Windy

The wind made the clouds hustle and the sun flicker all day long.  A goldfinch, hummers, and titmice showed up during breakfast.  Later I cut away the collapsed sunflower and the morning glory that clung to it.  The hibiscus outdid itself with ten flowers.  A buzzard floated on the thermals.  The hummer chases continued. Robins stayed in the woods.  I thought I saw a brown thrasher, but it was gone before I was certain. 

A cicada dangled from the morning glory that clung to the hibiscus, surprisingly.  I looked for an exoskeleton in case it was new hatched but I didn't see anything.  Blue dashers guarded the slope to the water.  A cobweb spider ate another spider while yet another ate the red and green grasshopper nymph from yesterday.

A hairstreak drank from the mint.  A cloudless sulphur seemed to flit endlessly without landing anywhere. A large orange and several small brown butterflies got away.  I saw a black, a palamedes, and K called my attention to this giant swallowtail.

A brief thunderstorm struck about 8:40pm.

Humid

The morning was sunny but so humid the windows were still fogged at 9am.  Yesterday's rain beat down the tall plants - sunflower, canna.  The cardinals were hungry.  K hung fresh hummer juice both back and front.  I spent most of the day in a workshop, which was too bad because it was quite nice when I got home.  I saw piled up cumulus on the horizon as I drove, but not afterward.  

A buckeye butterfly competed with fiery skippers and bumblebees on the orange lantana.  A duskywing skipper found the pink lantana in the hanging pot.  K noticed a red and green grasshopper nymph on the window.  A Southern purple mint moth found the mint.  And a great golden digger wasp fed on the milkweed.  I startled a little green heron off the dock. At supper, hummers and a male goldfinch visited.

Flying kites

This morning, the morning glories joined the hibiscus for a red and blue explosion.  But I was rushing to get ready for an expedition to Thoroughgood.  There we looked for the Mississippi kite family that nested in the pines.  And we dripped with sweat in the humid heat with barely a breath of air movement.  Dragonflies followed a woman who was mowing.  And we did see a couple of kites far off.

When we got back to the house, we startled a little green heron on the dock.  I discovered more argiopes in the spartina.  I don't think the larger one was the same I saw before though.  A black swallowtail was frantically egging the rue.  A cloudless sulphur flitted overhead.  Hummers continued their territorial dispute.

At lunchtime a female goldfinch and a couple of titmice appeared.  Then I noticed something on the pool ladder.  It turned out to be the bullfrog.  And a cicada hauled itself out of the water next to it.  Just as we were finishing lunch, rain began.  It soon filled the birdbath.  I was going to venture out anyway, but then I heard thunder.  Waves of rain came through, sometimes pounding the pavement.  In between, the hummers tried to grab a little more energy drink. I saw a wren disappear into the brush. 

The rain didn't stop till early evening and the clouds continued to menace after that.  By sunset, the West must have cleared because gold light filtered through the trees.  Cardinals grabbed a snack but a hummer turned up its beak at its feeder.  No wonder, the rain had flooded it.  A small insect perched on the mealworm hanger and darted out at gnats just like a dragonfly, but it was too small to be a dragonfly.  It turned out to be a robber fly.  I didn't know they hunted like that. 

Butterfly season

The sky was mostly cloudy when I got up but mostly clear by the middle of the morning.  House finches, cardinals, and a goldfinch showed up at breakfast.  A couple of titmice hammered unripe acorns up in the oak.  Hummers made war on each other. 

It seemed like dragonflies were more common in July and butterflies in August.  The butterfly milkweed helped too.  A slaty skimmer and a blue dasher hunted while a pair of mating saddlebags flew overhead.  A monarch delighted in the milkweed despite the bees and a cloudless sulphur also paid a brief visit.  I saw three kinds of swallowtail but only captured the black.  A cabbage white preferred the rosemary.  A snout butterfly fell in love with my toes, then with the camera itself.  I fished a large dead stinkbug out of the water and later saw a tiny ant dragging it away.

After lunch, I saw a hummer visiting the Mexican sage. A chickadee got into the cannas for some reason and somehow aquired a yellow tummy.  Grackles and a cardinal poked through the grass under the redwood.  Then I had to go to a meeting.  Despite the clouds piled up from Northwest to Southeast, there was no rain or thunder. 

Sun and clouds

Titmice, goldfinches, and hummers showed up at breakfast along with cardinals and house finches.  The hibiscus put on a show with a half dozen flowers.  Butterflies came out by mid morning: a monarch, a black swallowtail, a tiger swallowtail, a cloudless sulphur, and a duskywing skipper.  The sky was that intense blue that shades into ultraviolet. 

In the late morning, I saw a cicada killer, but it shot off toward the creek.  I could certainly hear cicadas to interest it.  I could hear jays as well, but they stayed out of sight.  A barn spider tucked itself up under the eaves and pretended to be invisible.  I almost got a perfect photo of two hummers, one an adolescent male, fighting over the feeder, but I cut off the head of the higher bird.  Sob! 

K told me she saw a caterpillar on the pepper plant.  Its leaves had certainly fed something but all I saw was another armyworm on the patio.  Crows gathered to harass something.  Cumulus piled up to the South after lunch and by 4pm those clouds looked ready to rain.

Dragonflies were sparse - I saw one perch in the morning and another cruising against a background of clouds.  Fiery skippers went crazy on the lantana.  A hummer visited the feeder in front of the house.  I thought it was a male, but it may have just been a bad molt.  The tide was way out and something kept generating delicate rings of ripples just beyond the mud.  It continued after the rain began so it was probably something under water.

In between two waves of rain an egret preened on one of the pilings.  The feeder was busy as I grabbed supper.  Chickadees finally appeared.  When I left for the Environmental Justice meeting, the rain had stopped but the clouds were very dramatic.  They thinned after dark and the almost full moon shone through them.

Sunny

Not much was stirring at breakfast.  A male goldfinch popped in but was startled off.  Lots of yellow dragonflies were patrolling outside the Kempsville Library, but none posed for me.  Puffy cumulus decorated the sky.  As I was leaving for lunch, I saw a red bellied woodpecker on the pecan trunk.  Of course it was gone when I got back three hours later.  But grackles were hankering after the feeder even though they were way too big for the counter-weighted perch.  The day was very hot by mid afternoon. At supper, I saw a skipper, a hummer, and a female goldfinch.  The moon rose very round and bright though it's still two days from full. 

Thunderstorm

Morning was hot and humid and the sky was hazy. The hummer with a white throat was up early but I didn't see the one that's molting.  Two male cardinals argued over the feeder, but the really bald one ate in peace.  I glimpsed a yellow dragonfly but couldn't be sure of identification.  For the first time in years, the hibiscus managed a second blooming. 

Butterflies were thick and three were some dragonflies ignoring them in favor of smaller fry.  I saw a monarch, three kinds of swallowtail, painted ladies, skippers, and maybe others.  A slaty skimmer was perched but a blue dragonfly zipped past me and went on down to the creek.  Bees and flies swarmed the milkweed as well as skippers and the monarch.  I rescued a spider from the skimmer only to have it dive back in and disappear.

As we were finishing lunch all the birds seemed to get frantic for food, especially chickadees and cardinals.  The hummer that is not molting made repeated visits. Two Carolina wrens appeared as thunder rumbled.  A thunderstorm boiled up South of us and swept overhead, dropping real rain, not just a shower.  An egret just kept fishing by the dam outfall.After about an hour the rain let up but the clouds, West and South. looked poised for another round.  It was so humid that the windows fogged up.