The Enemy of My Enemy ...

... is a Spider.

As is my custom, after finishing my day at "work" I head out to the deck to enjoy a beverage as my daily commute to non-work. And that is when I noticed the above.

No, not the the siding needs to be pressure washed, although that is true.

No, it is the Spider ...

(Species undetermined.)

... And the Fly.

Species unfortunately known, a Southern Lanternfly. 

This was the view last evening.

And this morning the spider was feeding. And it was quite intent on its meal. Usually when I go out in the morning the spider scampers off behind the drainpipe. But not today. Although temps in the 40's F may have had something to do with that. 

And this is the Lanternfly once the spider had finished its meal. 

And next up ...

... a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, another invasive insect. 

We need more spiders.

Still Humming

Back in the summer there was a time when we had Ruby-throated Hummingbirds numbering in the double digits visiting our feeders and gardens.

In the past week or so we had two.

Now we seem to have but one.

This one:

This time of year most of these birds have left for their wintering ground in Central America.

We had slowed our refilling the hummingbird feeders of late, but yesterday I refilled two. But the bird, or birds as it could be several passing through on their way south; different birds on different days, prefers to feed at the flowers.

That's fine with me. Makes for nicer photo ops. :-)

The Warbler Show

It is not surprising that one of the last warblers in the yard is this one:

A Pine Warbler.

Actually, if you look closely, you'll see there are two.

Very cool.

This species winters in the southern United States, not far in the migration scheme of things.

And we've had them on the Pinelands Christmas Bird Count and Mid-Winter Bird Census. Which leads one to believe that perhaps some don't migrate at all.

And of course, they are welcome to stay as long as they like.

Fail

Yeah, this isn't working quite how I had hoped.

They are supposed to crawl up and into the trap, not land on top of it and start crawling. Grrr.

The good news is that they are all most certainly dead (I had seven confirmed kills today).

But I'm sure it is a losing battle, at least in the short term. Everyday I kill the ones I see. Everyday there are more.

Any suggestions are more than welcome.

The Warbler Show

Just when you think it is over ...

Patty and I we sitting in the living room after a long day when I noticed a little bird on the ground along the wood's edge.

An Ovenbird. We had just old our friends, when they asked what bird says, "teacher teacher", that these birds had pretty much left the area for their wintering grounds in Mexico and the Caribbean.

And here one is.

At the "T" in the feeder garden plants. 

Maybe the one time that I'm disappointed that the garden has filled in so well (just kidding!).

The show goes on ..

The Warbler Show

... and on ...

In addition to the Ovenbird, there were also American Redstart*, Northern Parula, and this bird:

A Black-throated Blue Warbler. 

I find it fascinating that there will be no birds, then a small flock of multiple species, and then no birds again. Periods of frenzied activity followed by quiet.

This bird has visited our yard before, at least six times, including this past April. But it is not a frequent or common visitor. So it is always a pleasure to it them here.

🐦  🐦  🐦  🐦  🐦

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

~~~~~~~~~~

* Restarts are this year's Prothonotaries, multiple birds visiting everyday.

That Looks Unpleasant

I was walking about the yard as I am want to do, when I spotted a bug with a very orange head.

So I took a picture. As I am also want to do.

But when I looked at the picture I saw that the insect, a Cranefly, did not have an orange head.

Rather, the orange bits are mites. 

Ouch.

The cranefly is Tipula ultima, the mites are Mites sp. 

And both were cool to see (and were in the New Meadow Garden).

🦟  🦟  🦟  🦟  🦟

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

🐞 🐜 🪰 🪲 🪳 🦟 🦗 🕷 🦂

Thanks to John Maxwell, Stephen Mason, and Jon Gelhous for helping with and ID'ing the Cranefly.

Around the Yard

Working from home, which I will be doing until at least next September, I spend quite a bit of time in the yard. Breaks that used to take place in the office lunch room or wandering outside the office building now occur in the yard.

And that's a good thing.

Here's some of what I've been seeing ...

Not a tiny pinecone, but Frass. I've been seeing Frass all about the yard, but I've not been able to find the producers. But it is good to know the caterpillars are there.

I am still seeing caterpillars. This Smartweed Caterpillar is still munching away on the pond reeds.

And Yellow bear Caterpillars ...

... are all over the yard.

Other critters visiting ...

A rather devilish looking White-tailed Deer in the not yet deer fenced area of the yard. Look how skinny it is. It is really quite sad. New Jersey has a deer density that is often greater than 100 deer per square mile. The overpopulation is not good for the deer or the other critters that share the forest. A healthy population, not just for deer but for the entire ecosystem, is one tenth that number (references here and here).

Another Northern Short-tailed Shrew. And another dead shrew. This one likely met its fate at the paws of Max. This is not a good thing. 

Snakes have been slithering about the yard.

This Eastern Garter Snake lives just outside the garage in the back garden.

This snake skin was next to the bench in the Bench Garden.

And I think this tail is that of a Black Racer, which was hanging out by the Fish Pond for several days.

I'll end this episode with one of my favorite yard flowers ...

... Indian Pipe, which is popping up in the woods behind the "Hermitage".

We are very lucky to have such a wonderful property.

Crack! Swosh! Boom!

I'm sitting at my desk in my home office, with the windows open, the sounds of the yard mixing with Brian Eno (Ambient 4, On Land) streaming, when I hear ...

... CRACK! ...

                   ... SWOSH ....

                                       ... BOOM ...

What the ...

A rather large branch fell from the big Willow Oak out behind the Bench Garden.

As think as my leg and much longer, but not as large as some tree falls.

Non-trivial never the less.

And ...

... another is on the way ...

Front Gardens

I noted the frog pond in the new front yard meadow project.

You can read about that here Meadow Project.

This is what the new Meadow looks like now:

Not exactly what I was going for.

From the seed mixes I used, only Black-eyed Susan has appeared. Disappointing for sure.

They are pretty though.

There were a few volunteer plants like this Cardinal Flower. 

But it appears to be mostly weeds. So I may do a complete reset this fall/winter. We'll see.

But the Japanese Stiltgrass is mostly gone. And that is a good thing.

Now, on the other side of the driveway ...

... is the Mini-Meadow.

Quite the study in contrasts.

We started the Mini-Meadow in 2015, so maybe we just need to wait. 

I don't want to wait. I WANT IT NOW!

Or at least next year. 

Fingers crossed.

Deer

We've started to put a deer fence up around the other half of our property, but hot weather and travel have taken priority over finishing that project.

So we get this.

A White-tailed Deer fawn checking out the trail cam.

It has been stopping by for several days now.

Good news is that the weather is starting to cool. So the rest of the fence will be going up.

And the understory in our woods can return.

Frog Ponds

In the Spray Misty For Me post I mentioned frog ponds. 

On our property we have two large ponds, three 'frog' ponds, two bubbler ponds, and two other small water features.

The large ponds host plenty of frogs. The Back Pond has plenty of frogs. The Fish Pond hosts adults throughout the year.

After the visit to the Sutton's Wildlife Garden we added a small pond to the Feeder Garden.

Here is a Green Frog enjoying this pond.

We added this pond several years ago. Today it is completely integrated into the garden, almost invisible. But not invisible to the frogs and other critters.

This is the second frog pond, in the Bench Garden. Frogs showed up as soon as it was filled up.

This Green Frog is a current resident.

This is the most recent Frog Pond, with a pond liner given to us by our friend Terry, installed in the front yard meadow project. There are four Green Frogs in this image. See if you can find them all.

Here is one.

This Green Frog is in the small shallow pond in Magnus's enclosure.

Yet another Green Frog, this time in the bird bath part of what was a solar fountain bird bath, where the solar part failed after a year.

Shown in its entirety in the corner of the Triangle Garden. 

🐸  🐸  🐸  🐸  🐸

So, while it may seen that it is Green Frogs all the way down, but we've a variety of frogs and toads in the yard, as noted in this very blog over the years.

So if you have the space, put a small pond in your garden. The frogs will thank you with their presence.