Goldfinches came to check on the progress of their sunflower. A mockingbird had suet. (The barkbutter balls were rain mush.) I saw a brown thrasher while I was swimming. A Carolina wren shared suet with a downy woodpecker. The woodpecker wasn't a gracious host but the wren didn't care.
Skippers and other butterflies found the mountain mint. Bees and wasps went for both rue and mountain mint. I wonder how they will flavor the honey? Some of the wasps looked like great golden digger wasps but were too small to be called great. Red ants dragged a deceased bumblebee across the patio. They had some trouble when they got to the vegetation.
When I was clearing tree debris from the water, I picked up a handful of pine needles and pecan catkins and got stung. I didn't see the culprit, but I suspect it was a really small wasp or bee. The cool water eventually soothed the sting. Two kinds of scarab beetle seem to fall into the water constantly. One kind are what I call May beetles, and I think the other are shining leaf chafers, though they don't look particularly shiny to me.
While I was in the pool, the clouds thickened and looked more threatening. It was a god thing that I picked blueberries before swimming. The rain started shortly after I came inside and continued in waves into the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment