Another spider

A new, small Argiope appeared in the window next to the one I've been watching.  I don't know if it is a recent hatchling or if it is a hopeful male.  The Wikipedia article shows a male as a solid light brown, not black and yellow, so it must be a young spider.   While in the pool I rescued a young skink and a robber fly.  Another skink had already drowned, alas.  I saw the tatters of a huge web between the trees beyond the deep end.  

The male pileated visited the suet.  The barkbutter balls found favor with bluebirds, a blue jay, and titmice.  A pair of cardinals wanted seeds and she told him to wait his turn!   He looked henpecked but probably was molting.  A dragonfly perched atop the wild cherry, too far to be sure of the identity but it might have been a Needham's skimmer.  A blue dasher hung out on a bamboo stake.  The bird I thought was a Mississippi Kite soared in circles.  While photographing it I missed a possible saddlebags dragonfly that showed up as a blur on the photo.  A wasp ran around the patio which was kind of creepy.  Toward evening, an egret preened on the dock.  I saw a feather float away.  

Birds feeding birds

We got at least two inches of rain overnight, judging by the water in the bucket, though the NWS disagreed and put it at a third of an inch.  Wetness was slow to evaporate in the humid air, though there was a good breeze.  The Argiope moved its web a little higher and slanted it.  What I thought was a tiger beetle ran around the patio hunting something.  But looking at the blurry photos, I can see a wasp waist.  Blue dasher were on patrol, joined later by a slaty skimmer and a great blue skimmer.  I chased a black swallowtail but got nothing decent.  Skinks came out in the sun.  

Both downy woodpeckers and Carolina wrens were feeding each other.  I don't know if they were feeding fledglings or pair bonding.  Bluebirds showed up after a hiatus.  Unfortunately the barkbutter balls were a soggy porridge.  I drained off most of the water and a blue jay inspected the result.  I also put out fresh hummer juice and that got results.  Even a male appeared!  The brown headed nuthatches were out in force, sneaking up on the seed feeder perch.  Titmice joined the queue.  A couple of large birds soared in circles.  I thought they were vultures but the photos look more like Mississippi kites.  

Skinks.

Today turned out to be surprisingly pleasant.  The temperature was pleasant though the air was damp.  A breeze kept it from being sticky.   Shredded cumulus blew from the East while contrails and other high altitude clouds slid slowly Eastward.  Hummingbirds were hungry.  One perched in the dogwood but the camera struggled to focus on it and not the larger leaves. 

A soaring bird may have been a Mississippi kite.  There's supposed to be a nest about a mile North of here.  Goldfinches were driven from the seed feeder by other birds.  A few dragonflies lurked on perches.  I had thought the damp air would draw more of the insects they eat.  On the mountain mint a fiery skipper joined the bees and wasps.  I got some photos of Megachile leafcutter bees.  A snout butterfly, Libytheana carinenta, fought the breeze to land on a hackberry branch. 

While I was looking again for the Argiope spider, a skink almost ran over me.  We both paused then it darted into the undergrowth.  Soon it came part way out a little more distant from me.  Then another popped its head out too.  They were both very red in the face which I assume means in the mood to mate.  The further one's lines had faded but the closer one's markings were still sharp and its tail a little blue.  

Empty threats

I slept in and didn't see anything in the morning.  But the afternoon made up for it.  Hummingbirds drank and drank, packing on the grams.  The brown headed nuthatches couldn't get enough of the fresh sunflower seeds.  The hibiscus was still performing.  

When I got outside after lunch, the sky looked like rain was imminent, but it was an empty threat.  A red spotted purple butterfly, Limenitis arthemis astyanax, fancied cherry leaves.  It gets three names because it is a subspecies.  The other subspecies is the white admiral up North.  Coincidentally, the red spotted purple is also an empty threat - it evolved to mimic the poisonous pipevine swallowtail.  One stalk of the newly planted milkweed was coated with milkweed aphids.  I was hoping for caterpillars. 

When I opened the skimmer there were three frogs.  One hopped away but the other two pretended to be invisible.  When I came close with the camera, one dived and the other hopped out.  Eventually I caught up with two in the water and flipped them out.  A glass snail was under water on the top step so I put it on the concrete in the shade.  Later I found another on the upper patio.  I rescued several beetles including one big Junebug that was more bronze than green.  It was nonetheless iridescent metallic like the green Junebugs.  It kept lifting its elytra (stiff forewings) to flick water out of its hind flying wings.  

I wasted many pixels on dragonflies in flight and only got blurred images.  Soaring birds kept distracting me.  I think they were Mississippi kites!   They seemed to be having fun with the gusty West wind. 

Megachile bees nectared on both mountain mint and butterfly milkweed.  A venusta orchard weaver had a lovely orb web outside my window.  I also found the sheet web that attracted my attendion the other day.  Something ate a lot of ground cherry leaves, probably a hornworm, but I couldn't find it.  A duskywing skipper stuck to the mountain mint.  Several skinks bustled along on their business and I startled one that was sunbathing along the steps.  

The sun set in a blaze of orange. 

Hot

A flock of birds bounced around the cherry but never let me get a good look.  The towhee's child was back at breakfast.  Today the cloudless sulphur had the butterfly milkweed to itself. 

A bluetailed skink crossed the patio.  Hummers were active at lunchtime.  A tiger swallowtail fluttered around the cherry.  A Carolina wren gorged on the bark butter mush.  The Carolina mantis continued to hang upside down imitating a rose twig.

There were two skinks aswimming, one a blue tail, the other all  grown up and bronze with dark  lines running its length.  A lot of debris had blown into the water, but not too many insects.  I rescued a honeybee that hustled away across the concrete, but when I next looked, it had expired. 

The pattern continued. In the late afternoon, a bigger cloud than the ones that had already passed loosed a few fat drops from its trailing edge. Another cloud was on its heels and did the same. The third cloud came with mutters of thunder.  A Carolina wren grumbled to itself because by then I was sitting next to the door and too close to its food.  Chickadees and cardinals rushed to get seeds, upsetting the hummers.  A saddlebags cruised over the pool and I think some swallows did so higher up.  The bird I suspect of being a kite was back.  The thunder got louder and closer and lightning reflected off the clouds so I came in.  By 5:30 it was raining hard and booming.  That kept up till after dark. 

Lightning

The Carolina wren was back for breakfast.  The hibiscus put on a show of five blossoms.  K hung a fresh feeder for the hummingbirds.  When we got home, they were enjoying it.  A buckeye joined the wasps on the mint, but not the mountain mint.  I also saw a tiger and a palamedes swallowtail.  A silver spotted skipper had flitted past at breakfast.  

 I rescued a mama spider and several crickets from the skimmer, which was full of dried oak leaves.  It looked like a squirrel's drey had come apart and pieces had fallen or been blown into the water.  A thumbnail size mud crab on the pool steps turned out to be deceased.  I imagine it escaped from a raccoon but then couldn't escape the water. A blue dasher and a great blue skimmer kept the mosquitoes away. 

A couple of blue jays tried to pull a bait and switch on me but just then K came out to tell me about picking figs ahead of the storm.  The bird I think is a Mississippi kite circled under the cloud cover.  A hummer packed on some calories.  Swallows flew high and chittered. 

Thunder growled for quite some time with no lightning that I could see.  Finally there was a flash and I counted to twelve before the thunder.  A couple of minutes later, I heard a hissing, sizzling sound as well as a tremendous bang simultaneously with the lightning flash.  I hustled inside and the rain just missed me.It came down hard with more thunder and lightning for at least an hour.  So I counted the day as done.

Mysterious birds

I was gone much of the day.  Down at the Municipal Center I glimpsed an amazingly green bee  but it left quickly.   When I got home, after 5pm, I went outside for an hour. 

A slaty skimmer haunted the creek edge.   Turtles were out basking again.  A golden digger wasp and a threadwaisted wasp shared the mountain mint uneasily.

A soaring bird made me wonder if it was a Mississippi kite.  Then an immature red bellied woodpecker  began calling from the oak.  (I had to look up a sound file to be sure.)   I also saw a brown thrasher and a half dozen blue jays.   And, of course, there were hummer wars - one crashed into the window and kept going.  But there was also a wasp hanging around the feeder.

Heat wave continued

Yesterday's frog-strangler of a downpour did not dilute the hummer juice.  A tattered buckeye joined the wasps on the mountain mint.  I rescued two metallic green tiger beetles. 
I didn't see as many dragonflies, or butterflies either.  Just a female great blue skimmer, a slaty skimmer, blue dashers, and a tiger swallowtail in addition to the buckeye.  The Argiope web shrank and I haven't seen any prey for several days. 

A bird I think was a brown thrasher poked around under the maple.  A red bellied woodpecker seemed very interested in a particular knothole on the oak.  I wonder if it could be a nest.  Blue jays were interested in cherries and berries.  The high-flying raptorish bird was back and I think it's a Mississippi kite.  They nested for several years in Thoroughgood so it is not unreasonable. 

Another thunderstorm popped up but this one didn't last long.  Thunder continued to growl for the rest of the afternoon.  There were some strong wind gusts as well. 

Rain

Clouds came and went in the morning but looked like rain more often than not.  Blue morning glories bloomed.  A snowy egret looked down at the dam spillway.  The raggedy hummer came back.   Blue jays fussed at each other over the rain-melted bark butter balls.

The rain held off till afternoon so I got some time in the pool.  I left the camera in the house though, just in case.  I pitched two dead frogs down the hill and evicted two live ones I found in the skimmer.  No doubt they'll be back.  I also rescued a couple of mama spiders.  Another spider, unencumbered with offspring, insisted on a spot on the ladder - it jumped back into the pool when I fished it out.  A monarch and a tiger swallowtail argued over the milkweed.  I saw a cicada killer hunting. 

The great crested flycatcher was back too.  They look as cuddly as a teddy bear.  A bar winged skimmer used the bamboo perch while a slaty skimmer perched on a dead dogwood twig.  A skink caught a bug right in the middle of the patio.  A couple more skinks ventured out later.  A duskywing skipper flitted around rather close to where I'd recently seen a skink. 

There were a couple of deluges with damp mist between.  A great egret rested on the dock.  I believe I saw a Mississippi kite!  It was raining under scary clouds when I went off to my meeting. Coming home after dark was drier but distant lightning flashed and I was glad to pull into the garage.

Flying kites

This morning, the morning glories joined the hibiscus for a red and blue explosion.  But I was rushing to get ready for an expedition to Thoroughgood.  There we looked for the Mississippi kite family that nested in the pines.  And we dripped with sweat in the humid heat with barely a breath of air movement.  Dragonflies followed a woman who was mowing.  And we did see a couple of kites far off.

When we got back to the house, we startled a little green heron on the dock.  I discovered more argiopes in the spartina.  I don't think the larger one was the same I saw before though.  A black swallowtail was frantically egging the rue.  A cloudless sulphur flitted overhead.  Hummers continued their territorial dispute.

At lunchtime a female goldfinch and a couple of titmice appeared.  Then I noticed something on the pool ladder.  It turned out to be the bullfrog.  And a cicada hauled itself out of the water next to it.  Just as we were finishing lunch, rain began.  It soon filled the birdbath.  I was going to venture out anyway, but then I heard thunder.  Waves of rain came through, sometimes pounding the pavement.  In between, the hummers tried to grab a little more energy drink. I saw a wren disappear into the brush. 

The rain didn't stop till early evening and the clouds continued to menace after that.  By sunset, the West must have cleared because gold light filtered through the trees.  Cardinals grabbed a snack but a hummer turned up its beak at its feeder.  No wonder, the rain had flooded it.  A small insect perched on the mealworm hanger and darted out at gnats just like a dragonfly, but it was too small to be a dragonfly.  It turned out to be a robber fly.  I didn't know they hunted like that.