The eggs of eastern tent caterpillars that are now being laid in a glob on cherry twigs will survive the winter in an antifreeze solution of glycerol / Muskrats eat freshwater clams, fish, and crustaceans, as well as cattail stalks and roots / Second batch of flying squirrels is born / Eastern newts can co-exist with fish in permanent ponds, protected from predation by toxic secretions in their skin / Katydids are in full chorus; cicada calls are increasing

August 12-13: The Perseids meteor shower produces up to 60 meteors per hour. The moon sets early, so viewing should be good, especially after midnight / August 13: The planets Venus, Mars, and Saturn will all be close to the thin crescent moon this evening. Look to the west just after sunset / Purple loosestrife is blooming. This beautiful, aggressive, non-native plant has become established in nearly every state in the country, plus most of Canada

Drone bumblebees are spending their nights sleeping on goldenrods and other flowers / Bobolinks and meadowlarks are migrating / Stink bugs are often found in the garden hiding beneath growing pumpkins. While their noxious secretion is thought to be a defense mechanism, at least one omnivorous mammal eats them anyway. You guessed it: the skunk / Robins are regrouping into flocks. These gregarious birds will still be in flocks when they return next spring

Many wasps and flies now reproducing in the leaf litter and soil are wingless. Wings are inconvenient in the tiny spaces to be negotiated as these animals search for food or places to lay eggs / Just a taste of the milky white poison that toads secrete from their parotid glands sends most would-be predators off to look for a more palatable meal / Northern water snakes like both water and low sunlit vegetation for basking. Their live young are born now