Windy

A gusty North wind kept the temperature cool but otherwise it was a lovely day.  The last chrysalis still did not open.  A black swallowtail caterpillar was on the same rue frond as yesterday so I poked it to see if it was alive.  It put out its orange horns so I guess it was OK.  The wind grounded most butterflies and dragonflies but the bees and wasps were undeterred.  The big blue winged wasp, Scolia dubia was back.  There were at least four of the huge carpenter bees. 

Hummers also ignored the wind.  A goldfinch and a house finch shared a drink at the ant moat, but the house finch was in front of all but the goldfinch's tail, ruining what would have been a cute photo. 

I rescued a feisty horntail and the camera chose that moment to die.  By the time I'd gotten a fresh battery the horntail was gone.  There were a couple of insects on the mountain mint that I couldn't identify.  One was a wasp but I thought the other was a fly. 

Late in the day the wind calmed and an attractive, small moth came to the mountain mint.  I was eating pistachios and tossing the shells into the mulch.  I have been known to toss a nut that hadn't cracked.Apparently a squirrel had acquired a taste for them.  It checked all the shells then came to about a foot of me but I didn't give it anything.  I don't need another critter with expensive habits.