September 22, 2024

Another week, and we are finally officially into Fall.  Mornings are cool, sometimes chilly, but usually by noon the yard is warmer.  Still things are different.  I see only ONE Water Lily bud, and it is taking a long time to open.  Then the afternoons begin to cool off and by evening it is still. I haven't seen a raccoon for quite a while, although the other evening, just at dusk, a lone Raccoon and the LARGEST Skunk with the WIDEST white streak down its back I've ever seen, appeared just long enough to notice me and saunter away.  I haven't seen him or her again.  The whole character of the yard is changing.  The Japanese Anemone is beginning to fade a bit, and the Asters have apparently hit their high point.  Picture 3 shows them apparently blocking the way to the front door, though I am doing better than in other years to keep them out of the way of distinguished visitors, like the ladies that bring the mail to the door.

The Goldenrod is in the midst of fading, and I've begun culling the spent branches, which have tried their best to displace the car from the driveway.   I got so enthralled with cutting out the old goldenrod branches that I bloodied my arm on the car mirror.  Bad car!

The Colchicum has hit its height.  If you remember, this is the lavender-colored splash that started blooming last week, after a long disappearance of its Spring leaves.  

A tiny bit of Deptford Pink still pops up here and there, mostly there.  The Tall Evening Primrose still reaches for the sky.  No more Day Lilies, very little of any kind blooming.  The Arum, whose plants I hardly noticed earlier in the year, is now richly colored with its red seeds.

Beetles:  I haven't noticed this first one for a long time - I think it's a Redbud Bruchid, but on Goldenrod and not Redbud. Second is a mystery Beetle that just looks like a common Beetle.  Third is that Asian Lady Beetle that must be the most common Beetle in this version of the Universe.

Bees are still all over.  First is an Eastern Bumblebee about to land on Goldenrod.  Next, two kinds of Bees on purple Asters.   And finally, a Western Honey Bee.

No new Butterflies or Skippers to report.  But here is a new Caterpillar.  It is probably a Fall Webworm Moth larva.  I did get one ID for this little Ant - it's a  Variable Field Ant (Formica pallidefulva).   And here's a Dragonfly in full hover.  

Here are a few more creatures.  First is a Grass Spider.  Second is another Spider from a couple of weeks ago.  The third was ID'ed by the ID app on iNat as belonging to Subtribe Agrothereutina,  a member of Ichneumonid Wasps  .  

Froggy and Froggette are still here. I haven't seen the little pair of Frogs again that I showed you last time, the ones that I shot at about dusk. I do hope none of the dusk predators got them.  I think the leftmost one is a male, and so is the middle one - look at that huge tympanum - and the fat rightmost one is a female.  See, she has no green on her throat. I wonder if her size says she may lay eggs?  The picture was taken September 8.  I don't think the water temperature will be very hospitable to new tadpoles!

On September 21, a Toad suddenly inserted itself into the scene.  Unfortunately the morning was overcast and so the pictures are a bit furry.

Last month there were still quite a few Water Lily flowers - but in all of September, I haven't seen any blooming.  Here are a couple of pictures of what may be the last buds of the season, starting to open.  I do miss the beauty of the ones we saw before!

When my neighbor goes away for a few days, her cats miss her terribly.  Yesterday I was out there near the kitchen window, and heard Junie crying pitifully.  Fortunately Chaim is cat-sitting and pays all three of them a lot of attention.  

Well, summer now seems to have been very short.  The days are still hottish, but the sun is making himself scarce.  We are falling behind on getting a grip on the climate change.  Please everyone, do what you can to keep our planet green!