Dragonflies

I made up for yesterday and took two days worth of photos.  Still, I missed the osprey landing in the pine, a heron that soared over me, a very fast skink, a cabbage white that was the only butterfly, and goldfinches even though they came back and gave me a second chance.  Instead, it was a dragonfly day.  A glorious Needham's skimmer was harassed and finally driven off a perch by a female great blue skimmer. A similar looking female slaty skimmer took a different perch.  I also saw a female widow skimmer.  A big darner zipped around over the pool until the duck commotion scared it away. 

Two mallard drakes chased a female into the pool and all three got into a fight.  One drake finally drove the other off, though I saw it lurking in the bushes later.  The remaining pair got out and started to put their feathers in order when K came out and chased them away. 

The bright, hot sun was frequently masked by clouds, some of which looked like they were feeling stormy.  The breeze helped keep the heat from becoming unpleasant.  A Carolina wren got into the bark butter, but I discovered it was starting to melt so I took it indoors for a few hours.  Unfortunately that feeder hanger is to close to the hibiscus.  Birds have already snapped one stalk.  The odd-looking downy with the red crown hunted everywhere for the bark butter. 

Hummingbird visits were frequent.  The male bluebird settled on the same branch that the red bellied woodpecker liked a few days ago.  I wonder if there are ants in the knothole in that limb. 

I saw some rosy clouds to the South at sunset but the North had already gone silver and smoke.  I waited outside hoping to see a bat or more dragonflies but instead the little bugs found me so I gave up and went inside.  Unfortunately, a firefly came in too.