Today felt more like October than August. It was sunny and nice but chilly for swimming. The wandering and the stationary Argiope spiders were in the same locations but with refreshed webs. A Carolina wren was hanging around but never close. With no rain forecast, I felt safe in putting out a dish full of barkbutter balls. Blue jays and bluebirds noticed quickly. Crows came at lunch.
The female downy woodpecker grew very frustrated with the other birds that eat seeds. The female red bellied woodpecker also came for seeds. An ichneumon wasp bumbled across the window and I thought it was going to end its days in the Argiope's web, but it flew away. A tattered duskywing fluttered around the mountain mint.
A red spotted purple got territorial about its favorite perch and chased off a tiger swallowtail. A skink chased away another skink. A couple of kingfishers flew up the creek then back down. I don't know if that was a territorial chase. And the queen of territorial defenders, the hummingbird just perched and waited for any bird to dare come near her feeder.
The fungus under the oak looked like fresh baked bread rolls. A great crested flycatcher hunted in the red cedar. White breasted nuthatches persisted in seeking seeds despite the unruly house finches. Titmice and the downy were also crowded out by the house finches. A mockingbird was late to the barkbutter table. The yellow cat used the redwood as a scratching post.
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