Heat returns

A fox cub carried off the skull I saw yesterday.  Apparently it had just dropped its toy as youngsters will.  Then two towhees landed, one on the patio, the other on a chair arm.  I suspect they were juveniles, but the one on the chair left immediately.  The other explored the mulch.  A little later titmice began arriving.  Then a female goldfinch came to the feeder and wouldn't let the titmice join her.  It all made for a lively breakfast.

I saw two skinks after lunch, one grown and one still blue-tailed. The heat was only endurable in a wet swimsuit.  The brown thrashers worked hard for food in the afternoon.  A female Blue Dasher dragonfly alighted on a relatively sheltered spot - the wind was fierce out of the West.  Clouds raced out to sea.  Later, a cicada killer wasp hunted for a good nest spot in the mulch. 

Cloudy sky cleared

A titmouse visited the feeder briefly.  Then a female goldfinch moved in to stay.  She refused to share space with chickadees but a female cardinal was too much for her.

A black swallowtail laid eggs on the parsley at lunch time.  It has not been a productive summer for butterflies thus far. 

Eeeuww!  Something's skull is lying near the patio in the grass.  It has rodent-style incisors but looks too big for a squirrel.  I'm guessing rabbit.  Did a fox leave it there as a gesture of friendship?

The two brown thrashers are parents and I have found the nest.  It is in the top of the camellia where pruning has made it dense.  The eggs must have hatched since the parent are ferrying food.  They cautiously enter the camellia at the bottom and sneak up while hidden by leaves. (Or so they think.) 

Heating up

The temperature was lovely overnight but already the morning has gotten hot.  A hummer visited the lavender, then appeared to be chased off by another.  What is wrong with the feeder?  Honeybees came back to the sunflowers.  A squirrel chased another that had been working under the feeder.  The crows are up to something - I hear a lot of noises beside cawing, and there's a lot of chasing.  The praying mantis has retired to the wall.  It is bright green which I could not tell last night. 

The goldfinch pair are very interested in the sunflowers.  A hummer investigated the hibiscus and the rose.  The mantis has moved on.  Titmice visited the feeder at lunchtime.

Two dark birds circled very high, but didn't look like osprey, eagle, or buzzard.  A yellow crowned night heron intimidated a crow into leaving the dock.  A brown thrasher poked around in the mulch and I think I saw a towhee fly into the sakaki.  I certainly heard towhees.  The pool had scarab beetles, black beetles, and bees. 

Later it became clear there were two brown thrashers. I think one was collecting food for the other, though I couldn't tell them apart. Then, a fox cub appeared briefly.  I think it heard mama call because it dashed off. 

Cool breeze, hot sun

Fluffy clouds are sailing down from the North.  At breakfast, I heard and then saw a hummer at the feeder.  It didn't stay long.  The hibiscus is blooming.  When we went to pick blueberries, I found a clump of caterpillars feeding on leaves.  I'd never seen them before but I've identified them as yellownecked caterpillars.  They went in a bag in the trash can, so no photo.  The adult is a small moth.  Honeybees have discovered the sunflowers. 

At lunchtime, a brown thrasher poked around under the hose spigot.  A small damselfly bounced around the patio. A towhee visited the feeder while I swam.  A wolf spider loaded with babies clung to the tail of the Polaris.  The shade was actually chilly in a wet swimsuit.  Overhead was a first quarter moon.  Late in the day, titmice came to the feeder.  I think they were juveniles.

After dark, I stepped out the front door to see if I could see any of the fireworks.  I could, but what was more interesting was the praying mantis that was positioned on the porch light.  Big scarab beetles bumbled around the door but I think the mantis was after smaller prey.  It appeared to be about 2/3 grown. 

Hurricane Arthur

Gusty rain woke me at 2:30am.  It has not been as windy as I feared - I forgot to take in the hummer feeder.  Finches and a cardinal came to the seed feeder despite the storm.  It does not look like the pool has risen much either.

Arthur came over the Outer Banks but swung back out to sea, having dropped from a category 2 to a 1.  It passed us around breakfast, about one degree East.  I'm guessing that's about 60 miles at our latitude.  "A degree of longitude varies in size. At the equator, it is approximately 69 miles, the same size as a degree of latitude. The size gradually decreases to zero as the meridians converge at the poles. At a latitude of 45 degrees, a degree of longitude is approximately 49 miles." http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/mapping/a_latlong.html We are at 36.8506° N, 75.9779° W. 

Le Mort d'Arthur occurred before noon.  The sun came out while the wind dried everything.  Birds arrived including what is either a juvenile or a disheveled female towhee.  Dragonflies arrived including a female widow skimmer.  She had a territorial dispute with a wasp. 

It has been quite cool for July.  A hummer visited the feeder while I had my hands full with money plant seeds.  A black swallowtail also took advantage of my camera-less state.  Small black scoliid wasps with bright spots love the mint.  Several titmice appeared along with chickadees toward evening.  As the sun set, a dragonfly zipped after small prey higher than the house roof.  An egret passed overhead. Fireflies were thick when the cardinals came for a bedtime snack.  A crescent moon trailed the sun by several hours. 

Windy

It's hot but the wind makes it more pleasant.  Fair weather cumulus are floating out of the South.  Yesterday they came from the Southwest.  There's a cold front sweeping in from the Northwest.  I wonder where and when it will meet up with tropical storm Arthur.

The chaste tree is blooming fiercely and the beauty berry demurely.  A dark spider continues to haunt the brick on the top pool step.  Raccoons left muddy paw prints all around the pool.  A black swallowtail was up early to visit the parsley.  Dragonflies have been too fast for identification, except a female pondhawk.  I've hardly seen any birds, though I heard them.  I also heard cicadas.

The sky became overcast during the afternoon.  A hummer ignored the feeder but not the lavender.  K said it also investigated the chaste tree flowers.  I sat outside harvesting money plant seeds till the wind and the heat were too much.  The male cardinals continued their turf battle and the regulars visited the feeder.  Dragonflies continued to zoom around.  Goldfinches came to check on the progress of the sunflowers. 

We have a Tropical Storm Warning with rain before midnight and the wind is supposed to hit around 5am tomorrow. 

Hot

There was a thin crescent moon when I got home last night.  And the first hurricane of the year is predicted to visit this coming weekend.  The usual three species greeted me from the feeder this morning.  The cardinals are still dueling.  Crows and gulls and high up, maybe, an eagle were all the birds I saw.  The money is ready to harvest.  The sakaki is nearly finished blooming. 

A frog went for a swim this afternoon.  I rescued it from the pool skimmer.  A black swallowtail and some smaller orange butterflies were joined by a dragonfly.  I rescued a caterpillar from the pool which I'm going to try to raise.  I hope it fell from the cherry becausw I'm not climbing the oak for fresh leaves! 

Followup: the caterpillar didn't survive.  After checking it looks like it was nothing special.  The dragonfly, however, is a Spot-winged Glider - new to me.