Hello everyone! Well, August is off to a surprising start this year. But, right now the sky is blue, mostly, hard to tell if that is a light layer of cloud or smoke. I will say smoke, though I cannot really smell it right now. It is a warm day, but not overly hot, but the humidity is high which makes it feel a bit warmer. For me, this is nice weather, though most people here consider this too hot.

I am still finding some strange insects out there, got a pic of a really cool one yesterday. I think it is a species of ichneumon wasp, but I have yet to identify it definitely. Yesterday I found out that I would be moving again the end of this month, or Sept. 1 to be exact.

A Common Eastern Bumble Bee, covered with pollen, flying toward a delphinium flower.

Not much time to pack really, considering all the stuff I have in my various collections. It will also end my bird feeding and other critter feeding since I will be living in an apartment building this time, and on the 6th floor, which is the top floor. Somehow I doubt that I will be spending much time on that balcony. Heights and I do not really get along too well anymore. Minor detail.

I will definitely try to get down to the river before I move though, since I will be much too far away to try it after I move. Things will be much different than they are now, that is for sure. But, it is for the best. The chipmunks have sure been busy today. I have been feeding them more peanuts than usual. Have to get rid of them all this month.

One of those huge Northern Paper Wasps flying away from the flowers. I had one bump into me today.

I had stocked up to last until the end of Sept, so now they get two months in one! Funny to watch them, sometimes 5 at a time show up and they all have to wait their turn, although Coffee still tries to fight it out with Pocket, but Pocket still wins.

He is number one around here and Coffee is in second place, GPS is third, Scooter is 4th, then it is the 3 babies. I named one of them Stubby since he has now lost half of his tail. Hard to tell the other two apart, so I have not named them yet. And those little ones just do not like to sit still long enough to get a picture of them.

Another one of those Orange-belted Bumble Bees.

Basically they look like the adults anyway, just smaller, which would be hard to tell in a photo. But I still want a picture of them anyway. Wow, it is late today, time to get out for more pics while the sun shines. Sorry for all the insect pics, it is their time. Have a great day everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2023 Steve McLeod.