First frog

The sun was back and the North wind blew fluffy clouds across a blue sky.  Naturally that kept the temperature lower.  Despite all the recent rain, July was still below average and the year five inches below - 21" to 26".  Two hummers were attracted to the hibiscus blossom and the feeder, so one chased the other and neither fed.  Squirrel hanky-panky shook the cherry tree.  I saw a tiger swallowtail and a blue dasher and, of course, bees and wasps.  A great blue heron sat on a piling and a gull flew past.  Magnified by its shadow, a tiny skink crossed the wall of the house.  

The Argiope was still in the azalea and getting to look more adult.  Later when there was some shade, I worked on cleaning the tree scraps out of the water, There were lots of beetles, ants, a drowned stinkbug, and I rescued a small wasp.  Mosquitoes were annoying.  I saw something larger floating in the deep end and thought at first it might be a big moth on its back.  Instead, it was a small frog, right side up and arms spread wide.  It was fairly naive and I had no trouble evicting it.  I'd have liked to have kept it around to eat mosquitoes but I worried that the pool chemicals would poison it.  

Afterward, as I dripped and watched the bees and a skipper in the milkweed, a hummer joined them.  She also sampled the mountain mint.  Alas, she was far too close for the camera to focus.  When she flew off, I turned around and surprised another skink that darted under the azalea.  A fledgling cardinal lurked in the dogwood.  

Shower

I got caught in a downpour while returning from a meeting and it followed me home.  As a result, I was late swimming.  There were more May beetles, a green stink bug nymph, and a greenhouse millipede.  And mosquitoes, of course.  The usual insects fed on the mountain mint and milkweed.  The spiders were in about the same spots.  I was frustrated by a common whitetail dragonfly that refused to let me get any pictures.  I got flashes of the black patches on its wings but mostly identified it by behavior.  There aren't many dragonflies that perch on the ground.  

 

Butterflies

There was no hibiscus flower today but there was a bud.  The aster was about finished blooming.  The day was still very hot.  A very large bird with dark wings and yellow feet swooped across the yard so fast that those were the only details that registered on my brain.  My first thought was a heron, but it was too dark and the only wading bird with yellow feet that I know of is a snowy egret.  So now my guess is a young eagle.  

In the water, I rescued a bunch of beetles but was too late for a wheelbug nymph and a robber fly.  A mama spider I fished out of the skimmer jumped back in.  The second time I was not gentle and her babies ran in every direction.  Speaking of spiders, the infant Argiope disappeared.  While swimming I saw a monarch descend upon the butterfly milkweed.  Later a black swallowtail wandered from bush to tree around the yard, perhaps wondering why there was no parsley this year.  A duskywing skipper nectared on the mountain mint.  

A dragonfly watched from the top of the cherry tree.  It was silhouetted so all I can say is that it had unmarked wings.  Wasps and bees worked on the mountain mint.  I was particularly happy to see the first great golden digger wasp of the season.  

 

Widow skimmer

I first saw the dragonfly in the front yard yesterday as I drove in.  But when I took the camera to look for it, I couldn't find it.  This morning as I dripped after swimming, it was in the back yard fighting a strong, gusty wind.  I picked the first blueberries, only a small handful. A brightly colored stinkbug flew off of the bush.  A largus bordered plant bug was drowned.  Lots of scarab beetles and one black ground beetle survived dunking.  I had hoped the wind would keep biting bugs away but one got in my face and I may have drowned it.  Birds were scarce.  

Still hot

 A Carolina wren came for lunch.  So dis the mama squirrel with the odd fur patch.  I waited to swim till the trees shaded the water.  A damselfly was in the usual place.  A small crab spider scuttled along the pool edge.  A lacewing was stuck to the wall but it did not seem to be alive.  A moth afloat looked very battered.  I rescued several black beetles.  A mockingbird visited several times.  An assassin nymph lurked on the mountain mint.  A brown thrasher skulked under the sakaki.  

 

Chilly water

The brown thrasher pair nibbled at the barkbutter balls K put out for the crow.  The crow did get some to.  Mockingbirds and blue jays preferred to eat from the hanging dishes but the mockingbird also ate some on the ground.  When the food on the ground was gone a brown thrasher protested.  When I got in the water, the sky had become clouded and the wind had grown stronger.  I rescued an assassin bug, a crane fly, a robber fly, a scarab beetle, a spider, and something that looked like a sawfly.  None of them hung around for a portrait.  

 

Bugs

At breakfast, a pileated woodpecker visited the suet but left so fast I don't know which sex it was.   Again the afternoon temperature was in the 90s and the water was a little warmer.  I rescued spiders and beetles and one small wasp, very carefully.  Some of the spiders were goners as was a green stinkbug.  When I deadheaded a rose, I disturbed an assassin bug nymph.  The little butterfly made the rounds again.  

Warm

Despite the clouds there was more sunshine than predicted and the day got quite warm -- 69°.  I believe an orange crowned warbler nibbled barkbutter balls at lunch, but my hands were dirty.  A leaf-footeed bug hiked across a window.  I didn't see much else.  iNaturalist sent me my "Year in Review."  I need more mammals and reptiles.  

 

Betwixt seasons

Winter migrants mixed with summer insects.  More white throated sparrows arrived.  A white throat ate beautyberries which looked past their prime.  An orange crowned warbler showed up and made straight for the jelly.  A goldfinch that was dressed for winter looked at the menu and left.  A Carolina wren popped up under the beautyberry bush.  Except for its eye, it completely blended in with the leaves.

But I also saw a leaf-footed bug that was missing a leg and a cucumber beetle on a rose.   The temperature rose into the upper 60s, but the sky clouded and partly obscured the sun.  At least three hoodies paddled together.  Egrets jockeyed for good fishing spots.  A kingfisher streaked past in a gray and white blur.  A half dozen mallard drakes paddled along the bulkhead, feeding.  Both domestic and wild cherry leaves turned fall colors.  

Arthropods

Cumulus clouds sailed on a North wind but the sun shone most of the time.  The mabel orchard spider's web had caught a lot of saltbush fluff but, as I watched, something tiny flew into the web and the spider ran to capture it.  When I came back inside I saw a brown stinkbug on the window.  I released it outdoors though I suspect it was a pest.  I did a little pruning and a red spotted purple flitted by.  It nestled into a clump of dogwood leaves out of the wind.  The milkweed seeds had mostly floated away but one was still stuck.  The sack of spider eggs that I moved to the sakaki was still in place.  I was too chilly outside and didn't linger.  

Moonflower

Beautiful creek reflections enhanced the view at breakfast.  I went out in the afternoon determined to swim.  But first I admired the orchard spider and the swallowtail chrysalis to which the web was attached.  Crows were hanging out around the creek.  The pool water was full of field crickets and various sorts of black beetles.  I also rescued a leaf-footed bug and a couple of leafhoppers.  One was a greenish gray that would blend in with lichens and the other appeared black.  The angle of the sun revealed a big web next to the feeder post.  I think it belonged to an Agelenopsis spider that weaves sheets with a funnel where the spider lurks.  

The milkweed pods were open but the seeds weren't flying.  They make a simple gauge of humidity.  As I was dripping dry, I realized that a moonflower was starting to open.  I caught it in the act.   

 

Berry picking

Sunrise light bounced off the opposite creek bank and painted the water orange and green.  Then I had a meeting.  A Carolina wren came for lunch.  After lunch, I went outside to enjoy the sunshine even though the wind made the low 70s feel chilly.  I heard but did not see crows and a blue jay.  The dogwoods were all showing some fall coloration, but everything else was still green.  Birds ate berries behind a curtain of leaves, frustrating the camera.  A branch moves differently when something tugs on a berry than when the wind gusts.  Finally I got a blurry shot of a mockingbird in the dogwood.  I never did see what was eating beautyberries, perhaps a female cardinal.  

Mallards dabbled under the bulkhead.  There were bugs in the water but it was too cold to rescue them.  One looked waspish.  The other was a spiny assassin bug.   A dark butterfly circled the yard but refused to alight.  One moonflower blossom opened.  

Still hot

Ridges of wispy cumulus looked like a gigantic fingerprint.  Below, larger cumulus sailed past.  A cloudless sulphur floated over the house roof but I didn't get a picture.  A Southern purple mint moth posed on a leaf.  The chrysalises looked fine. The remaining Argiope and the orchard spider appeared prosperous.  The orchard web reminded me of drawings trying ti illustrate how a planet's mass bends spacetime, only here it was a tiny spider.  

I rescued a ladybug larva, some beetles, an orange assassin bug with striped legs, and a leaf-footed bug.  I fished a tree cricket from the skimmer and went for the camera but it flew away too soon.   

Alleged equinox

According to the newspaper the time today from sunrise to sunset was 12 hours and 9 minutes, 6:53am-7:02pm.  Greenwich defined it as equal illumination on either side of the Equator which might provide a little elbow room than equal day and night.  In any case, astronomical Autumn has begun with a new moon, so it is also Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of the year 5786.  In other news, titmice and chickadees rushed for breakfast.  The sky was milky with haze which, no doubt, kept the air cool despite the sun.  In the afternoon,I swam in 75° water and 75° air which chilled me somewhat.  While swimming, I saw a brown thrasher hunting in the grass.  A brown headed nuthatch visited the feeder in the late afternoon, but I wasn't fast enough.  A Carolina wren dined on suet, thanks to K.  Birds fluttered in the pine but I think they were all chickadees.   

While swimming, I saved a full grown skink, a couple of field crickets, a handful of beetles, and one assassin nymph.  The skink was very tired and hid rather than running away.  A foolish cricket hopped right in front of the skink which didn't even move.  The orchard spider had moved its web a few inches and was easier to photograph.  I could not find the spider that left its sack of eggs on the rosebush.  The one by the window was the only one in sight.  All the chrysalises were intact.  

Many rescues

After a week without sunshine, it blazed all day!  A Carolina wren picked through the stale barkbutter balls.  I found a monarch chrysalis in the mountain mint.  The black swallowtail chrysalis was unchanged.  The two Argiope spiders were prospering.  A cloud of no-see-ums entangled with the rosebush web.  The Berkely's polypore was buried in tree debris.  

At last the air was warm enough for me to consider swimming.  This was fortunate for two young skinks, a wheel bug and a leaf-footed bug, something that looked like a small Mayfly, a lacewing, a bumblebee, several crickets, a mama spider with a load of spiderlings, some things I couldn't identify, and a brown furry lump that I think was a puss caterpillar.  I was extremely careful with that one.  One of the skinks took a close look at the leaf-footed bug, then left it alone.  Later I saw a wasp hunting around the area where the caterpillar had been floating.  I wonder if the wasp had captured and dropped it.  

Caterpillars

Thin, high clouds reduced the warmth of the sun and the breeze felt cold.  I found one missing spider.  It had just moved upward a couple of feet.  The Argiope by the rosebush enlarged its web.  I occurred to me that for several weeks I haven't seen any of the mama spiders that walk on water.  Nor have I seen much in the way of web-building spiders except these yellow garden spiders.  All five monarch caterpillars and one black swallowtail caterpillar were still present.  The monarchs were still eating but the swallowtail was motionless.  The chrysalis had not yet opened.  

Between the dogwood and the beautyberry there was plenty for birds to eat but I didn't see any doing so.  In fact, the only birds I noticed were two flying fast upstream as they glinted silver in the sunlight.  I don't know what they were.  My only water rescue was an assassin bug nymph.  Two red spotted purples hung around the pool.  

 

Chilly

By lunch, a white sky dimmed the sun and the breeze came in chilly gusts.  The caterpillars were all still present and I located the three Argiope spiders, though one had moved up to the wall above the door which seemed like an odd place to hang out.  It also seemed strange that the monarch caterpillars chewed on the milkweed pods which I'd think would be tougher than leaves, not to mention needful for future generations of caterpillars.  

I found a defunct cicada afloat.  The millipede, Oxidus gracili, from yesterday was definitely a goner.  On the other hand, I rescued another millipede, an isopod, a wasp, a small brown spider, and four pale green assassin bugs, two of which were quite lively.  The other two were tangled together and I moved them near one that was recovering.  It scuttled over to investigate, and possibly cannibalize!  A red spotted purple briefly danced over the water.  Dogwood leaves began to lose their chlorophyll.  Beautyberries turned magenta.  A Carolina wren hid behind rose thorns.  I startled a young skink.  This has been a memorably dry August.  Rainfall was only 1.6" and the average is 5.8" though I'm sure that includes some hurricanes.  

Gorgeous day

An early Carolina wren enjoyed suet.  I hung fresh sugar water in case the North wind blew any hummingbirds into migration, but I didn't see any.  Then I poured out some barkbutter balls since no rain was forecast.  Titmice were thick on the feeders, along with the usual three species.  A downy hung under the suet which cast diamond-pattern shadows on its belly.  A blue jay finally noticed the barkbutter balls in the afternoon.  

The wind off Hurricane Erin was still strong and, together with the dark of the moon, the tide ran very high.  It pulled up dock boards and capsized the floating end section.  A yellow crowned night heron paced along the shoreline.  The sky was a sharp, clear blue without a hint of haze.  I rescued a young skink that had lost the tip of its tail.  While there was plenty of tree detritus in the water, the only other animal was a field cricket.  A larger, older skink soaked up sun on the top step.  

A 5th instar brown marmorated stinkbug nymph Halyomorpha halys crawled on a morning glory vine.  Speaking of which, the morning glories were starting to bloom.  While I was outside filling feeders, I caught the early sunlight on the Argiope web.  The smaller Argiope was transitioning to adult coloring.  A monarch found the butterfly milkweed.   I counted a dozen green seedpods at all stages but I couldn't find the monarch caterpillars.  Instead, I saw a big, fat black swallowtail caterpillar on the rue.  It looked full grown but was more orange than green.  The third Argiope had a new web too.  I imagine the wind cluttered the previous one, if it didn't tear it down.  I saw a dark butterfly and a snout but they got away.  

And Rain Again

I saw a titmouse and a wren before rushing off.  When I got home, a bluebird was waiting.  So was the spider in the window.  Speaking of windows, a stink bug tried to get through the glass, I can't imagine why.  Bees and wasps dined on mountain mint.  A tiny spider photobombed my picture of a great golden digger wasp.  It might have been a young woodlouse hunter.  Dragonflies patrolled the air.  A Carolina wren caught something that looked like a spider or maybe a cricket. 

A very dark, heavy cloud menaced the sky when I finally got to swim. However, it blew away to the Southeast without wetting anything.  An hour later, after supper, we got about twenty minutes of rain.   Afterward, a pair of goldfinches showed up for seeds.  

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.