Cool nights

The last few nights have dropped into the high 60s though the days have been hot.  As a result, the water is cooler  A male ruby throat got a little breakfast before a female chased him away.  I suspect he blew in with the Northeast wind a few days ago.  Wrens and blue jays were disappointed that I'd not yet refilled their dish. 

A pair of goldfinches landed on the feeder hangers to check the place out.   They appeared to dislike the menu.  I saw a black swallowtail and a cloudless sulphur.  I rescued more skinks and a millipede.  Another cicada, bees and wasps, and a red caterpillar had drowned. 

A flock of cormorants joined an egret on the lake.   Another egret stalked downstream.  Leaf cutter bees scalloped the edges of the redbud leaves.  The patient mantis had relocated.  Monarch caterpillars hid under leaves on both the swamp and the butterfly milkweed.  A minute black swallowtail caterpillar was on the parsley.  I was amazed to discover the hibiscus was making more flower buds.  That neem oil was certainly the cure for the sawfly infestation. 

Hot sun

Blue dashers were on duty, protecting us from mosquitoes.  Wrens found yummies in the glass dish.  Hummingbirds checked out anything that looked like a flower. 

The two frogs were back on the ladder step, though before the sun reached it, one frog rode on the thermometer..  I rescued two skinks from the water, also a tiger moth (Apantesis).  The cicada I found had already died.  The creek was very low at low tide. 

A little green bee fed on the lavender while the praying mantis watched.  Fewer wasps were attracted to the mountain mint since the webbing seemed to affect blooming.  I found the hole where the wasp stuffed in the caterpillar. 

The (Mecynogea lemniscata) basilica orbweaver spider in the rue had several egg pearls on its string.  I found a caterpillar on the swamp milkweed and two on the butterfly milkweed.   Titmice were abundant.   

 

Blue sky

Before breakfast, I went to refill the dish feeder and, well, there was a worm spill.  My loss was the wrens' gain.  A couple of fledgling Carolina wrens were demanding to be fed and the parents took full advantage of my clumsiness. 

The hummers drank their feeder dry again.  One tried and tried to find a way to the juice she was sure was there. 

A tiger swallowtail got nectar from the butterfly milkweed.  I also saw black and palamedes swallowtails and a cloudless sulphur.   At one point a wasp chased the tiger swallowtail away but it came back and chased away the wasp.  A great golden digger wasp was around the milkweed all day but I could not tell if it was the wasp involved. 


There were two frogs hanging out by the pool ladder, but they left when I got in.  I rescued two skinks, a couple of lacewings, some bees and wasps.  A metallic green beetle did not revive. 

While I was in the deep end, I saw a threadwaisted wasp run along the ground carrying a green caterpillar.  It got to the corner by the beautyberry where the dirt is exposed, set the caterpillar down, hunted around, moved some pine needles, seemed to get lined up with a particular stone, found its hole, dug a little more, and carried the caterpillar down out of sight.  I waited a little, but didn't see it emerge. 

The Carolina mantis was still hanging around the rose, upsidedown.  A soldier beetle sat in the center of a daisy.  I saw a tiny caterpillar on the butterfly milkweed and another on the swamp milkweed. 

A heron landed on the dock but vegetation kept me from being sure if it was a night heron. 

Sun finally

Everything was still dripping in the morning.  The hummer not only sat on the seed feeder hanger to guard her feeder, she chased away titmice and a cardinal.  

The overcast pulled apart by lunchtime.  A tattered black swallowtail fed on the butterfly milkweed.  A sizable skink climbed the wall.  A bald faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) marched across the patio.  I just discovered that it is not a true hornet but rather a yellow jacket. 

There was a frog in the pool, but I tossed it out.  A Carolina wren was loud and busy all over the yard, but primarily around the bark butter dish.  The Carolina mantis stayed put.  A duskywing fluttered all around it.  A great golden digger wasp enjoyed the butterfly milkweed.  And a slaty skimmer perched on a gladiolus leaf.  It turned into quite a lovely day, though toward evening it got kind of buggy. 

Rainy mist

I was up before sunrise, though I never saw the sun.  The clouds colored up briefly.  When the meeting finished, there was sunshine in Norfolk but I passed through a rain band on the way home and an other seemed stuck over our house.  It was warm enough but very damp and the wind was chilly.  The hummers drank the feeder dry despite one of them sitting on the feeder hanger guarding the sugar water.

I found a large cicada in the water, but I suspect it was already dead when it fell in.  A skink was on the top step of the pool ladder but that was slightly under water so I felt the need to rescue the lizard.  I managed to flip it out with a stick because it was cold and tired.

The little brown mantis looked like it was shrinking.  I hope it is finding enough food.  It was very well camouflaged but I haven't seen insects visit the roses. The great golden digger wasp was back at the butterfly milkweed but many of the wasps and bees were missing.  Whatever attacked the mountain mint caused it to quit flowering.  I glimpsed a dark butterfly, but no others. 

The tide was very high again but there are still three nights before the new moon.  The juvenile night heron was back on the dock.  A mallard pair, the drake in eclipse, trudged along the shore.  Crows harassed an osprey into flight. 

Northeaster

Carolina wrens cleaned the dish feeder.  Hummers needed a lot of fuel.  They checked out the flowers as well as the feeder.  Titmice wanted seeds and more seeds. 

At lunch, a fresh-looking palamedes swallowtail enjoyed the butterfly milkweed.  But according to Bug Guide, the red bay and sassafras that palamedes caterpillars need is endangered by an invasive beetle that spreads a fungus wilt. 

The wind from the Northeast was cold and gusty.  It pushed the Bay back up the creeks. High tide nearly covered the dock in the afternoon. A juvenile night heron seemed puzzled by the high water.

A nasty, cold, thin rain fell as I tried to clean detritus from the water.  One hummer took to sitting on the seed feeder hanger to guard the hummer feeder. The little brown mantis still haunted the rose bush. The hibiscus was still blooming. 

Chilly

I was gone almost all day.  It wasn't as gray as yesterday, but a cold Northeast wind did not encourage me to spend a lot of time outside.  I did not get wet but did remove one dead skink from the water.  The beauty berries were beginning to turn purple.  Wrens fussed at me and blue jays screamed about something.  A snowy egret perched on the fallen tree on the lake.  Ducks preened on the dock as the tide rose over the landward end. 

Though buffeted by the wind,cormorants flew in every direction as though they were frantically searching for something.  I found the Carolina mantis again, still on the rose, but on a different part of the plant.  Bumblebees were having a hard time between the wind and the cold.  Actually it was about room temperature but the wind was nothing you'd encounter indoors.