Saturday, August 17, 2024

Warmer

We had goldfinches for breakfast again.  The hibiscus continued to bloom and a rose bloomed too.  A scattering of leaves on one dogwood turned fall colors.  I had a mid day event which cut into my outdoor time.  On the way there and back I saw lots of dragonflies riding the asphalt thermals.  Some buzzards were doing the same only much higher.  

As soon as I got home I went straight into the pool.  I rescued a camel cricket and a fig beetle.  There was a frog but it mostly hid from me.  A blue dasher perched, waiting for its dinner to fly by.  Many black swallowtail caterpillars at all stages nibbled rue leaves.  I wonder if rue makes them taste bad the way milkweed does for monarchs?  The monarch caterpillars seemed fewer and bigger.  The wandering Argiope was still too close for comfort.  

A hummingbird kept watch over its feeder from a dead dogwood twig.  At supper, a yellow crowned night heron swooped onto a redwood branch.  A mockingbird checked for leftover barkbutter balls.  The goldfinches were frustrated by a miserly house finch. 


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