As I look out my window ~

~ laced with spider webs around the edges between screen and glass, the view is beautifully filled with Goldfinches plucking seeds from the field of Rudbeckia maxima, tall coneflowers, each day.  The long seed heads will be stripped bare long before winters frostiness creates a sleepy landscape of crisp browns among the evergreens.

I think this is Hypericum densiflorum, or Bushy St. John's-wort.

A bush as tall as me, that is doing well in this partially amended clay soil border.

It has expanded at the base with new growth,

so when it fills the bed it will need to be pruned at the base to contain. 

Jumping Spider of some kind (slightly out of focus)

Rudbeckia maxima. Giant Coneflower

Seeds loved by Goldfinch

A bit of excitement last week as a larger bird landed on the patio in front of me, then flew up into the ninebark shrub, before disappearing.  I saw a dark curved beak; speckled chest and old clay pot-colored feathers… Brown Thrasher.  Phil, writer of Another Bird Blog, steered me to The Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds, which I purchased… worth the money for someone who needs to see realistic views of a bird to identify it.  Maybe a once time sighting, I don’t know… rain has been relentless since then, and the house has been my sanctuary. 

Green Sweat Bees, Halictidae Family of bees,

on blooming Summersweet shrubs, Clethra alnifolia.

This shrub should bloom for over a month.

Maybe a Hover Fly with the Green Sweat Bee.

Many species of Hover Flies resemble maggots when hatched, 

and are predatory on other insects such as 

aphids, mealybugs, ants, caterpillars, froghoppers, or mites.

This has been my year of letting go of that which vexes me to no end with my life in its later stages.  The raised vegetable beds were cleared out by Vic – he worked hard for a weekend to remove all traces.  The clematis on the deck were cleared out, and only the pot of sage was left in the far corner.  Looks minimal now, and much to my liking.  Several varieties of daylilies were dug up and trashed, and now only some exist as pops of color during the spring and summer months.  I would say the gardens are about 95% native to this region or Tennessee.

While this bee looked like a small Carpenter Bee,

it does have the hairs on the segments of the abdomen.

After much research, I think it is a Brown-belted Bumble Bee,

Bombus griseocollis.

I could be wrong 😕

Vic’s been hard at it pulling up Canadian Goldenrod after a rainy day… runners everywhere.  Herbicides are being used on the wild raspberry bushes that have sent out multiple runners this year… a painfully sticky situation.  The prairie garden is a patch of hell, by human standards.  Bringing it under control, seems impossible at this point in time, but one must preserver.

Summer Azure Butterfly, Celastrina neglecta

From the family - Gossamer Wing / Hairstreak Butterflies - Lycaenidae

Note the lovely fringe on the wing edges.

Heavy rains fell this afternoon, then again, this evening.  Almost midnight… I’ve procrastinated a bit as it hasn’t been painless to sleep lately.   I’ve done something I’ve never done - opened the window in my studio and let in the trilling sounds of what I think are treefrogs, filling the room with summer music.  Occasionally a succession of tiny higher pitched chirps could be heard within the rhythmic melody.

One would have drifted off into never-never land, if not for the interruption of the low flying airline coming in over the neighbor’s house to approach the airport, but that’s life, isn’t it?  If I had left that window open all night, would I have gone a bit bonkers?  Maybe.  I’m not going to find out.  Sometimes the lack of sound is heaven also.

Hibiscus moscheutos, Swamp Mallow

Each bloom only lasts a day.

Tiny black beetles can be seen in the flowers.

They move so fast - very difficult to photograph.

Looks like it is eating pollen.

Honey Bee

After researching moths, hover flies, and beyond...

I think this is a Bee Fly (Bombyliidae).

Their larvae feed, indiscriminately sometimes, 

on grasshopper and locust eggs, 

plus solitary bee and wasp larvae;

but generally they are considered beneficial -

just another part of the ecosystem 

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Saturday's Critters