Elusive butterflies

It was another scorcher so I swam in the morning.  Floating in the water were a queen ant,  a robber fly, a firefly, a woodlouse hunter spider, a largus bug, and many more ants, flies, little wasps, and mulch roaches.  I thought the spider was a goner but when I next checked it had disappeared.  I complained because there weren't any butterflies or dragonflies, but they appeared in the afternoon.  I think I captured a wasp killing another insect, but it might have been mating.  

A blue jay came for barkbutter balls and brown headed nuthatches for seeds.  The sakaki was nearly finished blooming.  A great crested flycatcher made a commotion chasing something through the oak leaves.  A skink wanted to get behind my chair and made a detour through the grass.  A female downy had a go at the suet.  A pair of geese with three half-grown goslings paddled upstream while a fish jumped in the background. 

A tiger swallowtail and a dark butterfly proved impossible to photograph.  Wasps and bees were more cooperative.  A very dark skipper visited the mountain mint.  I could see insects going to the asters but I couldn't tell what they were.  One might have been a Southern purple mint moth and another some kind of beetle.  Prince baskettail dragonflies patrolled the hazy sky.  A different dragonfly perched on a dead twig at the top of the wild cherry.  And a Needham's skimmer used one of the perches.  

Triple digits

Again, I swam before the heat of the day.  More beetles clung to windblown debris in the water.  I also fished out a living queen ant, very carefully.  I'd been seeing drowned queens but this one was still swimming.  All three Argiope spiders were thriving.  The purple asters were gorgeous.  The lichens on the bench enjoyed the rain and sun.  An Asiatic dayflower bloomed.  Coral lilies made red bead-like seeds.  The ruffled daylily continued to bloom.  The sakaki flowers emitted a wonderful fragrance.  

Whatever the National Weather Service recorded, our outdoor thermometer read 100°.  The wind made it bearable, barely.  The butterfly milkweed stopped blooming.  Its foliage looked lush and not chewed by any caterpillars, alas.  The mountain mint attracted wasps but thus far no butterflies.  Money plant pods looked about ready to disperse seeds.  I thought I saw something on a floating leaf and, sure enough, a damselfly perched there.  My best guess was an immature female Eastern forktail Ischnura verticalis. 

Dull day

Bluebirds mad frequent trips to the buffet.  A squirrel did prairie dog popups in the cinquefoil.  Brown headed nuthatches packed off a surprising amount of seeds.  The cardinals were courting again.  Blue jays ate barkbutter balls.  A couple of great blue herons went chasing upstream.  A titmouse joined the barkbutter queue. 

The Southern magnolia trees have started blooming.  The sakaki was covered with buds.  The creek was placid in the morning, but there was more wind inn the afternoon.  I noticed trash afloat on the water.  Also, the sky became overcast and the temperature dropped from its noontime peak on 81°.  

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.

First hibiscus

There was one hibiscus flower today and four red buds promising tomorrow.   The sakaki was nearly finished flowering. 

Goldfinches peered into the hummer feeder.  I think they were thirsty.  The hummers were not pleased.  The male appeared as soon as the goldfinches moved away.  I didn't see a female till later. 

A bluebird checked whether I'd put anything in the dish feeders.  I hadn't because of the rain prediction.  A chickadee discovered the seeds in the sunflowers.  A Carolina wren poked around under the feeders.  Two white breasted nuthatches ignored the sunflower in favor of the feeder for seeds.  A pine warbler ate suet. 

On the mountain mint, in addition to dozens of honeybees, there were bumblebees, leaf cutters, carpenter bees and others.  Wasps included a great golden digger wasp and smaller mud and potter wasps.  I pruned some of the mint stalks and discovered leatherwing beetles mating.  I was trying to give the butterfly milkweed more sunlight.  Earlier, I rescued a small robber fly and many beetles including a firefly.  I tried to kill the nasty carnivorous fly that kept flying in my face, but I don't think I succeeded.  Where were the dragonflies when needed?

Thunderstorm

In the morning, ospreys circled in an intensely blue, almost ultraviolet, sky.  A house wren visited the seed feeder, then surveyed the yard from atop the post.  Blue jays went straight to the barkbutter balls.  A hummingbird found the feeder after trying the gladiolus.  Those flowers certainly look like they were meant for hummers.

Fertilized sunflowers had a Raggedy Ann look as the petals withered. The sakaki perfume dominated the air.  There were buds on the hibiscus and shredded leaves from the larval sawflies. 

Bumblebees and wasps and a Japanese beetle visited the rue.  A female widow skimmer perched on a bamboo stake by the mountain mint.  Earlier, I saw another dragonfly that was just a flicker of black and white.I suspect it was a male widow skimmer.  I rescued several flower scarabs and one firefly.  A skipper and a snout butterfly fed on the mountain mint along with carpenter bees and wasps. 

Several menacing clouds blew over without doing anything during the day.  The storm finally came through around 5:30pm and at least one lightening bolt was directly overhead.  The donner und blitzen was accompanied bu a downpour.  NOAA issued another flash flood warning.  The storm cleared and chilled the air.  Afterward, a great blue heron roosted on the dock bench. 

Hot and sticky

A male bluebird did not seem pleased with the suet.   A mockingbird ate suet and a blue jay stuffed its beak with barkbutter balls. A goldfinch visited the seed feeder.  A Carolina wren poked into everything.  

I managed to get time for a swim and found a flock of winged ants trapped in the skimmer.  Afterward, I saw the tail of a disappearing skink.  A couple of brown butterflies dueled over the pool.  A somewhat larger brown and orange butter flitted around the patio.  I think it may have been a questionmark.  Wasps enjoyed rue nectar.  Bees were more inclined to the mountain mint.  The blue aster and the sakaki started blooming. 

The heat and humidity weren't so bad at home, but downtown Norfolk was enough to make me worry about heat stroke.  The flood barrier blocked breezes and turned Boush Street into a sauna.  Plus, I lost the parking garage and walked about three extra blocks.  I could see clouds piling up in the East, waiting for sunset's temperature drop to rain.  

Chilly water

In the morning, blue jays carried off beak-fulls of barkbutter balls.  (That would make a good tongue-twister.)  Mockingbirds had the same desire but not the beak capacity.  The mockingbird also appreciated the refilled birdbath, but for drinking not bathing.  Next the bluebirds took their share of barkbutter balls. 

The gladiolus leaves have been lush but finally flower buds appeared on one stalk.  A lot of daylily buds looked about to pop open.  The butterfly milkweed had clusters of buds, but they were still small and tight.  The mountain mint looked about to make flowers.  Buds like drops of white wax covered the sakaki but I think they won't open for a month.  And there are still some buds on the yellow rose.  I deadheaded both the yellow and the red in hopes of more flowers. 

I saw a couple of skinks, one reg faced and ready for love, the other still with a blue tail.  The juvenile skink got a drink from the birdbath.  Soldier beetles mated on the bolted parsley.  I got tired of waiting for the weather to warm up and got in the pool.  The temperature of the air would have been ok if not for the wind, and the water was endurable.  But the rest of the week is supposed to be cooler.  This is the coldest May I can remember.  

While I was reading outside, a wary white breasted nuthatch made several visits to the sunflower seeds.  The pileated woodpeckers made several passes at the suet without landing.  Apparently I was too close for comfort because not long after I went inside, the female landed and started consuming suet.  A brown headed nuthatch ignored her and went straight to the sunflower seeds.  So did chickadees.  

Windy

A mockingbird and bluebirds wanted a refill on the barkbutter balls.  A hummer approved of the fresh juice.  I believe I saw the male.

I spent about four hours on the South side of Mt. Trashmore where anything not weighted down went flying.  Kites were flying too and I spotted one dragonfly.  

After I got home, I picked blueberries.  The crape myrtle began blooming.  A couple of peppers started to grow.   I seem to have missed most of the lilies and something apparently broke the white lily stalk.  The sakaki buds began opening and perfuming the air. 

Opressive

Aster and sakaki blossoms, along with the mountain mint, attracted wasps and other insects. Gladiolus and daylilies brought color but didn't do much for the insects.  Daisies seemed more attractive to flies.  Clouds covered much of the sky, hanging low and holding the humidity in place.  It wasn't all that hot, but there was little breeze.  I found a small mama spider in the skimmer.  

Cloudy

Even though there was a risk of rain, I put off swimming till afternoon.  I thought I saw a greenhead fly so I got out of the water.  Robber flies began to appear.  A crane fly cllung to the door screen. 

Blue dashers occupied every reasonable perch.  A Carolina saddlebags made a dead twig at the top of the hackberry tree its base of operations.  That led me to notice that the wild cherries were about half way to ripe.

Since the rue was going to seed, wasps switched to the mountain mint and the lavender.  A great golden digger wasp reappeared.  The sakaki flowers attracted bees.  A half dozen bumblebees had fallen into the pool and some actually revived. 

Toward evening, dragonflies of some sort zipped around at treetop height.  Then a yellow crowned night heron landed in the oak.  At lunch, K had spotted a juvenile night heron up in a pine tree but the one in the oak was an adult.

The clouds took on strange appearances during the day but only a handful of raindrops ever landed.  A fragment of rainbow floated overhead for a while. I saw but failed to photograph blue jays and hummingbirds

Bright

Titmice returned to the seed feeder.  The sakaki bloomed and attracted bees. I fished bumblebees out of the water, dead and alive.  A skink was swimming hard but willing to climb onto my hand.  I made it wait for selfies before I put my hand ashore.  I also rescued a mother wolf spider. 


Several crows craved bark butter balls.  I noticed that mimosas were blooming downstream from our yard.  A skink darted across the hot concrete.  The female bluebird was pushed away by one of the crows. 
A few clouds passed over but the sun still pushed the temperature into the high 90s.   I went outside during an afternoon break and saw a tiger swallowtail and a Carolina saddlebags. Other dragonflies used the perches.  I finally got some good first quarter moon shots with the new camera. 

Windy

Juvenile titmice were everywhere all day, acting naive and silly.  An egret hunted in the dam outfall.  A blue tailed skink ran from the rosemary to the azalea, then back, then across the step to the birdbath, then who knows where.

The hibiscus was loaded with flowers and the canna began blooming.  The calendula was gone to seed, making me think its a biennial.  Gladiolus and the sakaki bush were finished blooming.  The double orange day lilies were taking their turn. The beautyberry was in flower.  And it looked like the blueberries came and went while I was away.

I husked corn I picked up from the farm stand at the library and dislodged a corn ear worm that appeared about ready to pupate.  There were dragonflies and butterflies, but they struggled with the wind.  It was hot enough to make the dragonflies obelisk.  Something left a nasty sploge of vomit or feces on the lower patio which engaged the attention of a cloud of flies.  I rescued the usual spiders and beetles and saw a water strider and a bristletail in the act of molting.  I caught aglimpse of a damselfly with a blue thorax in the mulch beyond the deep end.  A golden digger wasp was too late to get much from the rue, but bumblebees were even later. 

A cardinal landed on the windowsill and gawked at me but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.  A little green heron alerted me by squawking and I saw it fly to the bulkhead across the creek.  A brown thrasher picked wild cherries, as did a squirrel.  Hummers made regular visits.  Both male and female bluebirds came for mealworms but wouldn't wait for a picture.  Even more shy was a red bellied woodpecker that landed on the maple. 

The wind piled up clouds in a thin layer, then blew them away.  They made herringbone patterns that looked fractal.  More clouds arrived at dusk. 

Very windy

Cumulus clouds flew across the sky under a high haze and wisps of cirrus.  Titmice worked on hulling seeds.  A squirrel got up into the mealworm dish and folded over to eat what he was sitting on. 

The day got really hot.  Dragonflies were everywhere.  I saw the bluebird's head in the nest box hole but she ducked back inside.  Blueberries were starting to ripen.  A male common whitetail perched briefly on a bamboo stick.

A blue jay flew across the yard, as did several birds I never got a good look at.  A blue tailed skink believed it was hidden from me.  I saw the first sidewalk tiger beetle of the year.  The sakaki began blooming and the air was fragrant. 

 A dark cloud passed over and was well gone when the rain from it landed. I found a glass snail floating in the water.  Then the sky went overcast and I came inside.  The geese attempted infiltration but I caught them at it.

Drippy dawn

Either there was light rain or heavy dew overnight which left drops dangling from leaves.  Sometimes the sky had fish-scale clouds and sometimes it cleared.  At times it looked like a storm was coming but then the clouds passed or dissipated. 

A titmouse came for breakfast.  A hummer rejected the feeder juice.  The sunflowers began to unwrap.  The beautyberry and the chaste tree began to bloom while the sakaki was about finished.  Wild cherries were turning red.  Some of the stale barley I tossed out for squirrels germinated and even went to seed. 

An assassin bug nymph walked on me so I took its picture.  I fished a queen ant, a robber fly, and an ichneumon wasp out of the water, but too late for all of them.  I did save other wasps, a zelotes spider, a tiny caterpillar, and beetles, including ground, scarab, and gray sidewalk tiger beetles.  Dragonflies perched all over, though one turned out to be another robber fly.  Blue dashers, a saddlebags, and amberwing, and others I couldn't identify hunted the air over the pool.  

A yellow-kneed wasp found the yellow milkweed, as did a load of aphids.  The stalks were bare, whether from caterpillars or something else, however, seedpods were forming.  A few butterflies appeared, including a cabbage white. The orchard spider was gone from the azalea. I found a large glass snail and an almost microscopic one. Skinks enjoyed the heat. 

Crows chased something over the yard, screaming all the way.  Whatever it was it was the same size as the crows.  Egrets and night herons flew up and down the creek.  A cardinal pair hunted bugs in the grass for their offspring.  I also glimpsed a fledgling.  Blue jays evaded the camera.  Three osprey circled very high up.  A white breasted nuthatch competed with house finches and chickadees at the seed feeder.

Summer heat

Though this is no hotter than the last couple of weeks of Spring.  The first sunflower opened overnight.  The sakaki began blooming to the delight of bees and fireflies.  I noticed the chaste tree was blooming too, as I watered the transplanted azaleas. 

A black swallowtail took an interest in the rue and a tiger flitted through.  Saddlebags appeared in the late morning and a red Carolina saddlebags found a perch on a dead twig in a dogwood.

While in the pool rescuing beetles and a wasp, I found a pinkish caterpillar floating limply.  I wonder if it was the wasp's prey?  Also, while floating I observed papa cardinal feeding a fuzzy gray youngster in a cedar.  Mama cardinal carried nesting into a different cedar.  And the house wrens were all around.

Four twelve-spotted skimmers took over the airspace.  Appropriately for the first day after the solstice, I heard cicadas.  Three goldfinches (two were females) visited but wouldn't let me take a photo.  Big cumulus clouds sailed East in the middle of the afternoon, then the sky cleared, then it got hazy with faint pressure ridges.  Meanwhile the crescent moon moved from overhead to behind the roof.

In the twilight, as the sky went silver and the fireflies began to flash, the cardinals were still feeding at the sunflower cafe. 

Hot

There was a thin crescent moon when I got home last night.  And the first hurricane of the year is predicted to visit this coming weekend.  The usual three species greeted me from the feeder this morning.  The cardinals are still dueling.  Crows and gulls and high up, maybe, an eagle were all the birds I saw.  The money is ready to harvest.  The sakaki is nearly finished blooming. 

A frog went for a swim this afternoon.  I rescued it from the pool skimmer.  A black swallowtail and some smaller orange butterflies were joined by a dragonfly.  I rescued a caterpillar from the pool which I'm going to try to raise.  I hope it fell from the cherry becausw I'm not climbing the oak for fresh leaves! 

Followup: the caterpillar didn't survive.  After checking it looks like it was nothing special.  The dragonfly, however, is a Spot-winged Glider - new to me. 

Blue sky morning

The usual.  Raccoons got a lot of seed before we remembered the brick last night. K is refilling it now.  I should refill the hummer feeder soon.

I've lost most of the day indoors, alas.  But I did see some dragonflies.  Chickadees and finches had trouble with the new feeder perch - it kept rolling on them making them do the lumberjack dance.  The sakaki is blooming.  It is loaded with blossoms this year. 

Magnificent piles of cumulus in the evening sky. 

Wetness everywhere

The air, the leaves, everything drips. The camera fogs. I guess this is the result of tropical storm Lee?

Chickadees and titmice are doing fast-food at the feeder, not dining in.

Somehow I've managed to get poison ivy again. Itchy and sticky.

Humid but breezy

All the windows were fogged although the temperature outside was as low as inside. The moon is waning gibbous and still visible in the early morning. Last night it was a big pumpkin in the east. The sky in blue, though clouds are condensing over the ocean (I think) and blowing Southwest. I refilled the hummingbird feeder and two of them were arguing over it early. When I went outside I startled goldfinches out of the sunflowers. A black swallowtail was oddly interested in the hibiscus.

Here's the new bunny yesterday afternoon, cropping the black medick. Clearly the rabbits are having two litters a summer here. The bush in the background is the bird-planted Japanese sakaki. It's location seems odd now that the oak is gone - I cannot decide whether to keep it. On the other hand, Wikipedia says it is sacred in the Shinto religion and I certainly don't want to upset any kami that may have taken up residence.

A wasp has discovered the hummingbird feeder and it actually chased off the hummer. I thought hummingbirds were fierce, but apparently not with species that have stingers. The sky has gone all blue, not a cloud in sight.