It was still windy and cool for August. The redwood was beginning to get a copper edge and dogwood berries were turning red. A frumpy Carolina wren was the early bird. Then a starling came for food but didn't linger. A female goldfinch made do with the seeds in the feeder. A female hummer was satisfied that the sugar water was ant-free. Later, a hummer investigated the red cedar. A titmouse tired to preen away its molting fluff. Blue jays lurked, waiting for me to be distracted.
I saw a red banded hairstreak but got no picture. One of the tiny, trash-camouflaged caterpillars climbed a mountain mint leaf. Tiger and black swallowtails flitted slowly but were still hard to photograph. A fiery skipper spread its wings on the mountain mint. I spotted a summer azure but it flew away. A duskywing was less wary.
A blue dasher rode the topmost twig on the wild cherry to watch for prey. A megachile bee harassed a carpenter bee twice its size. I wonder what that was about? I rescued a small, all-scarlet insect with black wings and eyes. I think it was a smooth-headed mummy wasp, Aleiodes politiceps. it flew before I cold get a photo showing how very red it was underneath. A skinklet darted into the shrubbery.
On the front patio, a cypress vine and (I hope) a moonflower vine twined up the trellis but showed no sign of blooming. A rain lily bloomed at the foot of the dry creek bed and a late daylily flowered. Several peppers were growing.
The moon looked like a first quarter but this was two nights short of a full lunar week.
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