Sunshine!

There were still a lot of clouds but I was grateful for every moment the sun got through them.   A hummer found the feeder but was too anxious to perch.  I wondered if it was a tourist migrating South rather than one that nested here.  Downy woodpeckers availed themselves of seeds and barkbutter balls.  A white breasted nuthatch was gone before the camera was ready but brown headed nuthatches were more cooperative.  

High tide over-topped the dock.  When it receded, mallards moved in.  They looked bedraggled and the males were in eclipse.  I glimpsed a small bird in flight that might have been a kingfisher, or something else.  Southern purple mint moths were everywhere.  A red spotted purple danced through the trees.  It amazed me at how easily those colors disappeared against green leaves.  

The fungus no longer looked appetizing, more like moldy bread.  I had a good, if chilly, swim.  A skink, a mama spider and her spiderlings, and two crickets got a second chance at life on dry land.  Vast quantities of leaves and needles clogged the skimmer, floated on the surface, and sank to the bottom.  I heard a red bellied woodpecker but didn't see it. 

When I got home from a meeting, I went back outside.  A couple dozen gulls flew over. headed Northwest.  It was impossible to be sure but they might have been laughing gulls in winter plumage.  Three young mockingbirds feasted on beautyberries.  I knew they were young because their eyes had not yet turned yellow.  

A rustling in the dogwood turned out to be a red eyed vireo.  It seemed curious about me.  A rustling in the undergrowth might have been another, but all I could see was a belly in shadow.   A hummer monitored all this from the top of the wild cherry.  The boy cardinal came back, still begging his mama for food.  The kid was a bottomless pit.  Poor worn out mother.  A great blue heron flew up into the pine behind the hackberry where the vegetation mostly hid it.  Sunset cast a warm caramel glow on the clouds.  

More birds

Today's early birds were a white breasted nuthatch, pine warblers*, bluebirds, and a mockingbird.  *After examining the photos, I think it likely that one was a yellow throated vireo.  The cat was early too.  I almost caught Tarzan-the-Squirrel in midair, but not quite. 

An immature chipping sparrow and a junco foraged on the ground.  Then uncounted brown headed nuthatches made forays after sunflower seeds.  They were uncounted because they showed up singly but in such a steady stream that it had to be several birds.  A Carolina wren had to investigate the suet.  While hunting fresh gumballs, I came upon a pile of rabbit droppings.  Surprising that the dog hadn't found them first. 

There were hoodies on the creek and I think I saw a female bufflehead but it dived.  Slight ripples in the water transformed reflections into brushstrokes in a painting. The sun was warm and insects were active but the breeze was nippy.  The winter jasmine put out a couple of early flowers.  Stratus clouds moved in from the West.  Haze blew up contrails into a puffy starburst - there must have been a lot of flights passing over us.  

Summer-like

Lots of birds!  House finches and doves kept fooling me into thinking I'd glimpsed something more interesting.  At least two mockingbirds were hanging around because they got into a fight, chasing and screeching.  One mockingbird was quite the connoisseur of beauty berries. 

And then, when I thought the mockingbird had come back, it was a catbird.  The red eyed vireo popped up, then a male oriole.  I rushed some jelly out to bribe him, and while I was at it, I hung some suet up to see if yesterday's pileated woodpecker would return. 

The warmth lured a skink across the steps.  A mockingbird ate dogwood berries.  A blue jay hid to enjoy its berry. 

A monarch butterfly flew around in the trees, ignoring the milkweed which, admittedly, was not blooming.  But neither were the trees.  A Carolina wren fussed at me from the sakaki where it seemed to think it was hidden. 

After dark, I took some moon pictures and got it passing behind a band of clouds. 

Still hot

This was not quite the scorcher yesterday was.  That set a record at 93°.  But I got plenty sweaty at TCC promoting the ERA. When I got home, I threw myself into the pool.  I rescued a bird grasshopper but it didn't wait for a picture.   The wheelbug hadn't since yesterday, but it certainly looked lifelike.  

I watched the squirrel make a mess of constructing its drey.  It appeared to think that if it just kept stuffing branches inside, something good would happen.  

The tide ran high in the creek.  I caught the crescent moon in the afternoon.  It was faint by day but at least I didn't lack for illumination.

While watching a cardinal in the beauty berry, I noticed a red eyed vireo. I don't know if it was a new one or the one I saw last week.  A chickadee seemed to bully it, though I've never seen chickadees eat beauty berries.

Sunset was spectacular - the sun was a huge red ball on the horizon.  The camera couldn't catch that, but it did get the surrounding glow. 

Red eyed vireo

Hot!   My car claimed 94°F and even the back yard was 89° and sweaty. I saw a red tailed hawk land in a tree on Greenwich Road.  Butterflies and dragonflies flitted around the city streets.  

The pool water was warmer too. The water surface was dusty with tiny insects and powder off leaves. But it was wonderfully refreshing. No critters in the skimmer or the water. A poor squirrel ambled by with a warbled back,  A mallard drake in eclipse plumage paddled downstream.  A dragonfly zipped around over the pool. 

It wasn't till I got out and sat dripping that I saw anything interesting.  The red eyed vireo was in the beauty berry which is where I've see them other years.

Fall

Certainly the temperature fell overnight and the day, despite bright sun, only climbed back into the 70s. A white breasted nuthatch joined the seed feeder birds at breakfast, as did titmice.  A blue jay preferred mealworms. 

The real show was up in the trees:  I believe I saw a black-throated green warbler juvenile or female without a black throat.  Then, up popped a red-eyed vireo.  The migration was underway.

The shamrock spider seemed to be gone but the Argiope was still in place.  I found a black swallowtail caterpillar headed across the bottom of the steps and moved it over to the rose because I figured it was looking for a place to make a chrysalis.  A skipper landed on a dogwood leaf near the Argiope.  An immature mockingbird alighted in the dogwood but saw me and left.

Later on in the afternoon, a squirrel sprawled under the cedar to soak up sun.  It was that kind of day.

Migrant birds

Bright sun dispelled the gray chill of the last few days.  Mallards have been more visible recently.  And snowy egrets continued to hang out at the dam.  Titmice came for seeds, as did the white breasted nuthatch and, of course, cardinals, chickadees, and house finches.  Carolina wrens foraged under the vegetation.   Jose delivered a couple of migrating guests. The first was a red eyed vireo in the cherry. 

Several butterflies flitted through, a cloudless sulphur, a black swallowtail, and something orange.  I think there might have been a red spotted purple as well.  There were lots of crickets, including one that tried to ride in my hair.  I saw something fly across the yard and thought it was a hummer, but it was a bird grasshopper.  The orb weavers were still with us.

The pool was again clogged with leaves and acorns.  I found a small green frog riding a piece of bark round and round in the skimmer.  Later I spotted a skink frantically swimming toward me.  But it didn't want to be rescued by me.  The second time I fished it out, it hiked up to my elbow and stayed put till I got to the side of the pool.  The skink was oddly marked - there was a spot just behind the front legs where the stripes were bent and blurred, as though it had been wounded there and healed.  But it was still a young blue tail. 

I finally caught up with the kingfisher She was perched on a piling across the creek.  A real hummingbird did visit.  And the other surprise bird appeared to be a yellow breasted chat, a kind of warbler. It had a taste for purple beautyberries and is certainly was a vivid yellow.  A larger gray bird was also eating beautyberries and may have scared the chat away.  I'm guessing it was a catbird, but the light was fading toward a moonless night.

Warmer

The absolute temperature may have been no higher than yesterday, but the wind was much milder. I finished the newspaper sitting on the front patio and a hummer visited the feeder.  I could see strands of spider silk everywhere but no webs or spiders.

At lunch, titmice were still working hard.  K saw something that may have been a bluebird.  A little green heron landed on the dock.  A blue jay investigated the feeder. Wasps and soldier beetles crowded around sweet flowers but the bees liked lavender better.  A small orange-brown butterfly visited the roses.  Yesterday's dragonflies were nowhere to be seen. 

Later, I went out and almost tripped over a skink.  It seemed quite curious and came very close and climbed the wall beside me.  A "tow-boat" came upstream with a neighbor's boat at the end of a thick rope.  That startled an egret and a mallard family.  Then I saw a red eyed vireo!  The pool skimmer was full of spiders with long black front legs like claws.

A singing wren called my attention to a big nest up in the pine.  It could be a squirrel's.  Geese tried to invade but I sent them away, and their goslings two.  A titmouse preened on the hummer feeder hanger.  It was very thorough and very funny. Dark clouds made dusk come early and brought out fireflies. Then thunder. 

Windy

The wind pushed the high tide over the dock.  Gusts shook all the colored leaves down.  The sky stayed overcast.   A squirrel was fascinated by something just below the pool coping, but wary of falling in.

The seed eaters were out in force: more than a half dozen cardinals plus finches and chickadees.  Doves poked around on the ground.  The migrants flitted through the shrubbery.  I got a glimpse of yellow on the beauty berry which I believe was a yellow breasted chat.  Cardinals came for the berries and so did a catbird.  A vireo was everywhere but I never saw it eat.  Blue jays stuck to acorns.  A red bellied woodpecker landed on a dogwood trunk briefly at lunch.  I saw a bumblebee and a few tiny moths but no other flying insects.  The lawnmower took out the spinyback orbweaver but the argiopes seemed OK. 

While I was outside cleaning debris out of the pool, a kingfisher flew overhead screeching.  It patrolled up and down the creek with it's rattling screech as though the wind was great fun.  It drowned out the blue jays.  Meanwhile the feeder birds kept stuffing themselves.  I heard other birds but didn't see them.  Yesterday's caterpillar found a new leaf to roll up in.  When I got out and came in, somewhat pink from the cold, a couple of Carolina wrens showed up for mealworms.  Then a light rain began and streaked the glass so I got no photos of all this. 

Wind from the Northeast

The moon was between new and first quarter but the wind pushed the high tide into the grass.  Clouds covered the sky.  Cardinals were out and about, but not much else was stirring.

When I came home around noon, a bird got into the garage.  It was gray with a lighter belly and no distinguishing marks that I could see as it zipped back and forth. My one photo was a blur.  Other birds weren't much more cooperative, except of course for the feeder trio.  A titmouse slipped in for a seed but did not return.  Blue jays kept to the shrubbery and the oak.  A brown thrasher poked around under the cedar.  A yellow breasted chat and two red eyed vireos appeared, but moved too fast for the cloud-dimmed light.  A migrating hermit thrush was more stationary. 

Leaves on the canna looked chewed recently and today I noticed one rolled up.  There was a caterpillar inside that fit this description.  Given the size of the caterpillar, I was surprised it was such a small butterfly.  A dark butterfly struggled against the wind.  I couldn't tell if it was a black swallowtail or a red spotted purple.  I saw field crickets and even saved one from the water (which I was not motivated to enter.)  The spiders all seemed to be surviving the weather, even the argiope down near the water.

Chilly

Mushrooms popped up again in the flowerpot with vines.  I wonder if the fungus is the reason the vines haven't thrived.  There was a brief, light rain around 10am, then sun for awhile, then clouds.

Skippers visited the morning glory.   Bumble bees and southern purple mint moths were flying.  The pink camellia opened its first blossom.  I got a bad photo of a gray and yellow bird that might be the same as yesterday - a white eyed vireo. 

Neither the air nor the water felt warm.  I rescued glass snails, a scarab beetle, and a couple of azalea caterpillars, mainly because I didn't like the idea of their corpses floating around.  While I was in the water, a couple of brown thrashers chased each other around a cherry tree.  I also saw a little bird with a white belly hiking up a tree trunk.  Blue jays eluded the camera and I think I heard a red bellied woodpecker.

A gorgeous sunset tinted bars of cloud first tangerine then rose.  There were still fireflies and of course the crickets were singing.

Very birdy

The sky cycled from blue to gray and back to blue and then gray till dark.  We were gone much of the morning but the afternoon was full of old friends and new.  But breakfast was nothing but egrets.

Titmice came for lunch.  The a white breasted nuthatch showed up.  Blue jays were busy with acorns.  Later in the afternoon, a brown thrasher hammered something on the ground, probably an acorn.  A Carolina wren came for mealworms.  One male cardinal ate beautyberries while another was on the feeder.  A female goldfinch enjoyed the hummer water.  And something dangled from the cherry twigs again but I could not be sure that it was a red eyed vireo. 

A grasshopper was feeding a cobweb spider in the corner of a window.  I checked on the other spiders.  The argiope was doing well.  The barn spider was tucked into the masonry.  The spiny orbweaver's flocked white areas were much less evident.  In fact I almost walked into a second web with a smaller spider at the center - male?  I did get a good look at the top side of the spiny orbweaver and it was as advertised.

A patch of birds nest puffballs appeared in the mulch.

Sunshine!

The egrets were back at the dam.  Ne squirrel definitely had a warble.  A fine new bird I'm pretty sure was a red eyed vireo appeared in the cherry.  It kept flying at a branch and swinging under neath.  I wonder if it was after a caterpillar?  The light was bad and the bird active so the photo is fuzzy. 

A female downy woodpecker visited the feeder along with the regulars and titmice.  Blue jays stayed up in the trees.  Birds began to show interest in the beautyberries.  In the late afternoon I spotted a yellow crowned night heron on the dock, but it spotted me too.  A flock of gulls circled overhead.  I heard a wren scold. 

The perplexing bumblebee was still visiting flowers, including zinnias.  Two of the black swallowtail caterpillars looked ready to pupate.  Lots of snails of all sizes clung to the pool coping.  I found a very dead cicada and thought I could still hear live one.  An argiope spider appeared in the front yard over the stone stream bed.  Yet another mushroom popped up in the vine flowerpot.  No wonder the vines have been looking sad. There were still fireflies in the evening.

Mist and fine rain

Four chickadees visited and at least one seemed to be new to the hammering open of sunflower seeds.  A titmouse came too, and house finches.  One male cardinal had lost head feathers while the other still looked dapper. An odd little bird swung upside down from a cherry twig.  Experts tell me it was a Red-eyed Vireo!

A hummer turned up its beak at the feeder, and no wonder.  Nasty!  The male towhee came instead of the female.