Hottest 4th

A Carolina wren visited before it got too hot.  It hopped, rather than fly, from the lower dish to the upper.  An venusta orchard orbweaver spider constructed an intricate web over the azalea next to the window.  That should work excellently after dark with a light in the kitchen.  For identification, I found lots of pictures of the spider but none of the web.

Because of the predicted heat, I went swimming earlier than on previous days.  I fished out two crane flies but only one recovered.  Also, one of the water-walking spiders, but this one had no babies.  Many more May beetles plus some black ground beetles, a yellow jacket alive and a honeybee dead.  An interesting moth secreted itself just below the coping where it was safe from anything not in the water.  Wasps were active but the only other insect I saw was a tiger swallowtail.  

The outdoor thermometer showed 104 at 4pm.  The sky was hazy with thicker patches so the sun was intermittent.  I had changed the hummer feeder in the morning and I thought I glimpsed a hummer, but I'm not sure.  A mockingbird flew into the cherry tree.  A squirrel found K's peanuts but took the last one into the shade to et.  

 

beetle = Cyclocephala lurida

 

Hummingbird

The holiday weekend began today.  By 9am, the air was already hot and stuffy with humidity.  A mockingbird landed on the patio and flashed its wings repeatedly.  It was a youngster - freckled breast, no yellow eye - but flashing is not food begging.  I could not see what set it off and it did not seem fearful as it paused to eat something.  Maybe it was just practicing?  Finally it scared a cardinal off the feeder.  

Then a female hummer visited its feeder and actually fed.  That was a relief because I was beginning to think I needed to toss the whole batch of sugar water.  She looked disheveled and tired.  The pool was full of May beetles.  I stopped counting after I rescued a dozen.  I also very carefully rescued some wasps.  The spider was more of an eviction than a rescue but I am twitchy about swimming with them.  I fished a two-lined spittlebug out multiple times.  Sadly, I found the elytra (hard wing covers) from a ladybug floating.  A leafcutter bee fed on the mountain mint.  

K experimented and we learned that the crows like peanuts better than barkbutter balls.  Carolina wrens, however, want there barkbutter, so it all works out, except for the squirrels.   A mockingbird took exception to the crow on the roof and buzzed it repeatedly between visits to the cherry tree.  A squirrel also enjoyed the cherries.  There were fireflies after sunset and the air still felt like an oven.  

Pine warbler

There were two hibiscus blossoms today.  A pine warbler came to breakfast.  Then we had a brief shower.  On my way to swim, I saw a tiny green bee on the mountain mint but, alas, didn't go back for the camera. There were many scarab beetles and a few spiders in the water. Afterward, the bee was gone and I only saw a thread-waisted wasp on the mountain mint.  The Argiope had graduated to a zigzag web.  

At lunch I tried to feed a squirrel peanuts but a crow got there first.  K put more out and the crow brought its offspring!  Seeing a bird that big begging was really funny.  And the fledgling knew how to feed itself, it just wanted mama to do it.  A mockingbird flew up into the wild cherry tree.  

Hot

The air was hot and humid and not very breezy.  The hibiscus was still blooming.  As I stepped outside, a skink scooted off.  Apparently it had been resting in the shade of the house.  There wasn't much in the water - a few beetles, one little mama spider, and a millipede riding a leaf.  I spotted another infant Argiope, this one still making a fingerprint web.  A widow skimmer perched but I didn't see any dragonflies on patrol overhead.  I did glimpse some butterflies.  

A crow and a Carolina wren came to eat, along with the regulars.  Scruffy titmice that I suspect were molting fledglings got into everything.  A mockingbird harvested cherries.  A dark hummingbird visited its feeder but I think I spooked it.  The milkweed was blooming again.  The toadstools in the front yard looked about the same, maybe drier.  

Humid

While not especially hot, today was stuffy with humidity.  The hibiscus had another flower today, the third in a row.  Lots of cherries were on the ground and in the water, but I didn't see as many birds eating them.  I spotted a downy woodpecker doing chin-ups in the tree.  A catbird popped up on the fence.  Something that I think was the kingbird perched atop the redwood, briefly.  A hummer visited the feeder but didn't feed, so I will replace the sugar water tomorrow.  A Carolina wren was more satisfied with barkbutter balls and a brown headed nuthatch with seeds.  A crow hesitated, but finally ate K's peanuts.  A songbird chased a bigger bird into the trees too fast for me to react. 

I rescued three mama spiders and a very big scarab beetle, also smaller scarab and ground beetles.  The humidity brought dragonflies.  A female blue dasher used one of my perches.  A female great blue skimmer used another perch.  And prince baskettails zoomed overhead.  A tiger swallowtail and a small pale butterfly moved too fast for a picture.  I found a firefly under a gladiolus leaf.  A snail floated in the water but I suspect it was a land snail so I rescued it, maybe. 

Green Junebug

A crow joined the cherry eaters.  It landed almost on top of a mockingbird.  Chickadees and titmice liked the cherries too.   A brown headed nuthatch was only interested in seeds.  Something ate the sunflower petals then broke the stalk. 

While in the pool, I fished out a spider I thought had drowned, but it recovered as soon as it was in the air.  The usual beetles needed help but a green June beetle, Cotinus nitida, had rescued itself.  It was the first I'd seen this year.  Later a tiger swallowtail flitted through the trees.  A thread-waisted wasp enjoyed the mountain mint.  And underneath, I found an infant Argiope in its web. 

In the front yard, a rainlily bloomed.  Skippers fed on the lantana. And in an arc around where the oak used to be, white mushrooms the size of saucers spread their parasols.   The stalk had a ring but I didn't see a cup and I thought the gills bruised blue.  However, the best fit I could find online was Chlorophyllum molybdites which is poisonous.  By evening the sky was clear except for fiery clouds on the Western horizon.  

 

Hibiscus blossom

The crow perched on the railing and thought about the food in the hanging dishes.  I think this was early for the hibiscus to bloom, and the plant was quite small so far this year - only two stalks instead of a half dozen and not very tall.  I didn't see the flower until I was in the water.  The usual beetles were swimming along with things I don't rescue.  Something eating cherries dropped some in the water.  The mockingbird I saw cherry picking was careful.  A Carolina wren was only interested in barkbutter and mealworms.  A brown headed nuthatch wanted seeds.  A hummer disdained the sugarwater so I discarded it.  I glimpsed butterflies and prince baskettail dragonflies.  The milkweed had more buds.  The noon sky was full of wispy patterns.  A shower in the afternoon kept me inside.