Skinks

In the morning a crane fly clung to the window and a small moth did the same in the night.  In between we went to the plant sale at NBG.  I took the camera and saw a dragonfly but it never stopped.  We came home with native columbine, a red aster, dwarf red porterweed, and native honeysuckle that need to be planted.  

A mockingbird all but knocked on the door asking for more suet.  Bluebirds noticed when I stirred the barkbutter dish so the balls rose above the broken meal.  A brown thrasher and a blue jay also paid attention.  Brown headed nuthatches didn't care as long as there were sunflower seeds. 

A little blue tailed skink started out of the vegetation, then panicked and ran back.  A bigger one, but still blue in the tail, climbed the post, then thought the better of it.  An adult scolded it.  The adult skinks were all red in the face and feeling feisty.  A couple of chases ensued.  

An orange butterfly escaped the camera.  It might have been a pearl crescent or a variegated fritillary.  And of course there were cabbage whites.  An attractive paper wasp lit on the rue

Sparse leaves appeared on the beautyberry.  Green seedpods covered the money plants.  The dogwoods were done flowering and the azaleas past their peak.  The yellow rose had a bud.