Solstice

I swam in the morning while there was still some shade and rescued a handful of brown scarab Phyllophaga May beetles and one ladybug.  I think the ladybug was dead though.  A tiger swallowtail tried to wrestle nourishment out of a fancy daylily.   The beautyberry started to blom.  We went to a sunset vigil and a mockingbird circled overhead.  The first quarter moon had a faint halo.  

 

Crows

The sunny day was mirrored by the quiet creek.  A Carolina wren prodded the suet.  It or another watched from a dogwood branch.  A white throat foraged while the usual seed eaters congregated on the feeder.  After a bluebird showed its disappointment, I refilled both dishes.  But mostly, there were crows.  They perched in the trees and on the dock.  Something, maybe yesterday's fish, interested them at the water's edge.  Certainly the fish was no longer on the dock.  Mallards paddled around and earlier I thought I saw female buffleheads.  The crescent moon was very pretty on the way to church and returning home but I didn't have a camera.  

Midday shower

The morning shifted between sun and clouds, then there was a shower right after lunch.  Soon the sun was back and the temperature  went up to 70.  I saw a great blue heron, some Canada geese, and of course cormorants.  A big flock of small birds flew over the lake.  In the late afternoon, the sky was clear and I got some pictures of pink clouds and the crescent moon.  

Warm sun

The clouds cleared in the morning and the temperature climbed.  It was 70 most of the afternoon.  Another rose opened and so did a moonflower.  However, the wind was still pushing high tide over the dock.  With a first quarter moon, we would normally have moderate rise and fall.  I could not find the orchard spider but surprised a field cricket.  A Virginia creeper vine turned scarlet.  I saw an egret and some ducks and songbirds that didn't come close.  The moon rose as the sun set but the sky was too hazy to see much detail except along the terminator.  

Still cool

The state issued a [DRAFT] Wildlife Action Plan.  The day cycled through sun and clouds.  A Carolina wren refused to cooperate with the camera.  The drake that was hanging around yesterday flaunted his white belly.  Other mallards did not seem impressed.  I wonder if he might be part domestic duck?  The saltbush bloomed and the tide ran high again.  

I went outside after dark to close the birdfeeders and saw many moons.  A second moonflower vine had a blossom and the first had three.  Overhead, the original moon was waxing gibbous with a colorful cloud halo.  

Agile crow

A breakfasting bluebird settled for seeds because I had not yet refilled the dishes.  A Carolina wren undermined the suet, then took some seeds too.  A brown headed nuthatch arrived mid morning.  A female hummer banged on the window but I didn't get a picture.  A crow noticed that there were now barkbutter balls and was able to get some.  

The usual cabbage whites flitted around.  Some of the first moonflower seeds I planted came up.  I planted some more.  The moon was bright when I went out to close the feeders so I tried to take pictures.  The camera refused to cooperate.  

 

Pondhawk

The male pileated found an empty suet cage.  A male bluebird found some food in one of the hanging dishes and a female ate seeds.  K hung fresh suet and a Carolina wren went to work on it.  A mockingbird gave it a try.  Then a male red bellied woodpecker got a helping.  The clever blue jay got seeds without tripping the feeder's counterweight. 

A green, female Eastern pondhawk hunted from the tops of daffodil stalks.  I saw another dragonfly in flight but have no idea what kind it was.  Of course there were cabbage whites. 

The day was hot but the wind kept it comfortable.  The newspaper claimed the high was 88 but I have a photo of the thermometer reading 90°.  The heat rushed the roses past the bud stage into big balls of petals.  After sunset I took some pictures of the crescent moon. 

Quarter moon

A crow was flitting around  wit a twig in its beak.  I guess it was saying, c'mon, lets make a nest.  White throats just kept foraging for fallen seeds.   We saw the first skinks of the year.   The female pileated woodpecker was back.  So were a male red belly and a female downy.  The temperature again reached into the 80s.  The moon was very bright and I couldn't get any details to show up, but the terminator line was absolutely straight, marking it as a first quarter.  . 

 

Humid

A bluebird kept watch from atop the post.  White throats foraged and a titmouse visited.  Under an overcast sky the temperature rose into the low 80s.  The forecast for the next three days is about the same. 

A bright crescent moon penetrated the clouds, but was very fuzzy.

Springlike

Creek reflections at breakfast shimmered with light bouncing off the trees before the sun was high enough to shine on the water.  The female red belly got an early helping of seeds.  A mockingbird arrived early enough to get some barkbutter balls.  A downy tucked into the suet.  The temperature rose into the low 70s though there was a definite windchill.  Despite the warmth, we had sunshine.  White throats foraged.  Titmice visited all the feeders but by then the suet cage was empty.  

I went outside but didn't stay long because of the wind.  A myrtle warbler posed on an oak limb.  I could hear a woodpecker scolding.  The crescent moon had risen above the trees.  I saw pelicans and a kingfisher, but only got pictures of ruddy ducks, one hoodie drake, and a cormorant.  Bluebirds  stayed in the trees till I went inside.  

A male red belly wanted barkbutter balls and displayed his red belly while hanging on the feeder.   A starling tried to dislodge him but failed.  A male oriole found the jelly.  A pine warbler got a turn with the barkbutter balls.  Red-winged blackbirds ate seeds and BB balls.  On the front patio, the hanging potted plant that blooms in the winter was covered with yellow flowers. 

Chilly gusts

A great blue heron that landed on a dock post was silhouetted against the sunlit opposite bank of the creek.  A mockingbird drank from the birdbath.  White throats skittered around.  Titmice ate barkbutter crumbs till I refilled the dish and they had to compete with blue jays.  A pine warbler joined them.  While refilling the dish, I also took photos of the third quarter moon.  That was enough of the cold wind for me. 

The nuthatches came for lunch, bot white breasted and brown headed.   All the others from the morning were back for seconds and bluebirds finally arrived.  I read about a new-to-me weather term: the Fujiwhara effect. The article also says, "While they sometimes look similar on satellite imagery, midlatitude cyclones are fueled by differences in temperature, whereas hurricanes siphon their energy from warm ocean water — two distinctly different processes." 

Morning moon

A heavy dew condensed overnight.  I noticed when I went out to refill feeders and take pictures of the waning gibbous moon.  The day warmed up fast and the breeze was pleasant, not chilling.  The creek was a placid mirror most of the time.  Mallards scribbled on it with their wakes.  At lunch time gulls passed overhead.  A duskywing skipper landed on a violet leaf and appeared to be sipping sap from a damaged area.  Unfortunately, another leaf was in the way of a clear photo.  Among all the fluff blowing off the saltbush there was a small, pale butterfly like a summer azure.  It didn't perch and I wasted pixels trying to catch it in flight.  I also saw a cabbage white.  The beautyberries lost some of their beauty as they shriveled and got redder.  Wild cherry leaves turned yellow and made me think of fairy gold that reverts to leaves. 

Drought?

On my way into Norfolk a little after sunrise, a big, pale full moon was barely visible in the West.  Coming home, as I drove into the driveway some sort of butterfly fluttered toward the blueberry patch.  A mockingbird, I think, flew across the driveway in front of the car and then flew back in front of it again.  When I looked at the back yard, chickadees were working on seeds.  I put barkbutter balls and grape jelly out in different dishes.  I meant to replace the hummer feeder contents - tomorrow.  

The new butterfly milkweed plant needed water so I moved it and the four caterpillars on it out front by the peppers.  Several peppers were ready to eat.  While out front I noticed a red banded leafhopper Graphocephala coccinea on one of K's bonsai trees. We have had no rain in October and it has been windy.  The last measurable rainfall occurred when Hurricane Helene hit the mountains at the end of September. 

More milkweed

I purchased another milkweed plant to feed the monarch caterpillars.  Today I counted four caterpillars and only one green seedpod.  The kingfisher was on the neighboring dock after lunch but back on our post in the late afternoon..  A great blue heron flew in and hunted along our shoreline.  Though sunny, it was much cooler today.

 
When I woke up, there were little puffy clouds scattered across the sky and tinted peach.  They thinned out by mid day, then thickened in the late afternoon.  The moon was up when I got out of my evening meeting.  Bars of cloud crossed it and it tinted them orange - very tigerish.  By the time I got home, the bars had become formless but the moon was still making them orange.  

 

Bright but cool

Reflections lit up the creek before the sun reached the water.  It happened again in the late afternoon.  The sky was a clear blue but the air was quite chilly.  Yesterday, I was on the Internet all day.  I was determined not to miss another day of wildlife so I photographed the five monarch caterpillars again.  They need to eat fast if they are going to make it to Mexico.  The milkweed pod continued to slowly disperse seeds.  A Carolina wren scolded and then flew away.  I relocated the ebony spleenwort fern and found it had grown quite a bit.  There were no clouds to obscure the first quarter moon.  

Evening lights

The goldfinch pair came to breakfast.  There followed a day with too much running around.  I didn't get outside till twilight when I enjoyed the moon and the fireflies and the offshore breeze.  

Hummingbird

A house finch was bold enough to stay on the seed feeder while a squirrel tried to rob it.  A hummer finally visited its feeder. After dark I went out to admire the gibbous moon.  I got one  sharp image which is one more than previous efforts. 

Warm, at last

"Chuck Norris" the cat tried to catch a squirrel.  After that, I saw a brown headed, then a white breasted nuthatch at the seed feeder.  A spring azure was flitting around along with the ubiquitous cabbage white, but the spring azure refused to perch anywhere.  The sky was intensely blue.  A blue jay raided the seed feeder.  I wonder if the counterweight has gotten rusty?  Buds popped out all over the sakaki. 

A polistes wasp went caterpillar hunting in the grass.   A hummer visited the new feeder I just put out and rejected it.  I will have to start from scratch.  The pool needed a good scraping and finally I was able to get in and go to work with the brush.  I hauled out a spider and saw another that was a goner.  I also saved a few scarab beetles.  The sun was really hot and the water was really cold. 

The round moon followed me home at twilight but when I took the camera outside all it got was a bright circle.  I don't know why this camera has so much trouble with moon shots.  The full moon is on the calendar for May 23 but it certainly looked full tonight.

We're hungry!

The creek and the azaleas were both so lovely, I didn't know where to focus.  But the birds were sulking because there were no seeds in the seed feeder, no suet in the suet cage, no barkbutter, no mealworms, no jelly!  The blueberries bloomed.  The buds on the sweet gum were swelling.  The wind stretched out the flag across the creek and quickly drove me indoors.  The moon was bright but the camera refused to see anything but a white blob with a halo.  

Butterfly!

It was very dark at breakfast and looked like the worst kind of day, windy and wet and cold.  Buffleheads were out on the creek.  The tide ran high from the wind.  Then before 9am, the sky cleared and transformed everything.  

When I returned from an appointment this morning and got out of the car, I saw something flutter by the peppers that were in the garage to keep from freezing.  It was a cloudless sulphur butterfly.  Another out of season sighting was a flower on the lantana.  

Pine warblers came for lunch.  Two male orioles showed up and perched around glaring at each other instead of sharing the jelly.  White throated sparrows prospected for fallen seeds.  Bluebirds went for the fresh barkbutter balls. 

A squirrel was determined to get into the bird food, but had no luck.  He found a good nibble on the ground.  Two more squirrels appeared and all three were wary of each other.  \

I went out after dark to see the moon but my photos were washed out.