The fox returns

At 9am, the fox sauntered up to the steps, eyed the bird feeder, then moseyed over to the fence and headed out of sight toward the creek.  I now wonder if the den is under the East-side neighbors' gazebo.  When I first saw the fox, I was thinking the West-side neighbors' deck.  Before all that, the female towhee, Carolina wrens, and the usual cardinals, finches, and chickadees visited.  Squirrels continued their silly chases.  The sun is hot but the sky is hazed and cloudy.  Skinks are scuttling through hard-to-photograph corners.

At lunch, the male towhee came to eat.Something with small chisel teeth gnawed through the hose from the propane tank to the grill.  Grrrrr.  Butterflies are around - something brownish, a hairstreak, and a tiger swallowtail. The lavender is just beginning to bloom. 

Sun and clouds

The sky is in peek-a-boo mode.  The female towhee was up early to get her turn at a meal.  The usual suspects were out in force, accompanied by a brown thrasher.  I think I glimpsed a titmouse, a beady black eye in a white face.  Lots of beetles are flying around the parsley flowers.  The geese came back.  I went to turn the hose on them and it was shut off.  It drooled at them.  Very impressive, I'm sure.  And me barefoot. 


A little after 1pm, a real frog strangler blew through.  Torrential rain lasted about 15 minutes.  Then the Carolina wren and a female towhee came out to eat.  And then blue sky reappeared. 

Tropical storm Andrea

It is raining but there isn't much wind so far.  A band of heavier rain went through and now has slacked off.  Squirrels are out in it, though one sheltered on a window sill for a bit.  I haven't seen any birds or other wildlife.  The storm is supposed to creep Northward all day and pass us around sunset.

A few minutes ago there was a flash of sun but now the rain is back. For the last hour it's been flicking between sun and rain, sometimes at the same time.  A wet little squirrel has been chowing down.  A male towhee took advantage of a brief lull, then a male finch and a male cardinal showed up.  The wind has gotten much gustier and clouds are moving NNW very swiftly.

The sky was nearly clear for a little while at lunch.  A brown thrasher came to check out the mulch.  Finches kept a wary eye on me.  I heard wrens but they stayed out of sight.  A chickadee made a belated appearance.  Big dragonflies ventured out - maybe green darners but I didn't get a good look.

The wind is getting really high, straight out of the South.  Rain is alternating with sun.  It cleared some int he afternoon, then began again.  I cleared leaves out of the pool.  At some point geese left their turds on the patio.  Towards evening, a Carolina wren came to the feeder.  I heard rain in the night. 

Squirrel singles

One squirrel was following too close and the other went up the feeder post.  He followed her up so she went out on the feeder roof. He made to follow and she fell off!  So, after landing like a cat, she picked up a seed like nothing happened.  He came back down and a couple of minutes later he was nosing her tail again.  She left, then he left.  I am assuming the sexes from the behavior.  Some finches were about to land on the feeder, but the goings on were too much for them.

I fished out of the water the largest ant I've ever seen - black shading to red underneath.  I thought it was a wasp, but it had no wings.  There were several click beetles in the pool too.  Dragonflies are out in force, finally giving the wasps some competition.  This is a male pondhawk.  A cabbage butterfly and a tiger and a black swallowtail passed through.  The orb spider is still in the same place.

Both feeders have been cleaned and have fresh food.  The usual feeder birds were joined by a Carolina wren.  Some excited cheeping was going on up in a pine tree.  Mallard drakes napped down near the creek.  K saw a skink and a female hummer at lunch. The sky has been gradually clouding up all morning and the first tropical storm of the season is expected tomorrow. 

Sunny and still

The creek is reflecting the gardens on the North bank.  Squirrels are busy under the feeder. Lots of cardinals are around.  (Four can seem like lots when they are flying around.) The male finch sang for breakfast while the female ate it.

Towhees and brown thrashers have been in the mulch all day. This one found something. Dragonflies are finally becoming common along with wasps.  A lovely orb spider is lurking by the Christmas fern. 

And with the coming of dusk, I saw a firefly.

Sun's back

Apparently we got through the cold front faster than predicted.  The elegant towhee couple came to breakfast but were disturbed by the rowdy adolescent squirrels.  I saw five of them at one point.  They climbed all over the furniture.  One scared off a butterfly that had landed on a table.  Another crawled into the watering can.  Another went for several rides on the bird feeder.  And one hid under the gladiola leaves.  A brown thrasher shouldered past them and emerged triumphant with a worm.  Lots of chickadees hung out in the rosebush.  House finches and cardinals shared the feeder.  The sky is a hazy blue and the wind is gusty.

The towhees and thrasher have been back and a Carolina wren took over the feeder.   Then the wren flew into an azalea bush.  A little while later, a moth emerged with the wren in hot pursuit.  The wren caught the moth in mid air and took it off to the family while I sat with a camera in my hands unused.  A green dragonfly cruised over the flowers, probably a pondhawk. 

In the afternoon, a brown thrasher got into the garage and couldn't find the way out.  The birds that get in the garage always land on top of the open door and then can't see the opening. Eventually it disappeared. 

Rain clouds and rain birds

The first sight of the morning was a brown thrasher atop the feeder pole against an overcast sky.  Mid morning, rain began.  The usual suspects were joined by Carolina wrens, towhees, and brown thrashers.  The towhees and thrashers made a mess of the wet mulch. 

At one point there were two brown thrashers, but the towhees showed up one-by-one. One female cardinal is losing head feathers.  Two finches joined her on the feeder and overbalanced it.  One finch hoped to the back exactly as if it understood counterweights.