Rain, finally

Every surface was wet when I got up but little water had accumulated. A Carolina wren was disappointed that the barkbutter balls were still covered up.  A red belly and a downy visited the suet.  Chickadees and cardinals ate seeds while white throats picked up what fell.  The gray sky promised more rain.  

After lunch, the rain did return, first as a gentle shower, then around 2:30pm a blinding downpour.  

H O T

A crow poked around under the suet.  Its beak was open like it was panting.  Then a chipping sparrow landed on the seed feeder roof but it didn't have anything to eat.  A bluebird claimed the top of the post again before getting seeds.  A red belly landed on the post but didn't stay.   Blue jays got their barkbutter balls.  The female pileated learned a new trick and clung to the suet cage instead of the post.  White throats were tempted by the barkbutter balls. 

While I was weeding around the birdbath, a damselfly glided past me.  Of course I didn't have the camera, but I probably couldn't have got it if I did.  A black swallowtail danced around the plants before discovering the rue.  I thought I glimpsed a yellow swallowtail too, and I definitely saw cabbage whites.  Lots of big bees bumbled around and fed on the money plant.  A big mulch roach scuttled under the grill. 

The thermometer showed 91 after lunch but the SW wind was really strong so it didn't feel that hot.  The wind blew the tide down to full moon low even though we just passed the first quarter.  The heat rushed the bulbs and the daffodils were nearly all gone.  Hickory buds popped open.  The blue sky grew hazy, then cloudy, as the day went on.   I cooked hummer juice and put a feeder out.  That meant rearranging the hanging dishes but I was reluctant to give up on the jelly just yet.  Toward evening the temperature had dropped almost 30 degrees.. 

Woodpecker trio

Blue jays were happy I finally got around to refilling the barkbutter dish. In fact, they mus have posted a sentinel to keep watch.  The white throats were beginning to look ragged, molting for the breeding season, I suppose.  The male pine flowers have been spewing pollen all week but I finally saw some female flowers emerging.   They're the ones sometimes called candles.  The oak flowers had turned brown and were dropping. 

The pileated flew up to the post while I was outside and though I didn't move the bird spooked, so no photo.  After I came back in, a red belly arrived, then a downy.   The downy went for seeds since the bigger red belly wanted suet.  He looked different from the red belly male that I saw before.  This one hasn't much red on his belly.  The day was hot as predicted, up in the 80s again, but there was sunshine because the overcast was very thin.

A small dark butterfly eluded me as it fed and flitted.  Then I was fooled into thinking I saw a new bug when it was a violet bobbing in the breeze.  Somewhat later, a cabbage white did a good imitation of a falling dogwood petal.  A skink with a very red head sauntered along the step wall.  

Quarter moon

A crow was flitting around  wit a twig in its beak.  I guess it was saying, c'mon, lets make a nest.  White throats just kept foraging for fallen seeds.   We saw the first skinks of the year.   The female pileated woodpecker was back.  So were a male red belly and a female downy.  The temperature again reached into the 80s.  The moon was very bright and I couldn't get any details to show up, but the terminator line was absolutely straight, marking it as a first quarter.  . 

 

Humid

A bluebird kept watch from atop the post.  White throats foraged and a titmouse visited.  Under an overcast sky the temperature rose into the low 80s.  The forecast for the next three days is about the same. 

A bright crescent moon penetrated the clouds, but was very fuzzy.

Petal snow

The female pileated woodpecker showed up to have some suet.  A white breasted nuthatch went to the seed feeder.  Blue jays hit the barkbutter balls.  A pair of bluebirds also wanted seeds.  

White petals blew like snowflakes.  I'm not sure where they came from.  The day was mostly sunny but I was tied up with the computer.  

Cooler

The temperature dropped over night and rain fell at some point.  More clouds than sun kept the day a seasonable temperature.  Although I put out barkbutter balls the birds did not show a lot of enthusiasm.  I missed getting a picture of a brown headed nuthatch.  Blue jays, a myrtle warbler, and a bluebird ate some barkbutter balls.  White throats stayed busy.  The pines were covered with male flowers, gilding everything with pollen.  The oak flower strings began to brown and rosy miniature leaves poked out above.