Dramatic clouds

At breakfast, the regulars were joined by titmice.  I saw the first morning glory blossom at the top of the feeder post.  About 8am, a fox galloped through the yard.  A little later a dove landed, but didn't stay.  A young hummer was very hungry. 

After my meeting, in the late morning a few raindrops fell - I could see ripples in the water but no marks on the pavement.  The male goldfinch paid no attention as he worked on the sunflower.  I think I saw a wren under the bushes.  The titmice and the regulars were busy at the feeder.  A female slaty skimmer dragonfly used the rosemary for a perch.

Out front, fat carpenter bees worked on the lantana.  Mushrooms, and possibly a slime mold, popped up from the mulch down by the crepe myrtle.  I think the mushrooms may be brackets feeding on the roots of the oak we lost to borers.  A yellow-bronze mushroom I'm guessing was an amanita muscaria began to emerge next to the driveway, but when I looked for it today, it was almost gone.

At lunch, a couple of great egrets disputed possession of the creek shore. A tiger swallowtail flitting through the trees looked at first like the male goldfinch.  A little later I saw a black swallowtail touch down on the water for a drink, I suppose. 

In the afternoon, the clouds continued to boil up and flow off to the Northwest.  Blue jays set up a ruckus in the wooded area and I went to see why.  All I could see was a juvenile night heron on the fence beyond, but even after it flew off the jays kept on, so I guess it must have been a snake.  A brown thrasher, cardinals, and other birds joined the jays. 


By 10pm, the clouds cleared enough that I went out to see the "super moon," now a day passed full.  I had to find a spot without leaves in the way, but I got the craters and maria and old Tycho.