Sun didn't last

I was off early to a meeting and didn't see anything in the yard till late morning.  By then it was pleasantly warm, but too breezy for comfort.  A female amberwing clung to a leaf.  A larger dragonfly eluded me.  I startled a hummingbird moth that was hidden under the gardenia.  I saw it flying a few days ago but wasn't sure what I was seeing.  Then I went crazy trying to photograph a tiger swallowtail. 

A titmouse played peek-a-boo with me.  Two grackles poked around and startled the brown thrasher that had been serenading me.  The thrasher came right back, ready to take them on.  A female hummer settled on her feeder.  Later, a female would not perch so I think it may have been a different bird.

By 2pm the sunshine had become intermittent and heavy clouds rolled out of the West.  A heron staked out the dam outfall.  About ten minutes later a couple of geese were followed by a Muscovy duck along the bank below the dam.  A little while after that an egret took over.

The female goldfinch was back for a drink, followed by the male.  The titmouse brought a friend.  Cardinals chased off intruders.  Bluebirds were hard at work in the front yard.  There was a brief rain around 4pm that was not in the forecast.  After that the clouds were fewer.

Cool and damp

 I woke up early and took care of the feeders that were flooded by yesterday's storm.  Egrets were fishing in the rain swollen lake runoff.  It appeared that there are two sets of cardinals trying to share the seed feeder.  I thought we were down to one, but recently there have been chases across the yard. 

At lunch, the female hummer forgave me for taking away the other feeder.  A female goldfinch followed to get a drink from the ant moat.  The wind was stronger than predicted.  The blackback gull was back at the dam.  A heron appeared wanting to see what the gull had found. 

A light rain fell after lunch. In the afternoon, the male hummer was much in evidence.  He tangled with a chickadee at the back yard feeder but found peace at the feeder out front.  Bluebirds ferried bugs to the birdhouse.  At high tide, a great egret, a snowy, and an great blue heron fished in the dam outfall.  Titmice joined cardinals and chickadees at the seed feeder.  The sky cleared and the moon was visible as I bricked the feeder for the night. 

Thunderstorm

It rained most of the day with some thunder and lightning. Around 9:30am it became a deluge with enough wind to rain sideways.  The rain filled the ant moat which we are thinking of marking in inches to make a rain gauge.  Only cardinals and chickadees ventured out and they looked miserable.  The dam outfall looked like a rushing mountain stream as it tumbled over the rocks that are there to break its force and prevent undermining.

The rain tapered off in the afternoon and we began to dry out.  Squirrels came out to hunt for fallen seeds.  One had to stop to wipe off the water that had fallen off leaves.  Thin clouds raced overhead toward the NNE, making the moon flicker.

Breezy

An egret fished at the dam outfall but there was no drama like yesterday.  I think one of the feeder birds was a cowbird,  Another was definitely a titmouse.  Goslings got into the pool.  Later, a man pulled a crab pot out of the dam outfall.  It looked like the one that worried me in the winter.  I don't know if it was his or if he was removing a hazard.

After lunch out and shopping, when we came home a tiger swallowtail blew through the trees.  The pair of goldfinches was back for more water from the ant moat.  Skinks were all over the steps.  So were squirrels.

Clouds crept in from the West in the late afternoon.  It never got quite warm enough to sit comfortably outside.  The bluebirds stayed busy carrying bugs to the birdhouse.  Meanwhile, one of the Mimidae, a mockingbird or a brown thrasher, sang from high in the trees.  Again I could not find the bird.  Grackles and starlings prowled the yards.  A house finch fed a fledgling I suspect was a cowbird.  An osprey flew North.

House wren arrived!

The very first bird I saw this morning was a house wren sitting on the feeder post peering nearsightedly at the yard. Then a downy woodpecker came for seeds.  A pair of goldfinches drank from the ant moat. 

A drama unfolded at the dam outfall.  A great blackback gull had something to eat and a great blue heron stood by and watched, which annoyed the gull.  Then a crow arrived and added to the tension.  An egret walked past, staying out of the drama.

As I was getting ready to leave, I saw a black rat snake along the edge of the pool deck but by the time I got to my camera it had disappeared.  I went outside to look for it and instead listened to a brown thrasher, or maybe a mockingbird, singing in the oak.  I never saw it but I glimpsed a towhee that had been whistling.  A huge bee worked on the rue.

When I came back, I saw the bluebirds carrying food to the box.  Meanwhile chattering swallows zipped across the sky.  Lots of dragonflies also zoomed across the yard but I could not get a decent picture.  And the pool was opened in the afternoon!

Blue sky

A very loud thunderstorm struck in the middle of the night and filled all containers with rainwater..  But the wind soon dried things out.  Nevertheless, I was able to pull up some leucojum bulbs.and work up a sweat.  A female hummer tackled the cheap feeder which was swinging in the wind.  It wore her out. 

A night heron waded at low tide. Roses and a day lily opened. I saw bluebirds and dragonflies but got no pictures.  After my evening meeting the sky was very clear.  I tried photographing planets as well as the first quarter moon.  Jupiter was distinctly a disk, not just a point. 

Very windy

The wind shoved clouds off to the North.  It was tough on all flying creatures. Still, both a male and a female goldfinch showed up. The male was not quite completely finished changing to summer plumage.  A chickadee had a vigorous bath.  A male hummer battled the wind to drink from the Mexican sage.  A yellow crowned night heron watched for crabs along the creek bank.  They wag their bodies when they are about to pounce.  I chased off the geese with five goslings.  I saw the bluebirds several times but only got photos once . 


Dragonflies zoomed around and banged on windows.  One finally perched long enough for a photo.  I think it was a female slaty skimmer.  .  A snout butterfly rested on a hackberry leaf that was flailing in the wind.  When I was running an errand, I was very startled by a sizable jumping spider on the window.  It took me a minute to be certain it was on the outside.