Sunday, July 31, 2022

Many birds

The male hummer came early, possibly to avoid being chased by a female.  He was followed by a female downy woodpecker who gave the hummer feeder a harsh stare.  The bird thinks the suet should be there.  Rather than leave empty, she nibbled some barkbutter.  Then a bluebird did the same.  A female goldfinch drank form the ant moat.  Then a female red bellied woodpecker imitated the downy.  Brown headed nuthatches arrived and split up, one for seeds and the other for barkbutter.  A male pine warbler also wanted barkbutter. 

 I didn't take the camera to pick figs, but all I saw were a mockingbird and a bald-faced hornet.  There was a light breeze through the side yard and it wasn't as hot as I'd feared, but a sprinkle of rain convinced me to go back inside.  A black swallowtail drank from the butterfly milkweed.    A five lined skink was well camouflaged on the step.  The usual bees and wasps, and a fiery skipper, covered the mountain mint.  A female slaty skimmer used the perch by the steps, but moved when I walked past.  I saw an amberwing but it flew away.    

I found a frog in the pool skimmer.  It shot out the opening and tried to hide in my swimsuit.  I later caught it in the deep end.  There were seedpods on the butterfly milkweed.  After swimming, I ran out of battery and when I swapped, the other battery had no juice.  I must have forgotten to charge it.  So naturally, that's when another wave of birds arrived.  A mockingbird helped itself to a barkbutter ball.  Brown headed nuthatches came in pairs, that is, I only saw two at a time but I think there were four.  A female bluebird also craved a bite of barkbutter.  The woodpeckers and the pine warbler returned.  And a little after 5pm the rain began in earnest. 


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