Bluebirds

A pair of bluebirds came for breakfast.  She tried to stuff her beak but kept dropping pieces.  I caught the crab and K kindly carried it down to the creek.  I also caught two frogs, repeatedly.  The Southwest wind sent lots of cumulus clouds past.  A fiery skipper joined the bees and wasps.  I fished a few beetles out of the water, but more mulch.  A bumblebee rescued itself.  

 

Crab

Fortunately, the sticky heat was frequently relieved by a breeze.  Lots of cumulus blew up from the Southwest.  The brown headed nuthatch was back  The dark spider posed like an orb weaver but what I could see of the web was just a tangle of threads with no pattern.  A couple of duskywings argued over the mountain mint.  I posed a drowned camel cricket.

I found no frogs in the pool today, but a mud crab instead.  It pinched my fingers and toes and got away into deep water.  Speaking of pinches, National Geographic introduced the Schmidt sting pain index.  A hummer made a brief visit to its feeder.  A male slaty skimmer used the smaller perch but spent much of the time hunting.  I saw a reddish dot in the sky and got a blurry shot of a Carolina saddleback dragonfly.  A titmouse saw something hair-raising.  Once again, a sprinkle made me take the camera inside.  

Rain

Another hibiscus flower appeared.  The sky looked ominous in the morning but I swam anyway.  A  few May and June beetles should have been thankful for that.  The frogs resented it.  I evicted three of them several times and also disposed of the one I found dead in the skimmer.  Meanwhile, the sky sprinkled me.  There was a brief interlude of sun when I got out, then a shower even though the sun kept shining.  The dark spider in the azalea was hard to see. 

A female great blue skimmer dragonfly hunted from the garden stake perches.  Carpenter mimic bees fussed over the mountain mint.  A yellow butterfly disappeared into the trees.  A skink hid from me, but not well.  A hummer flew at the kitchen window then to the feeder.  At lunch, I saw a brown headed nuthatch.  A Carolina wren seemed to be stuffing vegetation into the birdhouse.  Fingers crossed!  Mid afternoon, the showers turned to a hard rain that flooded Norfolk and cancelled events.  However, we only got about a quarter inch.  

Yellow bird

The goldfinch visited again and this time I got a photo, but of his back.  A dark skipper didn't settle long enough for a picture.  The usurper spider was still enthroned above the azalea.  I caught two frogs at the same time but one kept jumping back into the water.  The usual beetles floated around.  Meanwhile the sky was mostly gray and drops fell on me while I swam.  

Beautiful blue bee

K put some peanuts out for the crow but the sqyuirrels got them.  Because an afternoon thunderstorm was possible, I picked figs in the morning.  It was buggy and sweaty, but I got a lot.  Afterward the cool water felt so good.  I caught four frogs, I think.  That is, I know I caught one twice because I saw it jump in again, but it is possible there were more repeaters.  I wish they would eat the mosquitoes!  I did see a couple of dragonflies on patrol.  

A metallic glint in the water caught my notice and I rescued a bright blue bee.  It was about a half centimeter in length and all blue-green with black wings.  It walked politely on my fingers but I didn't try to carry it up to the house for the camera.  There were also several big green June beetles and one ladybug.  Also a drowned brown stinkbug.  A monarch butterfly found the milkweed irresistible.  I saw a Guinea paper wasp hunting around the milkweed and wondered if it would take monarch caterpillars as I saw no sign of them.  

I did see the usual bees and wasps and a tiny yellow spider that had caught a tiny black wasp that was nevertheless too big for it.  A strange spider appeared to have taken over the Argiope web.  It was smaller than the Argiope had been but I wonder if it preyed on spiders.  Bluebirds visited the barkbutter balls.  The thunderstorm never materialized.  

Evidence of a mantis

The hibiscus set some more buds and opened one.  One of the benefits of a pool is that it catches things you'd never notice otherwise.  Today it caught the shed exoskeleton of a young praying mantis. Of course the water also caught the usual complement of scarab beetles and small wasps.  A lacewing had drowned.  I caught a frog and bid it depart before it became "dearly departed."  

A female great blue skimmer hunted from a garden stake.  Later a blue dasher did the same.  I thought I saw a yellow butterfly, but it was a goldfinch.  A mockingbird visited the barkbutter balls but got away from the camera.   I found two of the monarch caterpillars on the milkweed.  Bees and wasps went about their business on the mountain mint.  

 

De gustibus non est disputandum

I caught two frogs this morning but neither offered to eat the mosquito that was bugging me.  I also, gingerly, fished out some small wasps.  Something has been eating green dogwood berries and dropping bits around the skimmer.  As I came dripping up the steps, I saw a small monarch caterpillar on the butterfly milkweed.  Looking closer, I found three more.  They seemed to prefer eating flowers instead of leaves.  I suppose that could be because their mouths are still small and the petals are thinner.  Or, maybe there is some advantage to stopping the milkweed from blooming?  

A robber fly lurked on the railing.  The Argiope was missing again.  K refilled the seed feeder, changed the ant moat water, and took down the suet cage.  We could hang a second hummer feeder but that has to be changed a lot more often than suet and I'm no longer surefooted enough.