Camera trap

The rain really lowered temperatures.  Apparently, it also caused the orchard spider to disappear.  Instead, I found an Argiope in the azalea.  A skipper joined the bees and wasps.  Dragonflies kept watch.  A tiger swallowtail sailed around the trees.  A hummer found that I'd put out fresh sugar water.  

In the afternoon, a guy from the gray fox research project showed up to place a camera trap.  After reading about the project, I had filled out their form inviting them to do so.  The last time I saw a fox in the yard was before COVID, but we can hope.   The pool water was full of beetles and tree trash.  Today was mostly sunny with a breeze from the Northeast that felt chilly on wet skin.  I saw a swallow flying but wasn't fast enough with the camera.

De-tree-tus

The rain finally stopped mid day.  It had reached flood stage in the pool.  And when I went for a lat afternoon swim, leaves and seeds and needles and less identifiable tree trash was afloat or sunk to the bottom.  All I saw was may beetles and a pesky mosquito.  There was no sign of the orchard spider and the mountain mint had few visitors.  

More rain

At lunch, the sun came out and a hummer fed from the milkweed and the feeder.  A tiny skink appeared.  The squirrel raided the seed feeder again.  

Hornets

I got a swim but b=not much else on a day full of disruption.  Many beetles were also swimming and there were lots of leaves in the water.  One insect was kicking up tiny waves so I approached it carefully with a twig.  It was a bald faced hornet and after some preening it took off.  I found another afloat that was clearly dead.  I've no idea where they might be nesting.  

 

Dragonfly rescue

Yesterday's rain filled the birdbath.  A hummer visited the milkweed again and then moved on to the feeder.  As I started to get into the water I was attacked by a tabinid fly.  I retreated and came back with bug spray.  When it came for me again, I gave it a dose.  I didn't see it after that but swimming was kind of stressful.  When I started to clean the skimmer, I found a dragonfly afloat and fished it out.  I assumed it was dead but it slowly revived and flew away after a couple of hours, around the time the rain started.  iNaturalist suggested it was a Two-striped Forceptail Aphylla williamsoni.  Other than that, there were just a few beetles swimming.  

A tiny skink emerged from the step wall.  It was so small that at first I thought it was a worm.  The orchard spider and the bees and wasps on the mountain mint were about the same.  K decided to pick figs despite them being rain-soaked and got quite a haul.

Figs

In the morning, the sun spotlighted the orchard spider.  I checked out the fig trees because I wondered about the effects of the drought.  They were ripening and then drying right on the branches.  Neither birds not insects seemed to have paid them much attention, though something I couldn't see was moving around in the higher foliage. And I startled a large insect in a nearby (not fig) bush.  My picking was well-timed as rain fell in the afternoon and evening.  Probably the ripe figs I couldn't reach will rot.  

Judging from paw prints and sand, a raccoon had been washing its supper on the pool step.  My only rescues from the water were a couple of beetles and a spider.  I saw egrets flying and a blue jay that may have been headed for the figs.  A skink came out and basked on the step.  During lunch we saw a hummer visit the milkweed and a palamedes swallowtail fly quickly across the patio.  Titmice squabbled over the feeder.  

Wind shift

The wind swung around to the Southwest which cleared the air, but heated it.  I got my swim in the morning.  Several May beetles needed rescue.  I also fished out drowned camel and field crickets and a big mulch roach.  A small brown diamond clung to the wall.  When I touched it with a twig, legs popped out and it transformed into a spider..  (Always use a twig!)  Bees and wasps worked on the milkweed and mountain mint.  The orchard spider worked on its  web.  A late daylily bloomed behind where the primroses had been.  I fear it's getting too little sunlight there.  There was a hibiscue blossom as well.