Humid

The blueberries were ripening fast.  A female goldfinch worked on the sunflowers while a male and some titmice visited the feeder.

A hummer visited and the goldfinch pair returned.  Something stashed sunflower seeds on the back of a drooping, gone-to-seed sunflower.  Big brown ants hung out on the sunflowers too.  In the pool, we rescued a variety of wasps and beetles.  There were spiders as well. 

The usual afternoon cumulus clouds dropped a couple of quick showers while I was outside.  That brought out the dragonflies - dashers, saddlebags, and skimmers.  I believe this is a male great blue skimmer.  The rain apparently washed a stinkbug nymph out of the cherry. I spotted a second instar black swallowtail caterpillar on a rue plant. 

Big clouds

The clouds rode by on a Southwest wind.  A small orange moth rested on the screen.  Titmice came for breakfast along with the regulars.  A male goldfinch preferred his seeds still on the plant.  A male house finch fed his fledgling.

At lunch, a brown thrasher foraged under the sunflowers.  And then there was a downpour in the early afternoon. It continued, off and on, for a couple of hours.  I hoped for a rainbow when the clouds moved off to the East, but no luck.

Afterward, there were dragonflies, but not many.  I saw a saddlebags and a 12-spot.  The temperature climbed back up.  A skink basked in the sun and a mushroom popped out of the mulch.  A hummer came to feed.  The female goldfinch and the brown thrasher returned.  I saw an egret preening on the side of the dam outflow.  The squirrel with the white spot was back, still itchy. 

More of the same

Passing clouds and a high in the 80s.  It may be time to change the hummer juice again - the visits were short.  And the squirrel with the white spot sampled the hummer juice.  Goldfinches on the other hand seemed very pleased with the progress of the fresh seeds.  Titmice stuck to the feeder along with the regulars. An actual honeybee appeared on a sunflower. 

Skinks appeared in the afternoon.  A black and white striped Anthophora bee also visited a sunflower.  The tiger swallowtail made its daily fly-by.  A Carolina wren came to the feeder but didn't let me get a good photo.  A hummer looked like she had pollen on her bill.  I had tossed unripe blueberries into the mulch under the feeder where they were discovered by a delighted squirrel.

A few drops of rain fell around 3pm.  Then the dragonflies came out.  I saw a red Carolina saddlebags, a couple of slaty skimmers that wouldn't share a perch, and lots of 12-spotted skimmers.  Swallows also cruised for bugs, sort of like whales after krill. The house wren is still sitting on her nest.  More raindrops fell at sunset. 

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.

Cooler and very pleasant

The sun shone on wet surfaces.  The blueberry plants were dripping.  A Carolina wren visited the feeder early.  At least two and I think more titmice came for seeds.  A female house finch hunkered down and drove off chickadees and titmice till the cardinals showed up.  Another mud wasp obsessed over the glass door and a yellow kneed wasp landed on the screen. K hung fresh hummer juice. 

A buzzard circled at lunch.  The hummer appeared pleased with the fresh juice.  A brown thrasher was busy all afternoon all over the yard, as though it had started another family in the camellia.  A yellow crowned night heron rested on the dock.  A white breasted nuthatch scurried around a dogwood.  A male goldfinch checked out the progress of the sunflowers while a dove poked around underneath. House wrens sang and scolded and investigated the pool skimmings. 

I rescued two June bugs and saw a small gray tiger beetle hot-footing it on the concrete.  An immature male widow skimmer took up post by the steps while a black saddlebags patrolled overhead.  Female widow skimmers hung out in the bushes.  Earlier, a blue dasher perched on another pole, and later I saw a twelve-spotted skimmer.  A tiger swallowtail made a few passes through the yard.  A painted (or American) lady turned up its proboscis at the roses.  I saw a hairstreak or something like it on the chaste tree flowers.  Bees and a few wasps enjoyed the sunflowers, except when they landed on the same one.  A large blue-tailed skink showed up on the patio. 

At first the clouds were coming from the South, then lower clouds began to come in from the East.  Late in the afternoon, a bit of rainbow appeared high in the West in advance of thick cloud cover.  I think it must have been a sort of mist because no rain fell out of that blue sky.  Rain did begin after sunset.

Gray

The morning sky looked like rain.  I picked some blueberries.  At lunch time, a tiger swallowtail investigated first the hummer feeder, then the gladiolus.

Thunder and rain hit mid afternoon but didn't last too long.  There was some sun thereafter, alternating with dark clouds, and finally a gentler rain set in toward evening.  Titmice took advantage of the weather break to stuff themselves.  A small black wasp persisted in trying to find a way into the house.  Bumblebees were more interested in the sunflowers.  I glimpsed a couple of swallows high up. 

July begins

I got home after sunset last evening and saw a round moon in a misty sky.  Today the sun was bright in a white sky.  Sunflowers and red gladiolus and hibiscus  made a riot of color.  Cardinals were fighting over the feeder when I got up.  A few titmice visited and a hummer appeared.  A Carolina wren landed on the back of the feeder then left.

At lunch the hummer was back.  I saw a house wren headed to the birdhouse.  A black and a tiger swallowtail flitted around. A morning dove walked across the step. I saw an egret landing by the creek. 

I went outside in the middle of the afternoon and stayed till dusk.  A couple of widow skimmers were glittering in the sun when I first went out.  I found another pink caterpillar floating in the water, along with beetles and bees.  The brown variety of May beetle was everywhere.  I could hear the twanging zinging of some insect as well as the cicadas' song. 

As I was getting out, a chickadee made several attempts to get into the wren house and was chased off by the furious wren.  The hummer returned frequently all day.  Ants were farming aphids on a sunflower leaf.  More of the big brown ants were all over the sunflowers.  A heron landed in the oak where it was hidden by leaves.  A robin flew out.  A mystery bird, possibly a fledgling towhee, rustled under the oak.  A different kind of dragonfly zoomed over the pool after the sun was gone.  It didn't perch often and all I could see was that the wings were clear and the abdomen a gray-brown.