Nature Notes: June arrives with heat, humidity and plenty of life

I have joked for years about how the plants will hold my house up even if it start to fall apart. This little fern is a volunteer in my house foundation.

Moss has volunteered in the brick gaps of my walkway and front stoop.

Much of June so far has been hot and humid although this morning was off to a cooler start. Fortunately I have plenty of shade to cut back somewhat on the heat in my yard.

Plenty of rain is also helping the plants to thrive and provides some relief from the heat, at least in the mornings and evenings.

The orientalis plumes below are waving in the wind. You can't see the grasses they are attached too because the butterfly weed is starting to invade them.

I'm pretty sure the little bird in the next two shots is a pine siskin.

It's hard to tell with it partially obscured by the tree because the pine siskins, one type of sparrow, and one of the finch types that hang out in my yard are fairly similar.

The next bird is also one I'm not sure about identifying. I think it's a brown thrasher but since I can't see his beak very well he could be a juvenile American Robin. Brown thrashers have long thin beaks.

The next two shots are of a carolina wren. There are so many of them in my yard at this point that I've been photographing them a lot in spite of how fast they are.

Catching the small birds is mostly luck because I hear them and then see a rustling of the leaves and start shooting.

The nuthatches often take advantage of trees with deep holes which I assume are drilled by the woodpeckers I also spot in the same trees. The nuthatches can drill themselves but I'd be surprised if the can drill as deep as the holes here. Then again, I don't really know that.

The black eyed susan are beginning to bloom which is one of summer's treats.

Nature Notes is hosted by Rambling Woods and the post date is Thursday.