Partly cloudy

A pair of downy woodpeckers came for seeds.  So did a male goldfinch and titmice.  The adult cardinals were getting annoyed at the fledglings, especially the cowbird.  The hummer juice was still acceptable but so was the Mexican sage.

As the morning wore on, it became clear that the hummer juice needed replacement.  Fortunately, there were flowers.  The hummer was bolder around other birds and even seemed to persecute the tailless titmouse.  I could hear bluejays and glimpse robins.  A Carolina wren took some mealworms.  A juvenile yellow crowned night heron rested on the dock. 

The spartina argiope was still there.  Spiderlings hatched in the corner of a low window.  The painted lady was back, hanging around the hackberry.  A black swallowtail checked out the rue and a fiery skipper returned to the sunflower.  Mud dauber wasps made many trips from the shoreline to the nest under the eaves.  Yesterday it had a neat round hole, but today it was all plastered up. 

The female goldfinch came at lunchtime.  Robins ate cherries.  K swapped hummer feeders which made the hummer(s) happy.  A flycatcher called from the bushes.  Meanwhile, down at the dam a little green heron and a snowy egret fished.  I saw the first dragonfly of the day. 

After lunch, the juvenile yellow crowned night heron walked around the pool and caught a bug.  It then walked up the steps to the door and settled in.  It also dropped and spread its wings in the pose that a great blue uses to defend territory.  And it vibrated its throat with its beak open - gular fluttering.  I took a video, see below.  Experts said it was overheated and doing this to cool off.  The bird came back to the dock in the evening.