Thirsty

Another day in the 90s, but the wind shifted a couple of degrees North of due West.  Chickadees and titmice were thick at breakfast.  A downy joined them and a goldfinch arrived later for a drink.  A hummingbird showed up at lunchtime.  It sampled the milkweed as well as the sugar water.  Then a Carolina wren wanted a barkbutter ball, but not until I went indoors.  It was molting and looked rough.  It inspected the hummer feeder too.  I thought I saw a white breasted nuthatch but I never caught a picture to verify it.  A fledgling cardinal came to supper.  

I found another little monarch caterpillar eating milkweed flowers and got curious about whether insects are deterred by caterpillar toxicity.  This says, "Only about 5% of monarchs reach the last larval instar."  Three butterflies, a yellow, an orange, and a dark one, flitted over the yard but didn't give me a chance for a photo.  I think the yellow was a sulphur.  The orange seemed small for a monarch, so maybe a fritillary?  A fiery skipper made the rounds of the mountain mint.  So did the usual bees and wasps,  In the afternoon, dragonflies gathered.  A yellow one zoomed over me and disappeared, but a blue dasher and a widow skimmer used the perches.  

While I was in the water, I evicted two frogs and two spiders, and rescued a moth.  The dragonfly nymph was still active,.swimming very fast.  A thirsty squirrel dangled over the water to drink.  Either that, or it was having a Narcissus moment.  

Arthropoda

I got in a nice, early swim which was fortunate for a crane fly, a tiny moth, camel and field cricket nymphs, and a big May beetle.  A larger moth and a robber fly were, alas, defunct.  I did not rescue a Japanese beetle.  More interesting insects feasted on the mountain mint and the butterfly milkweed.  The green bee was back along with several other kinds of small bee.  A feather-legged scoliid wasp joined the thread-waisted wasps.  A Macrosiagon dimidiata beetle also fed there.  The orchard spider prospered but I fear the Argiope must have been eaten.  

The fallen cherries were fewer but instead there were hackberry leaves with what looked like shattered galls.  The beautyberry was finished blooming and was making little green berries. Two blossoms opened on the hibiscus.  As I ate supper, I could see a dragonfly in each stake, except when they dashed after prey.  The blue dasher took the shorter stake and the slaty skimmer the larger.   I took that as testimony that it was buggy outside.  Besides, it was very hot and we are at the edge of the smoke hazard from Canadian wildfires.  

Hottest 4th

A Carolina wren visited before it got too hot.  It hopped, rather than flying, from the lower dish to the upper.  An venusta orchard orbweaver spider constructed an intricate web over the azalea next to the window.  That should work excellently after dark with a light in the kitchen.  For identification, on the Internet I found lots of pictures of the spider but none of the web.

Because of the predicted heat, I went swimming earlier than on previous days.  I fished out two crane flies but only one recovered.  Also, one of the water-walking spiders, but this one had no babies.  Many more May beetles (southern masked chafer Cyclocephala lurida) plus some black ground beetles, a yellow jacket alive and a honeybee dead.  An interesting moth, possibly a tulip-tree beauty Epimecis hortaria secreted itself just below the coping where it was safe from anything not in the water.  Wasps were active but the only other insect I saw was a tiger swallowtail.  

The outdoor thermometer showed 104 at 4pm.  The sky was hazy with thicker patches so the sun was intermittent.  I had changed the hummer feeder in the morning and I thought I glimpsed a hummer, but I'm not sure.  A mockingbird flew into the cherry tree.  A squirrel found K's peanuts but took the last one into the shade to eat.  

Still hot

 A Carolina wren came for lunch.  So dis the mama squirrel with the odd fur patch.  I waited to swim till the trees shaded the water.  A damselfly was in the usual place.  A small crab spider scuttled along the pool edge.  A lacewing was stuck to the wall but it did not seem to be alive.  A moth afloat looked very battered.  I rescued several black beetles.  A mockingbird visited several times.  An assassin nymph lurked on the mountain mint.  A brown thrasher skulked under the sakaki.  

 

Spider season

A Carolina wren poked through the seed trough.  I saw the first daylily flower, at least first for our yard.  The crow was back for another bath.  We got some sun in the early afternoon and I attacked the algae in the pool.  Several of the walks-on-water spiders avoided me but I persuaded one to move to dry land.  A crab spider was much more cooperative.  I also fished out a pretty little insect with black wings and a red head, possibly a wasp.  

Later in the afternoon we had a short deluge and a couple of thunder showers.   A crane fly tried to get through the window.  When the rain stopped a blue jay arrived and considered the wet barkbutter balls.  After dark, I saw a moth at a window.  

Still hot

A mating pair of damselflies hovered over the edge of the water but I was in the water and unable to take a picture.  I rescued a moth or small butterfly that was too battered to identify.  Also, I fished out a spider and several ground beetles.  Other spiders and mulch roaches were defunct.  A squirrel ate suet.  

Insects

Temperatures in the 60s brought out a few bugs, so the birds didn't need the feeders.  I saw something buzzing around the feeder post and after dark there was a moth on the window.  White throats foraged all over.  The mockingbird found the dish feeder empty.  Carolina wrens were more flexible - if one food source was gone, another would do.  I refilled the dish and pine warblers appeared.  

 

 

Gray

A warm South wind pushed the temperature up into the 60s.  There was intermittent sun in the morning but complete overcast by afternoon.  No birds fished or visited feeders.  The warmth lured out some insects which probably kept the birds fed.  I saw a Carolina wren on a dogwood branch.  Some Canada geese paddled down the creek.  After dark, a little crambid snout moth landed on the window.  And that wrapped up November.

 

Catching up

So little seemed to be happening that I skipped several days.  The weather was sunny but with a chilly North wind.  Last night, two little moths were drawn by inside light to cling to the window.  Since today was warmer, I spent the afternoon outside.  The sky was very blue with a few cirrus wisps.  

The sheet web spider seemed to have expanded its snare but I could not persuade the spider to appear.  The web caught a lot of non-food debris.  The mabel orchard spider was quite visible and active.  Its legs look green in the shade but black in the sun.  I also found a very small orb in the rosebush.  A cloudless sulphur flitted across the yard.  Even though butterflies appear to be moving without haste, they are very hard to photograph when they don't land.  I think the other flying insects I saw were wasps.  

A partially opened moonflower seemed stuck.  The moonflowers waited out the chilly evenings.  The beautyberries were at their peak.  The Siberian bugloss seemed to have finished blooming.  The saltbush seed fluff blew everywhere but the milkweed seed comas were not persuaded.  The hickory joined the dogwood in fall colors.  A bud appeared on the yellow rose.  I could hear a blue jay and crows but never saw them or what they were yelling about.  Maybe the black cat I saw later pausing below the steps to scratch?

A squirrel carried on with its tail, prompting me to wonder if it was in heat and trying to spread the scent.  Later I saw a pair of squirrels play-chasing up and down the redwood trunk, but I don't know if the same squirrel was involved.   A great blue heron grew upset with the disturbance.  I saw quite a few gulls or terns, not sure which, but they appeared small and white.    A cormorant paddled downstream.  Mallards paddled up, down, and across the water.  As sunset neared, a great blue heron stood on one of the dock posts.  

Mystery bird

The drizzle continued in the morning but about 11am we began to dry out.  A Carolina wren ate suet.  I only located one of the spiders but all five monarch caterpillars were chomping away.  One black swallowtail caterpillar was still eating rue and the chrysalis was still there.  Despite the chill, I got in the pool and worked on all the leaves and needles that had blown in.  In the course of that, I rescued two honeybees, a scarab beetle, and what I think was a ladybug larva.  A hopeful mosquito got up in my face and a red spotted purple landed near me.  

A small dark bird feasted on beautyberries.  The light was poor and it was shaded and obscured by leaves but my overall impression was black and white.  Nothing in the field guides matched.  I had hoped the cold Northeast wind would at least bring some migrants and it may have been one.  As I headed back inside, I saw a southern purple mint moth.  

Rain

Rain fell overnight and again after breakfast, thought that was light and short.  It seemed to annoy the Argiope.  A Carolina wren was the early bird.  Titmice hung around and a pine warbler visited briefly.  A buckeye nectared on the mountain mint and a variegated fritillary egged violet leaves    A dragonfly kept watch.  Bees and wasps stuffed themselves with mountain mint nectar. 

I waited too late and had to have a hurried swim under dark clouds.  Even so, that was fortunate for a large moth that was doing a vigorous backstroke and a woodlouse hunter spider that was sinking.  I was able to rescue both without damage to them, or me, despite a pestering mosquito. 

 About 5pm a thunderstorm came banging through and dumped a lot of water..  I saw the male widow skimmer as I hurried indoors but was too wet to stop for a photo.  The Argiope was rocking its web - I wondered if it was trying to shake off the raindrops.  Afterward, a brown headed nuthatch craved seeds. 

 

Goldfinch

Thin cloud cover muted the sunlight.  The weather was fairly quiet after yesterday's drama.  A male goldfinch inspected the menu, then moved on.  A less discriminating female bluebird helped herself to seeds.  A brown headed nuthatch waited impatiently on a female cardinal and even tried to sneak across the bottom of the feeder.  

The fledgling bluebird, if it was the same as yesterday, solved the feeder mystery and busily stuffed its crop.  What a difference a day made!  Still, the youngster spent a lot of time looking around for a parent.  Chickadees congregated on the suet.  A crow made a brief visit.  Late in the day, a Carolina wren wanted seeds.  A commotion in the wild cherry revealed two great crested flycatchers.  A red bellied woodpecker came and went in a blink. 

I spotted one great blue skimmer dragonfly but no butterflies.  The coral honeysuckle still had flowers which could feed any passing hummer.  A reddish wasp hunted in the cinquefoil and a greenbottle fly rested on a gladiolus leaf.  A little brown moth awaited night on my window.  

Dull day

I was going to skip today because it was dull and disrupted, but events conspired and here I am.  Leaf colors were muted under the gray sky. The air got fairly warm, mid 60s.  White throats were again early.   A downy had to share suet with a pine warbler.  I hadn't refilled the barkbutter dish because showers were predicted, but eventually the prediction changed so I did. Then there were disruptions outside and in so I don't know if any birds visited it.  After dark we noticed a little moth that must have followed someone into the house.  I tried to catch it with a butterfly net without success.  It would have blended into tree bark perfectly, orange paint not so much.  iNaturalist told me it was a Bent-lined Carpet Costaconvexa centrostrigaria.

Rain

Morning was gray, afternoon wet.  I believe it was a bit warmer.   A flurry of birds accompanied lunch.  Nuthatches, both white breasted and brown headed, competed with house finches for seeds.  At least three bluebirds made the rounds of feeders.  I saw a yellow rumped warbler on the back of the bench.  After dark, a moth landed on the wet window.  

Summery

The sky was strongly blue again, the breeze light, the creek a mirror, and the temperature rose to 78°.  Evidence of things unseen: at lunch, the bamboo stake that I'd stuck in the ground near the birdbath began to jerk and swing.  Nothing around it was moving so it wasn't wind.  My guess would be a vole or mole.  The yellow iris seeds were ripe.  The heat persuaded a violet to flower. More camellia flowers opened. 

Today I found six, not five, monarch caterpillars.  There may not be enough leaves for all of them.  I thought I saw a red spotted purple but it disappeared.  A wasp landed on a table with its prey but it seemed dissatisfied and abandoned the morsel.  It looked to me like part of a grub.  After dark, a plume moth landed on the window. 

I saw only the usual feeder birds.  A bit of seed hull got caught in a silk thread and twirled in the breeze.  A boat on the creek startled a great blue heron. A cormorant and a mallard paddled upstream together.  Then a kingfisher alighted on the dock post.  It didn't stay long but I heard it cackle several times after it flew.  

Mosquito swarm

I love the way the creek glows at dawn on a sunny day.  If there's wind, it drops at dawn and dusk so the creek can reflect the light.  A brown headed nuthatch was up early and a chickadee waited rather than argue.  The sky was blue again but a little more hazy.  Dogwood leaves took on a bronze hue.  Southern purple mint moths were ubiquitous and I walked into a swarm of mosquitoes, the most I've seen all summer.  My skin no longer reacts to their bites as much as when I was young, but they were in my face and everywhere.  

The Berkley polypore shrank, perhaps from water loss, and turned rust and gray.  I found a few very small mushrooms like orange beads in the grass.  When I picked one, it was just as orange underneath.  It had gills that were well separated, surprisingly thick, and attached to the stalk, no veil ring but maybe a hint of a cup at the base.  My best guess is orange bonnet, Mycena acicula.  

Dark

Thick cloud cover kept the light low.  Overnight rain never really dried off and then we got more rain.  The dark of the moon was abetted by the wind to push the tide over the dock.  Southern purple mint moths flew anyway.  Because of the rain I left the barkbutter dish empty.  The female downy had seeds along with chickadees and titmice.  Toward evening, a great blue heron surveyed the creek from a post.  

Hot

I spent the morning at a fair out near the oceanfront.  A monarch fluttered by.  The day was sunny and grew really hot.  Hurricane Helene switched the wind direction so the clouds flowed up out of the Southwest, finally.  I startled a couple of skinks on my way to the water.  Another skink was floating on a waterlogged leaf so I lifted it, leaf and all, onto the concrete.  Two bullfrogs were in the skimmer, one little and one "almost eatin' size."  A third frog swam past me headed for deep water.  A leg cramp made me get out before I caught up with that frog.  

While drying in the sun, I witnessed a battle to the death.  A skink had caught a cricket.  Much rolling and thrashing ensued, but the cricket was doomed.  A jet passed over with no contrail.  Those little purple mint moths were everywhere.  I also spotted a picture-winged fly, Delphinia picta.  

Humid

Morning was still wet and gray.  That did not stop the nuthatches, brown headed or white breasted.  A male cardinal fed his daughter.  A mockingbird tried the rehydrated wild cherries.  The rose drooped to shed rain.  A sparrow, I think was a song sparrow, landed on the railing but the camera insisted on focusing on the raindrops on the window.  In the afternoon we got some sun.  A two-lined spittlebug drowned in the bucket.  The tide rolled over the dock again even though we had a third quarter moon.  

All I found in the pool water was tree trash, snails, a cricket, and a leaf footed bug.  While dripping off, my eye was caught by a really colorful Southern purple mint moth.  Another mockingbird surveyed the scene from the maple, then flew in for a drink.  Two female cardinals tolerated each other, one on the seed feeder, the other on the barkbutter.  I think the one eating seeds was older.  At any rate, she was feeding her son.  Interesting that the parents fed the offspring of the opposite sex.  She looked like the joys of motherhood were wearing thin.  

Frogs

The tide overran the dock again and flooded the salt marsh grasses..  I was busy all morning but the weather waited for me.  The sky was cloudless and the sun intense, though the wind and water were chilly. There wasn't as much bird activity in the afternoon.  A Carolina wren bunny-hopped along the back of the bench, then flew to the barkbutter balls.  As though that gave permission, a blue jay followed.  Of course there were cardinals and chickadees. 

A little brown frog was hanging out on the leaves in the skimmer.   A couple of larger frogs were chillin' on the rescue stick intended for critters' escape if they fall in the water.  When I got over to the deep end though, I only found one frog.  I gently lifted it out onto the concrete.  I also found two cabbage looper moth caterpillars, Trichoplusia ni, and rescued one, but the other sank and I couldn't find it.  Perhaps just as well.  Southern purple mint moths were everywhere.  I glimpsed a skink disappearing into vegetation but, thankfully, there were none in the water.