Busy

A warm (70s), sunny day that got away.  The only thing I saw was a flock of crows on the new shelter for homeless people.  Ominous.

Bald eagle

All I saw while I was inside was a yellow rumped warbler in the dogwood and it flew before I got it in focus.  But when I went outside at noon, an eagle was circling over the water.  The sky was intensely blue and I was warm in the sun except when the wind gusted.

Then I discovered a bold jumper spider sunbathing and keeping an eye on me.  Invertebrate meals must be getting scarce, but I saw yellow jackets, small dun moths, and maybe another spider.

A mockingbird visited the beauty berries.  Blue jays went after something along the shoreline.  Wrens popped around in the bushes.

Butterflies

The day started out pretty nippy but warmed up nicely in the bright sunshine. I saw a stinkbug on the window and unfortunately let it get away since it was one of the brown marmorated invasive stinkers.

A very tattered red spotted purple butterfly clung to leaves to ride out wind gusts.  (The wind felt warm to me at first, but that didn't last.)  It was still around when I got back around 4pm.  Meanwhile, an American Snout butterfly soaked up sun in the red cedar.  And when I wandered over to take a picture of the milkweed by the fence, a question mark butterfly on the nandina with the sun coming through its wing like stained glass.  I also caught a glimpse of a monarch on the next street over where a front yard is a jungle with tropical milkweed making round pods. 

A pale yellow warbler with faint streaks hopped around in the cherry and found something that it tugged off twigs which puzzled me as the wild cherries long since withered.  I also saw a yellow rumped warbler over at the Lynnhaven House.

Caterpillar lecture

It was a nice Fall day with fluffy clouds blowing East and seasonable temperatures.  The shaded creek glittered sunlit reflections in the early morning.  There weren't any clouds till later.  At noon the tide was quite high despite the wind direction.  According to Mary Reid Barrow, this is going to be an irruptive year for red-breasted nuthatches.  The redwood made plenty of cones so we're ready. 

In the afternoon I went to a lecture on caterpillars by David Wagner and bought his Caterpillars of Eastern North America which is far to heavy for a field guide.  He had some fascinating videos and anecdotes.  The program was hosted by the Butterfly Society of Virginia.  However, I don't think I will join. 

When I got home, I went outside but the wind was already getting chilly.  I heard first a heron, then a kingfisher but didn't see either.  There were patches of color on trees besides the dogwoods. 

Gray

A slug traversed the window at breakfast.  There was a bit of mist around noon but no real rain.  This was the day for measuring the "King Tide" but I never figured out the phone app. 

The overcast began to break up in the late afternoon.  I saw a small yellow fly or wasp and a milkweed bug nymph.  They seemed sluggish from the cold. 

Cold rain

The newspaper carried on like this was a major storm but it was just a heavy rain.  Ob the way to my lunch meeting I saw a mockingbird just a couple of yards down the street.  I often see one there.  Hours later in heavier rain a flock of geese were nibbling at the gutter water there.  There was a lot of water in the streets but no real flooding, probably because of the tide cycle and lack of high winds.  The wind eventually picked up well after dark. 

White sky

At breakfast, fluffy clouds were tinted by the rising sun.  By noon the sky had become hazy and when I got out of my meeting, the sun was muted by a thin overcast. 

Although the air was cold I wandered down to the dock to see what wasinthe sink that had fascinated a squirrel some time ago.  The drain was plugged and the sink half full of water.  The Argiope spider that was in the spartina left a couple of egg sacks in a saltbush.  Lots of periwinkles stuck out from the spartina stems.  I saw a bird I think was a yellow rumped warbler.