Warmer

The day got warmer than predicted and stayed humid.  Cloudy periods alternated with burning sunlight.   I found two grown skinks basking, one by the pool steps and the other by the deep end.  Two frogs were hiding in the skimmer but I chased them down.  I found another praying mantis castoff exoskeleton afloat.  A yellow crab spider tried to take possession of the door and another dangled over the pool steps.  There were mosquitoes, but nothing worse.  A blue dasher was standing watch when I came outside and a bigger dragonfly glittered in the sunlight when I got out of the water but I never got a good look at it.  A third skink wanted something behind my chair but didn't stay there long.  As we ate supper, there was a flash and a loud crack of thunder, then nothing.  Sometime later a light rain began.   

Rain again

Yesterday's rain left the air much cooler but very humid.  Morning was relatively sunny, what I saw of it.  It is distressing that I keep having morning meetings and afternoon rain.  The sun was still shining when I went swimming but I saw dark clouds coming and it wasn't very long after I got out that the rain began.  There was one frog in the skimmer and it took itself off immediately, so no chasing.  Instead, I rescued a pair of green June beetles that were so busy mating they hadn't noticed they'd fallen into the water.  They finished what they were about before I could get a photo.  

 

Thunderstorm

The sun was hot when I went out to swim.  I caught four frogs and found another cast exoskeleton from a praying mantis floating on the water.  But clouds boiled up in the Southwest and ten minutes after I came inside, the storm arrived.  The rain waxed and waned through the afternoon, finally finishing before supper  Enough rain fell to bring the water level to the top of the skimmer opening.  The fledgling cardinal was hungry by then.  The sky cleared around sunset leaving a golden band of cloud.  

Little and late

A juvenile cardinal hunted for breakfast under the feeder.  A hummer and a Carolina wren showed up around lunchtime but neither posed.   A red spotted purple butterfly was more cooperative but the sun overexposed it.  In the late afternoon, I chased three frogs and several chunks of mulch around the water.  A skink surprised me, or I it, as it walked on the concrete outside the pool.  I didn't find any insects of note while I was outside.

 

Uncomon insects

An overcast sky looked like a storm was brewing, but it blew away. Then the sun was scorching and a buzzard soared ominously overhead.  A skink scuttled into a crack.  The blue was almost gone from its tail.  There were three frogs to chase and I caught them all.  I found an Asian horntail in the water along with an expired dragonfly nymph.  

A wheelbug climbed one of the milkweed pods.  Some dogwood leaves showed Fall color but I wonder if it was drought stress.  

Hot & humid

There was a storm in the night that left rain in the birdbath and leaves in the pool.  A brown headed nuthatch came to breakfast.  Only one frog was present.  I think they travel on rainy nights.  No sign of the green head, thank goodness!   Morning was cloudy and seemed like the sort of weather to bring out biters and their predators, but I only glimpsed a couple of  dragonflies.   There were more butterflies.  I saw a red spotted purple, a snout, skippers, and a hairstreak.  Several hummer visits might have all been the same bird.  The afternoon was mostly sunny and hot.  The butterfly milkweed was loaded with pods instead of caterpillars.  It has not been a good year for insects.  I blamed the drought but K blamed "Mosquito Joe"  the bug spray poisoner of suburbia.  Sunset painted a pink streak across the deepening blue sky.  

Time outside

Morning was cloudy.  I spotted a morning glory flower.  A brown thrasher was an early visitor.  A female cardinal was beginning to lose head feathers and a male fledgling was getting orange, but with a black beak.  A female goldfinch was thirsty.  The molt-ragged Carolina wren had a barkbutter ball.  

Carrying the can of bug killer, I went swimming earlier than usual and found three frogs.  I evicted them but after I got out, they hopped back into the water.  A big, all-black bee was swimming frantically and I assisted it onto dry concrete.  Wind gusts tossed leaves into the water.   I put some peanut bits on the patio for the crow but a squirrel ate them.  The crow may have given up on us.  

After lunch, I went back outside.  There was more sun but a breeze and the shade made the heat endurable.  A blue dasher stood guard.  I saw two other dragonflies, one dark and the other yellowish, but I didn't get pictures to ID.   A hummer had a long feed before she saw something that sent her away.  Sometime later I spotted her preening on a dead twig in the dogwood.

A well-grown skink crossed the steps and later rain under my chair.  Its tail was not original but was full length.  A few wasps and bees and a duskywing skipper fed on the mountain mint.  A big dark butterfly never alighted and I couldn't guess if it was a red spotted purple or some kind of swallowtail.  A skipper with some orange joined the mountain mint crew.