More Bubbles!

With the success of the original Birth Bath Bubbler we decided to get another and site it in the Bench Garden. I ordered another solar powered pump Saturday and it arrived Sunday. Thus I was outside before nine, hoping to beat the heat.

I didn't. But I still installed the bird bath. And did quite a bit of sweating.

If you look closely, you can see that there are actual bubbles this time.

And now one of our bird boxen, used only by wasps this year, has roof top solar.

The view from the bench in the Bench Garden (the back edge of the solar panel is just visible in the upper right).

A hidden oasis. I hope the birds like it.

Baby Bunny Lives!

You may recall this post, Baby Bunny, about a young Eastern Cottontail that did not seem troubled by my presence. And this post, A Murder Mystery, about an owl and its prey.

Well, as rabbits are want to do, it seems that there is still owl food hopping around in our gardens.

See:

I did, when I walked through the garden gate. Although it took a moment for recognition to occur. It is right there in the middle of the image.

This one was a bit warier, and hopped away as I bent in to get closer. No doubt why it is still hopping.

Scarlet-Winged Lichen Moth

Patty set the moth sheet up Friday evening, and Saturday morning I found this critter clinging to the back of the sheet.

A Scarlet-Winged Lichen Moth. As you might imagine form the name, these moths eat lichens. And we have plenty of food around here.

It is not clear why they are so brightly colored. Most insects that sport such bright colors do so to discourage predators, advertising their unpalatable-ness. That is likely the case here, but what isn't know is if the moth is truly distasteful or if they are mimicking another insect which is.

I did not try to find out.

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

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The shots are pretty much from the same vantage point. The top with flash off, the bottom with flash on. I do not know why the top image, sans flash, has the blue and yellow bands across the sheet. Curious.

Yard Frogs

A friend was visiting our place for the first time. And while showing her around we came upon this Green Frog. And because these days I pretty much have a camera with me at all times, I was able to get the shot.

The next morning, while doing some work in the Bench Garden, I took the picture below. There are five frogs in it, can you find them all? Alas, the one in the image above has left that spot (click the image to bigafy it).

It seems my cleaning of this little pond continues to meet the approval of our local amphibians. Obviously the place to be on these over 90° F days.

Sorry, the Kayak is Being Used

So, Patty and I decided to go kayaking Wednesday evening. Our friend Terry had showed Patty a nice stretch of river in the Pines, and Patty thought I'd enjoy it. A nice relaxing paddle after a day's work.

The Carolina Wrens had a different idea.

As I was taking the kayak off the rack I noticed a bunch of vegetation behind the seat.

This.

At first I though it was left overs from last year, when we found a Wren nest under similar circumstances. I was heartbroken at the thought of dead birds from last year.

And then they started moving.

I had pulled the nest out of the kayak. I showed it to Patty, took a couple of shots, put the kayak back up on the rack, and Patty restored the nest.

No kayaking that night. Fortunately Terry has a kayak we can borrow. I hope there are no birds in it.

Before the Comet

We watched the sunset, serenaded by several species of frogs.

And agonized about the clouds.

Hoping perhaps for a comet reflection shot, our direction was a bit off. It would appear pretty much straight down the right edge of the image. The road between the bogs leading to the comet.

Next time ...

The Comet

C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), or just NEOWISE for short, named for the space telescope that found it (Near Earth Objects Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer).

We, my friend Bernie and I, first spotted it around 9:40 pm, from our observing location in Whitesbog.

Spotting it was one thing, easy with binoculars. Getting it in the field of view of the camera ...

... a bit more difficult. That's my first image above. Close ...

We were fighting the twilight, clouds, light pollution from the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, and the aircraft flying from that base. But we both managed a few good shots. We hope to try again this weekend at a darker spot.

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Before enjoying the comet we enjoyed Jupiter rising in almost the opposite direction.

It was bright enough to autofocus on.

This close up crop shows the focus was pretty good. Bigafy to see all four Galilean Moons.