The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning
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Other creatures in our world
The Butterfly Bush in front of the house attracts all kinds of insects, including Monarch Butterflies (shown here on the Goldenrod planted in the garden):
This year, the bush also attracted a Praying Mantis:
Then lunchtime happened:
A closer look:
Now, if that isn’t enough nightmare fuel for you, find some in your own neighborhood.
Spotted along Robinson Lane:
A closer look at the same number of pixels:
The little one way over on the left is definitely having an adventure!
I’d read of goats climbing trees, but never turtles.
I ride slowly and ding my bell when overtaking pedestrians on the Hudson Valley Rail Trail, but this group of walkers paid almost no attention as I rode toward New Paltz:
I contented myself by practicing my slow-riding skills while they ambled along and, eventually, moved far to the left.
A few hours later, they seemed to be having a picnic in the grass:
We parted as friends, which is always pleasant.
An industrious pair of Organ Pipe Mud Dauber Wasps assembled their nest last August:
Their offspring began emerging in early July, with our first picture on 3 July. I’ll leave the image file dates in place so you can reach your own conclusions:
We think a titmouse (a known predator) pecked some holes, including the upper hole on the middle tube, as they seemed to expose solid (and presumably inedible) chitin from the outside:
More holes appeared in a few days:
The irregular spacing along each tube suggests they don’t emerge in the reverse order of installation:
Three days later:
Two weeks after the first holes appeared:
No more holes have appeared since then, so it seems one young wasp emerges every few days.
This nest produced about a dozen wasps, with perhaps as many launch failures. We’ll (try to) remove it and examine the contents in a few months.
We expect they’ll start building nests all over the house in another month …
Update: Fortunately for us, no nests appeared before the first freeze, so the wasps are holed up elsewhere for the winter.
The turkey hen who once had nine chicks, then seven, now has only two:
We haven’t seen the fox since it nailed the previous chick, but it may be responsible for taking a chick a day, every day, for a week.
We wonder if she misses the rest of her brood as much as we do …
Taken through two layers of 1950s window glass, zoomed all the way in, with a phone camera.
This chipmunk has been hanging out near the collection of yard & garden tools on the patio:
When threats appear, the critter vanishes into the clutter and waits until we go elsewhere. It’s almost as good as the roof gutter pipe!
Those stripes remain surprisingly visible in the shadows between stacks of clay pots, though, if you know where to look.
Mary saw a fox trotting behind the garden, gripping a (dead) turkey chick in its jaws, with the hen in hot pursuit. The fox dropped the chick, circled the pine grove, picked up the chick, and departed stage right. The hen eventually led her remaining chicks into the yard, but gathered them underneath while watching for danger:
She settled down for a few minutes:
With the fox safely departed, she released the chicks:
Then they returned to foraging, with one chick trying out its wings:
Two days earlier, she led nine chicks through the yard; we think the fox picked off a chick a day. She lost two more during the next four days, suggesting they rapidly improve their ability to scamper out of harm’s way.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 