Month: July 2020

The river photos below show that afternoon thunderstorms continue around us. We finally did get a little here in the Hollow—almost half an inch in the last week! 🙂 One day it rained a little off and on all day and cooled things off, but mostly our above-normal temperatures have continued.

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It’s been too hot to be out to be outside much today, and I walked early. I hung laundry out on the clothesline before I left. When I glanced out the window sometime after my return, I noticed a big insect on the one of the sheets and, thinking it was a giant horsefly, went to investigate. What a surprise to see this Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis)! I often see them buzzing around the flowers in the garden (especially the Purpletop Vervain, Verbena bonariensis, shown below), but they never seem to rest. I had been struggling to decide on a topic for this post and was happy for the inspiration.

Snowberry Clearwing Hemaris diffinis

Virginian Tiger Moth Spilosoma virginica

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) on common milkweed

Orange Mint Moth Pyrausta orphisalis

Pearl Crescent Phyciodes tharos

Snowberry Clearwing Hemaris diffinis

Clouded Skipper Lerema accius

Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus

Orange Mint Moth Pyrausta orphisalis United States

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus

These are mostly from my rambles in the Hollow. The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) is on Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in the meadow and is one reason why we don’t mow the milkweed. (It’s also a beautiful plant; look at the previous post.)

So we got some rain after the last post, and I’ve also seen some more fawns (finally). The tiny one was behind a neighbor’s house; the one at the beginning of the post showed up just a little while ago and is also pictured below.

Here’s a video of today’s little one:

Spooky sometimes brings her twins; they are as wary as she is. Here they are playing,

and here is one crying for its twin. (They found each other.)

I hear thunder. Besides, it’s time to feed cats and think about my own supper. I’ll try to post again soon.

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Remember! This blog displays best if you follow the link to FrenchBroadHollow.com.

It’s been hot (for here), and we need rain in the Hollow. As you can see in some of the river pics, it’s rained all around us; we’ve had thunder and wind, but my gauge recorded only 0.07″ of rain in the last week.

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I’ve been seeing fawns more often, but I’ve also seen several does without fawns this year. Since I’m pretty sure some of them were pregnant earlier, I am guessing it was a hard spring. Not only does it seem there are fewer fawns, no one in the Hollow has seen baby turkeys this year, although usually I see them regularly when I ramble, and the hens bring them to eat in the meadow. This year I see hens and toms but no babies.

Here are some of the fawns I see. Several are of the same fawn. It must stay in the woods near the house, because the doe and fawn go through the yard often and usually show up to eat. The ones at a distance are a doe with twins.

Twins

Twins

I enjoy watching the “neighbor” fawn investigate the other critters…

including me!

And now for the flowers in the title:

Common Milkweed Asclepias syriaca

Queen Anne’s Lace Daucus carota

Spotted Knapweed Centaurea stoebe

Shasta Daisy Leucanthemum maximum

Common Cat’s-Ear Hypochaeris radicata

Daisy Fleabane Erigeron strigosus

Scarlet Beebalm Monarda didyma

Shrubby St. John’s-Wort Hypericum prolificum

Common Selfheal Prunella vulgaris

Carolina Horsenettle Solanum carolinens

Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta

Oakleaf Hydrangea Hydrangea quercifolia

White Wood Aster Eurybia divaricata

White Avens Geum canadense

Red Clover Trifolium pratense

Naked-flowered Tick-Trefoil Hylodesmum nudiflorum

Let me remind you that I used iNaturalist.org to try to identify these flowers as best I could and welcome any corrections. Thanks. And thanks, too, for the rain that began to fall as I was writing this (a whopping 0.04″ so far!). Who knows? The next post may be about all the rain! And then there might be mushrooms!

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A few days ago (July 12) marked the third anniversary of this blog. This will be the 129th post—not quite weekly, but close!

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If you’ve read very many of those 128 posts, you must have realized that I am somewhat of a nature nerd. I’m interested enough in the nature around me that I actually attended a webinar recently, something I had pretty much happily sworn off after watching too many boring ones when I was still working. Fortunately, this one, Box Turtles: Disappearing Gems of the Forest, presented by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, was interesting and educational. (You can watch it yourself here.) So, although I’ve seen some fawns (so cute!), this post will be mostly about Eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina). Many past posts have featured turtles I see on my walks; these are some that have been near a gravel road during the past few weeks.

Terrapene carolina

terrapene

Box turtles are territorial, and I sometimes see the same ones on the driveway and in the yard and the meadow. (Unfortunately, I later found the empty shell of the small one in the yard and the other small one dead on its back near the road.)

Dead turtle

I also see box turtles in the shallow, wet-weather creek that runs by the road, sometimes singly but several times lately two at a time. (I started walking a short stretch along the creek instead of the road after the webinar.) Others in the Hollow are also interested in nature, and recently my 16-year-old neighbor went for a twilight walk with a couple of friends. They reported having seen EIGHT box turtles in the creek, including four that were “sort of grouped together” (no pics of this, however). Since then, I have seen at least four in the same ~75 yard stretch of the creek several times. (Some of these photos show the same individuals on different days.)

Two turtles in creek

Terrapene carolina

Two turtles in creek

Terrapene carolina

Two turtles in creek

Terrapene carolina

Terrapene carolina

Two turtles in creek

My turtle photos have usually been of the top (carapace) and/or the head as a means of identifying individuals. One of the things I learned from the webinar is that the pastron (bottom) of each turtle is also unique. Some of them are quite beautiful!

Dead turtle

OK, since you managed to read this far, here’s a video of one of the fawns and a turkey.

And that’s about it for today. Next time I’ll show you more deer! 🙂

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Who’s watching? I hope you haven’t been watching your inbox for a new post; it’s been a while. I usually prefer to be outside when the weather is nice, and there’s always something to keep me busy. Today is hot and humid, and I decided to try and get this updated.

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So, who is watching? I’ve been watching for fawns and finally got a brief glimpse of one about 10 days ago. Since then, I’ve seen only a couple of does with their fawns crossing the gravel road (one pair much too close to the highway!) and one pair that passed by the house earlier today.

Who else is watching? Last year’s fawns—Bambi, Bro, and Lil—watch for me most mornings, often from just outside the basement door. And one morning Bambi watched me walk up to him and didn’t even bother to get up!

Tom and Tommy watch for me in the afternoons, although sometimes Tom also watches for hens to see if they will watch him.

And I watch for critters as I walk, although I know they are much more aware of me than I am of them. This year I am being watched by lots of cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus), many more than I remember from past years.

Sometimes I’m watched by deer as I walk; Bambi and Bro recognize me.

And sometimes I watch them take care of their business. 🙂

Now I,m watching the meadow to see if it’s time to feed, watching the muchachos and Moseby as they work on their relationship,

and watching the clock tell me that it’s feeding time! Maybe I’ll see more fawns before the next post!

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