Buy two, get one free at the garden store! I’m delighted with our new speedwell, coneflower, and phlox.
Last week’s daisies are thriving, drawing new pollinators into the yard. I would love some help identifying this fly. Or is it a bee? Maybe some kind of wasp? Any ideas?
There’s a family of doves in our front flower bed. Two fledglings, with two tired parents, spent yesterday and today following patches of sun through the irises. I’ve enjoyed watching them, and so have the cats.
The blue jay eggs hatched sometime within the last week. Driven by feeding duties and protective instincts, the blue jay parents spend every daylight moment foraging and feuding.
When we first noticed their increased activity, my husband put a handful of seed on the deck railing. It quickly disappeared. The next day, he put out a little more seed, then waited with his camera. Now he and the blue jays share a daily ritual of feeding and photos.
The losers in this new relationship are the cats, who usually treasure these spring open-window weeks. Unfortunately, their favorite windows look onto the deck…
Last night, a solitary question mark butterfly stopped in the yard. It didn’t stay long. The yard might have felt lonely and empty after it left, if not for these two rabbits.
I wondered about the second rabbit’s ear damage. Frostbite? Maybe some kind of infection? While the yard’s rabbits seem healthy in general, I do see a lot of ticks on them, especially on their ears. It’s a bit odd, because I rarely find ticks on myself or the dog.
Speaking of the dog, she’s too old and arthritic for rabbit chasing. Or any other kind of exertion. So I was curious, a few days ago, when she treed something in the wax myrtle.
The squirrel waited, shifting its grip now and then, until Indigo and I went inside. Then I watched from the kitchen window as it scrambled down, grabbed one last mouthful of birdseed, and scurried across the fence into our neighbor’s yard. Where the neighbor’s dog promptly treed it again.
None of these photos were taken today, because today has been rainy and gray. It’s a dreary deluge that pours and eases and then pours again. As I worked on this post, the butterfly’s bright orange and the yard’s exuberant green tempted me to fret over our much-needed rain. So I changed the photos to grayscale…
The red admiral flood has slowed to a trickle. Last night there were only three or four on the fence, and daytime traffic is markedly reduced. While earlier waves seldom stopped in the yard before sunset, today’s travelers seem slow and tired. And hungry.
Yesterday also saw a decrease in the number of question mark butterflies. (See the question mark on its wing? That’s how you tell it from a comma…)
As the migration dwindles, painted lady butterflies increase, though I expect their numbers will never rival this week’s surge of red admirals and question marks.
Finally, in case anyone is tired of butterflies, here’s a Yellow-rumped Warbler enjoying a quick bath…
Rae Spencer 