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.