Colorful Morning Glories was what I really was looking forward to on our new arbor. The white Moonflowers have stolen the show in both number and size, but there have been a few lovely Morning Glory blooms.
A recent overnight rain left some well placed drops.
August 22, 2026
I wasn’t sure… I’d photographed around this statue before, mostly flowers and insects…could I have missed a frog as part of the installation?
I walked around this little pond several times…
…the frog never moved. The frog was not there when I went back yesterday to see the azaleas, so he must have been the real deal.
With only a 100mm lens with me I couldn’t get far enough away to get an image of the whole pond.
Middleton Place, Charleston, SC
February 15, 2023
An assortment of Tree Frogs has been hanging out with my back yard flowers all summer and Elephant Ear stems have been a favorite spot to snooze.
The Black-eyed Susan made a nice backdrop.
While watching the Roseate Skimmer featured in yesterday’s post I noticed a bloom in one of my pots that was nearly the same color as the dragonfly.
Sometimes if you wait long enough an insect will land where you would like to take its picture.
I don’t know the plant, it is a volunteer from one I had a few years ago. It doesn’t look exactly the same, but that fluffy magenta is familiar.
September 3, 2022
We haven’t had many dragonfly visitors in our back yard this summer. Conditions have been wetter and hotter, with no overnight cooldowns. I have no idea if this plays a part or if there are other forces in play.
Today I was quite pleased to spot this Roseate Skimmer perching on a dried hibiscus stem on the patio.
I was even more pleased that he was still there after I went in for my camera.
He stayed around for quite awhile, with the classic dragonfly behavior of returning to the same perch, giving me plenty of viewing options.
September 3, 2022
After finding my backyard bird feeder on the ground two mornings in a row I put up the trail cam.
Ah ha! I had brought the feeder in, but there was plenty of seed scattered around the ground.
A couple of nights later, I discovered the Raccoon had company: check out the pair of eyes on the fence, just to the left of the pole.
Here’s a low quality 20 second video where you can see the owl’s eyes change as it turns its head.
Update: depending on how you are viewing this post, the video may not play. On Ted’s iPad, viewing through WP Reader, the controls are visible but nothing happens 🙁.
The raccoon came back about an hour later and there was no sign of the Owl. The camera had not picked up his movements coming or going.
I’m identifying the bird as a Barred Owl based on size and regularly hearing one in the area.
GardePro A3 Trail Camera
Dragonflies have amazing compound eyes.
One remarkable feature is how the eyes look to us, changing with just a flip of the head.
August 25, 2021
A tiny creature, and new to me with those serious looking spikes, this Arrow-shaped Micrathena is only about 0.25 inches (6 mm) long.
A second one was in a more secretive spot in a plant.
The visible stabilimentum, the zigzagged strand of webbing, seen above the spider in the next image is how I happened to notice the spider as it waved in the afternoon breeze.
August 13, 2021
