Hot, hot, hot! Part 2 Flying by, birds and Summer
OK, sitting, not flying! I don’t blame them! No fear, this youngster was on the side of our small dirt road and casually flew up to a branch as we stopped and I got out to take a picture…fear is learned…So nice to see raptors! It’s been quiet this Summer, no bald eagles visiting Dick’s pine tree across the lake, a few ospreys have shown up and this guy. I think it is a juvenile Broad Winged Hawk. We had three in the Spring here!
As for the swans and their two babies…:( I haven’t seen them in over a week. The township did some work on the culvert by the swamp, maybe spooked them, or they have moved on to better feeding grounds. Everything is drying up as well. Several swamps look like pasture now. I hope the two cygnets make it, I checked the far swamp but haven’t seen any sign of them. It would be a long walk to Long Lake? I hope they are still close by!
So I’m not the only cranky one around! Mother Red bellied had had it with the juvenile Grackles…they scattered after she yelled at them! Ha!
Junior is pretty demanding. Sitting on the tree trunk squawking away for something to eat…mothers have a lot of patience:)
A lot of the flying creatures are starting their Summer molt and have the fuglies right now! The lady Rose Breasted Grosbeaks have moved on but we still have a few males. The Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are looking a but ragged as well! …and these guys…no morning is complete without a raucous single from the Red Winged Blackbirds with Grackles singing back up!
I looked out the window a few days ago late in the day and spotted a lone Cedar Waxwing. We don’t often get them here so I slunk out with the camera to watch it! Such amazing colours! It was feeding on what’s left of the shriveled black raspberries in the shade before flying up to a higher branch. Down the hatch the berries went!
That yellow tail stripe and red dots are something else! Unmistakable! We also had a visit from a Belted Kingfisher. I’ve seen them back in the swamps earlier in the year and I often hear their distinctive call but they are SO shy! I saw her, or a juvenile male (that brown on the chest) from the bedroom window. I pulled the screen back slowly (shooting through the glass never works!) and took a few shots, it was lakeside so not too close. When I did try to sneak outside for a closer look it flew off!
The regulars are still about, “North” American Goldfinches, Purple Finches, Eastern Phoebes and the Eastern Kingbirds snatching flying bugs out of mid air! Go team flycatcher! A few White Breasted Nuthatches are starting to come back as well and yes…we still have the dreaded deerflies…0_0
Not as many of them, but enough to irritate you walking! So, I don’t walk! Chauffeur! Ferry me! Ha!
When we are watching the cats on their morning and afternoon outings it’s an excellent time to look for bugs! I’ve been checking the milkweed for Monarch caterpillars but nothing yet! The Milkweed Tussock Moths are beautiful! But don’t touch! A few dragonflies are still about, I need to venture down to the swamp soon to see who is left!
I found a shed skin/carcass of a cicada…so cool! We hear them every day but would love to come across a live one again! The only thing blooming on our rocky patch wildflower wise now is the Goldenrod and we have seen a few wasps and the dreaded Japanese beetles!
Mike came out onto the deck and asked what in earth was I doing…lying down on the deck, flat…0_0…”I’m not dead yet!” I told him! Just stalking a very beautiful Katydid! So friggin’ green! I love his camo cape!
Oblong-winged Katydid!
I had a Snowberry Clearwing landed on my sleeve and was crawling around as I was picking tomatoes…I moved it to a plant:) Haven’t seen many this year. Speaking of flying bugs, I had to take my jam feeder down for the orioles. We were attracting an unsavory crowd there! Each night I had to dump out a few different hornet species so only matter of time until I really pissed one off! Bald-faced and European Hornets, the European guys are BIG! This species stings in response to being stepped on or grabbed, but generally avoids conflict. It is also defensive of its nest and can be aggressive around food sources, European hornets are largely carnivorous and hunt large insects such as beetles, wasps, large moths, dragonflies, and mantises but they also feed on fallen fruit and other sources of sugary food so best to put the jam away for now! Did you know: The bald-faced hornet has a unique defense in that it can squirt or spray venom from the stinger into the eyes of vertebrate nest intruders. The venom causes immediate watering of the eyes and temporary blindness. Bad ass if you are a bug going after their nests!
and then there are the grasshoppers! Dios mio! Swarms of them! You walk out the driveway and a wave of them flutter away! Mostly Carolina Grasshoppers and some Two Striped ones as well!
Now these tasty flying snacks have the Mewberries all aquiver! They spend a great deal of time planning capture strategy, how and when to eat, no catch and release for these guys unless by accident! Rocket, Gamora and Groot are on code name-“Grasshopper” a reconnaissance mission” 🙂
Groot and Rocket like to show off their impressive Kung Fu maneuvers as they bring down the enemy! Gamora says she can sit and they should bring them to her! Ha! Princessa!
They celebrated Feliz dia internacional del gato, Happy International day of the cat! Bonne journée internationale du chat, doing what they love, eating! Ha! Rocket really never misses a meal! Never;) Himbs big boy!
I’ll leave you here for the week. We need to visit the barn Thursday to make a path for Jennifer and her painful deteriorating hip so the horses can move in and out on their own steam! No leading required! We’ll see what we can do with jump standards and electric fencing, and visit with the lovely Alice, donkeys and the equines, as well as a small but mighty raccoon! Ha! Photos to follow. It’s supposed to be cool, only 28°! Wish us luck and rain!
