Scorcher

The wind was very strong.  I decided it was safest to swim early before the heat brought out bloodsuckers.  I rescued two bumblebees from the water, very carefully.  Queen ants fell in, drowned, and bloated so their abdominal segments were visible.  Sad but interesting.  I also fished out another oriental beetle.  

When I got out, an Eastern amberwing dragonfly was clinging to the mountain mint, but it didn't wait for me to get the camera.  I found another infant Argiope spider, this one on the aster.  The reddish slime mold looked shriveled.  A larger dragonfly with dark eyes used a garden stake.  It might have been a bar-winged skimmer but I didn't get a good look at the wings.  A skink headed across the patio toward me, then noticed me.  The thermometer registered 97° but the wind made it bearable.  

In the evening, I wasted pixels trying to capture a firefly.  I finally got a golden streak.  

Argiope!

The rain held off today but the air was very humid and not very warm.  Three brown headed nuthatches got an early start.  Bluebirds followed.  A tufted titmouse examined the empty barkbutter dish.  A male downy woodpecker worked on the rather moldy suet.  A lovely scent floated on the air but the sakaki buds hadn't opened yet so I don't know what it was.  The large flowers - daylilies and gladiolus - were beaten by the rains, but the New England asters looked fine.   The butterfly milkweed stopped blooming because, I assume, its flowers were all pollinated. 

I found two infant garden spiders lurking in the mountain mint.  In the pool, I rescued an assassin bug nymph.  The mountain mint's tiny flowers pleased wasps.  Another batch of slime mold, maybe more wolf's milk, colonized a different landscape timber.  

Still cool

A Carolina wren was up early.  An orange daylily opened.  Dark clouds passed by looking full of rain, but none fell.  I thought I saw a bunny but it was a squirrel in an odd pose.  Out front, the lantana started to bloom.  White lilies, orange daylilies, and pink rain lilies put out flowers.  A strawberry plant popped up beside the dry stream bed.  A slaty skimmer used a perch outside my window.  

Bluebirds were busy so I thought they might still be feeding offspring.  A variegated fritillary fed on the butterfly milkweed.  Every so often it remembered that it needed to move around to confuse predators, but soon it was back at the milkweed.  The wind was much harsher than predicted and hard on small flying critters.  While cutting back the cinquefoil, I found some more wolf's milk slime mold.  I cannot imagine how it got that name.  

K hung more suet.  While pruning I surprised a blue jay.  An odd wasp-like flier wandered on the window.  It might have been an earwig.  A brown headed nuthatch came late to the seeds.  A couple of chickadees considered the dish feeders.  My impression was that one was a parent and the other a fledgling.  The bird certainly seemed clueless but eventually discovered the food.  

Windy

Another morning meeting kept me from seeing anything till lunchtime.  The wind was very strong, thrashing the trees and blowing deTREEtus on me.  A brown headed nuthatch was busy with seeds.  The milkweed appeared ready to bloom any minute.  I saw an osprey circling.  A great blue skimmer dragonfly used one of the garden stakes but the wind battered at it and eventually it flew away.  A cardinal got in the nuthatch's way but the little bird did its ninja act.  Eventually the cardinal discovered he'd been flanked and forced the nuthatch to leave.  A minute later the cardinal was eating barkbutter balls and the nuthatch was back on the seed feeder.  

I found some more of the peculiar orange spheres that I identified as wolf's milky slime mold.  Wispy clouds turned pink at sunset.  

Hot

I put barkbutter balls so we entertained blue jays for breakfast.  Or they entertained us.  The day was windy and cloudy and surprisingly hot.  A great blue skimmer chose one of the shorter perches.  He spent a lot of the time in the air.  The orange puffball-like slime mold seemed withered and shrunken.  As usual, lots of spiders walked on the water and I evicted a few.  I think the bumblebee I rescued was deceased.  A butterfly hung out on an oak leaf, sallying forth like a dragonfly.  I cannot imagine what prompted that behavior   

A yellow crowned night heron perched on the dock. A couple more herons flew downstream and the heron on the dock appeared to resent it.  It took off after the others and soon they came fleeing back.  The clouds looked a bit threatening but nothing came of it.  

Dragonflies

Overnight rain dropped the temperature.  A blue jay came for rain-softened barkbutter balls.  I took advantage of the pleasant weather to do some yard puttering.  Tiny, bright orange wolf's milk slime mold Lycogala epidendrum popped out of the end of a landscape timber.  There were eleven flowers on the orange daylily.  A Carolina horse nettle was blooming.  Parsley flower heads looked like fireworks bursting.  The first gladiolus spears appeared.

I spotted a dragonfly on a clump of dead leaves floating in the pool.  It didn't move even when touched so I figured it was dead.  I think it might have had a damaged wing.  In the afternoon, I found it floating on the surface of the water so I hauled it out and discovered it was alive.  My best guess is that it was a harlequin darner Gomphaeschna furcillata.  A female blue dasher kept watch from a dried up daffodil.  Lots of wasps were busy around the yard.  I rescued a bumblebee and a couple of beetles.  The forktail damselfly was again perched on the pool coping in the late afternoon. 

A soaring bird might have been a Mississippi kite.  An egret flew downstream.  The male pileated woodpecker came by to see if there was suet.  But even though I put out fresh sugar water, I didn't see a hummer.  

Caterpillars

Four caterpillars were devouring one spindly milkweed plant so I dispersed them.  One went to what I believe is milkweed in a shady spot and two went to the butterfly weed.  I was surprised because I never saw a monarch near the plant. 

In the pool, I rescued a wasp, a scarab beetle, a tiger beetle, and I found a very small skinklet floating belly up, alas.  The big, black, mud wasp was back at the mountain mint.  It was considerably bigger than the great golden digger wasps.  I love its steely blue wings.  A variety of other wasps and bees crowded the mint and milkweed.  

The peppers, red and yellow were almost ripe.  The slime mold returned to the exact same spot as last summer, only the spot was not as shady since the vegetation was cut back.  I found more basil and caterpillars found more parsley.  

In the evening, female hummer(s) showed up at the feeder.  But some bug harassed the bird.  The hummer left and returned several times. Finally it vented frustratino on a chickadee at the seed feeder and actually chased the poor bird into the camellia.  

Moist

The rain stopped mid day but the humidity was miserable.  And the temperature never quite made it to 73° so I was not tempted by the pool.  A fiery skipper landed on the glass, but I thought is was a moth till I opened the door. 

Birds came for suet but they didn't seem very enthusiastic.  Maybe the humidity bothered them too?  A blue jay twisted around to get a bite.  Then a male bluebird took a turn.  Titmice, chickadees and downy woodpeckers attempted to share. 

The rain dissolved yesterday's fancy daylily.   It didn't seem to bother the true lilies in the front yard.  The slime mold also seemed undisturbed.  I saw a couple of gray russulas but no other mushrooms yet.  The rabbit was back, nonchalantly munching the front yard grass.  

 

Overcast

The rain brought lots of flowers out, including four different daylilies.  I rescued a couple of spider mamas and some other critters. More snails floated in the water but I gave up on them.   A small caterpillar of a type I'd not seen before promenaded along the pool coping.  

The day was mostly cloudy but began to be very dark around 4pm so I hurried outside to finish planting the bulbs I tried and failed to force to bloom indoors.  There was a white slime mold in much the same area I saw one last summer.  A winged ant queen tried to find a way into the house.  And sure enough, the rain caught me and soaked me.  

It was not a hard rain and though it lasted some time the ant moats did not seem to gain water.  A titmouse caught something in the hibiscus thicket,  During a lull, the brown thrashers, a red bellied and a downy woodpecker, and a Carolina wren all came seeking supper, but there was none to be had.  I plan to fix that tomorrow.  I know, I said no more suet, but the birds disappeared.  

Bright sun

September ended in a really beautiful day, but not quite warm enough to swim, especially as it was quite breezy.  There were a black and a tiger swallowtail, a cloudless sulphur, and a duskywing skipper.  A bit of slime mold and some tiny mushrooms popped up in the mulch and I found two figs.  Wasps were still hard at work on the mountain mint.  Beetles rafted on the water.  A couple of skinks were out mid day.  

Flowers

The morning was a loss.  I saw a dragonfly in front of the garage when I came home.  The wind was fierce so I'm not surprised it preferred the more sheltered South side of the house.  After lunch I spotted the pine warbler again.  A house wren investigated the seed feeder.  Wasps were getting competitive on the rue.  A small bird chased a larger across the sky.  The white breasted nuthatch and the blue jays got away without photos. 

The slime mold looked unchanged.  Jasmine and forget-me-nots bloomed nearby.  Coriander and freesias shared space.  The false indigo was already making pods.  Magnolia blossoms were open all over the neighbor's tree.  And the white and red lily flowers had opened.  I found a red russula mushroom in the grass. 

Five titmice rushed around the yard.  One sampled all the different feeders.  A downy woodpecker liked the bark butter tub.  A hummer got her fill of juice.  In the late afternoon, a pair of geese made a V through the still water as they escorted one large gosling.  It is amazing how fast geese grow

Beautiful day

It was sunny and pleasant and fragrant - the white jasmine was blooming.  So was the pepper, the cilantro, the false indigo, the white lily, and the mountain mint looked like it was getting ready to bloom.  I put out bark butter balls and the blue jays weren't far behind.  One kept trying to land on the cup instead of the hanger with no success.  Another managed by climbing down. 

The slime mold was still white except where leaves and such had fallen on it.  I touched it and it was not slimy or sticky, but cool and a little damp and fairly firm.  There were two large patches and some small bits.  I found a snail on top of a patch that had been mostly hidden by vegetation.  Another glass snail was on a straw sticking up from the slime mold.  I wonder if they eat it? 

Long legged flies were flitting around the pepper leaves and I spotted one that was bright metallic red.  It was a little smaller than the ones I usually see, but I decided I don't care enough to catch the fly and investigate its personal parts for a specific ID.  They're all supposed to be predators on small garden pests.  

Ar lunch, two small skinks went tearing across the top step too fast for me to react.  A hummer made several visits so I guess she built a nest in the area.  Three squirrels, all with a noticeable dark streak above the nose, interacted in ways the made me suspect they were siblings not long out of the nest.  Two of them put their noses together as though kissing.  One stayed up the post or on the feeder roof while the other two foraged below. 

A female bluebird settled on the tub of bark butter so they must have eaten all the balls.  Unfortunately the window screen was in the way of the camera.  Then a couple of pine warblers showed up and one bumped the other off the feeder.  A Carolina wren sat still on the feeder for some time.  Then one of the warblers returned. 

As I are supper, I noticed a spider on the window.  The bullfrog was still calling.  The new camera did not want to take pictures of the moon.  Good thing I kept the old one. 

Slime

Bubbles rose in the creek shallows, whether methane or some critter I've no idea.  I caught the male bluebird in a tree.  He had been after something in the grass.  

Honeybees, bumblebees, wasps, and syrphid flies crowded around the rue. The parsley also had syrphid flies and leatherwing soldier beetles. A red bellied woodpecker made its querulous warble which alerted me to look for it up in the oak. 


I found a large white slime mold under the purple witch hazel in the front yard.  After reading up on this strange life form, I think it is a tapioca slime mold Brefeldia maxima. 

 A pine warble showed up for bark butter, the first I'd seen since winter.  A female hummer found the juice acceptable. 


The late afternoon rain brought out slugs.  I found one in the feeder eating the soggy remains of bark butter balls, another crawling over a parsley flower head, and another inside a day lily flower.  Others were just eating leaves.  Also on the parsley was a tiny orange caterpillar pretending to be a dead stem. 

The bullfrog was quite loud today, morning and evening. K thinks there's a frog under the pool cover, but I doubt it.  I wouldn't be surprised if there were decaying, drowned skinks, but how would a frog stay alive?  I suspect the bullfrog discovered how to use the pool as an amplifier. 

Chilly

There was a blink of muted sunshine and a sprinkling of rain, but mostly just gray overcast and cold wind.  Titmice and hummers were hard to photograph at breakfast because of the low light.  Also I was scrambling to get to an early appointment.

I got back in the late morning and decided to have a look at the spiders over by the fig.  A white slime mold, or maybe a fungus, was growing on dirt where rain had washed away the mulch. I also found the remnant of the slime mold I saw a month ago.  Two argiope garden spiders and a spiny-back orbweaver surrounded the fig.

When K got home, we discovered a wheel bug in the garage.  It was the first I'd ever seen.

After lunch, the yard was full of birds while I was on the phone.  A downy woodpecker hammered on a dogwood across the pool.  Hummers continued their chases.  Blue jays raided the mealworms.  One was having an ugly head molt.  A couple or Carolina wrens poked into everything.  A couple of doves panicked.  A pair of goldfinches drank from the ant moat.

And soon the gray day became black night with more rain.

Gray and humid

It was quite overcast at breakfast.  I saw an osprey land in the pines across the creek, but it was obscured by the trees on our side.  The hummers drank the feeder dry, so I swapped it out.  When I went to the library, I heard that they were trying to discourage the mockingbirds that nest there.  (I'll take 'em!)  The farm stand was very busy but I got squash. 

The sky cleared around noon and clouded up again about two hours later.  The sun got through hazy patches some of the time.  I hurried to pick figs before it got too warm.  Dragonflies appeared with the sun.  Atop the pine was a four-spotted pennant, first I've seen this year.  The slime mold looked unchanged.  The black swallowtail was back, as was the pearl crescent and fiery skippers.  One skipper discovered the hummer juice.  Wasps kept harassing each other on the rue.  I rescued a mama wolf spider who did not trust me.  A skink wandered around the pool steps after I got out. One hummer chased another over the roof.

Pleasantly warm

I missed too much of a beautiful day.  A hummer, or more than one visited the back feeder every time I looked.  A mockingbird surveyed the landscape from atop the pine.  Four titmice, maybe more, mobbed the feeder. 

I picked lots of figs and left lots more.  A slime mold appeared on the mulch out front.  Dragonflies fought for one of the perches I put out.  The widow skimmer stole it from the blue dasher.  I also saw swallowtails and skippers but didn't get a picture. 

Fog

The day began in fog and ended in blowing mist.  In between there were periods of gloom and of sun.  The usual egret was monitoring the dam outfall but a great blue heron was in the way.  Another egret patrolled the bank. 

Hummer(s) were active all day.  I saw her (them) perched in trees, feeding from flowers, and of course at the feeder.  Today the squirrel disturbed her less but she was wary of an ant.  They seem to cross the moat with no trouble, alas. 

Yesterday's slime mold was shrunken, orange, and not in the same place.

Fickle weather

I got up late.  There was a rain shower about 8am.  A hummer made repeated visits but was scared off by a squirrel that climbed the post to try to rob the seed feeder.  Cardinals were still courting.

A quite attractive slime mold was growing on the fresh mulch.  The wasps were still busy with the rue.  Heavier rain fell around lunch time.

By mid afternoon it was dry enough to mow.

Dramatic clouds

At breakfast, the regulars were joined by titmice.  I saw the first morning glory blossom at the top of the feeder post.  About 8am, a fox galloped through the yard.  A little later a dove landed, but didn't stay.  A young hummer was very hungry. 

After my meeting, in the late morning a few raindrops fell - I could see ripples in the water but no marks on the pavement.  The male goldfinch paid no attention as he worked on the sunflower.  I think I saw a wren under the bushes.  The titmice and the regulars were busy at the feeder.  A female slaty skimmer dragonfly used the rosemary for a perch.

Out front, fat carpenter bees worked on the lantana.  Mushrooms, and possibly a slime mold, popped up from the mulch down by the crepe myrtle.  I think the mushrooms may be brackets feeding on the roots of the oak we lost to borers.  A yellow-bronze mushroom I'm guessing was an amanita muscaria began to emerge next to the driveway, but when I looked for it today, it was almost gone.

At lunch, a couple of great egrets disputed possession of the creek shore. A tiger swallowtail flitting through the trees looked at first like the male goldfinch.  A little later I saw a black swallowtail touch down on the water for a drink, I suppose. 

In the afternoon, the clouds continued to boil up and flow off to the Northwest.  Blue jays set up a ruckus in the wooded area and I went to see why.  All I could see was a juvenile night heron on the fence beyond, but even after it flew off the jays kept on, so I guess it must have been a snake.  A brown thrasher, cardinals, and other birds joined the jays. 


By 10pm, the clouds cleared enough that I went out to see the "super moon," now a day passed full.  I had to find a spot without leaves in the way, but I got the craters and maria and old Tycho. 

The usual suspects

Cardinals and finches with squirrels on the ground.  Geese are feeding down by the creek.  The sky is gray and there was light fog over the creek earlier.  I neglect to mention crows, but I see them every day. 

Mid-morning, the overcast is breaking up and there are moments of sun.  I think the red goo I decided was a slime mold four days ago is now turning into orange balls.

At lunch the bluebird returned.  Lots of bird song, and the hammering of a woodpecker.  The clouds have moved off West - I think thanks are due to Tropical Storm Alberto sitting off the Outer Banks.  Nevertheless, a tropical storm off the Carolinas in May is more evidence of climate change than I want to see.

Mid afternoon brought thunder and a downpour.   I have been thinking that all the white clover I've seen this year is a sign the honeybees are recovering.  Mary Reid Barrow describes planting clover between strawberry rows.