Boneset (white) and Joe Pye weed (pink) begin blooming in masses / Mouse population is on the rise. Both deer mice and white-footed mice are omnivorous, eating insects and worms as well as all sorts of seeds. White-footed mice forage in the early part of the night. They call it quits around 1 am – just when deer mice become most active / Eastern newts can co-exist with fish in permanent ponds, protected from predation by toxic secretions in their skin

August 12: Peak of Perseid meteor shower. This shower produces about 60 meteors per hour and is fairly consistent from year to year / Backswimmers patrol the surface of ponds, nabbing mosquito larvae as they come up for air / On hot days the beautiful blue flowers of chicory will fold up by noon / Chokecherries and the first blackberries are ripe, but black cherries are still green

Jewelweed flowers are a mecca for butterflies, hummingbirds, bumblebees, and honeybees / Fall webworm tents begin to show in apples, cherries, and many roadside trees / Look for bright green monarch chrysalises attached to houses, wood piles, or the undersurface of leaves / Last of snowshoe hare young are born. Females may produce up to three litters, beginning in May / Newborn spiders, hanging from strands of gossamer, may ride the winds for two weeks

Hummingbirds drop their temperature at night to conserve energy. They enter a state of torpor, but since they weigh a mere tenth of an ounce, they can warm and revive themselves very quickly / All summer, aphids have been providing ants with honeydew. Now the ants are carrying the aphids underground to keep them safe through the winter / Chickadees have finished nesting and begin to form winter flocks / Insect music replaces bird song, a sign of summer’s end