There were far fewer insects in the water today, but I did save a bristletail, along with a few ground beetles. The mama spider was holed up in the niche where the pool steps attach to the pool wall.
The male hummingbird was still hanging around. A female perched on the wire holding the feeder. A white breasted nuthatch visited the seed feeder but I'm afraid I startled it. A young night heron perched on a post and slept.
A nymph assassin bug lurked beneath the mountain mint flowers, rubbing its legs together like a villain in a melodrama. I think the bees may have been too big for it because some came quite close before seeing the bug and darting away. I saw sand wasps, mud wasps, and a common threadwaist and about six kinds of bee, including honeybees, also a leatherwing beetle.
A slaty skimmer used the bamboo stake nearest the mountain mint but was after much smaller prey than bees. A twelve-spotted skimmer patrolled about 15 feet up and seemed to be catching lots of prey. I had better luck than usual trying to take its picture. Another dragonfly rode the topmost pine candle.
The crescent moon was overhead in the afternoon and still above the trees at twilight. Even more than the usual amount of illicit fireworks made continuous noise from 8 to 11pm. But for all the booms and bangs, I saw no sparkles except for a few fireflies.
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