Morning was very hot and very humid and the sun felt scorching. Birds were feasting on the wild cherries. I saw the cardinals courting in the tree. I went outside before lunch and picked blueberries. A male widow skimmer flashed in the sun. There were blue dashers, naturally. And a lovely female skimmer (slaty or great blue) perched in the neighbors' birch. A sidewalk tiger beetle raced about. A brown thrasher lurked.
And then a white breasted nuthatch appeared on the dogwood trunk. An osprey landed in the big pine next door. A hummer visited her feeder. A titmouse preened in the dogwood. The bluebirds were after cherries, or possibly bugs, in the wild cherry tree. It did not keep the female from the mealworms. A skink climbed the wall. An itchy squirrel yearned for the hummer juice.
But beginning at lunch time, the wind blew the temperature down. It shoved cumulus across the sky under a higher, wispier, stationary layer of clouds. The sun was frequently blocked and that plus the moving air made the afternoon more pleasant. At lunch, a blue-black mud wasp zoomed around the patio and I could never quite catch it with the camera. A black swallowtail briefly visited the herbs. I did catch a green metallic tiger beetle rafting in the pool.
An egret fished along the bulkhead, then preened on our dock. Three osprey circled overhead, calling with their unexpectedly sweet voices. Also a twelve spotted skimmer, I think, patrolled the air over the pool. As I was photographing a gray hairstreak with tattered wings, a bluetail skink shot out from under my seat.
When I left for a meeting around 6pm, sprinkles of rain appeared and a light rain was falling as I drove home.
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