Breezy

Both feeders were refilled under a bright blue sky.  Butterflies went by too fast to identify.  A female goldfinch tried to wrest seeds from picked over sunflowers.  A female house finch huddled on the feeder perch.  A mourning dove poked around the patio. 

At lunch a hummer visited.  The male cardinals got into a fight.  Tiger and black swallowtails and an orange butterfly flitted randomly, or so it seemed.  A slaty skimmer clung to a perch.  K said she saw a frog jump into the pool.

A yellow crowned night heron stalked along the spartina when I went out to deal with the pool.  A red admiral flitted around the deep end.  I startled a skinklet that dashed up the trunk of the cedar.  The pool was more full of wind-blown vegetation than rainwater. Apparently the moonflower vine had a blossom last night but it had shriveled when I noticed it. 

A red spotted purple landed on the skimmer cover, possibly attracted by salts in the DE.  Two dragonflies, one slaty and one bar winged, disputed over perch preference but eventually each settled on its own.  A thread waisted wasp fed on the rosemary. 

I saw a full grown skink peering over the top of the retaining wall, at me I thought.  Suddenly it shot forward and another skinklet ran for its life.  As you see, it did escape, but now I wonder if the adult would have eaten it.  An osprey circled very high in the intense blue sky.