Warmer

Sheets of white cloud obscure parts of the sky, but not the sun.  The hummer feeder is restored but the hummer only stopped briefly.  Perhaps the bleach smell has to dissipate?  The regulars have been to the seed feeder.  A juvenile towhee landed next to me, but panicked faster than I reacted.  I had been photographing the orchard spiders - there is one on each side of the gardenia. A few dragonflies and one cabbage butterfly were around.

Later a black swallowtail was busy with the parsley.  The fox came through at lunch time again.  Clearly it keeps to a daily round but we haven't seen it return.  A barge supporting an excavator was pushed upstream by a small motorboat at low tide.  It sent a great blue heron and a great egret fleeing downstream.

In the late afternoon, after we went swimming, K was playing the fiddle outside and a fox appeared at the edge of the lower patio.  I could not get it in focus through the hibiscus leaves.  I see wrens carrying something white from the birdhouse.  I assume they are carrying off the youngsters' feces in order to keep the nest sweet.  They are bringing in bugs almost nonstop. The fox came back and ignored me but decided the neighbors were too noisy. 

Cool, clear and bright

The cold front has passed.  It's breezy and, while plenty of wasps were out, I didn't see any dragonflies.  I shooed off a goose that was checking on the pool.  The wrens continue to bustle and sing.  A hummer visited and gave me a good looking over.  It seemed displeased with the juice, so we took the feeder down to clean.  A white breasted nuthatch kept trying to have a turn at the seed feeder, despite the regular birds. 

I identified this spider as a Venusta Orchard Spider. A skink crossed the patio in the late morning.  And I finally saw adregonfly and a cabbage butterfly.  At noon, the fox passed by, ignoring me although I was sitting outside.  Tufted titmice came to the feeder.  And osprey caught fish. 

My only pool rescue today was a honeybee.  K saved a spider,  In the evening, a female towhee foraged under the feeder.  It looked like it was losing tail feathers.  A hummer stopped in around 8pm  and looked all over for the feeder which was inside, drying.  At least it's clear that the hummer is a returning customer. 

Smoky cumulus drifted East above the pines while swifts scoured the sky for bugs.  The setting sun tinted the clouds peach. 

Stormy weather

It rained overnight and storm clouds have been rolling out of the Northwest making sunshine intermittent.  Early, two ospreys flew past - one continued up the creek while the other headed off toward the lakes.  A great blue heron flew downstream and a great egret landed on a piling.  In the pool, I saved many beetles and some spiders, one of which had her children on her back.  As I got out of the pool, I was watched by a wren sitting in the opening of the birdhouse until I had come up enough steps to appear too large and off it flew.  Skinks have been scurrying by and there have been several hummer visits. 

A little rain has fallen, just enough to wet the windows and make photography hard. I keep hearing a woodpecker hammering, but who knows how far the sound is carrying?  The temperature has dropped. 

Sunny again

The blue sky returned in the morning.  So did the geese.  I counted five goslings and more adults.  The creek was still and reflective.  Titmice came to the feeder.  A hummer breakfasted.  One squirrel stalked another who occupied the roof of the feeder to the pursuer's great frustration.  When he finally leaped for the feeder, the other one jumped off underneath and away they both went.

The male cardinal who has been fascinated with the pool took a plunge today.  I saw it shaking off water.  I assume it sees a rival in its reflection.  When the pool pump started and sent a little wave out toward the bird, it jumped up and back in shock.  I guess the water movement broke up the image because the cardinal then left.

The lantana is blooming out front and the magnolia trees are perfuming the air. A buzzard circled low over us.  A blue tailed skink made a dash across the patio when it thought no one was looking.  A yellow crowned night heron prowled the spartina while the geese made another attempt on the pool.  Lots of dragonflies had lots to hunt.  Big dark cumulus boiled up out of the West and dripped a few drops. 

After the cloud moved on, I went back to the pool. As I was getting in, I saw a little green heron.  It was using the metal loop that the floating dock has to slide up and down the piling as a fishing platform.  I was just thinking it was too high when the heron's head darted, neck lengthened, and it caught a fish.  It moved around the piling but stayed fishing all the while I was in the pool. 

Getting hot

It is both breezier and warmer than yesterday.  The sky is blue for now, but hazy.  The towhees have been loud as they feed their offspring.  A brown thrasher worked the mulch on the far side of the pool.  The crow fledgling continues to lead its family around by the beak.  A hummer showed up and fed. And the regulars came to the feeder.  A female cardinal tolerated my presence. And a yellow crowned night heron flew low overhead.

In the late morning, I saw another hummer.  The wrens stayed busy.  Lots of wasps and a few dragonflies hunted.  One dragonfly has spotted wings and another may have been a darner.  I saw a skink catch a bug!  But none of the photos came out except this one of before.

Several blue jays flew calling from tree to tree.  The crescent moon was faintly visible rising behind the trees.  In the late afternoon, while swimming, I saw a tufted titmouse cross the creek.  It was shocked to discover humans in water.  Then, after we got out, a hummer came but seemed muddled by K's fiddling.  A Carolina wren foraged at the base of the oak.  Finally, a white breasted nuthatch perched on the post and stared at me as I reached for the camera.  But it didn't wait long enough.  Around that time the sky finally clouded over as it had been predicted to do in the morning. 

Fireflies have been rising at dusk when I brick the feeder shut.

Warm, still morning

So I sat outside with the second cup of coffee.  A hummer came, as did chickadees.  A squirrel got to the steps before its nerve failed.  Both towhees were around but not too close.  A blue jay looked me over from the roof.  I could hear the juvie crow and saw an adult ferrying a mouthfull of something white.  The wrens bustled and sang.  A swift chattered as it flew overhead.  An osprey was silent on its way upstream.  I think I glimpsed a red bellied woodpecker crossing the creek, something with a red head anyway, and there had been hammering.  The creek was smooth and reflective and light airs barely moved leaves.  The sky was hatched with contrails that crept East.

At lunch time, a swamp darner dragonfly clung to the wall till I got close.  Then I saw a skink on the wall, but it stayed behind the furniture. A skipper landed on a sunflower leaf.  A tiger and then a black swallowtail passed through the yard.  At the top of the redwood, a brown thrasher serenaded with its back to me.  I whistled to get it to turn around, and it left.  Then the towhee pair danced around the patio.  It appeared he was courting her, unless that was a juvenile?   

The wind picked up in the afternoon and it cooled off.  Another hummer came by but didn't stay.  The sunset under streaky pink clouds with the sickle moon following it down.

Early birds

The female towhee was foraging beside the birdbath at breakfast.  After it left, a female hummer arrived but was scared off when a house wren showed up.  Why the house wren visits the feeders, I do not know - it doesn't eat seeds.  K says it's just nosy.

Finally a female slaty skimmer perched for me. An orange butterfly took an interest in the rosemary but never settled.   A couple of skinks hurried to cover. And another dragonfly perched that was new to me, a Little Blue Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax minuscula).

When K got home and was taking care of my injured toe, the fox appeared and stared at the two of us.  I grabbed the camera, but not quickly enough.  Then an osprey streaked upstream and again I missed.  My reaction time is terrible.

For the last two nights the crescent moon has trailed sunset around bedtime.