Another storm

Somehow I managed to erase all the pictures on my main camera.  At breakfast I saw titmice.  I rescued a frog, a mama wolf spider, and a big green June beetle. A ladybug, alas, was beyond help.  A hummer landed directly over me and I was looking forward to those shots. Blue jays set up a racket in the oak.  I saw a brownish butterfly and a very tattered female black swallowtail.  A female widow skimmer used the perch for a while and a saddlebags ruled the upper airspace.  The argiope was still in its web. 

Fortunately, I had the little snapshot camera along in the car during the storms yesterday and today.  A scary wall of darkness pushed up from the South as I drove West. Thunder and lightning ran ahead of it.  The rain finally arrived as I headed home. 

Thunderstorm

I squeezed in some pool time after lunch and disposed of a drowned skink and a dead cicada.  Some butterflies flitted around but I left the camera inside.  The sun was scorching at first, but clouds moved in.  A saddlebags zipped around the treetops. 

Later on my way to a meeting I saw lightning flashes. As I hiked from my car to the building, the rain began and by the time I reached the door it was falling sideways and I was soaked despite an umbrella.  On the way home three hours later, I took pictures of the retreating clouds. 

And this was supposed to be all day sunshine.

Another hot one

The only thing I saw at breakfast was a hummer.  But I did get going and into the pool in the morning.  There were two live frogs and one corpse today.  I tossed all three down the hill. But I rescued a wolf spider and her babies.  The Argiope was still between the rue and the hibiscus.  And there were interesting webs on the parsley with a caterpillar in the middle. 

I glimpsed several skinks but they all got away.  A duskywing landed on a wilted morning glory.  I also saw a monarch, a black swallowtail and a palamedes swallowtail, a clouded sulphur, a snout, and a red spotted purple.  A tiny, delicate damselfly landed between me and the camera.  I saw a couple of dragonflies on the wing.  But the only decent photo out of all this was a grasshopper on the downspout. 

Foolish frog

The morning disappeared into various projects.  I just had time to notice dogwood leaves blushing with the onset of shorter days.  At lunch time, dueling monarchs danced above the milkweed.  One seemed more interested in laying eggs and the other in getting a meal.  A fritillary stayed away from the milkweed.  I glimpsed a red spotted purple but it did not hang around. 

A succession of hummers came for refueling. A flock of birds flew over but the camera didn't want to focus.  I wondered if they were tree swallows.  A couple of blue jays came for bark butter balls.  One begged the other so I guess it was a fledgling. 

The absence of Argiope spiders had begun to concern me, but I stuck my hand right into a web while reaching for a stalk of money plant seeds pods.  The spider didn't look full size but it had picked a good spot to catch its meals.  A female common whitetail buzzed around the patio. The perch was occupied by a bar winged skimmer. 

I got the silly green frog out of the pool but when I walked away it jumped back in.  No doubt tomorrow I'll have to dispose of its corpse.  Yuck.  I also rescued a mama wolf spider, a click beetle, a tiny green caterpillar, and a buffalo leafhopper (or treehopper). A long-bodied cellar spider was handing out on the top step just above the water.  I left it alone since it seemed to be satisfied with its location.  

Heavy clouds blocked the sun in the afternoon and then dissipated before evening.  I sat outside to listen to the varied cicadas and saw a few fireflies.  Two egrets flew over and I missed both. 

Around 11pm, something banged on the window a couple of times.  I went out to see what it was and found a cicada.  I tried to persuade it onto my finger but it threw a loud hissy fit and disappeared.  So I cannot say which kind it was, but it seemed small.  The past-full moon had not yet cleared the trees.

Hot, humid, and windless

The male goldfinch was back.  Clouds put on quite a show of sun beams.  Dogwood berries had turned red but the acorns were still green. But despite the conditions, I didn't see much. 

I evicted a frog and a spider from the skimmer.  Sadly, there was a battered butterfly in the water.  I could not tell whether it had been a black swallowtail or a red spotted purple.  Another dark butterfly flitted over the water.  A blue dasher was stationed on the perch. 

A small flock of geese were stationary on the still water, as though waiting for something.  Then the blue jays started screaming and crows flew in to help.  I've no idea what the ruckus was about.  I did wonder if the jays were faking.  They were feasting on acorns, dropping shrapnel on the ground for unwary feet.

Later, a blue jay in the midst of a bad molt grabbed some bark butter balls while I sat about six feet away.  I didn't attempt a picture, in the hope that it would return.  The male goldfinch also decided to visit despite my presence, though I was a bit farther from the ant moat.  A hummer appeared within minutes after I hung a fresh feeder. 

Pleasant

A tiger swallowtail laid eggs all over the cherry   The tattered hibiscus managed a flower.  So did the canna. A couple of hummers had a glaring contest.  A squirrel nibbled green acorns.

While I was in the pool I observed something very odd.  An earthworm, I believe, came across the concrete toward the water, its front end raised somewhat like a snake.  I splashed it to stop it from coming over the edge because I wasn't sure whether it would float.  In fact, I wasn't entirely sure it wasn't a tiny snake.  The splash scared it and it hustled away. The last I saw of it was as it crossed the stones into the grass. There was no time to get the camera, alas.

Scary cloud

The big, dark cloud sat over central VB for hours, looking like it was about to spawn tornadoes and dump buckets of water, but nothing happened.  I got a few sprinkles on the windshield, no more.

Before I left, I did see some interesting chickadee behavior - the bird was very interested in the wrens' abandoned birdhouse. Titmice came to breakfast but they were too fast for me.  The male goldfinch didn't flee the camera today.  Neither did a blue jay.

I cleaned the pool in the late afternoon and saved one skink and disposed of another.  Also one spider, but no frogs, alive or dead.  A couple of little red insects behaved like scorpions -- they both curled their red abdomens up when rescued.  Fortunately I was cautious and did not touch them because they turned out to be rove beetles. Apparently they were used in ancient biochemical warfare.

A female widow skimmer was using the perch.  One hummer was at the feeder when another alighted.  I don't know what the first one said, but the interloper skedaddled.

Breezy

It was still a bit cool for August, especially in the shade.  And the breeze made itself felt when I got out of the water.  A great blue heron chased another out of its fishing spot.  The goldfinch pair came for water but left faster than I could zoom the camera.  I did finally catch a badly molting blue jay.  Hummers never objected to posing. A gray bird I think was a mockingbird alighted briefly in a dogwood across the pool. 

The cicada I found last night was defunct today and tiny ants were trying to harvest it.   I had to dispose of both a frog and a mature skink.  I saw a few butterflies, including a red spotted purple that got away.  Yet another mama wolf spider needed rescue from the skimmer.  I also very carefully fished out a red and black wasp.  A female Needhams's skimmer perched but a male common whitetail preferred to be on the ground. 

Beautiful day

I missed way too much of this day.  A peculiar bug got into the house than I'm still trying to identify.  I saw hummers, a goldfinch, a swallow, bluebirds and blue jays but got next to no photos. 

A bracket fungus has emerged where the sweet gum used to be.  The camellia has set buds for the winter. I got rid of a dead frog and rescued a live one, along with a spider.  The breeze made the water feel warm and me cold. 

After dark, I went outside to see the moon and found a cicada and a pecked fig on the patio.  The moon was not quite full but the air was very clear and Mars really did look red to me. 

Plague of frogs

I fished nine frogs out of the pool.  Half were dead and the rest will probably be back to die tomorrow.  Apparently they cannot detect chlorine or realize that the water is toxic to them.

A blue dasher occupied one of the perching sticks and a skimmer another.  A fiery skipper tended to the portulaca.  I have not seen anything feed from the scarlet climber flowers.  An oddly shaped moth rested on the window. 

At lunch time I spotted a skink right in the doorway.  It ambled across the patio without noticing me. 

A snowy joined a great egret at the dam outfall.  Dramatic clouds piled up in the afternoon and rain fell after sunset. 

Rain

Clouds came and went in the morning but looked like rain more often than not.  Blue morning glories bloomed.  A snowy egret looked down at the dam spillway.  The raggedy hummer came back.   Blue jays fussed at each other over the rain-melted bark butter balls.

The rain held off till afternoon so I got some time in the pool.  I left the camera in the house though, just in case.  I pitched two dead frogs down the hill and evicted two live ones I found in the skimmer.  No doubt they'll be back.  I also rescued a couple of mama spiders.  Another spider, unencumbered with offspring, insisted on a spot on the ladder - it jumped back into the pool when I fished it out.  A monarch and a tiger swallowtail argued over the milkweed.  I saw a cicada killer hunting. 

The great crested flycatcher was back too.  They look as cuddly as a teddy bear.  A bar winged skimmer used the bamboo perch while a slaty skimmer perched on a dead dogwood twig.  A skink caught a bug right in the middle of the patio.  A couple more skinks ventured out later.  A duskywing skipper flitted around rather close to where I'd recently seen a skink. 

There were a couple of deluges with damp mist between.  A great egret rested on the dock.  I believe I saw a Mississippi kite!  It was raining under scary clouds when I went off to my meeting. Coming home after dark was drier but distant lightning flashed and I was glad to pull into the garage.

Wet

A thunderstorm woke me at 5:30am.  It dumped a lot of water in the next couple of hours. The rest of the morning was dry but mostly cloudy.  Three egrets and a heron clustered at the dam outfall. 

I saw dragonflies with yellow bodies at the physical therapy parking lot.  An amberwing popped up out of the grass as I pulled in our driveway.  A black swallowtail was egging in the back yard and a slaty skimmer was on a perch.  A couple of hummers chased through the yard. 

After lunch a great crested flycatcher appeared.  A fiery skipper worked its way across the patch of portulaca.  A bit later a much larger silver spotted skimmer posed beautifully, but I'd left the camera indoors fearing rain.  After much grumbling of thunder, a brief shower passed through around 4pm. 

Cloudy

 From the kitchen (without a camera) I saw a wren running and hopping on the top of the pool steps.  The water was too deep and it could not find a way to nab whatever it was after.  The bird gave up before I got to the camera.  I did see a camel cricket clinging to the side of the step.  And later I found a dead frog on the steps. 

A tiger swallowtail found the lantana in the front yard.   I saw a bluebird carrying out fecal sacks so the nestlings must be getting big. 

Blue jays snatched bark butter balls whenever they thought we weren't watching.  The goldfinch landed as we ate lunch outside, but then it panicked. 

Rain finally fell around 5:30pm.  It came down hard enough to drive a hummer from the feeder. 

Sweaty

When I got up a squirrel was doing upside down pushups on a branch of the redwood.   Then it began to frantically jerk its tail.  My best guess is that it was in the mood for sex.  A molting hummer got an early breakfast. 

Knowing I planned on registering voters in the afternoon, I got into the pool early.  But I was too late for two frogs and a skink.  I hope they were not the forerunners of a plague of dead frogs like last year.  Outside the library, while we waited for people to register, I saw a saddlebags, a Halloween pennant, and a yellow bodied dragonfly.  A monarch and a red spotted purple flitted around the liriope.  What I didn't see was anyone to register.  Fortunately there was a breeze because I was quite sweaty by the time I was through.  Cumulus clouds streamed out of the West under higher cirrus clouds that looked like a faint thumbprint.

Not long after I got home the clouds congealed into a stormy-looking sky.  The goldfinch came for water.  A hummer ignored it, but not the chickadee on the seed feeder.  Some birds played with the wind gusts while others flapped madly to get somewhere.  A tiger swallowtail fed on the milkweed.

On the front patio, I found two different kind of potter wasp nests.  Wind whipped the trees but nothing else happened till around 6:30pm when a few sprinkles fell.  Rain began in earnest around 7pm. 

Very hot

It was nice to be home all day, but the heat outdoors was fierce.  A big crane fly rested on the glass giving me a rather disturbing view of it from underneath.  The hummers were as greedy as ever.  I missed the blue jay gobbling bark butter balls. 

A skimmer was perched atop the canna when I went out to the pool.  And a blue dasher was on guard when I got out.  I evicted two frogs from the skimmer.  In the leaves floating at the deep end i found a large bumblebee covered in sodden yellow plush.  I wasn't sure it would recover but it flew off before I got a good photo.

I think the butterfly on the cherry was a red spotted purple.  The one in the rue was definitely a black swallowtail.  An amberwing perched in the lavender.  A fritillary enjoyed the milkweed undisturbed by hornets. 


Chickadees were in rare form.  One investigated the abandoned wren house.  Another argued with a hummer.  The goldfinch pair showed up at lunch but didn't stay.  The male returned in the late afternoon.  Skinks were around, but cautious.

The moon was fatter, almost first quarter, and accompanied by Jupiter as an evening star.

Hotter

It was another beautiful day.  A pristine tiger swallowtail breakfasted on the milkweed.  I think it had just emerged and fortunately it visited before the territorial hornet was up.  It hung around so long I tried making videos, but I need something to steady the camera. A frowsty-looking hummer also needed an energy drink. 

I finally got into the pool in the late morning and found a frog in the skimmer again.  This one hopped back into the pool but eventually I caught it and made it pose for pictures.  I also rescued three click beetles and one sidewalk tiger beetle.  And I fished out little bees or wasps or hoverflies, I don't know which. 

After lunch, I saw a bird grasshopper on the wall outside.  A black swallowtail laid eggs on the skeletal parsley.  A saddlebags guarded our airspace.  A monarch passed by and I saw a skipper, but not such a variety as yesterday.  The hornet chased a threadwaisted wasp away from the milkweed. 

Hummers disputed possession of the feeder.  A couple of doves pecked around the patio.  The goldfinch paid a visit to the ant moat. Sunset tinted contrails and the moon seemed fuzzy with haze. 

Butterflies!

I woke up early but a hummer was ahead of me, enjoying the peace before the seed feeder was open.  An egret perched on a dock piling. The male goldfinch came for water during breakfast. I saw the first morning glory of the year.

A spider walking on water in the bright sunlight looked magical.  I rescued a couple of others, one a mama.  There was a frog in the pool skimmer but it was still very lively and got away.  A saddlebags dragonfly soared overhead. 

Butterflies congregated at lunch.  A tiger swallowtail was too erratic for the camera but I got a black swallowtail.  A dusky skipper enjoyed the portulaca.  A variegated fritillary tried everything.  Hornets harassed it when the fritillary wanted milkweed.  A clouded sulphur visited the portulaca. Blue dashers and the great blue skimmer perched. 

The sun invited skinks out.  In the front yard a brown thrasher scuttled under the bushes.  Bluebirds appeared to have a second nest in the birdhouse. 

Cool

It was actually cool outside when we got up.  It was so pleasant that I sat for a while on the front patio.  The morning warmed up but never got really hot. A Carolina wren perched on the post, but flew too soon. 

I saw a monarch and a black swallowtail and small yellow-brown butterflies.  A fiery skipper visited the portulaca but was harassed by wasps. A great blue skimmer occupied the perching stake.

A little green heron flew downstream.  A great and a snowy egret fished below the dam. The afternoon got quite windy as a sheet of cloud slid out of the South.Nevertheless, a skink ventured onto the patio right next to me.  

On the way home I saw the bright crescent moon looking very large as it dropped toward the horizon. 

Hummer warz

First thing in the morning, they were chasing each other. And that wretched (but gorgeous) goldfinch continued to torment me. Small orangy-brown butterflies flitted around and a black swallowtail did its Muhammad Ali imitation. A hummer buzzed a squirrel on the post but then decided to wait it out.  Afterwards it took out its frustration on a chickadee.

A pileated woodpecker came looking for a handout but we'd moved the suet to the front patio. A bluebird landed up in the oak.  A couple of blue jays flew from tree to tree, possibly a parent trying to ditch an offspring.  I think I heard a brown headed nuthatch squeek. 

In the pool, I rescued a weevil, an earwig, and a female fiddler crab!  Blue dashers, slaty skimmers, a saddlebags, and an amberwing dragonfly hunted bugs, but even so, some no-see-ums found me.  Bees and wasps swarmed the milkweed.  Several skinks ventured out. 

After dark, moths and a stinkbug came to the window.  So did a greater angle-wing katydid.

Fooled

After an overly heavy Sunday dinner I did not hurry to get into the water.  Besides, the sky was blue.  When I finally went out around 4pm, I saw the blanket of clouds rolling up from the South.  I was only able to do a basic cleaning before the leading edge arrived and raindrops started falling.  Remembering yesterday's deluge I was worried and decided to come in.  That, of course, meant that the rain did not last.  Nor did it return until 7pm.  But I'd already showered and washed the suit before I realized I'd been fooled.

I did rescue a cricket and two spiders, one a mama wolf bigger than yesterday's.  I didn't rescue a brown stinkbug that looked like the invasive kind.  I also found a drowned skink, alas.  Bees disputed access to the milkweed with a black swallowtail.  A blue dasher watched from the perching stick while a saddlebags patrolled above. A jumping psider was reflected on the riling and abasilica spider webmade a trap of the rue.  And a live skink flicked its blue tail around as though it was practicing to be a squirrel. 

The male goldfinch visited at breakfast and again when we got home and twice at supper.  He was too fast for me every time.  The hummers drank the feeder dry.  The juvenile cardinal was a messy seed sheller. An egret preened on the dock. A silver spotted skipper greeted me as I got out of the car. 

Thunderstorm

All day I waited for the storm but it didn't happen till 5pm.  Before that, clouds gathered and dissipated several times. I got into the pool before lunch because I expected the storm in the early afternoon.  Spiders and a click beetle were lucky I did. One spider was a mama wolf, maybe the one that was on the ladder yesterday. 

The sky was overcast at breakfast.  A juvenile male cardinal was hanging around the feeder.  Hummers were feeding eagerly. A slaty skimmer maintained a vigilant guard on the bark butter.  Big carpenter bees worked over the milkweed.  Tiny pollinators preferred the portulaca.  So did a skipper.

When I got out of the water and sat to drip, a skink appeared and hunted for something all over the walkway on the creek side of the pool.  It went up nearly to the ladder back and forth from the mulch to the pool edge.  It continued around the corner and up to me where it may have heard the camera noise.  Anyway, it hid under the flip-flop on my foot!  The sky cleared while I was in the water so I needed to find some shade. 

A tiger swallowtail tantalized me by flitting slowly, but never alighting.  The male goldfinch came for water.  Apparently the sunflower seeds don't meet his discriminating taste..  The young cardinal seemed alarmed by the sound of thunder.  A brown thrasher scuttled along under the shrubbery.  Then a palamedes swallowtail took up the role of camera tease. 

The storm came on while I was in the shower.  It was as though night had come at 5pm.  And then blinding rain fell and a sheet of water poured off the roof.  Apparently the rain flooded wherever our resident snake had been living because the poor thing went side-winding across the patio.  For once, I got lucky - I was taking a picture of the watering can in the rain when the snake appeared. 

Lightening didn't get going until the rain had slackened.  I wasted effort trying to catch a bolt.  Apparently the storm was worse in Norfolk and an underpass flooded.  Chickadees and hummers did not wait for the storm to pass before they returned to their feeders. Finally the clouds thinned and we got a bit of sunshine before sunset. 

Back in the water again*

Breakfast was enlivened by blue jays and a great crested flycatcher.  An osprey made a catch on the creek but there was too much vegetation in the way for a picture.  A hummer flew right up to the window as though looking at me. 

I didn't see butterflies till lunch and then first a black swallowtail, then a monarch. The swallowtail wanted an energy boost from the milkweed but the monarch chased it back to the rue.  But little black bees felt the same and kept trying to drive the monarch away.  Finally the monarch tangled with a hummer which chased it out of sight.

Finally, I got to use the pool again.  Not much was floating, or in the skimmer, but I did rescue a cricket, a beetle, and a couple of spiders.  A mama wolf on the ladder refused my offer.  A slaty skimmer took up the perch by the squirrel sculpture and a saddlebags cruised over the pool.  An amberwing rewsted in the grass.  Something kept whistling up in the trees and something hawkish flew over as I was getting out, but from a different direction than the whistles.  An egret paced through the shallows.  Clouds thickened and thinned throughout the afternoon. 


*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5F-O_19lSI 

Praying mantis

I was bemoaning in my head how little time I had had to observe wildlife when up popped a small green praying mantis. Actually it edged around the railing and at first I thought I was seeing a grasshopper's leg. It was not well camouflaged on the chrome.

A goldfinch got away from me along with dragonflies and butterflies and skinks. Hummers looked for other food but didn't find the scarlet climber so far. On my way home after dark, a possum bustled across the street.  It moved surprisingly fast on its short legs.

Even hotter

A Carolina wren, the male goldfinch, hummers, and a blue jay showed up at breakfast. A grackle paid a brief visit. 

As I was parking for the luncheon, an osprey circled above.  A couple of hours later, I was backing out of the garage and a female bluebird landed on the birdhouse.  She sat for a while checking all around while I pretended the car was a rock, then she popped inside.  Is there time for another brood?  Meanwhile, the car was having hysterics about the temperature.  It started by telling me it was 112°F but calmed down to 99°.

An egret preened on the dock. A disheveled titmouse landed in the hackberry.  And then I left again. 

Hot day

A monarch arrived early before the sun touched the milkweed.  Skippers were attracted to the portulaca.  A wasp bumbled into the spiderweb at the upper corner of the door, but managed to free itself.  Much later a beautifully green, female Eastern Pondhawk landed on the chair.  Blue dashers and other species were around.  A big, bird grasshopper hung around the patio for quite a while. 

The volunteer portulaca looked like it was carefully planted.  And finally the scarlet climber produced a red bud.  A mushroom with a gray cap sprouted under the sakaki.  Amazingly, the denuded parsley might make a few seeds. 

The hummers had a glaring duel.  The male goldfinch came to his hanging water dispenser.  Blu jays happily sneaked bark butter balls.  An egret waited below the dam.  The creek surface was quiet. 

Clouds gathered and retreated till evening when they merged into overcast and brought an early twilight..  Rain fell here but not at my meeting. 

Strange weather

Rain was not in the forecast but we had a downpour after lunch.  Huge drops fell and the sun continued to shine.  Everything dried quickly and wildlife returned. 

A palamedes swallowtail repeatedly teased me but never stayed still for a photo. The cardinals were still courting.  Even so, he has begun to molt.  Hummers were still battling over the feeder, and growing more aggressive with the bigger birds.  Several skinks hustled along on their business.  As I was getting ready to leave, the male goldfinch visited the ant moat, like a commuter stopping off at a bar on the way home. 

Lovely day

It was mostly blue sky and sunshine once the fog evaporated from the windows.  A male goldfinch came for a drink from the ant moat.  There were more butterflies today.  I saw a variety of swallowtails and several orange butterflies. 

The creek was quite placid.  Hummingbirds were not.  They had glaring contests and chases.  And in between they fussed at the bigger birds.  One actually chased a chickadee.  Dragonflies perched on every available upright twig. Skinks were out in the warmth. 

A titmouse was back at the seed feeder in the late afternoon.  At twilight, a juvenile cardinal beginning to turn red popped out of the undergrowth and took to the feeder.  The newspaper's nature column was all about silk moths (Saturniidae) but all that came to our windows was a green stink bug. 

Dragonflies!

It rained overnight and was just finishing when I got up.  Clouds came and went all day but no more rain fell till after sunset.  Many varieties of dragonfly hunted the tiny biters brought out by the humidity.  Needham's skimmers glowed red and gold but never stopped for a portrait. 

The usual house finches and chickadees and an occasional cardinal kept the seed feeder busy and the hummers fussy.  But blue dasher dragonflies even perched on the feeder hanger. I think there were some butterflies and definitely some bees and wasps, but mostly dragonflies, and whatever they were catching.  Spittlebugs made the mint look disgusting.  I believe I finally saw a caterpillar atop the cherry among obviously eaten leaves.A four spotted pennant zipped back and forth over the tree. 

There were birds in the cherry getting some late berries but I suspect more were over in the fig.  All the rain made the figs speed from green to fermented without pause.  I did identify one robin but the rest of the birds were obscured by foliage.  Egrets hung about the creek.  A tiny skinklet posed like a komodo dragon.  I saw a larger one climbing the feeder post but it slipped around the back and I saw no more. 

Sunset left a tangerine thumbprint over the pines.  Long thin clouds may have been dissipating contrails.  After dark there was a rain shower. 

.

Clouded up

Today followed the same pattern of a nice morning clouding up by lunch time.  The hummers stayed agitated by all the other birds wanting seeds.  Two black swallowtails egged everything.  A tiger swallowtail flitted through.  And a skipper fed on the portulaca.  I glimpsed an unidentified orange butterfly. A strange fly peered through the window at me. 

A pileated woodpecker flew over after lunch.  Blue jays and doves arrived just after that.  A house finch with a naked belly begged, though it had been feeding itself for some time. A monarch wanted the milkweed all to itself but the swallowtails kept interfering.

Late in the afternoon the sky cleared somewhat.  I saw a mockingbird but I was on the phone at the time.  I think I even saw a blue jay chase the mockingbird. 

More rain

Morning was dry but I spent it at the doctor's office.  A storm followed me home.  Gusty winds accompanied hard rain.  A couple more rains punctuated the afternoon.  The hummers battled in every lull.  There were insects - dragonflies and a black swallowtail, and of course mosquitoes. 

Wet day

I didn't see much and captured very little.  All the wildlife vanished during the downpours, even the intrepid hummers.  Between the rains we had some sun and butterflies and dragonflies.  I saw a tiger swallowtail go past, and a couple of reddish dragonflies dancing together.  The regulars came for seeds.