Nights and days of the Furies, #positivity

A tastier version offered by Publix. image from Daily Mail UK.

that’s some exhausted, waterlogged soil…FL photo courtesy TG Boback

It’s been a busy storm season in the southern states. Harvey and Irma fumed and convulsed*, leaving victims across all genera and habitat. Since I can’t help it, I’ll mention some aggravating and/or culpable unmentionables…climate change, sea level rise, greenhouse gases, heat island effect, scientific censorship, global emissions, human population growth, consumption.

…note giant skyscraper shadow across Central Park. image from Time Magazine.

“Expansion always, in all ways“™ – this gem courtesy of Million Dollar Listing’s Ryan Serhant. (at left, in said listing.)  In other words, the goal of nearly every organism. Thinking about this gross pervasive consumerist attitude while hearing endless coverage of various storm tragedies made for some negative head-space.

don’t worry, s/he found the open flowers. Ruby-throated hummingbird and Lobelia puberula, I think…

Cloudless sulphur, enjoying adjacent plant.

Anyway. Despite the weather and attitude, there have been some pretty cool yard sightings lately! We rescued some Lobelia puberula (I think…the perennial blue Lobelias make a confusing genus!**) from new development last year, and what were tiny plants returned this summer to become alluring (and also toxic) giants. Seriously. They are about 4′ tall, and have been covered in butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds since starting to bloom about 2 weeks ago. Since they have long racemes of flowers that start blooming from the bottom up, and seem to occasionally send out secondary racemes, this perennial has a LOOONNNGG bloom period.

bee-u-tee-ful, eh? this guy/gal was YUGE.

female or immature male Painted bunting, no, no, no, YES! flingin’ out everything but the millet.

At the end of August, we spotted this brand new Blinded sphinx moth, Paonias excaecata, hanging out on Atlantic white cedar, Chamaecyparis thyoides. The caterpillars of this species feast on a wide variety of plants, so who knows whence*** it came. And just in the last few days, some Painted buntings, Red-eyed vireos, and Veeries have been haunting the Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana and Yaupon, Ilex vomitoria, and feeders.

Red-eyed vireo – this summer resident has been foraging in the giant  Callicarpa americana and Morella cerifera in our front yard for the last 3 days.

*Moil would be another good description, especially for Harvey.

there ya go.

**  “Lobelia puberula is a polymorphic
species with numerous forms (McVaugh 1936)
that have been considered varieties by some
authors (Fernald 1947).”- from Researchgate, KEYS, DISTRIBUTION, AND TAXONOMIC NOTES FOR THE LOBELIA (LOBELIA, CAMPANULACEAE) OF ALABAMA AND ADJACENT STATES, Daniel D. Spaulding, T. Wayne Barger

*** did you know that ‘from whence’ is redundant? I didn’t, until checking usage for this post…