Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Everybody loves figs

The dark-morph tiger swallowtail was back at breakfast but we did not see it after that. We went to pick whatever had ripened since the storm.  Some figs had fermented and some had rotted or grown mold.  Others were being nibbled by all sorts of insects from big green June beetles to bald-faced hornets.  I even saw a cicada killer. 

The mountain mint was still busy with wasps and a few bees, and one fiery skipper.  A Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta) preferred the herb mint. Blue mud wasps were back.  I found a massive brown longhorn beetle dead in the pool skimmer.  A female blue dasher kept watch for smaller meals. 

A Carolina wren was pleased I dumped the last of a bag of bark butter balls (mostly fragments) into the tub of bark butter to keep it from melting.  A blue jay wasn't so sure. 

In the late afternoon, clouds gathered and thunder rumbled but nothing came of it.  Robins and mockingbirds feasted on the figs and the wild cherries.  One mockingbird scolded and chased a squirrel down the sidewalk.  I saw a question mark butterfly on a fig leaf but no sign of the cicada killer.  However, the cat was lurking around, probably hoping for an unwary fledgling. 

A yellow crowned night heron rested on one foot on a dock piling.  Hummers visited, glad to have the good feeder back with perches so they don't have to hover.


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