Lovely day

Rain from last night filled the birdbath and ruined the bird food.  The sun was fierce but the temperature was mild, in fact cool in the shade with a breeze.  In between clouds. the sky was sharply blue.  The larger frog was waiting for me in the skimmer.  It hopped away and I did not see it again.  In fact, I didn't see much wildlife at all.  Dark butterflies explored and swallowtail caterpillars ate.  

I found another drowned caterpillar that I couldn't identify.  A sweat bee needed rescue.  A millipede walked over my foot.  Titmice visited along with the regular seed eaters.  A hummer was very thirsty.  I heard cicadas, a blue jay, a goldfinch, and something that sang "turnip, turnip."  High clouds were blown South while lower ones came in from the East.  Eventually the wind shifted to Northeast  The polypore looked pristine.  

Sunny day

The day was quite warm but the breeze made it very pleasant.  A female downy woodpecker had a seed breakfast.  A Carolina wren also visited.  Hummers found the new feeder, which was fortunate because the old one was empty.  (I'll put the other out tomorrow.) There were at least two hummers because I saw one chase another away.  I spotted one preening in the wild cherry.  

A  bird circling very high was a Mississippi kite. Another, I think, was a vulture.  Again, there were two frogs but they didn't put up much of a chase.  I rescued a spider from a mostly submerged twig.  The pool steps had a lot of drowned greenhouse millipedes.  A cicada's cast-off shell was lying on the patio.  I also found some cicada wings that had been discarded by whatever ate one.  There were plenty left to sing in the afternoon sunshine.  

The sky was mostly clear blue with clouds being hurried along by the West wind.  Occasionally, they cast sunbeams against the upper atmosphere.  I saw skinks of all sizes running errands and basking in the just right temperature.  Alas, they always dodged out of sight when I moved the camera   A blue dasher kept my space clear of small fliers.  

The butterfly milkweed had more pods developing than I have ever seen, probably because it wasn't feeding any caterpillars.  I think wasps got them.  Tiger swallowtails flew around the trees and a dark butterfly swooped through closer to the ground.  I saw something that might have been a snout heading into the dogwood.  A strange feather blew around the patio.  I thought it was white till I caught it and realized it was half black.  It was a big body contour feather so it came off a large bird, possibly the kite?  

 

Shower

I got caught in a downpour while returning from a meeting and it followed me home.  As a result, I was late swimming.  There were more May beetles, a green stink bug nymph, and a greenhouse millipede.  And mosquitoes, of course.  The usual insects fed on the mountain mint and milkweed.  The spiders were in about the same spots.  I was frustrated by a common whitetail dragonfly that refused to let me get any pictures.  I got flashes of the black patches on its wings but mostly identified it by behavior.  There aren't many dragonflies that perch on the ground.  

 

Hot

The air was hot and humid and not very breezy.  The hibiscus was still blooming.  As I stepped outside, a skink scooted off.  Apparently it had been resting in the shade of the house.  There wasn't much in the water - a few beetles, one little mama spider, and a millipede riding a leaf.  I spotted another infant Argiope, this one still making a fingerprint web.  A widow skimmer perched but I didn't see any dragonflies on patrol overhead.  I did glimpse some butterflies.  

A crow and a Carolina wren came to eat, along with the regulars.  Scruffy titmice that I suspect were molting fledglings got into everything.  A mockingbird harvested cherries.  A dark hummingbird visited its feeder but I think I spooked it.  The milkweed was blooming again.  The toadstools in the front yard looked about the same, maybe drier.  

Windy

The wind from the Northeast continued to push clouds through and keep the air unseasonably cool.  The yellow cat prowled along the far side of the pool.  All the monarch caterpillars were stuffing themselves and I saw a very small, new addition to the throng.  More millipedes were in the water.  From what I read, that may be a sign that the mulch has dried out.  The water was chilly too.  I found the third Argiope, back between the azalea and the nandina.  

Caterpillars

Suddenly four caterpillars appeared on the milkweed.  Two great egrets had a territorial dispute which the camera missed.  A belated money plant kept opening small flowers.  I made my daily check of the chrysalis and located the four black swallowtail caterpillars.  The rue did not look healthy so my fingers are crossed that it lasts long enough for them to pupate.  

A tiger swallowtail swooped past the yard.  A greenhouse millipede pretended to be a branch stub on a floating twig.  I rescued it without dislodging it and got some photos.  Spittlebugs infested the rosemary.  Again a long-legged fly wandered around the morning glory leaves.  I could only find two of the three Argiopes.  A drain fly shared the shower and, no, I did not have a camera with me.  

Chilly

By lunch, a white sky dimmed the sun and the breeze came in chilly gusts.  The caterpillars were all still present and I located the three Argiope spiders, though one had moved up to the wall above the door which seemed like an odd place to hang out.  It also seemed strange that the monarch caterpillars chewed on the milkweed pods which I'd think would be tougher than leaves, not to mention needful for future generations of caterpillars.  

I found a defunct cicada afloat.  The millipede, Oxidus gracili, from yesterday was definitely a goner.  On the other hand, I rescued another millipede, an isopod, a wasp, a small brown spider, and four pale green assassin bugs, two of which were quite lively.  The other two were tangled together and I moved them near one that was recovering.  It scuttled over to investigate, and possibly cannibalize!  A red spotted purple briefly danced over the water.  Dogwood leaves began to lose their chlorophyll.  Beautyberries turned magenta.  A Carolina wren hid behind rose thorns.  I startled a young skink.  This has been a memorably dry August.  Rainfall was only 1.6" and the average is 5.8" though I'm sure that includes some hurricanes.  

Dark butterflies

The sun shone.  Two female hummers showed up at their feeder and the chase was on.  A Carolina wren craved suet and a titmouse did too.  

I did glimpse an orange butterfly and later a monarch, but the dark ones stole the show.  A spicebush swallowtail tried to get nectar from a rose.  A black swallowtail made the rounds, returning to the rue where I found the caterpillars and the chrysalis again.  I found the monarch caterpillar as well.  Red spotted purples danced over the water, dipping down to touch it, then hanging off the side, resting on the concrete, decorating the trees, and fluttering every which way.  

All three spiders were prospering.  I fished a centipede and a couple of millipedes out of the water.  One millipede revived immediately and hustled away.  The centipede moved so I assume it survived, unless the hot concrete killed it.  The other millipede rolled itself up and I don't know if that was a good or bad sign.  In the evening, a great blue heron fished from the neighbors' floating dock as ours was upended by Erin.  

 

Scorcher

The sky was intensely blue and the few little cumulus clouds couldn't temper the sun.  I definitely got a little crisp around the edges.  The beautyberry bush had begun to bloom.  Wild cherries were ripening and blue jays weren't waiting.  Still, it gave them something to eat besides our blueberries.  Titmice were happy with seeds and suet. 

A skink played peekaboo with me.  Later, two skinks came running my way, one chasing the other.  They froze when they noticed me, then slunk off in opposite directions.  That meant that one was still headed toward me.  It must have hoped that I was safer than the other skink. 

There were lots of dragonflies but most didn't cooperate.  I rescued a millipede.  A tiger swallowtail teased but never landed.  A duskywing skipper was in love with the mountain mint.  Of course, it had to compete with bumblebees and wasps.  I saw a leafcutter bee with its pollen-coated belly. 

Crows gathered to curse something on the ground but I was being plagued by a green-eyed fly and couldn't stay to see what the commotion was about.  A hummer visited the little feeder. A wren bustled around under the violet leaves where I couldn't get a clear look at it.  

So busy

I hardly got outside.  And it was a wet, gray, unattractive sort of day anyway.  Little bumblebees replaced the mammoth carpenter bees on the mountain mint.  I have to clip off more of the spider mite infestation.  An ant nest was sending out its winged queens.  They ignored a millipede hurrying past.  A spider walked on water.  I rescued a couple of ground beetles. 

Hawk attack

The hibiscus was covered with flowers and a daisy decided to bloom again.  A skimmer perched and two yellow-bodied dragonflies darted back and forth about ten feet up in the air.  I had no hope of photographing them.  All kinds of wasps and bees gathered on the mountain mint.

I spent too much of the day inside on video-conferences.  A Coopers hawk crashed into the window behind me. I turned and saw it fly off with empty talons, so no harm done.  Shortly after that I escaped outside to a hot sun in a cloudless sky.  A couple of small butterflies were attracted to the mountain mint.  One was a snout and the other a red-banded hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops).  A black swallowtail laid eggs but a monarch just kept going - male? 

A cricket rescued itself from the water using one of my escape sticks.  I rescued a millipede but it wouldn't wait for a photo.  Huge carpenter bees fed on the tiny mountain mint flowers.  A full grown wheelbug flew in to a landing on a hibiscus bug.  More caterpillars ate rue.

Several skinks were around.  A disheveled bluebird rested on the fence.  A blue jay sampled the melted bark butter.  And then I went back to more meetings.  I did sneak out after dark and catch the moon and Jupiter. 

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. 

Rinse and repeat

I was gone in the morning, but the action at lunch and after more than made up for it.  Bluebirds feasted on bark butter till a blue jay claimed ownership.  A titmouse slipped in for a helping. Hummers made frequent visits to their feeder, fussing when other birds got too close. 

Skinks bustled about on their mysterious business.  I saw one actually rear up on its hind legs to nip something off a leaf.  A few slaty skimmers used the perches.  A worn black swallowtail egged everything in sight.  I rescued a millipede and a frog.  A honeybee and a fiery skipper joined the wasps and bees on the mountain mint. 

Over on the seed feeder, a brown headed nuthatch was determined to have a share despite being smaller than all the other birds. 

The cherry tree was also full of birds and a confrontation developed between a blue jay and a red bellied woodpecker and a brown thrasher.  It followed the woodpecker to the bark butter.  A brown thrasher booted the woodpecker off.  Then the titmouse dived on the thrasher till the bigger bird gave up and left.  And I thought titmice were timid! 

The male bluebird looked bedraggled with molted feathers sticking out.  A downy woodpecker was next.  A ratty looking pine warbler tried to share with the bluebird, and the camera confused the focus.  The warbler came back for a another try with the downy.  A Carolina wren scolded as it foraged.  Down at the water's edge a night heron swallowed its catch.  And then the rain began. 

Beautiful day

I rushed to a meeting in the morning and only had time to look around after lunch.  The hibiscus flowers were smaller and one was misshapen.

A mockingbird gorged on beauty berries.  The Carolina wrens emptied their feeder.  High in an oak tree, a blue jay hammered an acorn while squirrels carried off pecans.  Hammering also came from a red bellied woodpecker on a pine tree trunk. 

I watched as a big bird grasshopper appeared to be laying eggs on the concrete.  The grasshopper's abdomen would swell, arch, and the end would open and close. 

Bracket fungi appeared in the mulch in the front yard, probably living on the roots of the sweet gum we had cut down. 

A female blue dasher perched on the stub of a pine needle.  It was the first dragonfly I'd seen in days at home.  They appear daily at street intersections, riding the thermals from the asphalt.  A few bees and wasps sought nectar. 

A great blue heron hopped onto the dock and paced its length before a passing boat caused it to leave.  The boat also drove off smaller birds that were feeding along the shore.

Millipedes keep dropping into the pool and drowning.  I photographed a live one. It clearly had two legs per segment, proving it was not a centipede.  I was surprised at how high it could lift its head.  The water felt chilly though the air was warm and the sun hot.  The sky was cloudless and the breeze gentle. 

Rain showers

At lunch I saw a palamedes swallowtail on the parsley or mint, but it left before,  the camera was ready.  Later I caught a buckeye fanning itself. 

There was a curious commotion in the creek which I meant to investigate.  But when I got outside and saw the dark sky to the South, I forgot all about the creek.   And the humidity attacked the camera, fogging the lens that was cool from being inside. 

Suddenly, about 1:45pm we had a short shower.  Twice more during the afternoon there was brief rain.  And thunder growled in the South in between.  Numerous saddlebags and 12 spotted skimmers flew low under the clouds.  Blue dashers, slaty and great blue skimmers waited on perches.  The usual bees and wasps worked on the mountain mint. 

I rescued a robber fly, a millipede, a tiger beetle, and a wasp.  The Argiope's web was a mess and I worry that it isn't catching enough food. 

Birds came out while I dripped.  A Carolina wren investigated the bark butter balls. A male red bellied woodpecker probed a dying limb in the oak.  Titmice just acted silly.  one picked cherries and another caught a caterpillar in the oak.  The hummer had sugar water.  A pine warbler appeared in the oak. 

Back in the water again

 A hummer came for breakfast.  It had something white on its forehead.  The ground cherry was blooming and so was the chaste tree.  Turtles queued up on one lake log leaving the other in the sole possession of one big turtle.  A flock of mostly well grown goslings fed down by the creek. 

I think I used this title last summer for much the same reason.  This time it was only a week.  I decided that having the camera by the edge was on thing too many, so I wasn't able to photograph a mama wolf spider, a scarab beetle, a Japanese beetle, a click beetle, a stink bug, a millipede, and a lovely male widow skimmer. 

It was a bit chilly when I got out, especially with the wind. A gorgeous Needham's skimmer stayed low on the perch.  A belated money plant popped its flowers up in the midst of the rue.  The others had drying seedpods.  A skink chased another along the retaining wall.  The moon was sharp and bright but I had trouble holding the camera steady. 

Storm

I only saw the hummer once and that was at breakfast.  I suspect she's sitting on eggs.  A titmouse and a blue jay also visited.  And this time I captured the blue jay, in pictures. 

There were a few dragonflies and a butterfly that may have been a zebra swallowtail.  A spider tended its dome web.  I found a millipede on the pool coping.  A fly that looked hungry settled on the glass near the door handle.  A turtle and a cormorant were out on the lake snags.

There were flickers of sunshine but the wind and the overcast kept the temperature down.  Then in the mid afternoon, it got very dark and rain pounded us.  It slacked off but rain continued for the rest of the day. An egret took advantage of a lull. 

Rain

High tide flooded the street beside the church, but the sun was shining so I had hopes of the rest of the day.  But the clouds spread across the sky right after lunch.  

An Argiope was tucked up under the roof overhang in the protected corner of the patio, but I wasn't sure it was alive.  A Carolina wren gobbled up the remaining mealworms before the rain. I saw a high-flying bird that seemed to be catching insects, but the camera didn't catch it.  There was activity in the beautyberry, but I couldn't see what bird was eating the berries. 

After come-and-go sprinkles, a soaking rain fell. It was too wet to risk the camera after the rain, so the millipede and the silverfish/firebrat I rescued, along with many beetles, went undocumented.  The Argiope had changed position so I guess it was just lethargic.  It was a good afternoon for any eater of mosquitoes - warm, humid, with only an occasional breeze. 

Windy and warm

It was quiet at the feeders until after breakfast. Then I glimpsed a junco in the mulch. The two Carolina wrens arrived right after.  Out on the creek, geese were kicking up a fuss.  The sun shone but the creek surface undulated with shallow waves heading downstream.

Bees, wasps, a cabbage white, beetles, gnats, and maybe a dragonfly flew in the warm afternoon.  Two huge carpenter bees tussled in the air over the azalea till one drove off the other ant then patrolled the bush.  Tent caterpillars infested the wild cherry.  Ants congregated under a rock in the sun. A small millipede was under a piece of shingle in the shade. 

The strong wind from the West pushed the low tide as low as I've ever seen.  It came in gusts that roared and beat up the flowers.  The domestic cherry was in bloom and the wild cherry showed buds.  The hackberry was only green is spots, making me wonder if the rest was killed over winter.  Buds were swollen on the hickory and the sycamore.  The fig was leafed out.  A titmouse played with me as it hopped around overhead.

Bright day

It was cool over night but it warmed up rapidly.  The male towhees rose up in the air fussing at each other - I think junior is on his own now.  A hummer came but was scared off when I moved.  And the usual suspects were here. 

Arthropods: wasps, a spider, dragonflies, a scarab beetle and a pine borer, a millipede, a biting fly, and some small brownish butterflies.  Tiny black beetles infest the sunflowers and leaf miners have begun to denude the hibiscus.  The skin of a grasshopper nymph also clung to a sunflower leaf.

The day has been breezy with fluffy clouds moving fast, not humid or too hot.  Nevertheless, one of the above bit or stung me in the pool. Because I was outside, only the chickadees were bold enough to visit the feeder.