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. 

Click for the home of Nature Notes.

Today's Flowers and Weekend Flowers: Highway and Home

This is a good time of the year for spotting flowers along the highways in my state of North Carolina.

Most of the time I'm driving and, therefore, I can't photograph them so it's fun whenever I'm a passenger to take shots along the road.

The rainy weather has helped keep the flowers looking fresh.

I particularly like the NC highway wildflower program but haven't spotted very many of them yet this summer.

Most of the flowers I've seen so far along the highways have been cultivated beds of bulbs and flowering trees and bushes but I have seen a few wildflowers growing.

Hopefully I'll be a passenger on the highway once more of the wildflowers are blooming.

 At home my rudbeckia (black-eyed-susan) are doing well.

I think my favorite rose of sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) is the one with white petals and a red center.

They are beginning to bloom in my back yard.

The lavender variety was all closed up in the rain.

The pink one was wide open.

I think black-eyed-susan is such a cheerful looking flower.

Last but not least a purple coneflower (echinacea) blooming in my back yard. 

Click here for Today's Flowers and here for Weekend Flowers.

Photohunters: Go Observe Children

With one photohunt theme being GO and the other being Observe Children, it was fairly easy to combine them.

 

In the winter when it snows I can observe children go sledding.

If I want to go observe children in the spring and summer it's easy to spot them outside.

In the fall I can go observe children on their bikes.

Click for the GO photohunt and click for the observe children photohunt.

Nature Notes: Rain, rain and more rain

We are continuing to have a lot of rain.

The cardinal and catbird above were enjoying a bath but if they had waited a few minutes it would have been a shower.

A new family has visited my deck.

I could hardly believe my eyes when 2 adult and 2 young foxes showed up on my deck.

They drank the bird bath water and munched on berries.

They seemed so comfortable on my deck that I doubt it was their first visit.

I wonder if they were attracted to my nighborhood by the fad of keeping hen houses that is very popular at the moment.

I don't have a hen house but my next door neighbors do. The minute the foxes left an American Robin showed up.

Bill and I went to Goldsboro for lunch on Saturday which is about an hour southeast from Raleigh where we live.

It was clear they've been having a lot of rain there too.

The cornfield was behind the restaurant where  we ate and the paths in between the rows were flooded.

On the drive there and back everything was green and wet.

We had a very brief time with some blue in the sky.

Back at my house it had rained while we were gone.

My back yard is such a jungle this time of the year.

I've done a little bit of work in my jungle but you can't tell to look at it.

My rose of sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) is beginning to bloom.

I like the way hydrangea leaves hold on to the rain.

 Butterfly weed also holds on to rain drops for a long time after it stops raining.

Click for the home of nature notes.