The holiday weekend began today. By 9am, the air was already hot and stuffy with humidity. A mockingbird landed on the patio and flashed its wings repeatedly. It was a youngster - freckled breast, no yellow eye - but flashing is not food begging. I could not see what set it off and it did not seem fearful as it paused to eat something. Maybe it was just practicing? Finally it scared a cardinal off the feeder.
Then a female hummer visited its feeder and actually fed. That was a relief because I was beginning to think I needed to toss the whole batch of sugar water. She looked disheveled and tired. The pool was full of May beetles. I stopped counting after I rescued a dozen. I also very carefully rescued some wasps. The spider was more of an eviction than a rescue but I am twitchy about swimming with them. I fished a two-lined spittlebug out multiple times. Sadly, I found ladybug elytra (the hard wing covers) floating. A leafcutter bee fed on the mountain mint.
K experimented and we learned that the crows like peanuts better than barkbutter balls. Carolina wrens, however, want their barkbutter, so it all works out, except for the squirrels. A mockingbird took exception to the crow on the roof and buzzed it repeatedly between visits to the cherry tree. A squirrel also enjoyed the cherries. There were fireflies after sunset and the air still felt like an oven.
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