Blue jays and hummers were early again. The creek shone with reflected sunlight. A bumblebee visited the sunflower. The sky was very blue, the air warm, and the breeze light. A bumblebee pollinated the sunflower. When I went for a swim, I rescued a young skink, or rather, it swam up to me and demanded my aid. And I evicted two frogs.
After some searching I located the two monarch caterpillars, each underneath a leaf. Two dark butterflies danced or dueled, then flew in separate directions. I'm fairly certain the nearer one was either a palamedes or giant swallowtail. A new-to-me butterfly hid behind vegetation. I only saw it because I was tracking a weevil. After considerable research my best guess was
Common Checkered-Skipper,
Burnsius communis. It's irritating when something new to me is named "common." Also, the authorities changed the genus from
Pyrgus. I thought there was a strange bird on the dock but it was only a pair of mallards, one behind the other. Then I realized that above them was a kingfisher. My day for seeing a surprise while focused on something else.
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