There was a yet another brilliant storm tonight. After some furious rainfall, including lighting, there was a beautiful show of cloud-to-cloud lightning:
We have been having some amazing storms lately, which has, I believe, pulled us out of the drought we were having earlier this summer. However, it also lead to the image on the right showing up on my phone the other day. Those are all warnings, and after a day that hit 97 degrees, we had a brutal storm that produced two tornadoes that touched down in the area. Tornadoes are quite unusual here. The rain was so heavy it sounded like hail and it caused some carnage in areas where there were no twisters. In my town, numerous trees fell, blocking roads and knocking out power for much of the area. The good thing is, the wildlife is very lively now that there is lost of water. Insects have been especially happy, breeding like crazy and forming clouds so thick at night that you're constantly waving at your face. What follows are some of the photos I have managed to capture over the past week. My favorite is the assassin bug! I believe it is a Zelus longipes.
An assassin bug. I saw two species on the same bush
I also was able to go to a restaurant nearby that has a beautiful view of a salt marsh. Good food, too. Everything is locally caught and fresh when in season. Of course, I was more interested in the life growing on and around the dock:
Ocean is over that-a way. The dock is for customers. The cones are to keep away birds and keep the dock poop-free.
Oyster beds and Spartina marsh grass showing the high tide line.
Fiddler crabs in the oyster beds
Dock pilings with barnacles and bivalves. Luckily, no sign of the invasive titan acorn barnacle, which is taking over.
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