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.