The sky was more hazy today and there were occasional clouds. The air was warm enough that the breeze felt good. I took a lot of photos. What I thought was a brown thrasher preening in the cherry tree was a female cardinal.
More beetles needed rescue. One was some kind of borer, probably Chalcophora virginiensis, Sculptured Pine Borer. Perhaps I should have let it drown? While I was drying out, I watched the rue for wasps. One was striped like a yellow jacket, but it didn't look quite right.
A dead branch came down last week. I checked it over for lichens, but found only crustose. But there were incipient bracket fungi. The wild cherry is absolutely loaded with berries but birds aren't showing any interest yet.
I inadvertently startled a skink, but after I was quiet for a while, he ventured out. His head was very red, indicating he was ready to breed. He posed very nicely so I took many pictures. Then another five lined skink showed up without a red head, probably a female. She? disappeared into the same crevice where he had gone. Some time later he reappeared and returned to the log where he'd been posing.
A male hummingbird came to the feeder while I was sitting beside it. He decided I was too close and flew off. Cursing my luck, I retreated to a more distant chair. After some time spent skink-watching, my patience was rewarded. Alas, the light did not turn his throat ruby. And I realized the feeder is in a bad location for photography. The background is too close and full of humingbird-shaped leaves. Still, I was able to confirm that a female hummer also visited the feeder.
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