Fritillary

Because a thunderstorm was predicted, I swam in the morning.  That meant there wasn't much in the way of wildlife needing rescue, just a firefly.   I emptied the rainwater in the blueberry bucket into the watering can.  That somehow disturbed a jumping spider.  It looked exactly like a species from the Western states but maybe brilliant jumping spider is right.   The blueberries were plentiful but a lot smaller than earlier in the season.  

The usual bees and wasps enjoyed the mountain mint and among them was a green bee I didn't even notice till I looked at the photos.  What I think was some kind of bee fly mimic landed on a chair.  Today's butterfly was a variegated fritillary that arrived as I was dripping dry.  I also saw a tiger swallowtail, a dark butterfly, and an orange butterfly, but none of them posed for me.  Also, there were dragonflies, perched and cruising.  A skink hiked along the step wall. 

While the sky clouded over in the afternoon, there was no storm.  Brown headed nuthatches got seeds despite the cardinals, house finches, and chickadees that think they own the feeder.  Carolina wrens were more interested in suet.  A bluebird and a blue jay found the barkbutter balls.  Something was eating cherries and making the branches bounce, but I never saw the critter.