The white breasted nuthatch was up early, soon followed by a brown headed nuthatch. They both wanted seeds, as did a house finch. Young mockingbirds were hoping for barkbutter balls but I hadn't gotten outside yet. The sunflower shone like its name. A goldfinch got a drink.
When I refilled the barkbutter balls, I saw a soldier beetle on the mountain mint. A frog waited on the ladder. A skink scooted under my chair and then hid among pine needles. The lengthwise lines on its body made surprisingly good camouflage. Eventually it ran across the step and went about its business. I put shoes on to get close ups of the
Berkeley's Polypore. When I got in the pool two frogs awaited me. Also a drowned skink, alas. Neither frog made any effort to get away. I also rescued a
magnolia green jumping spider Lyssomanes viridis.
I saw butterflies and one dragonfly but they did not cooperate. The one butterfly that I got a recognizable photo of might have been a
hackberry emperor Asterocampa celtis. Certainly it was very close to a hackberry tree. A cloudless sulphur got away, as did a dark butterfly. There was a very small monarch caterpillar munching the new leaves on the butterfly milkweed. While I was photographing the caterpillar, a jumping spider marched down the railing, keeping a wary eye on me. My guess was a
canopy jumping spider Phidippus otiosus. A few wasps looked for nectar on the mountain mint.
Blue jays and a male cardinal vied for barkbutter balls for supper. The white breasted nuthatch came back for another meal but a female cardinal was in the way. Then it was house finches, but finally the bird got fed.
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