Gray sky, intermittent sun

A hummer came early.  Other than that, not much is happening.

The sun is playing peek-a-boo.  The usual suspects are up now.  The lovelorn squirrel is still pursuing hope.  The hummers continue to drive each other off the feeder.

I think I saw a cicada-killer but it didn't pause to let me be sure.  Black swallowtails continue to lay eggs, more easily now that I cleared the morning glory vines off the rue.  A full grown skink and a tiny blue tail were active at the same time.  The hummer warz continue. 

The poor little wren is still feeding its foster cowbird.  Two ospreys circled, and a buzzard, and possibly an eagle. The sky got clearer in the afternoon and no thunderstorm materialized.  I got bit by a fishing spider as I cleared leaves from the pool.  It stung and there was some prickly numbness but the cool water may have helped.  The spider was certainly justified as I probably came close to squashing it. 

Dark morning

Rain was not predicted, but the sky is very dark to the North.  That's the direction taken by a large flock of geese that passed noisily overhead.  A hummer popped up to watch.  Meanwhile a squirrel followed another around the patio and up on a chair.  Very romantic, he appeared to have his eyes half closed. It's raining now at 8am.

By 10 the rain was down to drips but everything is wet.  The argiope had a moth for breakfast.  A hummer sat in the rain to keep an eye on the feeder.  A Carolina wren and a cardinal found the tipping point of the feeder perch. Wet squirrels have been nosing through the mulch. 

And still it rains at 1pm.  The male cardinal is not deterred.  And a hummer visited the feeder even though you'd think the rain would knock it right out of the air. 

Cool!

Just 65 degrees this morning.  Windows open in August!  Cardinals and finches are enjoying it.  Chickadees finally got up.  A hummer flitted all around the feeder but didn't feed - time to change it?  A jumping spider hiked across the window.  And an osprey landed briefly in the pines across the creek.

A tiny skink crossed the steps at lunch and a full grown one mid-afternoon. A black swallowtail left eggs on the rue and a little pearl crescent butterfly fed on the rosemary.  I cleaned the hummer feeder and refilled it.

I've identified a new insect, a broad-headed sharpshooter.  I've seen them before and just said "leafhopper" in my head, but I wanted to label the photo better than that.  Apparently "sharpshooters" are cousins of leafhoppers and cicadas. 

A cloud of birds

Everybody woke up hungry!  In addition to the cardinals, house finches, and chickadees, titmice mobbed the feeder.  The poor wrens are still feeding their monster fledgling.  A brown thrasher poked through the mulch.  Both the wren and a titmouse sampled the parsley seeds.  One or more female hummers has been at the juice nearly constantly this morning.  The windows were fogged again, but the clouds are broken.  An osprey soared over the lake. 

There are two male cardinals, one glowing with health, the other molting, I think.  They chased each other around.  Two female hummers also spent a lot of energy chasing each other.  One fed on the rosemary flowers.  A brief moment of sun brought a pair of goldfinches to the parsley. And, for the first time since we got home, there is action at the birdhouse - is the wren thinking about a second brood? 

After a gray morning, the afternoon became glorious - intense blue sky (almost violet), warm and not at all sticky.  I rescued a very young skink from the pool, also an iridescent green tiger beetle.  Black swallowtails showed up to lay eggs in the late afternoon.  The only dragonfly I saw was an amberwing on the rosemary.  Hummers keep coming, but one seemed to have trouble with the feeder.  A youngster? 

Still humid

Since the windows were fogged, I sat outside.  This made the usual suspects nervous, except for the Carolina wren feeding fledglings, who was too busy to care.  A hummer paused briefly but didn't feed.  Something big flapped overhead, osprey maybe.   The hummer has been back, and hungry. 

The day has been cloudy and the afternoon got very dark, and now rain is pouring.  Before the rain started, a Carolina wren was frantically feeding a larger bird.  I'm afraid it has wasted its parenting on a cowbird.

After the rain stopped, hummers showed up hungry.  A chickadee took an interest in the hummer feeder and the hummer kept trying to shoo it away.  At some points the hummer was sitting on the seed feeder while the chickadee clung to the juice feeder.  Unfortunately, the window was spotted with rain. More than one hummer is around - there were several instances where two buzzed around each other, and I think I may have seen a male. 

Humid, fogged windows

Cardinals and titmice are on the feeder. We have a new argiope door guard!  Also a paper wasp building a nest up above.

The window condensation has burned off and the day looks clear.  Finches and titmice are coming to the seed feeder and a hummer to its feeder. Dragonflies are out.  The grill inspector wren has paid a visit. 

After lunch, in bright sunshine, a raccoon came padding up to the steps by the feeder.  It looked, but went away. It was rather blond for a raccoon.



A brown and gold swallowtail flitted around but I could not see it well enough to tell if it was a palamedes or a giant.  A black swallowtail was more obvious. 

Rain and egrets.

Last night after we got home, we hung the seed feeder back up and before it was even dark, three raccoons showed up.  Have they been waiting in hope for two weeks or did they smell the seeds? 

This morning a gentle rain is falling and all I've see are egrets.  It is good to be home anyway.  About 8am, the cardinals and chickadees discovered the Sunflower Cafe had reopened. Doves and squirrels are feeding below.  An osprey flapped downstream. I made fresh juice and hung the hummer feeder. 

As the afternoon dried out, the usual suspects were joined by two titmice and a hungry hummer.  Black and tiger swallowtails were looking for places to lay eggs.  The parsley and rue have gone to seed and even the lavender looks done, but the rosemary is coming back into bloom.  There are still blueberries, but not ripe ones.  Not much is blooming - the day lilies are done and the hibiscus is resting. Egrets have been on the move all day.  Hummer warz have begun with a dogfight over the dogwood.

And after dark, a thunderstorm.