Turn in the Weather, Season

I heard on the news while driving to work yesterday, that the D.C. schools open in two weeks - the 312th day of the year. Straight-forward reporting that gives a clue that the summer in winding down, as well as the little things like the HVAC on Georgetown East Elementary School occasionally turning on after being off for the summer recess; comments on a local radio talk show about an upcoming interview with the District's superintendent of schools; and so forth - all tell-tale signs that summer is on a downhill slope. Our garden is showing similar signs of decline - many kinds of flowers have passed their prime, so the gold finch are spending as much time on them eating as on the finch feeder - cone flower, black eyed Susan, and sunflower.

The impatiens and spearmint plants are still in flower, as is the Rose of Sharon shrub - and with them, some new pollinators have appeared as well. This morning I saw a Pearl Crescent butterfly (a), a yet- to-be-identified bumble bee, perhaps Bombus bimaculatus (b), and a Sphinx Moth (c). All persistently going from one flower to the next. There was also the same butterfly I
saw last week - I just haven't been able to get a picture yet and make a positive identification - larger than the pearl crescent, but with somewhat similar coloration. This morning there were also Herring Gulls flying far over head, even calling as they passed by. A murder of American Crows were in the tree across the backyard fence squawking as they do, until I got too close and the flew off down the back of the row of houses in our neighborhood, and then back again. There was a House Wren on the fence between our house and our neighbors, along with some invertebrates clinging to the tree next to the fence.

The nice weather outside, the casual watering and weeding around the garden; a quiet Saturday afternoon walking around and looking for sights I haven't noticed before; barbecue for the Navy ensign and Marine second lieutenant who are here the weekend - a nice way to think about the summer starting to come to an end.
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Travel Schedule Quiz

I have three significant work trips over the next three months - not including vacation to the Central California Coast where I will make a serious attempt to try and figure out sea birds. I usually have no time to do any serious birding with my schedules on these kinds of trips, but it is fun to imagine what it would be like to sit around for a couple of days and just spend time looking. Given the three options in the neighboring panel, guess the order of the trips and match the appropriate field guide:

1. China (a)          
2. Argentina/Uruguay (b)
3. Hawaii (c)
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The answer is a fact error found earlier in this blog entry.