Tuesday, July 16, 2024

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. 


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