Summery

Yesterday provided fair weather for the election, though people have been voting since mid September.  I enjoyed the warm sunshine but didn't see much.  I missed a mockingbird in the beautyberry.  Small insects, about half the size of the cabbage white I saw, flitted through the opening over the pool.  An orb web snagged seed fluff from the saltbushes and a magic leaf.  I saw other spider threads but no actual spiders.  Yellow jackets explored the camellia.  

Today continued warm and mostly sunny and more humid.  At breakfast, a flock of birds hunted dogwood berries.  I saw a mockingbird and a blue jay and a flicker and something I couldn't identify because the birds were obscured by leaves.  Meanwhile the creak mirrored the early light that had not yet reached its surface.  The red maple flamed and the oak shed gold leaves.  Clouds blew from the Southwest and mid afternoon congealed into a threatening mass, but it dissipated.  After dark, a moth was lured to a window.  

 

Mockingbird

Yesterday was still too windy. It was still when I first got up but that didn't last.  I tried to spend time outside in the sunshine but I got too cold.  Finally, today there was just a moderate breeze.  At breakfast, the creek was a mirror.  The sky was very blue all day.  

I went out in the afternoon and found that squirrels were up to all sorts of things, leaping and tail waving and scolding.  The trees were still mostly green, partly because the wind stripped leaves away as fast as they turned.  Chickadees did not let my presence keep them from the seeds.  A mockingbird feasted on beautyberries.  

The mockingbird landed briefly on the feeder post and then on the barkbutter dish.  A couple of vultures soared in circles.  A downy woodpecker was hungry enough to overcome my presence.  Later, cormorants flew home in the low angled sunlight.  

I went around to the fig trees to see if the spiders were still hanging on the wall.  They and their webs had disappeared but I saw single threads glinting all over the fig trees.  However, I did not see any spiders there either.  In front of the house, the purslane had a small flower but it looked about done for the year.  The goldenrod by contrast was in full bloom.  

A summer day

By mid day the temperature reached 80°.  A squirrel splooted on the cool concrete in the shade.  The poor thing was limping and looked very chewed up.  K poured water in the birdbath and I left a few peanuts nearby.  But I don't know if the squirrel returned.  

A dozen gulls played with the Southwest wind high in the air under a blue sky.  A small red spotted purple landed in the sakaki.  I also saw a cabbage white.  The oak had patches of leaves that had caramelized.

A mockingbird found the beautyberries.  I heard other birds and saw some zip across the yard too fast to identify.  A wasp and a bee were busy.  Tiny spiders webbed twigs.  The Berkley's polypore appeared smaller and kind of moldy.  

2 too big spiders

A Carolina wren visited at breakfast.  After stuffing its crop with seeds, it perched on a chair back to peer in at me.  A string of ten geese paddled upstream.  Today was considerably warmer and I would have gone swimming if the pool had not been covered.  I went outside hoping to see birds eating beautyberries but instead I was surprised by a skink that dashed across the pool cover and then hid under it.  I could hear birds but they were shy about coming into view.  Asiatic dayflowers were still blooming.  The Christmas fern made spores.  

I wandered over to the fig patch and discovered two large webs.  The owner of the lower one scuttled into hiding, sort of, as a ball on the underside of the gutter.  The one in the middle of the higher web ignored me.  I believe they were some kind of Araneus orb weavers.  They were in a good location to catch mosquitoes, I discovered.  After I circled back I saw what I thought was a young eagle.  

Lovely day

Another summer day strayed into October, so I went swimming again and the cool, clear water sparkled.  A blue tailed skink perched on the handle of the skimmer waiting for rescue.  Its tale was not blue from the cold water but I let it warm up instead of posing.  I rescued some black ground beetles and a small brown click beetle.  A fat, tan spider lurked on the one remaining rescue twig.  When I came back with the camera it was hidden behind the stick.  A drowned wasp or bee floated amid bubbles.  Another big web was going up between the house and the dogwood where the birdhouse hangs.  

Chickadees came for seeds, blue jays chattered in the trees, and I heard a rattle that might have been a woodpecker.  The saltbush was budding and the milkweed seeds bobbed in the breeze.  

Nothing much

I didn't see much yesterday and even less today.  The odd little fuschia plant had a second flower stalk.  Yesterday, the sky was cloudy with blue patches but today was sunnier albeit with plenty of clouds.  A crow watched a gull sitting on the navigation sign.  A spiderweb stretched from the house to a dogwood but it didn't look like it was in use.  I couldn't get the camera to "see" it.  K hung a block of suet in place of the hummer feeder.  

 

Warmer

The wind flipped around to the West and we had sun and clouds.  The high was in the 70s and the water was colder.  K noticed a spider thread between the camellia and the azalea but I couldn't find more web or a spider.  A monarch circled the water but paid no attention to the milkweed.  Titmice were hungry for seeds.  

 

Hot sun

Thinking that the sun would be less intense this close to the equinox, I didn't wait for shade.  The larger bullfrog awaited me in the skimmer.  It acted lethargic but eventually it hopped off my palm and into the water.  I didn't see it again.   A skink rafted on a sinking leaf and I assisted it onto a rescue stick so it could have the satisfaction of saving itself.  A field cricket was also rafting so I set its leaf raft on the concrete.  I also fished out a couple of black ground beetles and a mint moth.  Something tickled my back and after brushing it off  my skin, I saw it was a very tiny spider.  The long-haired yellow cat sneaked past while I was swimming and I yelled at it.  An egret flew behind the trees and something that might have been a kite soared in the hazy blue sky.  The seed eaters were all I saw at the feeders.  Squirrels were busy up in the trees.  The only photos I got were plants.  

Hot sun

Today got a lot warmer.  There were clouds and some haze but mostly sunshine.  My morning was taken up with meeting the mayor.  After lunch, I sat outside and saw a blue dasher dragonfly and a damselfly landed by my foot.  Some butterflies did not cooperate but I found a tiny caterpillar on the milkweed.  Caterpillars were deserting the parsley because it was all eaten.  I went swimming after 4pm for shade.  A small frog let me lift it out onto the pavement.  I also rescued two wasps, a spider, and a May beetle.  Hummers visited the feeders.  I saw two skinks.  One climbed the cedar tree and the other climbed the retaining wall.  An egret landed by the dock.  

Hibiscus blossom

I forgot to make an entry yesterday but it wasn't a dull day.  The male goldfinch seemed to be getting a drink every time I looked.  I camera-chased a tiger swallowtail.  Also I've been noticing wild cherry leaves carefully sculpted by caterpillars to hide that they've been partly eaten.  A spider was rafting on a sculpted leaf so I brought it to land.  It spun a bit of web then launched itself up into the dogwood, at least six feet up and away.  I thought it was one of the heptagonal orbweavers, but it was more brown with a butterfly shape marked in beige.  Turns out it is a butterfly orbweaver Araneus pegnia.  I also got pictures of the floating pine needles making occult symbols in the breeze.  A buzzard flew over and a hummer visited the fresh feeder.  

The morning looked nice but I had a meeting.  I think this may be the latest in the year that the hibiscus has bloomed.  There was a hummer and a goldfinch.  In the afternoon, I waited for some shade but almost waited too long and got sprinkled upon.  A cicada was submerged on the top step so I fished it out. Later I carried it up the steps for a photo and it began to revive!  iNaturalist identified it as a Northern dusk-singing cicada Megatibicen grossus.  

A frog in the skimmer seemed dead so I disposed of it.  Another in the pool was bigger and fairly lively, but I caught it. A determined mosquito bit me on my face since that was all it could reach.  I did my best to drown it.  I saw a monarch and a little skink as I dripped off.  I couldn't find any monarch caterpillars but the parsley plant I bought had a first instar black swallowtail caterpillar.  There were flashes of sunshine between the thunderheads while I was outside, but thunder and real rain began before 6pm.  It cleared after about half an hour.  

 

Accident

A storm overnight brought down leaves and needles but little rain.  The pool skimmer was packed with needles.  When I had removed most of them, I lifted out the basket and a frog jumped out and into the pipe leading to the pool filter.  I left the basket out in the hope it could swim back, but it didn't reappear.  Eventually I gave up and put the basket back in place.  I did catch another frog later and I rescued a heptagonal orbweaver.  And I think I must have fed several mosquitoes.  Earlier, a dragonfly hunted from a garden stake.  A dark butterfly passed by.  While I was dripping off, a very small skink with a very long tail ventured out, but I didn't have the camera.  Today was just as gloomy as yesterday and I didn't want to risk rain on the camera. The thirsty goldfinch was back.  

 

Hummingbirds

The wild blue morning glories were blooming when I replaced the low-hanging hummer feeder.  When I went for a morning swim, three frogs awaited me but two hopped away and only one dove into the water.  I caught and released it on land too.  A black swallowtail egged the gone-to-seed parsley and a dragonfly flew fast over the water while I swam.  I found a tiny, pretty beetle afloat but it never revived.  It was about the size of a ladybug but not so round.  iNaturalist identified it as a shield-backed cryptocephalus, Cryptocephalus mutabilis.

A hummer came to the little feeder but did not stay long.  Maybe rainwater diluted it?  A tiny orb web hung between the feeder and the post.  Later, a hummer visited the 3-hole feeder and still later, two hummers argued about it.  

As I dripped dry, I noticed ridges in the clouds coming from the Southwest.  They were perpendicular to the wind direction, sort of like ocean waves.  They're classified as altostratus undulatus clouds.  A red spotted purple rested on a dogwood branch.  A little skink followed the edge of the concrete to cross the patio but on the way back it took a shortcut.  A downy woodpecker hung below a branch it was hammering in the section of the dogwood that lost its bark and died.  A titmouse fussed because I was too close to the seed feeder.  

 

Warmer

The day got warmer than predicted and stayed humid.  Cloudy periods alternated with burning sunlight.   A heptagonal orbweaver spider with red legs and a yellow abdomen tried to take possession of the door and another dangled over the pool steps.  I found two grown skinks basking, one by the pool steps and the other by the deep end.  The skink by the steps disappeared into a crack but later it emerged and ran across the concrete with its head held high.  Two frogs were hiding in the skimmer but I chased them down.  

I found another praying mantis castoff exoskeleton afloat.  There were mosquitoes, but nothing worse.  A blue dasher was standing watch when I came outside and a bigger dragonfly glittered in the sunlight when I got out of the water but I never got a good look at it.  A third skink wanted something behind my chair but didn't stay there long.  I saw a weevil sitting on a chair arm.  A titmouse watched from the dogwood.  As we ate supper, there was a flash and a loud crack of thunder, then nothing.  Sometime later a light rain began.   

Butterflies

On the 14th, I had meetings and didn't go out to swim till 5pm.  There were the usual couple of frogs.  I rescued a black wasp that had been carrying a legless spider when they landed in the water.  I figured the spider was doomed.  That was it until I got out.  Then a green head fly went for me.  I hadn't bothered with bug deterrent because I thought we were past their season.  It hit my arms, thigh, and legs as i rushed to the house and the can of bug killer.  I sprayed everywhere but I have no idea if I hit the wretched fly.  I know I sprayed me and had to wash the stuff off.  I was too upset to post yesterday and had no pictures anyway, .  

Thus I was very cautious the following morning, but I didn't see any sign of the fly.  It had rained overnight and dropped the temperature somewhat.  I evicted the two frogs again.  A good sized spider was on the railing but I wasn't sure if it was alive.  Afterward as I dripped, I saw a cloudless sulphur visiting the milkweed, a red spotted purple resting on a dogwood, and a tiger swallowtail flying among the trees.  Only the purple cooperated.  

A downy woodpecker visited the seed feeder for lack of anything better.  So did a Carolina wren.  The sky looked like more rain but none fell.  We went to a fundraiser in the evening and I noticed the tree crickets were loud both there and when we got home.  

Siesta time

Can a frog look sheepish?  When I took the lid off the skimmer, two frogs were crammed together in a corner, blinking at me.  One hopped away but the other dodged around to dive into the water.  I caught them both several times before they took the hint.  Aside from that, I fished out dead June beetles and a drowned woodlouse hunter spider.  

After lunch I spent some time outside.  Despite being 90°, it was pleasant in the shade with a breeze.  The sky was cloudless but hazy.  I saw a few skinks, a hummer, a blue dasher obelisking, and a tiger swallowtail.  A Guinea paper wasp prowled through the mountain mint.  An osprey flew up the creek and a hawk flew across the yard.  

After the hawk was gone, a couple of mourning doves landed in the shade of the sakaki. A male cardinal tried to discourage his son from following and begging.   A small black bee landed on the concrete at the edge of the house shadow and appeared to do a honeybee dance.  I didn't watch it continuously but I think it staggered into the sunlight, keeled over and died.  I came inside not long after.  

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.  

Crab

Fortunately, the sticky heat was frequently relieved by a breeze.  Lots of cumulus blew up from the Southwest.  The brown headed nuthatch was back  The dark spider posed like an orb weaver but what I could see of the web was just a tangle of threads with no pattern.  A couple of duskywings argued over the mountain mint.  I posed a drowned camel cricket.

I found no frogs in the pool today, but a mud crab instead.  It pinched my fingers and toes and got away into deep water.  Speaking of pinches, National Geographic introduced the Schmidt sting pain index.  A hummer made a brief visit to its feeder.  A male slaty skimmer used the smaller perch but spent much of the time hunting.  I saw a reddish dot in the sky and got a blurry shot of a Carolina saddleback dragonfly.  A titmouse saw something hair-raising.  Once again, a sprinkle made me take the camera inside.  

Rain

Another hibiscus flower appeared.  The sky looked ominous in the morning but I swam anyway.  A  few May and June beetles should have been thankful for that.  The frogs resented it.  I evicted three of them several times and also disposed of the one I found dead in the skimmer.  Meanwhile, the sky sprinkled me.  There was a brief interlude of sun when I got out, then a shower even though the sun kept shining.  The dark spider in the azalea was hard to see. 

A female great blue skimmer dragonfly hunted from the garden stake perches.  Carpenter mimic bees fussed over the mountain mint.  A yellow butterfly disappeared into the trees.  A skink hid from me, but not well.  A hummer flew at the kitchen window then to the feeder.  At lunch, I saw a brown headed nuthatch.  A Carolina wren seemed to be stuffing vegetation into the birdhouse.  Fingers crossed!  Mid afternoon, the showers turned to a hard rain that flooded Norfolk and cancelled events.  However, we only got about a quarter inch.  

Yellow bird

The goldfinch visited again and this time I got a photo, but of his back.  A dark skipper didn't settle long enough for a picture.  The usurper spider was still enthroned above the azalea.  I caught two frogs at the same time but one kept jumping back into the water.  The usual beetles floated around.  Meanwhile the sky was mostly gray and drops fell on me while I swam.  

Beautiful blue bee

K put some peanuts out for the crow but the squirrels got them.  Because an afternoon thunderstorm was possible, I picked figs in the morning.  It was buggy and sweaty, but I got a lot.  Afterward the cool water felt so good.  I caught four frogs, I think.  That is, I know I caught one twice because I saw it jump in again, but it is possible there were more repeaters.  I wish they would eat the mosquitoes!  I did see a couple of dragonflies on patrol.  

A metallic glint in the water caught my notice and I rescued a bright blue bee.  It was about a half centimeter in length and all blue-green with black wings.  It walked politely on my fingers but I didn't try to carry it up to the house for the camera.  There were also several big green June beetles and one ladybug.  Also a drowned brown stinkbug.  A monarch butterfly found the milkweed irresistible.  I saw a Guinea paper wasp hunting around the milkweed and wondered if it would take monarch caterpillars as I saw no sign of them.  

I did see the usual bees and wasps and a tiny yellow spider that had caught a tiny black wasp that was nevertheless too big for it.  A strange spider appeared to have taken over the Argiope web.  It was smaller than the Argiope had been but I wonder if it preyed on spiders.  It used the Argiope's stabilimentum to wrap up prey.  Bluebirds visited the barkbutter balls.  The thunderstorm never materialized.