A glorious Fourth

Early overcast cleared to passing clouds out of the West.  At breakfast we got to see the fledgling brown thrasher shepherded by a harried parent.  At first I thought the youngster was going to go for a swim.  It barely managed the steps but eventually found the way back under the camellia.  Titmice visited the feeder and goldfinches tested the sunflowers.  A heron flew overhead.  A hummer made several visits to its feeder. A squirrel got up in the seed feeder and grabbed a sunflower bud.

A cicada killer appeared at lunch time.  It was too windy to please flying insects but I saw an American lady and a tiger swallowtail, and of course lots of bees on the sunflowers.  Later, two female widow skimmers perched on separate bamboo sticks.  In the pool, I found a brown click beetle and a small snail.

The hummer returned regularly but was shy of me.  So were the titmice. I think I saw the same skink with the blue fading from its tail.  Menacing clouds rode up out of the WSW making the sun blink off and back on.

The only rain that fell caught us eating supper outside.  A few fat drops were all.  Before that though, the air came alive with dragonflies and a few swallows.  Some of the dragonflies were 12-spots but others had clear wings.  An egret went over and the brown thrasher had a look in the pool waste basket. After we came back outside, an osprey circled briefly and the dragonflies returned, till the fireflies came out.