August 14th, 2006

From: Caroline
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2006 8:29 AM
Subject: August 14th, 2006

There are Monarch butterflies wherever I look and now that the milkweed flowers have turned into fat green pods they are enjoying thistle flowers. We hear and read such dire reports about their loss of winter habitat that I feel I have personally saved each and every one that I see fluttering over my fields, of course I know that is ridiculous but I truly rejoice each time. Now is also the time for Dragon Flies – little red and sky blue and green – but I wasn’t prepared for the huge Twelve-Spotted Skimmer that was resting on a branch. Because the wings are clear at first sight it looked as though there were alternating black and white spots just sitting in the air. The body is about two inches long, but I think the total wing spread from tip to tip must be about 8 inches. Sometimes they are called darners and my grandmother used to tell us to be careful because if they landed on our face they would sew our lips together. My favorite name for them though is the Spanish one, “Little Horses of the Devil”.

There are still lots of birds around, but there is no more bird song as their babies have fledged and territory no longer needs to be defended. When I first hear a birder talking about “fledged” I thought it was some kind of made up bird speak, but Webster’s Collegiate proved them correct. If you were to think about a robin’s personality you, like I, would consider them a fat, easy going type. Well, you should see them in the birdbath. They will tolerate the feisty little English sparrows, and occasionally another robin, probably a family member, but everybody else has to get out. Not only that but they stay in for the longest time of any of the birds and slosh out a great deal of the water. Fortunately, because I have my own well, I can have a birdbath with a continuous drip from a little tube connected to my outdoor hose bib so the birdbath quickly fills up again. I have a great view of all that is going on there as it is outside my computer window and yesterday I saw my favorite, the cedar waxwing with his black Zorro mask. For some reason they will be more in evidence in the fall and I think they are among the last of our summer birds to leave. Speaking of which I saw a swallow sitting on a telephone wire. I yelled at him, “get off - it isn’t time yet”. And yet of course the signs of the changing season are all around us; these wonderfully cool days in which I caught up on all the neglected garden chores, the yellow tinge of the early flowering golden rod, the aforementioned thistles.

Color treat of the week: an emerald humming bird perched on a lavender agapanthus blossom.