@mrtoads
Grouchy old fart, enjoys books, birds, baroque music, alliteration and, of course, spiders (but then, who doesn’t?). Semi-skilled at a number of unimportant things like game-playing, computer surgery and natural history story-telling. Lazy.
Getting ready for a nice (free) outdoor concert in Patterson Park, Baltimore’s Central Park. The weather was more pleasant than I expected!
I had a nice walk out at Prettyboy Reservoir this morning; not a lot of birds (highlights probably Bald Eagle, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and couple of singing Scarlet Tanagers), and the water was astonishingly low. Still pleasant, though!
As the late summer rumbles closer, my minimeadow is preparing to burst into flower. Meanwhile, the windfalls off of the younger Apple tree are increasingly ripe-looking..
Thoroughly enjoying one of the great movies of my lifetime! So many great details, great lines, great scenes.. And what a cast! We saw Gozer’s building on our Circle Line Trip around Manhattan, and I just had to see it again. “It just popped in there..”
Doing a little (very little) minimeadow work, mostly clearing blackberry brambles, I found three late milkweed plants coming up, and what I had thought to be a Linyphiid was my old friend Basilica Spider (Mecynogea lemniscata), which had vanished after we took the old Hollies down ten years ago.
New York City right now is, in a word, terrific! The weed miasma has reduced to occasional hot spots with random wafts, everybody is happy (as the drivers frequently emphasize with gestures and horn honks of joy), and the food is almost invariably delicious. It all costs, but hey, it’s NY.
A nice spidery day today! A linyphiid in an upside-down bowl in the meadow (didn’t look closely), several itty-bitty Zebra Spiders on the milkweed, and also a very elegant little Tutelina:
Now I know that my minimeadow is established - Goldenrod Gall Flies have arrived!
It’s summer now, which means lively times in the minimeadow. The Silver-spotted Skippers are back, and one of the Apple trees has set a good crop; we’re already getting the early windfalls for the deer and other frugivores..
Ever since I established my minimeadow in the backyard, the local arthropod diversity has really grown. We had another visitor last night, an interesting change from the usual range of Pompilid spider wasps..
Found a video! This one wasn’t being a Junior Birdman, though - possibly because it was a windy day. I couldn’t find one in flight, alas..
The migration is pretty much done, but it’s still nice to do the odd #TenMinMerlin to see what’s nesting or straggling. The Ovenbird was nice; I’m not sure if we’ll have a nest right here, but they do nest in the local area.
A quick #TenMinMerlin shows the migration is still trickling along. The end signal is traditionally a Blackpoll in the backyard, but they don’t seem to be around much yet.
This morning’s #TenMinMerlin in the backyard tells me that migration is still trickling through. No Merlin mistakes this time!
So, it started out grumbley and slow for warblers, but ended up pretty good for these days: 12 warbler species: Ovenbird, La Waterthrush, Black and White, C. Yellowthroat, Am Redstart, Cape May, N Parula, N Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green and Wilson’s. Singing as well.
Paydirt! #TenMinMerlin number three - featuring a very obliging Wilson’s Warbler, singing and posing in the bushes next to the field. Best views I’ve ever had!
Ok, things picked up a bit in a marshier spot, so here’s a second #TenMinMerlin with more warblier goodness!
New local bird! In the big Silver Maples two houses down, on my way out for a morning walk, I heard a slow, sweet “Red-eyed Vireo” - Blue-headed! By itself, of course, and almost a new yard bird..
Got the first plantings in - 7 of 8 big tomatoes, 2 cherry tomatoes, 2 of 4 red bell peppers, plus a lavender and a spearmint into the herb garden. No eggplants this year, after several years of very disappointing yields. Nice to have the Yellowthroat twanging at me from the shrubbery..
A backyard #TenMinMerlin - most of the usual suspects (the Kingfisher is wrong, but I’m not sure what it was - maybe the Mockingbird). Our annual Yellowthroat is back! He sings hopefully in the bushes around the edge of the yard for about a week before moving on in disappointment..
Nice to have a singing female Purple Finches, but as usual, Merlin had a couple oddities: the Killdeer was a Starling, and the Marsh Wren was a House Wren. I’m pretty sure there was no Hermit Thrush, but I don’t know what it could have been.