Archive for September, 2007

Hasty conclusions and a sparrow

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Hasty conclusions
The first hasty conclusion was that one predawn spinning argiope was representative of the genus (I really do know better than that). The second was that my yard argiope’s late appearance was typical of her behavior.
When I left for work yesterday morning at 9:50, she was in the middle of a nicely repaired web. [...]

Newcomer and update

Monday, September 24th, 2007

Newcomer
The newcomer was a Magnolia Warbler (female), which flew into the backyard at 7:20 this morning. That’s the yard’s fourth warbler species (the others are Tennessee, Mourning, and Common Yellowthroat). She flew from the yard on the north into the stand of pokeweed that lines the fence, then to the stand surrounding the dead redbud, [...]

Autumnal equinox, 2007

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

Birds
The equinox hasn’t brought much avian diversity to my yard. There was the Common Yellowthroat yesterday morning, and early last evening a Gray Catbird was in the front yard. (The front yard doesn’t get much of my attention—I no doubt miss a lot there).
This morning a robin and a House Finch stood out amongst the [...]

Signs of fall: the backyard

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

Despite the heat, fall is clearly here.

Early this morning a young male Common Yellowthroat visited the backyard.
The heath and New England asters are blooming.
Butterfly numbers are up.

At 11:30 this morning I was getting ready to install an application on the server and was glancing every few seconds out the window to see what was in [...]