Saturday, July 29, 2023

Mockingbird family

It was scorchingly hot and very gusty.  The clouds lined up in ridges and furrows.  I sat outside in the shade after lunch and watched the insect parade:  a bumblebee, a honeybee, an all-black bee, a great golden digger wasp, a black threadwaisted wasp, a little black wasp ringed with gold, a sans wasp, scoliid wasps, and a fiery skipper.  While I was sitting outside, a skink sidled up and scooted right under the chair. 

I meant to swim in the morning but my program ran over.  So I waited till there was some shade on the water.  Among the usual floaters was a sharpshooter, Oncometopia orbona, a kind of leafhopper.  A widow skimmer used the mountain mint as a windbreak.  The black swallowtail caterpillar was still trying to eat the gone-to-seed parsley.  I hope it doesn't starve.  After swimming, I picked the first figs of the year.  A sidewalk tiger beetle scurried away. 

A mockingbird parent brought two offspring to the feeder but they didn't quite connect the dots. Maybe tomorrow. A bluebird was also trying to teach its fledgling hoe to eat at the mealworm feeder.  Sunset was quite pink.  


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