Dragonflies

Dragonflies were plentiful all day but I didn't see any of the more gaudy species, just workmanlike blue dashers and slaty skimmers.  One perched at the top of the wild cherry but I couldn't identify if silhouetted against the sky.  A slender black & yellow wasp was new but hard to photograph.  The usual bees and wasps visited.  A gray hairstreak bustled around the hibiscus which had no flowers to explain its interest.  A snout and many fiery skippers fed on the mountain mint.  The rue held the interest of a black swallowtail.  The Argiopes were right where I last saw them. 

The black & white cat hung around and made the birds anxious.  I evicted the frog from the pool again.  Skinks, large and small, scurried around the patio.  Big cumulus seemed to threaten rain but they just kept moving.  The bald cardinal posed on a dragonfly perch.  The male goldfinch preened in the wild cherry.  Hummers kept coming to their feeder.  

. 

Sunny

The orchard spider that disappeared was close to where the Argiope spiders appeared.  I wonder if they had anything to do with the other spider's dis appearance?  A fiery skipper looked fine in the sunlight.  A tiger swallowtail was only a blur on the camera.  A very tiny skink had begun to regrow its lost tail.  A less fortunate one was drowned in the skimmer.  A few dragonflies hunted from perches but I didn't see any high fliers.  

A sleepy orange butterfly nectared on the butterfly milkweed.  A snout butterfly perched on a dead dogwood twig, imitating a dead leaf.  A cabbage white visited the mountain mint.  A very dark skipper did too.  It was rusty brown in bright sunlight but black most of the time and in motion way too often.  K hung a fresh hummer feeder and it took a few hours for the birds to get used to it.  

Spiders

Two juvenile cardinals foraged and squabbled.  Meanwhile, a female towhee tried to avoid them.  Their colors were similar enough to be confusing but the towhee didn't have a crest.  A Carolina wren stopped by briefly.  

We picked figs and I watched for what else might be attracted to them.  A red spotted purple fanned itself waiting for me to go away.  Sighting a hornet encouraged me to pick very carefully.  A gorgeous spiny-backed orb-weaver, Gasteracantha cancriformis, web was smartly positioned between the figs and a window that's lighted at night.  The spider had its underside facing out which wasn't very attractive, but was quite small in comparison to the web.  In addition to the wildlife I found plenty of figs.  

A pearl crescent butterfly, Phyciodes tharos, rested on a mountain mint leaf.  The regular bees and wasps and fiery skippers also decorated the mountain mint.  A great blue skimmer, Libellula vibrans, used one of the bamboo perches.  I found two yellow garden spiders, Argiope aurantia, that had built their webs in the azalea by the hose spigot.   Big carpenter bees quarreled in the air.  A black swallowtail visited the rue.  A blue dasher perched on a dried twig. 

I rescued a mama spider from the skimmer.  A leaf-footed bug was floating dead.  Many skinks had business across the patio. One skink encountered a juvenile cardinal who didn't know what to think of it.  Hummers continued to be satisfied with the sugar water in their feeder.  Though the day stayed hazy and cloudy, it was warmer.  The breeze helped keep the biting insects away. 

Still sunny and breezy

The creek was flat and reflective but obscured by leaves so I pay less attention than in the winter.   A hummer came for breakfast.  The juvenile cardinal returned and I was glad to see that the cat hadn't killed it.  At lunch time a pine warbler noticed there were barkbutter balls.  There seemed to be damage to the bird's left eye.  The cardinal that loses his head feathers each summer was bald again. 

A monarch passed through but didn't linger.  Fiery skippers enjoyed the mountain mint alongside the wasps and bees.  A red spotted purple flew straight to the wild cherry.  A black swallowtail went for the rue.  Dragonflies patrolled the upper air and stood watch on the bamboo stakes.  I saw a slaty skimmer and a Needham's skimmer perched. 

While in the pool, I saw a small black wasp dragging a legless cricket.  I saw the same thing yesterday and forgot to mention it.  Today's incident was about 6' from yesterday's, but I'd hate to think it was the same wasp and cricket with so little progress.  I also saw an ant with orange wings which on closer inspection was an ant carrying part of an amberwing dragonfly.  A frog was in the skimmer.  I caught it and made it pose.  As usual, there were beetles needing rescue and spiders resisting it. 

Sunny, breezy, and full of wildlife

A female towhee showed up at breakfast.  Then two doves foraged.  A juvenile cardinal joined them on the ground.  On the feeder, a white breasted nuthatch was persistent.  The female downy hoped for seeds too.  A hummer didn't like having the woodpecker so close.  She flared her tail and tried to look big.  

When I got beck from the morning's errand, butterflies were arriving.  A black swallowtail levitated over the rue.  A tiger swallowtail floated over the pool.  At least four fiery skippers and a snout fed on the mountain mint.  A monarch passed through without stopping.  A silver spotted skipper was attracted to the asters.  Bees harassed it.  A sulphur also went for the aster blossoms.

A Carolina wren inspected the premises.  A bluebird alighted on the post, then had some seeds.  The white breasted nuthatch and the towhee returned.  And then the feral cat showed up. I was worried about the towhee so I went outside to keep the cat away.  Of course that kept many of the birds away too.  

Dragonflies gathered.  A male pondhawk stayed close to the ground.  A male widow skimmer flew into the trees.  A female bar winged skimmer and a female slaty used the bamboo stakes. 

I picked some blueberries but all I saw was a guinea paper wasp in the grass.  On the mountain mint, the great golden digger wasps were back.  In the pool, I saved a tiny skink, a frog, three fig beetles, and a bumblebee.  A cicada  was dead in the skimmer.  A glass snail lay in the hot sun so I moved it.  Two other skinks chased across the patio and I thought I heard a sort of chirpy bark.  Another ambled toward me.  

Cool gray day

The rain finally stopped but the sky stayed overcast and that kept the temperature down and the air damp.  A cool breeze persuaded me to stay dry.  When I went outside I saw a tan jumping spider, Platycryptus undatus.  I took my eyes off it to grab the camera and when I looked back it was on its back with legs curled, acting dead.  It had been lively seconds before so I flipped it right-side-up.  It slowly recovered and tottered away.  Did I discover a spider that plays possum?

A skimmer used one of the bamboo perches.  Some of the usual wasps were missing but all the regular bees showed up.  Some flies liked the mountain mint too.  I saw a fiery skipper, a monarch, a tiger swallowtail, and a dark butterfly.  Bees harassed the monarch while she laid eggs on the butterfly milkweed.  

Hummer wars have begun.  I saw a hummer keeping watch on the feeder.  It was all fluffed up as though it too was feeling chilly.  Then it dived on another that tried to feed.  It also flew up to me and hovered about four feet away.  I wish I knew what that meant.  A couple of skinklets wandered around the patio but I saw no adults today. 

A bird perched atop the maple - a mockingbird?  Then I saw great crested flycatchers.  There were at least two, maybe three.  I thought they were fledglings because they seemed awkward and pale. 

Rain all day

A female red bellied woodpecker came for breakfast but got away before I had the camera ready.  A brown headed nuthatch took advantage of a mid day lull to get a seed.  A soggy cardinal and some house finches rounded off the wildlife.  And it rained, and rained. Today will put us past 10" for July which must be a record.  Still, DEQ has most of the state in a drought.

Mole mortician

A brown headed nuthatch was today's early bird.  After K hung a fresh feeder a hummer appeared.  I drained the rainwater off the barkbutter mush but the birds were not that desperate.  In the afternoon, a blue jay tried the barkbutter mush but didn't stay for seconds.

I saw two skinks interact again but this time it looked less loving.  One flipped into the air and decamped.  Later, another adult skink and a tiny skinklet moseyed around the patio.  The adult had a regrown tail and the skinklet was already missing its tail tip. 

Something was floating that I thought was a chunk of mulch.  Instead it was an eastern mole, Scalopus aquaticus.  We've found drowned voles before but this was the first mole and it was twice as big.  Too big for a quick toss down the hill, so it went into a poop bag.  But first I took pictures of those amazing paws.  I did some research and learned that moles can swim but I am pretty sure this one was dead. 

A big monarch caterpillar appeared at the top of the plant, eating the flowers.  I had been expecting caterpillars since a monarch laid eggs a few weeks ago.  The usual wasps and bees worked on the mountain mint.  I saw one fiery skipper   Despite predictions and cloudy skies, there was no rain during the day.  

Skink love

A female bluebird came hunting breakfast.  Everything except the seeds was soggy from the overnight rain.  The bird looked to me like it might have been this year's hatching.  I went outside but the humidity was overpowering so I turned right around.  Later when the temperature had risen it was not so bad.  Clouds flowed from the Southwest.  The New England aster put out a second crop of blooms.  

In the pool, I rescued a couple of winged queen ants and a leaf-footed bug.  A sidewalk tiger beetle watched without getting wet.  Dragonflies hunted the little biters that the humidity encouraged.  The mountain mint was covered by the usual bees and wasps, and a blue mud wasp.  A tiny skink climbed the post which wasn't very smart.  A couple of grown up skinks appeared to be courting.  

The white breasted nuthatch was back and I thought I caught sight of a brown headed nuthatch.  Later, the bluebird argued with a cardinal over access to seeds.  The bigger cardinal won.  Meanwhile, the hummer was sadly disappointed in the diluted sugar water.  Later, a wet Carolina wren wanted a turn at the seeds but the cardinal wasn't having that.  Eventually the goldfinch got an opening. 

The clouds thickened and I headed inside but on the door was a black bug outlined in red.  The closest match seems to be the largus bug, Largus succinctus.  Around 3:45pm the rain finally arrived.  It was quite heavy for about ten minutes and continued off-and-on into the evening.  My mother would have called it "raining stair rods," which is so archaic it might as well be ancient Greek. 

Rain

I woke up to rain which continued intermittently all day.  The newspaper reported we were 9" above average for the year thus far.  During a lull, I saw a house wren and a hummer.  The wren led the camera on a chase. 

There was a longer lull in the late morning so I got a swim.  Bees and wasps crowded the mountain mint along with a small black beetle with yellow wing covers and an ailanthus moth.  Dragonflies came out briefly.  A skinklet clambered through vegetation, then fell off.  Sprinkles of rain sent me inside.  

A clear view of the dock revealed a kingfisher.  I think I saw a hint of a female's rust-colored belly band.   It took off after another bird that might have been a sandpiper.   Then a couple of them flew through the rain but were just a blur.  The kingfisher returned but selected a perch obscured by vegetation.  

White breasted nuthatches

Under a gray sky the creek was flat and still.  A song sparrow came early to poke around the birdbath.  Soon the goldfinches arrived, then the nuthatches.  After breakfast, the sky began to clear. 

The Prince Baskettail Epitheca princeps  dragonfly I found yesterday had disappeared so I don't know if it revived or if it was recycled.  The sun helped me get better pictures of the spiny-backed orbweaver which was clearly dead since it had not moved. Other living dragonflies took up their duties.  Slaty skimmers perched and blue dashers obelisked.  I watched something tiny and white that I wasn't sure was alive or just drifting on the breeze till a blue dasher snatched it out of the air.  Higher in the air, a Carolina saddlebags patrolled.  A living prince baskettail was up there too. 

The usual suspects crowded the mountain mint.  I do love watching the great golden digger wasps fidget and twitch as they feed.  They also pose nicely.  One landed on the black feeder hanger and turned all gold against that background.  It only wanted to wash its face.  I noticed that some wasps have hammerheads like the shark.  

The ailanthus moth was back along with fiery skippers and a red-banded hairstreak, Calycopis cecrops.  There were lots of flat-tailed leafcutter bees.  What I thought were small sand wasps were feather legged scoliids.  The bee with woolly legwarmers is Melissodes.  The solid black bee is a carpenter-mimic leafcutter bee, Megachile xylocopoides.  A green Junebug scarab beetle flew up into the maple.  Turns out it's actually a green fig beetle.   A big robber fly landed beside me with its catch.  A skink with a replacement tail marched across the step.  Later a skinklet with a red head and blue tail came back the other way. 

A hummer gave the goldfinches a scolding.   She found a perch in the wild cherry.  A blue jay lurked in the dogwood. 

Butterflies

A hungry hummer came for breakfast.  She wasn't pleased with other birds coming and going to the seed feeder.  A sprinkle of raindrops fell.  The day was mostly cloudy with weather coming out of the West.  I sat outside after lunch to watch and listen to the wildlife.  Assorted bees and wasps fed on the mountain mint.  I focused on black bees with a blond fringe, gray striped bees, and little leafcutters.  A blue mud wasp joined the many great golden digger wasps in the twitchyness contest. 

Fiery skippers, a gray hairstreak, a cabbage white, and an American snout butterfly fed on the mountain mint.  An aging monarch and a sleepy orange, Abaeis nicippe, drank from the butterfly milkweed.  The monarch had lost a lot of scales so its wings were getting transparent.  A photo revealed an ailanthus webworm moth, Atteva aurea.

The downy woodpecker worked on old mushy barkbutter balls.  A couple of brown headed nuthatches got away before I was ready.  I heard the goldfinches but they stayed in the trees.  A great blue heron perched on a post and a great egret flapped past. 

More dragonflies than I'd been seeing appeared today.   Female slaty or bar-winged skimmers, a male slaty, and in the water, a prince baskettail.  I hauled it out to photograph and to see if it would revive.  I also hauled out a spiny-backed orb-weaver, Gasteracantha cancriformis, for the same reasons.  It was the less common red form.  

I had taken the risk to go swimming despite the weather prediction.  If I hadn't I would have missed the spider and the dragonfly.  But the clouds got darker, the wind stronger, and the light poorer, so I went indoors.  However, the rain didn't arrive till around 6pm.  It came down so hard I thought it would dig holes in the concrete. 

Skinks.

Today turned out to be surprisingly pleasant.  The temperature was pleasant though the air was damp.  A breeze kept it from being sticky.   Shredded cumulus blew from the East while contrails and other high altitude clouds slid slowly Eastward.  Hummingbirds were hungry.  One perched in the dogwood but the camera struggled to focus on it and not the larger leaves. 

A soaring bird may have been a Mississippi kite.  There's supposed to be a nest about a mile North of here.  Goldfinches were driven from the seed feeder by other birds.  A few dragonflies lurked on perches.  I had thought the damp air would draw more of the insects they eat.  On the mountain mint a fiery skipper joined the bees and wasps.  I got some photos of Megachile leafcutter bees.  A snout butterfly, Libytheana carinenta, fought the breeze to land on a hackberry branch. 

While I was looking again for the Argiope spider, a skink almost ran over me.  We both paused then it darted into the undergrowth.  Soon it came part way out a little more distant from me.  Then another popped its head out too.  They were both very red in the face which I assume means in the mood to mate.  The further one's lines had faded but the closer one's markings were still sharp and its tail a little blue.  

Gloomy day

Today was cooler under an overcast sky.  Red and yellow finches shared the feeder, briefly.  A Carolina wren investigated the seeds and caught a big bug.  Two squirrels chased each other and disturbed birds.  One squirrel actually managed to steal a few seeds from the feeder.  The other had a sweet tooth and tried the hummer feeder.  A pair of brown thrashers hunted in a rosebush. 

The mountain mint was lively with wasps and bees.  I saw a blue mud wasp but it didn't hang around to be photographed.   I did get two different kinds of black bee.  A slaty skimmer used the bamboo perch outside my window.  A hummer visited.  I got my swim time in the morning and we even ate lunch outside.  The aster had buds again.  A great blue heron perched on a dock post.  Not long after that, the rain began.  

Still hot

As I dripped off, a cicada killer prowled over the mountain mint.  It zoomed off just as I got the camera ready.  A dragonfly monitored the pool.  The lanceleaf coreopsis started blooming again.  

Scorching

In the front yard peppers were turning red.  A rain lily popped up at the end of the dry creek bed.  I picked blueberries before swimming.  Between the monsoon rains and the heat, many berries had popped and were fermenting.  It smelled like a brewery and buzzed with wasps.  I saw an interesting orange long-legged critter that might have been a cranefly.  Also, I just glimpsed an orange and brown butterfly.  What popped into my head was a diana fritillary, Speyeria diana, though that seems unlikely - I only know it from field guide illustrations.  And I didn't have the camera.  

As I dried out, I watched the mountain mint.  It's like a desert waterhole, only for insects.  A fiery skipper joined the bees and wasps.  The goldfinches were back.  A blue dasher obelisked.  A larger skimmer perched normally.  I could not find the last Argiope spider. 

Insects

The goldfinches were our wake-up birds again.  Hummers were right behind after K hung a fresh feeder.  A lovely female slaty skimmer was posted on the lookout for annoying bugs.  Later a blue dasher took up the post and obelisked in the heat.  Fiery and dusky skippers were not dissuaded from the mountain mint by rude wasps and bees.  I also saw a variegated fritillary, a tiger swallowtail, and I think a cloudless sulphur. 

I was determined to get photos of leaf-cutter bees which wasn't easy as they kept moving.  The all-black bee, Megachile xylocopoides, was particularly elusive but I finally got it, dusted with pollen.  I also got the little grayish ones.  Great golden digger wasps posed nicely. 

A dog-day cicada, Neotibicen caniculariscicada, was in the skimmer.  It appeared to have drowned but I've seen insects revive so I left it on a table next to the house.  I also fished out a centipede and a shooter (a kind of leafhopper).  Along with May beetles I rescued a metallic green six spotted tiger beetle, Cicindela sexguttata.  A grasshopper came inside and my butterfly net was useful in returning it to the great outdoors.  My best guess is pine tree spur-throat grasshopper, Melanoplus punctulatus.  

With all these insects, skinks were out and about.  One headed right at me so I moved my foot and it darted off to the side.  But then it was curious and turned around to peek at me.  

Very hot

Morning brought goldfinches and hummers.   The one Argiope made it through the rain.  I caught a blur of the coy tiger swallowtail.  A gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, enjoyed the mountain mint.  And a monarch visited the butterfly milkweed. 

The sun was fierce so I swam in the morning while there was still shade.  Among my rescues were two small brown click beetles.  I also fished out a mama spider covered with spiderlings.  An anglewing katydid was too far gone. 

A skink climbed the wall.  A widow skimmer used a bamboo stake as a perch.  A different species perched atop a twig on the wild cherry.  Another, maybe a blue dasher, landed on the metal cap on the post which must have been hot.  And a slaty skimmer clung to another stake.  I got some pictures of the small gray leafcutter bee and took too many of the great golden digger wasp.  An odd orange fly turned up. 

The brown thrashers put in an appearance mid day but kept screened by vegetation.  The rain turned the blueberries to mush.  I've never seen that happen before.

More rain

From Thursday through today, five inches of rain fell. The goldfinches were up early for seeds.  They only avoided the very heaviest rain.  Even though K hung a fresh feeder, the hummer wasn't happy.  It must have gotten diluted.  The rain stopped in the afternoon and we had late afternoon sunshine. It was very humid.  I could not find any spiders but a dragonfly appeared.  I believe it was either a slaty or a bar-winged skimmer.  The wasps were soon busy again. 

Dark daytime

I measured the rainwater in a bucket at two inches for yesterday and overnight.   The rain paused in the morning and there was even some blue sky.  The goldfinch pair wanted their breakfast.  I found one Argiope spider but not the other two.  Plants revived and I straightened some bamboo stakes. I propped up the sunflower that fell over days ago and soon the female goldfinch started pecking at its seeds.  I doubt they were ripe yet.  The male kept watch.  

The mountain mint was covered with hungry insects including a Macrosiagon dimidiata beetle.  I also saw great golden digger wasps, scoliid wasps,  sand wasps, leafcutter bees, bumblebees carpenter bees, and honeybees.  In the pool, I rescued a mama spider with a big egg pearl and many brown May beetles.  A rain shower drove me inside but the heavy rain waited till afternoon.  It got very dark indoors and I heard thunder.  

Rain at last

A hummer zoomed in early and got well fed before the storm.   The rain began before 10am but didn't get heavy till afternoon.  The goldfinches visited while the rain was still light.  Then it got very dark and thunderous.  The temperature dropped down into the 70s and the humidity climbed into the 90s.  At suppertime the goldfinch pair visited the seed feeder again.  

Monarch

When I went out for a late morning swim, a duskywing skipper was enjoying the mountain mint, but not the pesky wasps.  Threatening clouds were a false alarm.  I checked on the Argiope spiders.  One web was still a mess, another was rebuilt but unoccupied, and the one among the dead rue stalks had a spider.  Dragonflies were perched and ready.  At lunch, the monarch butterfly seemed very excited by the butterfly milkweed.  I think it was a female because it paid attention to the leaves as well as the flowers.  

Buggy

A brown headed nuthatch greeted us at breakfast.  Then I was busy till late afternoon when it was very hot and critters kept flying at my face since the rest of me was submerged.  I rescued a few beetles and gave up.  A duskywing joined the bees and wasps on the mountain mint. 

As I dripped off behind a screen of wasps and dragonflies, I saw a green heron preening on a dock post.  An osprey dived on the creek but there was too much vegetation for me to know whether the bird caught anything.  I also saw a hummer seeking nectar from a hibiscus. 

Most of the perches were occupied by dragonflies, slaty skimmer, widow skimmer, maybe other species.  Bees dominated the mountain mint but there were some wasps.  Two silver slashes on the thorax indicated one was Ammophila procera.  I checked on the Argiope spiders and found the one in the rue.  Of the other two, one clung to a ruined web and the other web seemed empty.  

Overcast

The goldfinches wanted an early breakfast, or maybe they just wanted to eat in peace.   A half dozen hibiscus flowers brightened the day.  Hummers found their feeder.  I located three baby Argiope spiders today, two of them only inches apart.  They were looking more like adults than last week even though they didn't seem bigger.  The female downy pecked crumbs from the barkbutter dish because I didn't want to put out more while rain was predicted. 

With only a light breeze, the air was stifling even without the sun.  As I headed down the steps I saw a duskywing in the mountain mint.  On my way back, I surprised a skink.  While swimming, I rescued another mama wolf spider with babies and a robber fly with white on the abdomen.I don't know if I rescued the same one twice or if there were two.  The same dragonfly hung out on the perch by my window all day and was still there until it got too dark to see.   I'm pretty sure it was a female bar-winged skimmer. 

A couple of swallowtails danced together and at least one looked like a palamedes.  A hummer that appeared at the same time was about the same size.  I glimpsed what I took to be a jellyfish bobbing in the creek.  A different dragonfly with a dusty blue abdomen perched on a taller bamboo stake.  The brown headed nuthatch returned at supper time.  I have seen no goslings or ducklings this year.  The goose excluder certainly worked!  But not even out on the creek have I seen the usual little convoys.  The rain never arrived.  Firefly season seemed to be over, unless the drought cut it short.  

Waiting for rain

The day was mostly overcast with a few times of sunshine.  A hummer was hungry in the early morning.  A downy came for seeds, along with chickadees and titmice.  Goldfinches were back.  

Expecting rain, I swam in the morning and encountered the usual beetles and spiders.  A big mama wolf spider in the skimmer was carrying a load of babies.  After my swim, I saw a duskywing skipper and a summer azure on the mountain mint.  A tiger swallowtail flitted across the yard.  Lots of scoliid, threadwaisted, and great golden digger wasps feasted on the mountain mint.  Bumblebees, carpenter bees, and black bees competed with the honeybees.  Even flies sipped nectar.  I located the two young Argiope spiders.  One of them caught lunch.  A couple of dragonflies dueled in the air. 

The rain still hadn't fallen in the afternoon.  While I sat outside, birds acted like I was a grave threat instead of the one feeding them.  Goldfinches flew up then swooped away.  A hummer also flew off when I moved.  So I went inside and that was the signal the nuthatches had been awaiting - both white breasted and brown headed.  There was some drama when a male house finch let a female goldfinch share the seed feeder but chased off her mate.  I heard blue jays gut only saw them flying away from the oak.  A heavy dark cloud with a sharp boundary occupied the evening sky, but still no rain fell.  

Hot

Goldfinches started the day with cuteness.  A Carolina wren added a few notes.  There was some competition for seeds as the female cardinal was in a mood.  A pine warbler put in an appearance that looked very much like the female goldfinch.  Fortunately their beaks are quite different.  I pulled up a lot of cinquefoil that was creeping onto the patio. 

I had a leisurely morning swim, saved some beetles, and evicted some spiders.  While I was dripping off, the mountain mint's fan club entertained.  I saw more bumblebees today.  The usual wasps and skipper were feeding.   A squirrel bopped up the steps then caught sight of me and crept quietly away.  A black swallowtail egged what remained of the rue.  About two thirds of the rue died after blooming. 

Small clouds flowed from the West and the thermometer showed 100° again.  I saw high-flying dragonflies and some kind of raptor.  A four-spotted pennant perched at the top of the oak and was only visible when a gust of wind parted the leaves.  I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't been trying to photograph the raptor.  The predicted rain did not fall.  Maybe it will come overnight? Clouds turned orange at sunset. 

Triple digits

Titmice  and Carolina wrens got up early to beat the heat.  The goldfinch pair came along shortly after.  A hummer gulped down sugar water.  I swam in the morning while there was shade.  Spiders were everywhere around the pool.  So were brown June beetles. 

At lunch time a flock of crows gathered.  I saw 102° on the outside thermometer.  The mountain mint was crowded with the usual wasps and bees and skippers.  A female widow skimmer used the bamboo perch.  In the late afternoon I saw a dark dragonfly in the shade.  It may have been a slaty skimmer.  A duskywing joined the mountain mint diners. 

The goldfinches returned in the afternoon.  I checked on my Argiope spiders but only saw one..  Their webs were fresh and beginning to look more traditional.  Fiery skippers visited the mountain mint.  A blue dasher used a dried gladiolus stalk as a perch.  Down on the creek, an egret fished.  

Wasp drama

The heat returned with sunshine in a hazy sky.  An osprey landed briefly in the pines but I wasn't ready.  A male Needham's skimmer used a bamboo perch.  A different species perched on a bare twig atop the wild cherry.  A damselfly lurked on the pool edge.  My best guess is orange bluet Enallagma signatum.  At supper, several dragonflies darted over the water.  

Bees and wasps covered the mountain mint, but a snout butterfly and a fiery skipper managed to get a share. I thought I glimpsed other butterflies but couldn't be sure.  A gray long-horned bee (Melissodes spp.) posed for me.  So did a mydas fly.  I guessed that a big insect that banged on the window was a cicada killer.  While I was in the pool a wasp flew into me and I knocked it into the water.  I rescued it very carefully.  I also saved a couple of bumblebees and many beetles.  And I evicted a few spiders. 

The two infant Argiope spiders had moved their webs a few inches.  I saw a wasp fly into the white part of each web.  I don't know if they were after the spiders or if the webs looked like something desirable, maybe a moth.  I don't think the wasps caught the spiders.  I looked up spider wasps and  they have a different body shape. 

The beautyberry was in bloom.  Goldfinches refused to visit until I was inside.  I saw the hummer flying around the sakaki. Apparently it bloomed while I was gone.  Dark clouds brought an early twilight.  The illegal fireworks started making it hard to know if there was thunder.  

Still cool

Morning was overcast.  The black-and-white cat lurked under the feeder but neither birds nor squirrel showed up.  After the cat gave up the goldfinch pair visited.  The clouds began to break apart before lunch but there was little sunshine.  

I went out looking for spiders.  The orchard spider had disappeared but I found the fingerprint web of the baby Argiope.  The spider's stripes blended perfectly with the lines in the web.  A southern purple mint moth landed on the watering can.  Very pretty, but they are rough on herbs.  A great golden digger wasp fussed with the mountain mint.  Honeybees were more methodical.  Other bees and wasps filled up on mountain mint nectar.  

There were still plenty of clouds in the afternoon but more sunshine and that made the temperature rise into the 80s.  The hummer came back to the gladiolus, so they must provide some nourishment.  Soon she was off to the mountain mint and hidden from me.  After supper, the male goldfinch made a brief stop but didn't eat.  

Pleasant temperature

More daylilies and hibiscus flowers greeted the dawn.  Later I saw a rain lily in the front.  A hummingbird tried to feed on the gladiolus.  She ignored the feeder and flew next to the mountain mint.  

The mountain mint wriggled with the movement of bees and wasps and skippers.  A tiger swallowtail wandered around the yard, appearing and disappearing into the trees.  Dragonflies were perched and waiting. 

An egret marched up the creek at low tide.  A skink tiptoed across the wall of the house out of sight of a crow on the roof.  

Clearing the air

I didn't even look out a window Friday or Saturday.  Sunday, there were pigeons in Union Station.  The train home passed lines of thunderstorms till one let go overhead.  We passed out of it but it seemed to be following.  Sunset looked more alien than pretty.  When we finally pulled in, lightning was flashing in the south and the air felt sodden.  The storms pushed the temperature down from triple digits.  

It was still raining this morning but the sun was out before lunch.  The rain was welcome as was the cooler air.  Goldfinches ignored the rain which had bowed the sunflower all the way over.  When the rain stopped a bluebird appeared. 

The afternoon got quite windy but insects flew anyway.  The mountain mint was vibrating with honeybees, bumblebees, wasps and other bees.  I saw a sand wasp and a great golden digger wasp.  A tiger swallowtail nectared on the aster.  A monarch swooped around the flowers but didn't land and ignored the milkweed.  Flies too were attracted to the mountain mint as was a skipper.  A saddlebags dragonfly was strong enough to hover in spite of the wind gusts.  

The wind cleared the sky and battered the hibiscus flowers.  The goldfinches came back for supper and found fresh seeds.  I also saw a blue jay and, I think, a white breasted nuthatch.  Lots of titmice and chickadees that came for seeds were frustrated by the goldfinches.