Clouds kept the temperature down, but not the humidity. The first hibiscus flower of the second round of blooming opened. Bees and wasps, and even flies preferred the tiny mountain mint flowers. A duskywing skipper joined the crowd. A couple of dragonflies zipped through without pausing.
In the pool a spider walked on the surface tension. A camel cricket was having a harder time so I rescued it. Minuscule swallowtail caterpillars ate tiny holes in the parsley. A black swallowtail laid more eggs on the rue. The butterfly milkweed had seedpods started but the other milkweeds hadn't even bloomed. Caterpillars ate several of them to bare stalks. And a monarch came to lay more eggs
Skinks enjoyed the reprieve from rain. But one crept up on another and ambushed it. A hummer rejected the feeder and checked out each plant, to no avail. Eventually I got the feeder replaced, but then the recently refrigerated sugar water was too cold. The hummers waited till it came up to air temperature.
A red bellied woodpecker made a brief stop at the bark butter. A Carolina wren sat on the chair and scolded the feeder. A bluebird family visited and the fledgling confused me by going to the seed feeder. A molting pine warbler chose bark butter.
I heard a kingfisher about 4pm and eventually spotted it on one of the pilings, but redwood fronds were in the way and my wiggling around for an unobstructed view must have alerted the bird. I think it had a fish. I spied a rabbit in the grass beyond the maple tree. The rain held off till 5pm and then was just a sprinkle.
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