Camera trap

The rain really lowered temperatures.  Apparently, it also caused the orchard spider to disappear.  Instead, I found an Argiope in the azalea and a messy funnel web in the camellia.  A skipper joined the bees and wasps.  Female slaty skimmer and blue dasher dragonflies kept watch.  A tiger swallowtail sailed around the trees.  A hummer discovered that I'd put out fresh sugar water.  A Carolina wren was hard to see in the dogwood.  

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.  All week, I'd been seeing hackberry leaves attached to shattered galls.  Today an intact one was floating so I fetched it out for a photo.  There were actually two different galls by two different species of Pachypsylla, psyllids, a large brown ball and a small green nipple.   A widow skimmer stood guard on a garden stake.  The day 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.  A heron watched me from atop a piling.