Fay-less

Tropical Storm Fay passed us by and hurried on to New Jersey.  Not one drop of the 3-4 inches fell on us.  It was breezy and there were more clouds than usual, and that was it here.  I put out a tub of bark butter thinking it would endure rain better than the balls, but instead we had heat.  I expect a half dozen hibiscus blossoms tomorrow. 

Three female house finches argued over a turn at the seeds.  Not only did one hog the perch, one of the two that wanted a turn chased off the other.  Siblings?  A Carolina wren investigated all the feeders. 

A monarch butterfly finally found the milkweed.  It seemed to have a strong preference for one I grew from seed, either Asclepias syriaca (common) or Asclepias incarnata (swamp).  It ignored the butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa. It also ignored a milkweed that had aphids. 

There were dragonflies but I think they were all blue dashers, mostly obelisking.  The mountain mint attracted leaf cutter, carpenter and bumblebees, scoliid and digger wasps, and an all-black bee a little bigger than a honeybee. I rescued two sidewalk tiger beetles a ground beetle, and several ungrateful spiders. One with babies onboard hung onto the bug she'd sucked dry.  I felt something creepy which turned out to be a half-grown grasshopper. 

A little green heron paused on the end of thedock before hopping down to the floating dock out of sight.  Something made bubbles rise in the creek as it reflected tinted clouds at sunset.