Gray

We held off on the open dish feeders in case the rain was not finished.  That was just as well since starlings investigated the menu.  The towhee returned for breakfast.  I saw what I think were bufflehead drakes.  Pelicans flew by all day and the dredge apparently observed the holiday.   The red belly ate both seeds and suet but the downy only wanted suet.  Nuthatches came earlier than usual, both kinds.  I also counted a blue jay, a mockingbird, a pair of bluebirds, two kinds of warbler, and a wren before 8:30am.  Later in the morning there were titmice and the song sparrow.  Except for a crow, the lunchtime birds were repeats even though they now had jelly and barkbutter balls.  The temperature only rose a couple of degrees from just under 40 to just over. Plus, the wind was gusty.  I was glad to be inside to finish the GBBC.  I did twelve checklists and counted 37 species, one of which was new.  This year I posted more photos too.  

 

Rainy

Morning was overcast and drizzle began before lunch.  I submitted three more bird counts.  The first was unsatisfactory, I felt, only 15 birds.  The mockingbird, song sparrow, wren, and pine warbler made me happy.  I did another short count mid morning when I picked up bluebirds, the red bellied woodpecker and a pelican.  

After lunch, drizzle turned to rain.  Despite that, and the hawk that swooped past the feeders, I saw more birds and more species.  The towhee came back.  The male oriole put in a brief appearance.  Nuthatches made it out of bed.  But the weather was dreary without making much of a dent in the drought. 

Towhee

Early morning was still quite cold, though not as low as yesterday, but enough to make birds hungry.  A male towhee foraged under the seed feeder alongside a song sparrow.  At the glass dish, birds were pecking dust so I bundled up and carried out more barkbutter balls.  

Turkey vultures swooped over the creek and perched with a view of it.  I think they must remember the year we had cold-stunned fish floating.  

 

Butterflies

The male goldfinch was back this morning.  I glimpsed a towhee for just a second.  A Carolina wren argued with a downy woodpecker but in the end they both got some suet.  A great blue heron preened on a dock post in the afternoon sun.  I didn't see any nuthatches or bluebirds till late in the day. 

The party on the mountain mint expanded to include a fiery skipper and a buckeye butterfly.  A blue dasher chaperoned.  The bee with the pantaloons was back.  A big carpenter bee showed up.  So did the first great golden digger wasp of the season.  Cicadas sang in the trees though I didn't see any.  I rescued a robber fly from drowning. 

A black swallowtail was more interested in the rue.  A Guinea paper wasp agreed, but for different reasons.   A bud on the hibiscus looked ready to open.  Unfortunately, the sawflies got way ahead of me and chewed up all the leaves and damaged many flower buds.  What I think was a tiger bee fly, Xenox tigrinus, landed on the retaining wall.  

Towhee!

All the birds came out to enjoy the bright sunshine.  A male oriole and a male mockingbird snacked on jelly.  It made the oriole thirsty.  Titmice, blue jays, a white breasted nuthatch, and a starling ate barkbutter crumbs.  White throats hunted through the mulch under the seed feeder.  A Carolina wren, a myrtle warbler, and a downy ate suet.  A dove wandered around. A male towhee foraged around the edge of the patio.  I saw a bird that might have been an osprey land in the pines across the creek.  

Spiders

Two juvenile cardinals foraged and squabbled.  Meanwhile, a female towhee tried to avoid them.  Their colors were similar enough to be confusing but the towhee didn't have a crest.  A Carolina wren stopped by briefly.  

We picked figs and I watched for what else might be attracted to them.  A red spotted purple fanned itself waiting for me to go away.  Sighting a hornet encouraged me to pick very carefully.  A gorgeous spiny-backed orb-weaver, Gasteracantha cancriformis, web was smartly positioned between the figs and a window that's lighted at night.  The spider had its underside facing out which wasn't very attractive, but was quite small in comparison to the web.  In addition to the wildlife I found plenty of figs.  

A pearl crescent butterfly, Phyciodes tharos, rested on a mountain mint leaf.  The regular bees and wasps and fiery skippers also decorated the mountain mint.  A great blue skimmer, Libellula vibrans, used one of the bamboo perches.  I found two yellow garden spiders, Argiope aurantia, that had built their webs in the azalea by the hose spigot.   Big carpenter bees quarreled in the air.  A black swallowtail visited the rue.  A blue dasher perched on a dried twig. 

I rescued a mama spider from the skimmer.  A leaf-footed bug was floating dead.  Many skinks had business across the patio. One skink encountered a juvenile cardinal who didn't know what to think of it.  Hummers continued to be satisfied with the sugar water in their feeder.  Though the day stayed hazy and cloudy, it was warmer.  The breeze helped keep the biting insects away. 

Towhee

Today's early bird was a mockingbird.  Morning glories bloomed profusely, maybe in response to the cooler temperature.  But there was a hibiscus blossom as well.  The air was very crisp and clear, thanks to the Northeast wind caused by Idalia spinning out at sea.  The bald blue jay came back.  A second mockingbird arrived and didn't want to wait for the blue jay.  

A new visitor foraged in the mulch - a fledgling towhee.  Towhees became scarce here in recent years.  I blame the feral cats.  Bluebirds fed on the remains of the barkbutter balls, mostly dust.  A female goldfinch went to the seed feeder.  The boss hummer watched from the wild cherry.  A Carolina wren hunted for fallen mealworms.  One of the fledgling cardinals took over the mulch from the towhee.  

It was a good day for butterflies.  I saw skippers, a snout, a summer azure, a tiger swallowtail, and a very cooperative buckeye. Honeybees competed with the buckeye for mountain mint nectar.   A skinklet roamed the patio and I fished two more out of the pool.  I evicted a green frog and it hopped right back in.  I very carefully rescued a thread-waisted wasp that flew off immediately.  Late in the day, I thought I spotted a cruising twelve spotted skimmer, but it was just a glimpse. 

Gulls and cormorants flew overhead,  An egret flew up to our shoreline and later downstream.  There was a lot of activity in the tree canopy but the only bird I caught was a red bellied woodpecker, a female I think.  A pine warbler dined on mealworms.  I saw both a white breasted and a brown headed nuthatch coming for sunflower seeds.  

Fishing spree

Ducks and egrets and cormorants and pelicans and gulls patrolled the creek all day.   A grebe and a few buffleheads joined the hooded mergansers.  A snowy egret landed on the dock - the first time I've seen one come this far upstream.  

A great egret dried out on a post downstream.  It looked dingy and wet like it had fallen in.  I'd never seen a dirty egret before.  Rings of ripples kept popping to the surface of the creek but whether they were caused by fish or fishing ducks or methane wasn't clear.  The lake, however, was empty of action. 

The feeders also did lively business.  Pine and myrtle warblers, brown headed and white breasted nuthatches, bluebirds, and a Carolina wren joined the regulars.  Once again, goldfinches looked around for something to their liking. 

Juncos and white throats foraged on the ground beneath.  Doves seemed to be thinking romantically.  While outside, I spotted a male towhee.  It was harassed by a blue jay. 

Green head fly!

The hummers were hungry and there were several disputes over the feeder.  Despite the heat, the dog insisted on several trips outside,Menacing clouds blew through and there were a couple of showers.  (The prediction was way off the mark!)   I missed getting a picture of the brown headed nuthatch. 

Skippers returned to the mountain mint and a black swallowtail flitted around the rue.  Mockingbirds were hungry enough to consider feeder food.  Bluebirds looked disheveled from molting.  I only glimpsed a goldfinch but a pine warbler.was willing to be photographed.  Other birds wanted cherries.  I suspected the blue jays of going after the blueberries.  A whole family of titmice were at the sunflower seeds whenever cardinals let them. 

Speaking of sunflowers, one had the beginnings of a bud.  A skink ran across the steps.  Brown May beetles and green Junebug beetles went for a swim.  Two little frogs were in the skimmer.Despite their escape into the pool, they weren't hard to catch.  I wish I could convince them to stay out because the pol chemicals kill them. 

The evil fly tried to bite me as soon as I was out of the water.  I had to go dripping into the house to get away.  Bluebirds and pine warblers continued their feeder visits.  A male towhee foraged under the feeder.  A white breasted nuthatch preferred to stay up on the feeder. 

Drama

When I got up, the sky was gray and threatening, but little rain fell overnight and the clouds began to break up shortly after breakfast. The usual domestic squabble between pileated woodpeckers entertained me as I ate. Afterward, a bluebird and a house finch complained that the second suet cage was empty.  By mid morning turtles had climbed up onto their log.  

Then I noticed a crow climbing about in the saltbush  The reason for this puzzling behavior revealed itself to be  a black rat snake.It too was climbing the bush and slowly made its way, bush by bush, to the dock where it dropped out of sight.  A male towhee supervised from the grass.  A muskrat or nutria swam past the commotion.  

Black swallowtails flitted around the yard looking for nectar or mates.  A mockingbird mostly contented itself with suet crumbs.  A female red bellied woodpecker arrived to make more crumbs.  That attracted a second mockingbird.  Two brown headed nuthatches shared the seed feeder perch. 

In the afternoon I spotted a pied bill grebe on the creek.  It raised its wings repeatedly or flapped them and seemed to be preening.  There were enough clouds to catch sunset colors and turn orange. 

Snow day!

Everything was shut down in anticipation of the storm which did not produce as much snow as the one a week ago.  This snow was wetter and heavier so it may have compacted.  There certainly was plenty of ice on the feeders, in fact, the perch on the seed feeder was frozen in place.  A brown thrasher hammered through the ice on one barkbutter dish.  The other had been emptied yesterday.  So, to begin with, suet was the only available food.  Warblers, wrens, a mockingbird, and downy woodpeckers queued up for it.  A female cardinal joined the sparrows in the snow.  Juncos were back. 

Snow continued to fall in the morning though it had become light and drier.  The creek was banded with frozen snow and regular ice which quickly melted leaving plates of gray snow-ice afloat.  Hooded mergansers were soon fishing in the open water.  Lots of small icicles probably started after dark yesterday as the rain froze.  Snow was frozen on the underside of the railing and other objects.  The gusty wind flipped up feathers on the birds but they didn't seem to care. 

By lunch, the creek was free of ice but rough from the wind.   The snow was finished falling if not with blowing around.  A brown headed nuthatch wasn't in its usual hurry to leave the seed feeder. A half dozen bluebirds weren't picky as long as it was food.  Juncos and white throated sparrows hunted through the fallen hulls for any bits of sunflower kernel.  The male towhee reappeared, assuming it's the same bird I've seen before.  

I tried to get a good photo of a pelican in flight and got a great out-of-focus plunge.  Gulls  also flew fish patrol as hoodies paddled and dived.  One pelican rested on the dam and was joined by a crow.  By then there was sunshine.  More pelicans were attracted to the lake which was full of cormorants.  A bufflehead drake came diving upstream on the creek.  The buzzards didn't return but I saw one sail past on the wind.  A couple of great blue herons settled who owned the territory. 

Towhee

Rain fell in waves throughout the day but at least it was warmer.  The tide was still running high, streaked by wind and dimpled with rain.  At times the rain seemed as thick as fog but it didn't mess up the windows.  Bluebirds wanted their breakfast anyway.  A mockingbird again escaped without a picture. 

An egret swooped across the creek toward us at lunchtime.   Pelicans occasionally cruised over the creek. 

The song sparrow returned for seeds along with white throated sparrows.  The brown thrasher was more interested in what might be lurking underneath leaves and wood chips.  A Carolina wren observed from the bench then disappeared.  Pine warblers seemed to be everywhere.  Many of the birds had wet foreheads which gave them odd expressions.

Last month I glimpsed a male towhee and heard another, but today a male foraged under the seed feeder.  They'd been scarce since the years when foxes moved in, probably because they are ground nesters.  

The brown headed nuthatch managed to get some seeds.  I noticed it has a little white patch on the back of its head.  The female red bellied woodpecker worked on the remains of the suet.  Pine warblers harassed the downy woodpeckers on the suet.  Even the bluebirds got bad tempered, but I wasn't about to go out with a fresh block of suet.  The brown thrasher helped itself to some barkbutter.  

Critters living dangerously

A female red bellied woodpecker had a go at the suet.  A squirrel worked on building another nest, this time with rattly magnolia leaves.  The temperature climbed past 70, but this was supposed to be the peak of the hot spell.  Yellow jackets took advantage of the temperature to feed on camellia blossoms.

I stole an hour outside after lunch and saw the sky getting cloudier.  On the creek there were a few buffleheads and a pied-bill grebe.  A squadron of geese flew downstream so low that one wing cut the surface.  An egret settled in at the lake.  

Crows screamed till they flushed some sort of hawk - the glimpse I got wasn't enough to identify it.  Actually, it was when the blue jays joined in that the raptor gave up.  A towhee tossed mulch behind the cedar then whistled as it ran down hill.  I think I heard another one in that direction.

After dark, a possum prowled around the birdbath ignoring us.  The dog slept through the visit.  K thought it was a very large possum but it looked normal to me.  Certainly it was a very bold and foolish marsupial. 

Sunny

Bluebirds and white throated sparrows were early birds.  I saw a male townee but it hopped down the steps and out of sight.  A pair of juncos cleaned the patio.  A mockingbird took over the suet.  But then the red bellied woodpeckers began to visit.  A brown thrasher checked on the barkbutter cup.  So of course then the blue jays had to see.  A pair of robins rested in the pine tree.  Yellow rumped warblers hung around for a chance at the suet.  Crows acted suspicious, but they always do. 

On the creek, three female hooded mergansers paddled upstream.  A dozen turtles soaked up morning sunshine.  A kingfisher flew past too fast to think of getting a photo.  Thankfully, pelicans were slower.  The sky went through a variety of patterns from bars to veils as the wind continued to blow.  Oak buds burst and those long stringy flowers began to expand.  

Still hot

There was a lot more cloud cover but it didn't lower the temperature.  Sunset, however, began a slow slide that's supposed to end in the 40s Saturday night.  Daffodils were blooming like it was a competition.  A flurry of birds mostly escaped the camera, but there was a male towhee among the regulars.  The sun broke through just in time to turn me into a silhouette on Zoom.  Turtles crowded the logs to enjoy it, the sun not the Zoom.  There were six when the meeting started and eight at the end because the sun was reaching further along the log.  

At lunch time there was plenty of sunshine but lots of thin clouds blowing East and an overall haze.  Bluebirds and blue jays craved barkbutter balls.  I saw a white throated sparrow among green buds on the wild cherry.  Downy and red bellied woodpeckers overcame their wariness of me to get to the barkbutter.  Both brown thrashers visited but only one tried feeding from the cup.  The warbler boss was still around and so were juncos!  A mockingbird came and left without eating.  A song sparrow hunted in the grass.  A cabbage white butterfly flitted through the bushes. 

Crows stayed busy harassing bigger birds, like the young eagle and possibly an osprey or hawk.  A heron flew over the house.  Pelicans liked the low tide in the creek. Something caused bursts of rings where the water was only an inch or two deep.  The water was still clear enough to see green seaweed.  Crows prospected in the mud for tasty morsels. 

First skirmishes

A male towhee visited the seed feeder briefly.  The beautyberry was done blooming.  The sky looked like imminent rain and thunder was a constant low rumble so I left the camera inside.  Thus my rescues escaped being photographed.  They were an adult skink and two beetles.  One was a June bug scarab and the other was a metallic green tiger beetle. A weevil rescued itself with the aid of one of the sticks I stationed around the pool for that purpose. 

The fiery skipper was back on the mountain mint.  A tiger swallowtail crossed the yard.  A monarch stayed and thoroughly egged all the milkweed.  A very small caterpillar was already munching on the plant by the retaining wall.  That plant was infested with aphids.  A few blue dashers hunted mosquitoes. The usual bees and wasps enjoyed their mountain mint.  

The hummer wars have begun and they seemed to infect the larger birds.  Brown thrashers and a red bellied woodpecker fought over the bark butter.  Even the bluebirds joined in.  I suspect the blue jays were involved.  A mockingbird was hanging around too.  The Carolina wrens stayed out of it.  A grackle stomped around the sakaki for a moment like it wasn't sure how it got here, or why.  An egret landed on the dock bench.

Hot

A flock of birds bounced around the cherry but never let me get a good look.  The towhee's child was back at breakfast.  Today the cloudless sulphur had the butterfly milkweed to itself. 

A bluetailed skink crossed the patio.  Hummers were active at lunchtime.  A tiger swallowtail fluttered around the cherry.  A Carolina wren gorged on the bark butter mush.  The Carolina mantis continued to hang upside down imitating a rose twig.

There were two skinks aswimming, one a blue tail, the other all  grown up and bronze with dark  lines running its length.  A lot of debris had blown into the water, but not too many insects.  I rescued a honeybee that hustled away across the concrete, but when I next looked, it had expired. 

The pattern continued. In the late afternoon, a bigger cloud than the ones that had already passed loosed a few fat drops from its trailing edge. Another cloud was on its heels and did the same. The third cloud came with mutters of thunder.  A Carolina wren grumbled to itself because by then I was sitting next to the door and too close to its food.  Chickadees and cardinals rushed to get seeds, upsetting the hummers.  A saddlebags cruised over the pool and I think some swallows did so higher up.  The bird I suspect of being a kite was back.  The thunder got louder and closer and lightning reflected off the clouds so I came in.  By 5:30 it was raining hard and booming.  That kept up till after dark. 

Afternoon thunderstorm

All I had at hand at breakfast was the snapshot camera, so naturally all the birds came to visit.   A female goldfinch wanted her turn at the sunflower seeds.  The adult male towhee also wanted seeds.  Maybe it was teaching Junior.  A downy woodpecker stopped by for a bite of suet. 

Today followed the typical summer weather pattern which was a nice return to predictability.  Because I expected an afternoon storm, I swam in the morning.  This was fortunate for a skink I found swimming tiredly.  It took a while to recover. 

A yellow daylily bloomed again.  The small brown mantis continued to haunt the rosebush.  The juvenile towhee discovered the seed feeder.  A titmouse wanted seeds too.  A pristine hummingbird enjoyed the sugar water. 

Mantis

Hummers visited for breakfast.  So did the juvenile towhee.   It had a bit of an argument with a cardinal. Wrens worked on the bark butter mush.  The tailless brown thrasher tossed leaves and twigs.  While floating in the deep end I saw a bird in the red cedar that had a pale belly and an eyeline.  I'm guessing it was a mockingbird. 

The brown mantis lurked upside down on the rose canes, blending in so well I had to hunt for it.  A black swallowtail hovered over the rue.  I found a firefly floating on the water.  It seemed very late in the year for one.  Lots more butterflies were enjoying the heat. I chased one with the camera and got one blurred shot.  A couple of dark butterflies had an aerial battle or dance or something.  I think they were palamedes swallowtails. 

There was a lively frog in the skimmer.  It jumped back into the pool and went to the bottom. I ignored it and it disappeared.  Also in the skimmer was a winged ant queen with another ant clamped onto one leg.  She couldn't get it off and eventually disappeared when I was busy elsewhere.  A dragonfly was watching, so I don't know if the ant became a meal.  I went after the oleander aphids with neem oil.  It seemed to work.  Later I used morning glory leaves to try to scrape the dead aphids off the milkweed.  A skink hustled under the patio furniture. 

The sawflies were back on the hibiscus.  While looking at them, I found a second praying mantis, twice the size of the first.  It may have been a Chinese praying mantis.  The small one was, I think, a Carolina mantis. A skipper landed rather close to the big mantis.  

A yellow crowned night heron landed on the creek edge to hunt for crabs.  A gray mushroom popped up in the mulch.  After I came in, a red admiral landed beside my window.  I saw a disturbance in the creek's surface, perhaps a school of minnows, but the heron had left. 

Butterflies

Spider threads caught the morning light.  A juvenile towhee marched up the steps and took over the birdbath.  A hummingbird had the beginning of a ruby throat.  A Carolina wren ate bark butter.  Blue jays and even a dove showed up. 

A skink slipped into the violet leaves.  Then the butterfly parade began with a buckeye.  A variagated fritillary never paused.  A monarch found the butterfly milkweed. I also saw a cloudless sulphur, a palamedes swallowtail, a tiger swallowtail, and a red spotted purple. The brown mantis was still lurking in the rose twigs.