Nature Notes: First week of July

July has been very humid so far.

The photographs in the first part of this post are from J. C. Raulston Arboretum at NCSU.

This summer hasn't been as hot so far as many summers.

The humidity has made it feel pretty hot and oppressive at times even when the actual air temperature isn't bad.

Having far more rain than usual has kept everything very green and lush.

I can't remember a prettier summer as far as the plants go.

Having rain almost every day has gotten old but it does have some benefits.

The main thing I'd like to see is a little less humidity because it slows me down so much.

I am enjoying how green everything and healthy everything is.

I started to say the big advantage of plenty of rain is how green everything is but I think drinking water would come before green vegetation. Food crops doing well is also a big benefit of plenty of rain and not too high temperatures.

I remember when we had our last drought the most unsettling part was how newspapers would say how many days we had before the reservoir that supplies my city's water would run out of water.

Even though the drought was years ago I still remember how it felt to have a daily report on how many days we had left with water unless it rained.

The American Robin on my deck looked like it had something to say.

 The female cardinal looked like she was turning her nose up at the juvenile robin in the bird bath. At the top right corner of the shot a finch has his head in the frame.

I love how soft the female cardinal's feathers look below.

The next shot is of a juvenile cardinal bathing.

 

The male cardinal below looks like he's considering a bath.

The juvenile cardinal below took a long bath.

 Some birds hop in and out of the bath but others will stay in until another bird shows up.

The juvenile robin below looks like he's stretching out his legs.

The adult American Robin looks like she's had a bath and was blow dried. 

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