Ladies of Summer

I thought I might have missed my chance to blip one of these gentle giants this summer since their work is done by now and most of them have died off.  But as I was crouched by the mountain mint, I spotted this big girl, Sphex pensylvanicus (Great Black Digger Wasp).  She measures about 1.5 inches in length and in certain light her wings appear indigo blue.  In my opinion, she's a spectacular creature and I also know she represents no danger to me.  She is a solitary wasp and has no genetic programming to protect her nest or eggs.  She digs a hole, provisions it with katydids and crickets, lays her eggs, seals up the hole and spends what remains of her life drinking nectar.  I suppose she might sting if I were to grab her in my hand and squeeze, but why would I want to do that?  No, I'd much rather enjoy some zen time with her quietly going about her business mere inches away.

I also found some more tiny monarch caterpillars in my milkweed and all have been gathered and added to the nursery where they can continue their journey to being a butterfly without the danger of predators.  Did you know that only 5-10% of eggs laid by a monarch ever become butterflies?  And not that rearing them in safe enclosures really has any impact on the overall population, at least I know that 100% of the eggs I gather will become butterflies.  And that is something.  

There were three American Redstarts in the garden this morning along with a flycatcher and a dozen or more hummingbirds.  All of them determined to terrorize the chickadees and titmice.  It is comical to see a titmouse being chased all over the yard by something so much smaller than itself.  The chickadees tend to disappear into dense vegetation when they are being chased, but the titmice try to outfly them.  This is a great time in our yard for migrants so I will spend some more time out in the garden later today.  Nice thing about warblers in the fall is that they feed such lower in the trees and will often come in to where other birds gather to investigate.  So although they don't eat seeds or other bird food themselves, they are attracted to the activity of other feeder birds like titmice, chickadees and finches.

Hubs is still having to take it very easy.  A short course of steroids is helping with pain, but too much standing or walking definitely isn't good.  And, unfortunately, biking is out of the question right now.

Dark with chili today.  

xo
Debbi