren. It visited the feeder briefly this morning but flew before I got the camera ready. Finches are busy as usual.

At lunch, the male goldfinch took an interest in the sunflower blossom. It could be that the flowers were snapped off by a bird trying to land on them.