Cloudy & breezy

Windows were fogged early but the wind ended the humidity.  The palamedes swallowtail made it through the night.  Apparently annoyed by the bees, it has moved off the rosemary.  Its wings are still a mess.  An amberwing lurked in the grass.  Sulphurs and the other two swallowtails are around.  Finches and cardinals and hummers are feeding.

I saw a different bee today, honeybee size but with stripes more like a yellowjacket.  I suspect it is a bee mimic and probably a fly.  

A skink crossed the lower patio.  Dragonflies, including a female pondhawk, flew across the yard and over the house without pausing.  Sulphurs headed the other way, crossing the creek.  Chickadees and a nuthatch showed up in the afternoon and wrens lurked under the pea vine. The wind out of the Southwest grounded a lot of fliers and pushed the clouds along quickly. 

As darkness fell, a mantis landed on the door.  It was between me and my camera and I had to make it fly away so we could go in.