Quiet on the home front

I saw very few birds - just crows and some swallows high up.  I know others have been seeing tree swallows so I'm guessing that's what they were.  Something left its skull in the backyard, maybe a rabbit.  It had a rodent-type upper jaw but looked big for a squirrel. 

The black swallowtail caterpillars have been devouring the parsley and there are some on the rue.  Yellow jackets and other wasps were busy.  A yellowjacket was chewing the bench slats to make paper in the nest.  Another walked on my hand when I passed the rosemary.  A cabbage butterfly made the rounds.

The saltmarsh fleabane and the saltbush have both gone to seed and their fluff is blowing in the wind. 

The temperature had dropped when I went out to brick the feeder but the night was still clear enough that I could see the crescent moon.  An hour later it was raining.