Summer thoughts on the outside yard, insects, and birds.

[Value Buy]

We have had an abnormally wet spring and wet early summer, and I think it has brought out the Dragon flies in record numbers here.
I remember seeing them when I was much younger, but always around ponds and swampy areas.
We have them all over the yard this month.
Beautiful insects, and they come in all sizes and colors. I have seen a few around the yard in recent years, but this year, we are over run with them. I have also seen plenty of toads in our flower beds this year, many more than usual.
The Japanese beetles finally made their annual return two weeks later than normal. The rose bushes are decimated as well as a few ornamental plants they love. I try not to spray, as it also kills the bumble bees and honey bees that are attracted to them.
Probably late this year because they never seem to come out until temps are around 90 degrees for a period of time, usually last of June, first week of July. 
I have allowed milkweed plants to grow in an area near our garage door the last few years, when I read Monarch butterflies are attracted to them.
Last year we had no arrivals.
This year, we have them all over the place. Again just a beautiful insect.
That is good news because Monarch numbers have dropped tremendously the last few years.

Crows and Blue Jays have virtually disappeared again this year.  I do not think the West Nile virus is currently around our area, but do remember a few years ago these birds were decimated by the virus.
Red Tail hawks also seem scarce this summer.
Which brings me to mosquitoes.
We have never been attacked by them as bad as this year. Pull the car in the driveway, hit the garage remote, and wait for the door to go up, and not uncommon to have maybe 20 of them on the windshield waiting for you. 
I guess we have to take the bad with the good.

How is it in your neck of the woods? Anything different than usual?

[lexxy703]

It is hot, hot, hot here this year.  It is usually hot here but it came early & hasn't relented.  We had an unusually large amount of tree frogs earlier.  They were quite vocal.  They have either mated by now or I am so used to their sound that I no longer notice.  I haven't seen any stink bugs or Japanese beetles all summer.  The Japanese beetles usually show up right about the 4th of July every year.  I have a lot more weeds in my garden this year because it is hot & I am lazy but I think that one explains itself.

[NoNamePerson]

I've noticed so many more lightening bugs. Now that takes me back to my childhood.

For the longest time you just didn't see them as they were almost killed off by insecticides.

[wyouser]

Hot, humid and unusual rainfall amounts. We have loads of mosquitos and a massive number of aphids raising cain with anything of a fruit or flowering plant. I used to battle dandylions, but this year , we are besieged with damn Chinese elm trees....they are sprouting everywhere. On the other hand, Wyoming continues to display her new shade of brown as we are about to enter August...and....its still spelled....GREEN!!!!

[NoNamePerson]

Jul 29, 2015 15:15:56 GMT -5 wyouser said:

Hot, humid and unusual rainfall amounts. We have loads of mosquitos and a massive number of aphids raising cain with anything of a fruit or flowering plant. I used to battle dandylions, but this year , we are besieged with damn Chinese elm trees....they are sprouting everywhere. On the other hand, Wyoming continues to display her new shade of brown as we are about to enter August...and....its still spelled....GREEN!!!!

Maybe you will have an influx of Lady Bugs to enjoy while they eat the aphids..  

[lund]

Cold, in the 50ies almost all summer, and very windy and pretty wet. Not nice, and no going batheing yet this year.
Few apples since it was too cold for insects when the tree bloomed, all flowers very late.
The birds will only get one set of young this year; in a good one, some species manage two.

If it gets warm, we will get an explosion of mosquitoes and no'see'ms (mainly very small mosquitoes belonging to the Ceratopogonidae or Simuliidae families).
Because it is wet, we have an awful lot of snails and slugs.
The deer are eating my roses and my berries.

Now when the days are getting noticeably shorter, I already get a feeling of fall. (I live roughly as far North as Juneau, Alaska, so differences in day length and in darkness are very noticeable. Now it is dark outside, and already before 10 pm. Sigh.)

[Tennesseer]

It has been hot, hot and hot.  Monday, with a heat index, it was 113.  Yesterday, 115.  And right now it is 112.  And it has been dry this month.  Humidity makes it almost intolerable here.

But still seeing bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.  Good year for hummingbirds.  

[Value Buy]

Jul 29, 2015 16:59:41 GMT -5 lund said:

Cold, in the 50ies almost all summer, and very windy and pretty wet. Not nice, and no going batheing yet this year.
Few apples since it was too cold for insects when the tree bloomed, all flowers very late.
The birds will only get one set of young this year; in a good one, some species manage two.

If it gets warm, we will get an explosion of mosquitoes and no'see'ms (mainly very small mosquitoes belonging to the Ceratopogonidae or Simuliidae families).
Because it is wet, we have an awful lot of snails and slugs.
The deer are eating my roses and my berries.

Now when the days are getting noticeably shorter, I already get a feeling of fall. (I live roughly as far North as Juneau, Alaska, so differences in day length and in darkness are very noticeable. Now it is dark outside, and already before 10 pm. Sigh.)

When I started reading the first part of your response, I thought, man, where is this poster from?
We in the lower 48 would love to have some sun after 10 pm.
It's dark here at 9 pm.
Welcome to the board!

[Value Buy]

I had forgotten the lightning bugs. They are not out as much as I remember, especially by mid July.
Not many around this year.

[Deleted]

I'm near Tennesseer and man oh man is it hot. I've never struggled with the heat like I've been struggling these last few weeks. Summer is usually my favorite time of year, but the heat is getting to me for some reason this year.

The only thing I've noticed in my yard is that I seem to see more spiders. I hate spiders.

Maybe the spiders are keeping the other insects under control. I run from most insects anyway, but did I mention I especially hate spiders?

I don't really notice mosquitoes because they rarely bite me. That's one instance where I'm definitely happy to not be liked.

[alabamagal]

We wer amazed at the lightning bugs last night.

This is our first year in Alabama. We did not have them inS Ga.

We have a small yard with woods on the other side of the fence. There were so many lightning bugs in the woods it looked like Christmas lights.

[NoNamePerson]

Jul 29, 2015 17:07:57 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I had forgotten the lightning bugs. They are not out as much as I remember, especially by mid July.
Not many around this year.

They have come to my backyard!   

[Artemis Windsong]

The wind has been blowing so hard the birds are flying backward.  The insects are hunkered down.  I put bug wash on the front of my car to drive out into the country.  Not one bug splat.

[NoNamePerson]

We've had so much rain that I'm replanting my tomatoes with water lillies. And for me to say so much rain is saying something since we average 65" a year!!  

[toomuchreality]

Jul 29, 2015 20:10:48 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

The wind has been blowing so hard the birds are flying backward.  The insects are hunkered down.  I put bug wash on the front of my car to drive out into the country.  Not one bug splat.

Bug wash? 

I've never heard of this, but would very much like some, before I go to the cabin in a week or so. Where do you get it? What brand? etc...
Can you put it on your windshield?


Thanks! (very much!)

[toomuchreality]

Welcome lund !

[toomuchreality]

I haven't been out too much this year. The bugs and spiders are creeping me out more than usual. In fact, I was applying some Raid Max bug barrier just a hour or so ago.  I certainly am not looking forward to the cold weather! 

[lund]

Thank you, Value Buy!
I'm on the other side of the Atlantic, so my weather may differ a bit from the US weather.
Also, the winters here are milder than in Alaska.
But we usually have at least some summer weeks with temperatures over 70 F when the bathing temperature is over 65.
I don't think that there has been such a bad summer since 2000.

The summer nights here are nice. At the end of June, the nights only get half dark, like dusk, for perhaps five hours. Now they are dark again, and last for about eight hours.

[lund]

And thank you too, Toomuchreality!

[Tennesseer]

We had one teenager die yesterday from heat exhaustion after high school football practice.  

And then there was the idiot couple here who went to a 1 p.m. movie and left their small dog in the car with just one window slightly cracked and a small cup of water.  At the time of the movie, the temp was 96 degrees with a heat index of 113 degrees.  Some teens saw the dog in distress and broke the car window to free the ill dog.

The teens put the dog in their car and raced it to a local vet hospital.  The dog died in transit.  The dog's owners said they did not realize it was that hot outside what with their car not parked under any shade.

[Value Buy]

Jul 30, 2015 3:41:38 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

I haven't been out too much this year. The bugs and spiders are creeping me out more than usual. In fact, I was applying some Raid Max bug barrier just a hour or so ago.  I certainly am not looking forward to the cold weather! 

We usually see the spider infestations in August. Not too many yet.

[toomuchreality]

Jul 30, 2015 8:42:05 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Jul 30, 2015 3:41:38 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

I haven't been out too much this year. The bugs and spiders are creeping me out more than usual. In fact, I was applying some Raid Max bug barrier just a hour or so ago.  I certainly am not looking forward to the cold weather! 

We usually see the spider infestations in August. Not too many yet.

OMG  Spider infestations?!?!  Oh my freaking goodness!  I could not deal with that.  Heck, I can't deal with a single spider! 


You may have heard me tell this story before. Once I called the office where I live, for help with what I thought was a large dead spider. The manager came up to help me first thing (Not normally her style). It turned out to be lint! I didn't believe it, so when she told me, I said "Let me see." But when she held it out for me to look at, I had become so freaked out by it,  in my head, I couldn't even look!  We laugh about it now- sort of. 

creeps me all the way out!   Ooh, I don't even like this pic!   I may have to remove it.




Good luck to you, in your garden etc.

[lexxy703]

I have my exterior sprayed for spiders, ticks, fleas & assorted other creepy crawlies.  It is well worth it to me.

[Opti]

Jul 30, 2015 8:38:00 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

We had one teenager die yesterday from heat exhaustion after high school football practice.  

And then there was the idiot couple here who went to a 1 p.m. movie and left their small dog in the car with just one window slightly cracked and a small cup of water.  At the time of the movie, the temp was 96 degrees with a heat index of 113 degrees.  Some teens saw the dog in distress and broke the car window to free the ill dog.

The teens put the dog in their car and raced it to a local vet hospital.  The dog died in transit.  The dog's owners said they did not realize it was that hot outside what with their car not parked under any shade.

That really sucks. I'm glad the dog had some young teens with it that cared enough they were trying to save it. RIP . And thank you kind teens!

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Jul 30, 2015 4:51:22 GMT -5 lund said:

Thank you, Value Buy!
I'm on the other side of the Atlantic, so my weather may differ a bit from the US weather.
Also, the winters here are milder than in Alaska.
But we usually have at least some summer weeks with temperatures over 70 F when the bathing temperature is over 65.
I don't think that there has been such a bad summer since 2000.

The summer nights here are nice. At the end of June, the nights only get half dark, like dusk, for perhaps five hours. Now they are dark again, and last for about eight hours.

Welcome to the board lund. I've been in Iceland in June and it never got real dark and it was cold.

[lexxy703]

Jul 30, 2015 8:38:00 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

We had one teenager die yesterday from heat exhaustion after high school football practice.  

And then there was the idiot couple here who went to a 1 p.m. movie and left their small dog in the car with just one window slightly cracked and a small cup of water.  At the time of the movie, the temp was 96 degrees with a heat index of 113 degrees.  Some teens saw the dog in distress and broke the car window to free the ill dog.

The teens put the dog in their car and raced it to a local vet hospital.  The dog died in transit.  The dog's owners said they did not realize it was that hot outside what with their car not parked under any shade.

Why would they even take their dog along if they were going to the movies?  I let my dog ride along when I was running errands.  He loved to go to the bank because they gave him a biscuit but the movies is 2+ hours of the dog just sitting in the car.  Stupid thoughtless idiots.

[Artemis Windsong]

Jul 30, 2015 2:57:57 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

Jul 29, 2015 20:10:48 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

The wind has been blowing so hard the birds are flying backward.  The insects are hunkered down.  I put bug wash on the front of my car to drive out into the country.  Not one bug splat.

Bug wash? 

I've never heard of this, but would very much like some, before I go to the cabin in a week or so. Where do you get it? What brand? etc...
Can you put it on your windshield?


Thanks! (very much!)

I think I got it from Walmart in the auto section.  Prestone brand is made for your windshield washer BUT if you live where the weather freezes, probably not a good idea because we forget it's in there then it freezes.  I just put it on a rag, predrive, and wipe the front of the car and mirror backs.  You can also do this with the windshield wash in the bin when you gas up.  It helps keep the bugs from setting so hard.  They also wash off easier.

I learned this from my SIL who drove gazillion of miles.  He was trading a car. They said there was too much bug damage.  That is where he learned to use the coating to protect the car's finish.

[toomuchreality]

Jul 30, 2015 16:46:06 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

Jul 30, 2015 2:57:57 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

Bug wash? 

I've never heard of this, but would very much like some, before I go to the cabin in a week or so. Where do you get it? What brand? etc...
Can you put it on your windshield?


Thanks! (very much!)

I think I got it from Walmart in the auto section.  Prestone brand is made for your windshield washer BUT if you live where the weather freezes, probably not a good idea because we forget it's in there then it freezes.  I just put it on a rag, predrive, and wipe the front of the car and mirror backs.  You can also do this with the windshield wash in the bin when you gas up.  It helps keep the bugs from setting so hard.  They also wash off easier.

I learned this from my SIL who drove gazillion of miles.  He was trading a car. They said there was too much bug damage.  That is where he learned to use the coating to protect the car's finish.

Thanks!    Great idea!

[lund]

Thank you Ken a.k.a. OMK!

Iceland usually has a more even temperature with cooler summers and warmer winters than I am used to, and it is a bit further North than I am. But I have been there in June too, and found it very nice for trekking. The nice thermally heated city pools (plus the touristy Blue Lagoon) made swimming comfortably warm in spite of the air temperature.

[weltschmerz]

Jul 29, 2015 14:02:11 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

We have had an abnormally wet spring and wet early summer, and I think it has brought out the Dragon flies in record numbers here.
I remember seeing them when I was much younger, but always around ponds and swampy areas.
We have them all over the yard this month.
Beautiful insects, and they come in all sizes and colors. I have seen a few around the yard in recent years, but this year, we are over run with them. I have also seen plenty of toads in our flower beds this year, many more than usual.
The Japanese beetles finally made their annual return two weeks later than normal. The rose bushes are decimated as well as a few ornamental plants they love. I try not to spray, as it also kills the bumble bees and honey bees that are attracted to them.
Probably late this year because they never seem to come out until temps are around 90 degrees for a period of time, usually last of June, first week of July. 
I have allowed milkweed plants to grow in an area near our garage door the last few years, when I read Monarch butterflies are attracted to them.
Last year we had no arrivals.
This year, we have them all over the place. Again just a beautiful insect.
That is good news because Monarch numbers have dropped tremendously the last few years.

Crows and Blue Jays have virtually disappeared again this year.  I do not think the West Nile virus is currently around our area, but do remember a few years ago these birds were decimated by the virus.
Red Tail hawks also seem scarce this summer.
Which brings me to mosquitoes.
We have never been attacked by them as bad as this year. Pull the car in the driveway, hit the garage remote, and wait for the door to go up, and not uncommon to have maybe 20 of them on the windshield waiting for you. 
I guess we have to take the bad with the good.

How is it in your neck of the woods? Anything different than usual?

At the lake house in Lanaudiere, there are no more toads. No more bats. No more bees. No more native mussels in the lake. No more wood peckers.

We do have an influx of turkey vultures. They're pretty cool. They're quite beautiful when they soar so gracefully on the wind currents.