It was definitely a better day for bugs than birds. There were at least four titmice squabbling over the feeder. Before church we saw the ruby throat of the male hummingbird. At lunch, a male bluebird ate cherries. I saw a blue jay, a swallow, and an osprey in flight. The hibiscus was ablaze with flowers and a late gladiolus spear began blooming.
A glorious male Needhams's skimmer perched on one of my bamboo poles. Later, a female great blue skimmer hung out on the same stake. A blue dasher lurked on a camellia leaf and a twelve-spotted skimmer hunted above the pool. A great golden digger wasp and an buckeye butterfly gorged on rue nectar. Other wasps harassed the butterfly. A black swallowtail was more interested in laying eggs than in feeding. A tiny southern purple mint moth hung around the rosemary.
Sidewalk tiger beetles scuttled around the patio, but a bigger, metallic-green tiger beetle got into trouble in the pool. I sloshed it onto the ladder step, then discovered the step was already occupied by a mama spider covered with spiderlings. The two predators faced off. Something I think may have been a scarab beetle lurked in the shadows. Elsewhere a June beetle had climbed a pine needle to rescue itself from the water.
And if that was not enough, I found a small, brown pupa bobbing in the water. I assumed it was dead, but when I laid it on the hot concrete, it thrashed around, so I found it a relatively pleasant place to wait out its metamorphosis, and I can find out what it is.
An egret perched on the dock bench. I heard a squawk and saw a night heron fly off. Then a smaller bird I think was a green heron flew downstream. While the sky was clear all day except for wispy cumulus, it grew hazy in the evening. There were a few clouds to catch color from the sunset.
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