Solstice

The longest day began with a fierce sun.  A squirrel fell in the pool.  I heard the splash and looked in time to see it scramble out and shoot up the red cedar where it sat and dripped.  One of the female cardinals also lost her head feathers.  Titmice seemed to be everywhere which suggests a nest-full fledged.  The white breasted nuthatch also visited but kept running into more aggressive birds.  The same thing happened to a downy woodpecker.  The goldfinches showed up separately and the female stayed in the dogwood. 

Dragonflies were out.  Blue dashers used the patio perches while a Carolina saddlebags cruised over the creek.  It finally perched by the neighbors' bug zapper, over a spiderweb.  And in the creek, I saw a jellyfish.  A periwinkle snail was stuck up in the hot sun at the end of a stick in the mud. 

A couple of skinks escaped being photographed. A bluebird appeared at lunchtime.  It was either female or immature without much blue.  It did not notice the mealworms, alas.  

Swallows flew over the pool and I heard a lot of chatter up in the oak.  A hummer visited the feeder in the late afternoon.  I saw a small butterfly, maybe a spring azure or a hairstreak.  While I was tying up the hibiscus stalks, a female pondhawk flew past my legs.

This is the first full moon to coincide with a solstice since 1948, according to National Geographic.  I did not pay attention in 1948.