Nuthatches

The birds slept in but after breakfast they came in a wave.  Two brown headed nuthatches appeared to be courting.  A mockingbird, a bluebird, and a Carolina wren were more interested in eating.  So were the seed feeder trio - chickadee, cardinal, and house finch.  A brown thrasher got away without a photo.  Bluebirds and blue jays were more cooperative.  The male red bellied woodpecker returned.  

I went outside after lunch and saw lots of butterflies.  The black and tiger swallowtails were recognizable but not the brownish orange ones.  I think there were dragonflies as well but I didn't get any pictures of them either.  Wasps worked hard.  Rain started after 2pm but wasn't heavy and didn't last very long.  The pink evening primrose started blooming.  Bud clusters formed on the milkweed.  The beautyberry leafed out.  White throated sparrows were still here but rushing around and hard to capture.  A vulture and an osprey flew over.  

Skink

I got up early and hustled off to a meeting in Norfolk.  Gulls were circling over downtown but I couldn't tell what species.  Anyway, I didn't observe much until lunch.  A Carolina wren tackled the suet which was almost gone.  A bluebird grabbed seeds.  Then a white breasted nuthatch worked on the suet nubbin.  

The evening primrose patch began to flower.  A yellow jacket queen investigated the splitting timber edging the step.  That would not be a good location for a nest.  I thought I saw a dragonfly but the only critter in the photo was a tiny snout butterfly.  Cabbage whites danced together in the air, but whether courting or fighting, I have no idea.  

In the late afternoon or early evening a very reg-faced skink moseyed along the step wall.  It seemed to pace back and forth before finally going off into the mountain mint.  

Farewell

I thought I saw some ducklings across the creek but even the photo left me uncertain.  It was low tide with lots of gnarly detritus exposed.  Another butterfly blurred past me.  The  coral honeysuckle bloomed and the first evening primrose.  The temperature rose into the upper 80s.  A blue jay came for barkbutter balls which I put in the lower dish that swings more.  That seems to slow down consumption.  

We said goodbye to the dog today.  He was declining for the last several weeks.  It's hard to feel an animal trusts you when you know what is coming.  Afterward, I sat outside and listened to birdsong.  K went for a walk.  When I came inside, a parade of woodpeckers queued up for suet, first the male pileated, then the male red belly, and last the downy.  They had been complaining from the trees. 

A female pileated woodpecker, at last!

The temperature was back up in the 80s.  I think birds were busy nesting because they didn't come to the feeders when I was watching.  I could hear them up in the trees.  A few turtles were out on a log but not as many as usual.  Plenty of skinks were active.  I think there was more than one red head and I saw one with a blue tail and another with a regrown tail.  Something upset a mallard drake and he perched on the dock bench to let everyone know how he felt.  

The beautyberry began to leaf out.  The first blossom appeared on an evening primrose.  The coral honeysuckle was loaded with flowers just waiting for a hummingbird.  Some azaleas were done but others were still in full bloom.  I noticed more rosebuds.  Bees worked hard but I didn't see as many wasps.  One I did see, I thought was a yellowjacket queen but it was red.  Ir doesn't seem to fit any identification. The money plants were still blooming but loaded with seed pods.  A duskywing skipper fed on the money plant flowers.  It was a lot prettier than most duskywings and I thought Juvenal's Duskywing, Erynnis juvenali, was the best match.  

Some threatening clouds blew past but the day stayed dry.  I was sitting outside letting my hair dry when the pileated woodpecker landed on the post.  He didn't like my presence, I think, because he flew off, came back, and flew away again.  So I went inside.  After supper, a female pileated appeared.  She spent time investigating everything - the ground below the post, the steps, the mulch - then finally climbed the post and feasted on the fresh block of suet I'd hung.  (Unfortunately, when I bought the suet last Fall, I forgot to specify "no melt" so I need to move ther rest of the suet out of the garage soon.) 

Tiny praying mantises

The pink evening primroses were blooming in the morning.   Mama bluebird got a quick barkbutter snack.  Canada geese parents escorted their four goslings downstream.  A pair of mockingbirds picked up suet crumbs. 

Kayackers paddled upstream and I went out hoping to photograph them coming back.  I never saw them but I did see chickadees dangling from pine branches.  Unfortunately they were right-side up in the photos.  Birds were not very cooperative today.  The blue irises had also begun to bloom.  Skinks dashed about their business under the pool cover.  

I went out front to see if I could see the bluebirds.  One gloriously red strawberry was almost ready to pick.  I found a centimeter-long praying mantis on the wall and moved it to the strawberries only to discover another had already begun guarding them.  I did get to see the bluebirds ferrying bugs to their chicks.  

Tropical storm

Wind from tropical storm Arthur pushed the tide into the grass and blew the watering can around.  The rain stopped in the morning and things began to dry out, but the next band came through in the afternoon.  I tried to have bird food out but not to waste it.  A blue jay made off with a good part of it.  Carolina wrens got some.

A goose brought two goslings to the pool for a drink.  One little rascal attempted a bath but K put a stop to that. The limping goose that's one of the parents of the two goslings did not appear and K feared the worst.

A yellow crowned night heron prowled along the water's edge looking for crabs.

One of the many seeds I planted came up and turned out to be a pink evening primrose, Oenothera speciosa.  The local native has smaller yellow flowers but this one was certainly "speciosa."  However the plant was quite spindly and bent over.