Cloudy

The hibiscus opened nine flowers!  Thank you neem oil for stopping the sawflies.  I cut off the parts of mountain mint with spider mites but I probably didn't get them all.  I'm not sure about using neem oil on the mountain mint since I planted it to attract insects.  A quiet breakfast was explained when the cat sauntered across the lower patio. 

Dragonflies were back on the perches.  The wind made waves on the creek and rumpled the feathers on a great blue heron.  A second heron was more sensible and faced into the wind.  Lots of birds were up in the hackberry but the only one I identified was a blue jay. 

The wind didn't keep the mountain mint's fans away.  Honeybees, megachile bees, and carpenter bees mixed with the wasps, including great golden digger, blue mud, sand, scoliid including a giant, and threadwaisted wasps, plus some I've yet to identify.  The hungry monarch caterpillars actually gnawed on the milkweed pod before they disappeared.  I'm hopeful that they went to pupate as there were still plenty of uneaten leaves.   A duskywing preferred the herb mint. 

It was a day for skinks.  I saw one in the mulch, several on the patios, and saved one in the water.  The ungrateful reptile jumped back in and I learned they can swim underwater.  But it did not escape me a second time.  Another scuttled into a crevice then peered out to see if it was safe.  I also extracted a small frog from the skimmer.  It too jumped back in and had to be caught again.  A glass snail hung on the pool wall just above the waterline.  I found another floating and put it on land in the shade. 

The rue was full of black swallowtail caterpillars of various sizes and instars from just turned orange to green and big enough to pupate.  An adult was flitting around the parsley.  An adult monarch didn't stop, not did a tiger swallowtail.  I glimpsed some snouts but not in good places for a picture. 

Meanwhile, a brown thrasher discovered the fresh bark butter.  A pair of Carolina wriens waited impatiently for it to be done.  The hummers got the last of a batch of sugarwater, and fought over it.  One kept watch on the feeder from the cherry.  Abother hummer hunted for something in the red cedar - bugs?  Maybe they are attracted by the smell of resin?