Sunday, September 23, 2018

On the Patio

Yesterday was the Autumnal Equinox, so it seemed a good time to highlight some of the seasonal changes on the patio. We got another rain earlier in the month, perhaps a sign that Autumn is coming:


We haven't seen as many butterflies this year as we usually do, but there've been some swallowtails and some pretty yellow ones, a number of little white butterflies, and I got this picture of an orange butterly (a Gulf Fritillary?):


and some photos of an entirely different kind of orange butterfly, (perhaps a Monarch?):


The swallowtails still come to the flowers, but are looking quite ragged this late in the year.


We've had a hard time attracting cardinals, but we finally found a feeder that does the trick:


The problem is that the feeder the cardinals like is readily accessible to the squirrels and chipmunks *sigh* They should just call them chipmunk feeders and be done with it:



This female cardinal ventured down for water:



The hummingbirds pulled a stunt I'd never seen, with one hanging upside down from a Dracena leaf while the other poked and prodded until they both flew away.


I find hummingbirds hard to photograph, but I got a couple of videos. In this one you can see and hear the hummingbird up in the dogwood tree:



and in the one below you see the hummingbird at the feeder:




We still have some coneflowers blooming:


and some caterpillars on the rue:



The opossum has been a new visitor we get a kick out of watching. She (he?) has only come twice, several days apart around 11:00 PM, and hunts bugs with enthusiasm:


She patrols the perimeter, looks in the door at us, and gets a drink. We're in favor of anything that keeps bugs at bay and doesn't want to come inside.

Yesterday was a gray, drizzly day with a high in the low 70s -perfect weather for the equinox observance!

18 comments:

  1. I loved seeing your garden. What a beautiful oasis. the rain was mesmerizing and meditative. We had a few butterflies earlier in the season, but not many. So glad you were able to get the cardinals to come to visit. You can try attaching a Slinky toy on the pole so the chipmunks can't climb or maybe grease the pole with some cooking spray? i tried crushed red pepper in with the bird seed, but that didn't stop the chippies. The hummer was fascinating to watch. I have one that comes around for the honeysuckle at the beginning of Summer. I don't have a hummingbird feeder. Hard enough keeping the bird feeders full with seed without making simple syrup. The possum is sort of cute, but glad he's happy to stay outside.

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    1. Greasing the pole doesn't help, but I'll see if I can attach a slinky on it. Thx!

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  2. I love your patio. Therefore I always enjoy these posts. You get so much wildlife there. Wow-that opossum is amazing. We once had one under our gas grill eating the drippings. You got super night photos of him(her?). And we also seem to have fewer butterflies this year. I hope it's such natural trend (like the gazillion squirrels around this year) and it's some some terrible environmental issue where we are losing butterflies. Love the hummingbird videos too. Ours have gone for the season so it is good to see them again. OK, I have babbled enough. Happy Sunday. Hugs-Erika

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    1. The 'possum seems to have moved on. She just came those 2 times, and what I read seems to say that they ramble and don't stay in one place. We did get a big kick out of it! :) We're having light rain today, so it really does feel more like fall now, tho predictions are for highs in the upper 80s later this week lol

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  3. Really enjoyed the rain video - the sound is so nice & your garden/patio is SO lush & lovely. We had a hummingbird trapped in the garage which took us forever to get out - which only happened when in exhaustion he collasped in a box which we took outside & then after 15 minutes of rest flew to the birch tree & then away with his life ...
    Possums are still fairly new to our area & I don't like them, not good for horses. The only thing that keeps the numbers down are our return to bitterly cold snowy winters.

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    1. I didn't realize possums were bad for horses... I see them as a form of pest control ;)

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  4. I just LOVE your patio! Possums and hummers, even. You are so lucky! :)

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    1. The possum seems to have wandered on. What a shame :(

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    2. The couple of ground squirrels I saw in the spring never returned. I'm afraid they trapped and killed them. :(

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    3. We have more chipmunks than anything else, and though they are adorable to watch, if I could get rid of them I would. They dig under everything and compromise foundations.

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  5. Your patio looks wonderful. Great to see the opossom, too, I have never seen one. We had an autumn storm here with rain, wind and wild weather. Have a great week, Valerie

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    1. Thx! We're in the middle of a couple of straight days of light rain. It's been a refreshing change, though highs back in the 80s are back so Autumn may never actually come lol

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  6. I love your patio and tried to turn mine into one similar to yours. Unfortunately, mine is a disaster compared to yours. I loved the videos, and enjoyed the photos, too. They show what a real patio can be like.

    I have also had quite a few white butterflies this year and some I couldn't identify. Saturday was the perfect day in KS. Mid 70s, sun, and a mild breeze. Both Sally and I commented on how it could stay this temperature forever and we'd be happy.

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    1. Awww, you're so kind! I've found that grouping the plants, bunching them together gives me the look I want for sitting out there, and having the surrounding flowerbed and fence helps define the space. It's a work in progress. I did try to identify the white butterflies but never got a photo good enough to work from. Mid 70s makes for good fall weather, I think. We're back up into the 80s now, but that's pretty average here for this time of year iirc.

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  7. what a great post!!
    I adore hummingbirds!!
    I have five feeders for them..one by the entry two by our kitchen window and two in our backyard in the orange tree..sometimes when I go out to feed them, I'm fortunate enough to have them come up to the feeder I'm holding!!!!
    Your garden is amazing:)
    Love the possum..we don't have anything like that here..if we do, I have never ever seen one in person...maybe at the zoo.
    Have a great week!

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    1. The hummingbirds will come if I'm out there but are easily spooked and won't come if I'm close to the feeder. To have them come to me while I'm holding the feeder would be exciting! Possums are common here but shy. This is only the second time I've seen one at a house where I lived.

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  8. Oh, how I loved seeing your beautiful patio and visitors 😁. The videos are superb and that little opossom is so so cute, nice of he/she to clear out the bugs for you ...lol 😉. Thanks for the smiles and I hope you have a wonderful week! J 😊 x

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    1. Thx! We're having some gray days and rain these last few days, which makes it feel more like fall to me :)

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