Skippers

The day was beautifully sunny and warmer than I expected.  The northeast wind still blew, but not quite as fiercely.  Still, there was more tree trash to clean up.   My brief time in the pool yielded two skinks, one dead alas, two frogs, and a black swallowtail butterfly.  The volunteer sunflower bud was starting to turn yellow.  There was another hibiscus flower today.  The butterfly milkweed was almost recovered from defoliation.  The beautyberries were getting their magenta on.  The fungus might be as big as it will get. 

The Argiope started the day with a fresh, clean web and she already had breakfast.  At first she hung on the outside, away from the glass, but switched at some point.  That nice new web collected a lot of detritus as the day went on.  A tiger swallowtail flew slowly enough for the camera.  Not so, a cloudless sulphur - it was a blur of butterfly-shaped yellow.  It landed on yesterday's withered hibiscus instead of today's flower.  Another duskywing flitted around the mountain mint.  Then a silver spotted skipper landed on the mountain mint.  I thought another skipper might be a Huron sachem.  A two lined spittlebug crept along a dried stem of money plant.  

A blue jay inspected the barkbutter ball dish.  A white breasted nuthatch yearned for seeds.   A wary hummer watched as much as she drank.   A Carolina wren objected to the crumbs that were left of the barkbutter balls, then hustled off to the seeds.   Brown headed nuthatches used ninja powers to get seeds.  A female cardinal looked like she had been dragged backward through a knothole.  Fortunately, molting is temporary. 

I saw a warbler with a yellow breast and brown head and back.  It seemed to have an eye ring though the angle of its head left me uncertain.  Also it was molting a bit so I couldn't see details of the wing bars.  Though it did not look like a pine warbler that is my best guess.