Brown headed nuthatches came for seeds for breakfast. Little puffs of cumulus didn't last and the sky was a clear blue in the afternoon. The temperature came up but a breeze kept it from feeling really warm. Clumps of dogwood leaves turned yellow and red but everything else was still green. The canna started another flower and the red aster was blooming. The fungus by the oak got very big. A couple of butterfly milkweed pods opened but the seed parachutes weren't quite ready to take off. Between the beautyberry bush and the dogwood trees, migrating birds should think they've arrived at Berryland.
I saw ripples in the water and discovered a skink had fallen in. A little wasp tried to hitch a ride on the skink's tail. I tried to lift the skink out with a brush, but that scared it and I was forced to use a net. When I set the net down for it to escape, I saw a skink dash into the vegetation. But that skink lacked a tail, so I was afraid I'd pinched it off. I put the net back and went back up the steps to let the dog inside. When I looked back, the skink I'd rescued emerged from the net with all its tail intact.
A Carolina wren nibbled at the barkbutter balls. Chickadees and cardinals ate seeds all day. I heard blue jays but none came to a feeder while I was watching. But a bluebird landed on the seed feeder, figured out its mistake, and flew to the barkbutter balls. I thought I'd spotted something exotic in the trees, but it was just another cardinal fledgling.
The orchard spider's web caught the afternoon sun again. Backlighting made the Leucauge venusta spider's legs look like green glass attached to a dark gray striped lozenge. It makes a web that's almost horizontal compared to other orb weavers.
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