Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Many birds

While I was in the pool, I shooed a skink out of harm's way.  The green frog perched on a stick I'd wedged for insects to rescue themselves from the water.  It looked so cute, I left it alone.  But it didn't wait for me to get the camera.  The only insect was a persistent in-my-face mosquito.  I went a little overboard with the camera after swimming.  The hibiscus put out a bud that I fear will be ruined by tomorrow's storm. 

 A black swallowtail made the rounds of the yard and even tangled with a hummingbird.  A fiery skipper nectared on the mountain mint along with bees and wasps.  Several other skinks wandered about. 

The female goldfinch ate at the seed feeder.  Flies got into the hummingbird feeder.  I replaced it with the one that seems to do best in rain.  One female hummer chased off one or more other hummers.  Crows flew across the yard. 

The sky became overcast in the afternoon.  Occasional sprinkles fell after 1pm, but didn't amount to anything.  Blue jays scrounged in the dish feeders.  One had molted into a zombie look.  Fledgling bluebirds also wanted mealworms.  The two youngsters were still sharing.  They were watched by a ragged parent.  An equally ragged pine warbler followed on the mealworm dish.  

I closed up the feeders early and spotted a distressed Carolina wren puzzling how to get to the food.  I had dumped it on the ground but the wren wasn't catching on.  Tonight's full moon was the second in August and also a "super moon" because it coincided with perigee, the closest to Earth portion of the Moon's elliptic orbit.  The moon rose at 7:47pm but there was nothing to see, thanks to the rain clouds.  


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