Not what you'd think...

I was wandering along the edge of our woods with my macro lens today, scoping out insects when I saw this huge creature perched on a leaf.  My initial thought was that it was a hornet because of the size and overall appearance.  However, I quickly realized that it was a flower fly.  As best as I can tell, it is a Wasp-like Falsehorn (Temnostoma alternans) and represents a yard-first for me.  I was only able to get a few shots before he/she was off doing whatever flower flies do when they look like hornets.  One thing is fairly certain, she doesn't need to fear being eaten by a bird!

And speaking of birds, we are finally starting to see a few more hummers.  Nowhere near what we usually see, but maybe a start.  They are being very illusive at the moment.  And the Gray Catbirds have discovered that the colony of Great Golden Diggers represent a very easy meal.  No, they don't eat the wasps, but they chase the wasp until it drops it's katydid and then rushed in to gobble up the katydid.  And one smart catbird was observed to just sit in the tree next to the walkway and wait for the wasp to place her prey next to the burrow (they always go into the burrow first before bringing in the prey) and then darted in and grabbed the katydid.  The poor wasps were so confused when they came out to find that their egg host was missing.  

Hubs and I had an uneventful visit with our dermatologist today.  He looked at my skin and talked about ongoing care and what I can do to prevent a recurrence of the radiation rash (yikes, I didn't even know that was a possibility!)  

Lots of rain showers and thunderstorms in the area, so I didn't try to take the kayak out.  Plenty to see in the garden today as it turned out.  

I put two shots on Flickr if you'd care to have a look:
Digger with her prey, sitting on my knee
Cool new crab spider

And I think nest box 5 is hatching today.  The box is almost completely filly with sticks so it's very hard to get a shot with my cell phone that isn't completely out of focus.  But, it looked like at least some of the eggs are now floppy, bald, blind little baby wrens now.  When I check Box 6 today there wasn't a female on the nest, so I'm not sure if she was out foraging or if the nest has been abandoned.  I'll know soon enough because those eggs should be hatching this week.  Meanwhile, the resident male has another female interested in my garden nest box.  What a little hot shot he is!

Dark with nuts today, I think...

xo
Debbi