Sunshine

A goldfinch paused briefly on the way to the neighbors' feeder.  Maybe I should get a thistle sock?  Two brown headed nuthatches joined the usual three species.  The day looks lovely so far, cloudless and breezy.

Titmice had a hard time getting their turn at the feeder.  A hummer chased off a chickadee and another hummer, only to be run off by a bee.  Dragonflies are glittering in the morning sun.  A different squirrel got a sugar fix from the hummer feeder.

At lunch time a Carolina wren showed up.  All three swallowtails - black, tiger, and palamedes - flitted around, and there is a swallowtail chrysalis on the pool ladder.  Other butterflies included a red spotted purple, a cloudless sulphur, and a gray hairstreak.  The hindwings of one hairstreak were nipped around the orange spot, presumably by a bird that mistook them for eyes.  An amazing variety of bees and wasps are enjoying the rosemary, but no honeybees.  A small skink ventured out of its crack. 

Later I found a larger skink in the skimmer which was stuffed full of leaves from the NE wind.  An osprey sailed over and kept going.  Geese paddled upstream and later came flying back. Little skippers joined the bees on the rosemary.  Dragonflies battled the wind.  An amberwing hunkered down in the rosemary.  Thread-waisted wasps have appeared. I think the figs are done.