Cicada killer

A black swallowtail visited the rue.  A tiger swallowtail posed with the asters while I was in the pool with no camera.  A female skimmer used a perch but a Halloween pennant clung to the topmost pine candle.  A male widow skimmer rested on a dried stalk of spartina.  A blue dasher found a different stake to perch on. 

The giant wasp roamed around the patio and especially the birdbath as though certain there was a cicada around.  I wondered if it could sense the one that landed on the feeder hanger a couple of days ago.  Other wasps and bees obsessed over the mountain mint. 

A couple of turtles basked in the sunlight.  The male hummer returned and a female also fed.  The sugar water was almost gone by evening.  Sunset was orange and streaky.  

Male hummingbird

A Carolina wren had breakfast with us on what remained of the suet.   At lunch there were three hummingbird visits and at least two were a male.  It may have been the same bird.  

The hibiscus was covered with blooms but I also saw a Japanese beetle and a sawfly attacking the plant.  The canna also started blooming.  A blue dasher monitored the pool from the tip of a daylily bud.  T saw a new kind of wasp among the honeybees on the mountain mint.  The great golden digger wasp was back.  Thank goodness the greenhead was not!  

Cicada

A Carolina wren was up early.  So was a skink.  A squirrel showed too much interest in the suet.  Woe betide us if they get over their aversion to hot pepper.  A brown thrasher did not approve. 

I'd been hearing an occasional cicada for about a week but I saw my first one today.  It was still quite green.  The annual cicadas emerge later than the periodic.  The cicada landed on the feeder hanger, a rather risky spot.  Maybe it agreed because it didn't stay long.  The mountain mint was full of bees and wasps again.  A blue dasher lit on the suet feeder hanger.  A tiger swallowtail explored the wild cherry even as the birds ate cherries.  

Bombs bursting in air

The hibiscus burst into bloom for the holiday.   A blue jay stopped briefly.  The "Fairy Garden" seeds I scattered out front produced plants I don't recognize. 

We had company so I wasn't taking photos.  I got hit in the neck by a green eyed fly but managed to get under water before it could do much damage.  An orange butterfly, probably a fritillary, visited the asters.  I saw a mockingbird and other birds eating wild cherries.  A great crested flycatcher perched on the same branch as yesterday.  It's welcome to the green head fly.  Chickadees and titmice warily ate suet though we were nearby. 

 As soon as we went inside the birds came back.  A brown thrasher prowled the steps.  I discovered that the bluebird house was in use!  Papa brought what looked like a spider home for supper. 

Starting at sundown, the local amateur pyrotechnics terrorized the birds.  I saw an egret fleeing in the twilight while something cheeped querulously up in the oak.  It was mostly noise but I saw a couple of starbursts through the trees.  Fireflies did their best to make up the visual component. 

Like June

It was in the mid 80s, sunny and breezy with lots of fair-weather cumulus clouds floating East to temper the sun's rays.  I picked a full basket of blueberries and left at least that many for the birds.  The wild cherries attracted a mockingbird.  A brown thrasher tackled the suet cage. 

A widow skimmer settled on a low perch among the herbs.  Honeybees took over the mountain mint. Some seemed darker than others.  Lots of wasps and native bees joined them.  A great golden digger wasp as twitchy as usual.  A skipper found it too crowded.  A tiny green bee fed inside and aster. 

A skink almost ran into a squirrel.  It smartly camouflaged itself among long thin leaves that made its stripes look like shadows.  

A great crested flycatcher preened on a dead oak branch.  A squirrel sprawled on a different branch.  A brown thrasher moseyed along the top of the fence.  A blue jay perched over the hummer feeder, as if remembering the barkbutter that hung there in the Winter.  

I was happy to see coral honeysuckle blossoms as I feared that, in the enthusiasm of forsythia removal, the honeysuckle had been killed.  

All day rain

I never did spend much time outside.  Sometimes the rain trailed off but it always started up again.  A couple of cloudbursts flooded the gutters.  A Carolina wren must have been quite hungry because it made repeated visits in the drizzle.  A blue jay landed on the post several times but didn't attempt the suet.

A blue dasher dragonfly landed on the windowsill.  Other than that, insects were scarce and the mountain mint had no visitors.  A great blue heron fished off our dock.  The sky began to clear in the evening and sunset was colorful.  But the air, though cooler, was still very humid and muggy.  Fireflies were thick.  

Triple digits

The thermometer read 100 at lunch.  

When I finally got outside in the late afternoon, the temperature had dropped back to 95 and cumulus clouds were transforming into overcast.  I saw one high flying dragonfly against the clouds.  Wind gusts from the West whipped trees to such an extent I wondered if it was wise to be underneath.  But surprisingly little fell. I guess previous windy days had cleaned out the loose stuff. The usual beetles and gnat-like pests were floating in the pool.  In the skimmer basket I found a mole cricket, Neocurtilla hexadactyla.  I figured it for a corpse but saved it for photos.  About an hour later it began crawling so I put it in the mulch.