If the Weather Service can be trusted, today was the last of the unseasonably cool days. A mockingbird and several blue jays helped themselves to barkbutter balls. Then a brown thrasher finished them off.
The Argiope spiders hadn't moved and the cobweb spider was well away from my chair. The finches continued to fight. Hummers too. A molting Carolina wren looked for something to eat. It was not impressed by finch belligerence. When a red bellied woodpecker arrived at the seed feeder the finch left without protest. A tiger swallowtail attacked its reflection in the window.
A skink was clinging to the outside of the pool skimmer opening so I helped it up to the pavement. It was not grateful. A frog was hiding in the outer part of the skimmer and I didn't see it till I'd finished dumping the basket. I'm glad it didn't get sucked down the pipe. It swam off and later I found it hobnobbing with another frog. I evicted one and the other used my climb out stick. While in the pool, I saw a red spotted purple butterfly on the wild cherry beside the oak. I also found a couple of largish insect exoskeletons floating but I couldn't tell what they were. Then I found another on the pavement and it was clear that it had been shed by a praying mantis.
A few wasps were all I saw on the mountain mint but something left a lot of webbing and frass under one of the flower heads.. Birds. especially blue jays, have begun eating acorns. A great blue heron rested on a post attached to the neighbor's dock.
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