Home at last

Traveling was a lot harder than it used to be.  Chicago was surprisingly chilly for summer.  But I got home about 4:30 and saw the regulars, a downy, and a titmouse at the seed feeder.  The short tailed squirrel foraged below and a skink waved its long blue tail before disappearing into the rosemary.

A female hummer got some juice and a blue jay snatched a mouthful of mealworms,  Other birds flitted around.  Herons and egrets fished below the dam.  At one point, a great blue heron and a yellow crowned night heron were side by side.  Cumulus clouds blocked the sun frequently but did not make weather.  After dark, a crescent moon descended in the West, trailed by a bright planet. 

Gray sky

Leaves dripped from rain overnight.  Hummers came for a drink. Titmice and the regulars wanted seeds. A downy woodpecker did too.  The cardinals were courting again.  The squirrel who developed a taste for mealworms was back.  I chased it away and put out some bark butter bits. Those mealworms are for birds.  I think another squirrel was digging up the sunflower seeds I planted.   We'll see.

As I was leaving, I saw the female bluebird fly to the nestbox.  The sun burned through the overcast and heated the day but the sky stayed gray.  Dragonflies enjoyed the humidity.  A pimento began to ripen. 

Something troubled the creek surface from below.  At dusk, there were patches of rose-tinted clouds.  Fireflies were out. 

Very windy

Cumulus clouds flew across the sky under a high haze and wisps of cirrus.  Titmice worked on hulling seeds.  A squirrel got up into the mealworm dish and folded over to eat what he was sitting on. 

The day got really hot.  Dragonflies were everywhere.  I saw the bluebird's head in the nest box hole but she ducked back inside.  Blueberries were starting to ripen.  A male common whitetail perched briefly on a bamboo stick.

A blue jay flew across the yard, as did several birds I never got a good look at.  A blue tailed skink believed it was hidden from me.  I saw the first sidewalk tiger beetle of the year.  The sakaki began blooming and the air was fragrant. 

 A dark cloud passed over and was well gone when the rain from it landed. I found a glass snail floating in the water.  Then the sky went overcast and I came inside.  The geese attempted infiltration but I caught them at it.

Breezy

It was nevertheless quite warm and humid in an un-air-conditioned church. Titmice came for breakfast.  I saw a head filling the hole in the bluebird house so they moved back.  The female has been making quick forays to the mealworms. I spotted a song sparrow on the feeder. 

I startled a blue tailed skink and saw the tail disappear into the mulch under the rosemary.  Lots of spiders and beetles were in the pool.  A frog had drowned.  I saved a huge queen ant.  There were lots of blue dashers around.  Larger dragonflies cruised the edge of the creek.  Two immature female Eastern forktail damselflies fussed at each other, then settled about a foot apart.  I had just spotted a widow skimmer when a sudden rain shower had me hurrying to get the camera indoors. 

Pridefest

Town Point Park was spongy from all the rain.  In in the midst of a whole lot of colorful characters, a confused bird looked around.  A heron and many laughing gulls flew over us, as did two drones.  Dragonflies were busy protecting us.  The weather was dramatic - thunderstorms rolled over us and we were evacuated twice.  But there was also hot sun some of the time, and humidity.  The wind was not reliable despite being on the waterfront.

I finally left around 6pm.  When I got home, titmice were busy with seeds.  The female bluebird appeared but alas the dish of mealworms was empty.  I sat outside at sunset.  The sky was mostly gray, but there was color in the North.  An egret and a dragonfly flew over me while fireflies blinked all around.  And a cicada sang in the treetop. 

Humid

When I first went out to give the birds breakfast, it was already warmer than yesterday.  After my breakfast, an osprey landed in a pine tree next door, I think to eat something.  Its head would dip down out of sight then come up.  Hummers visited.  The sky cleared during the morning. 

The bluebirds showed up at lunch, both looking wet.  A Carolina wren landed on the hanger for the hummer feeder.  Something about it suggested a young bird.  The dark female hummer appeared quite hungry.  A blue jay snatched a mouthful of mealworms.

I finally got outside just as clouds were beginning to move in. Lots of blue dashers were posted around the yard.  A small bluish butterfly evaded me.  A little green heron screeched and flew off downstream.  A yellow crowned night heron hunted in the spartina.  I rescued a wasp.  Soon thunder began to rumble.  I got out of the water and sat to drip off.  A male hummer visited the feeder but there was no sun to light up his throat. 

After about half an hour of distant thunder, rain and lightning began.  The light dropped too much for photography.  Titmice were hungry and came out in the rain.  A hummer followed.  The rain fell quite hard for a while and put an inch in the ant moat.  When it slacked off, I saw a great crested flycatcher land in the top of a pine.  The rain stopped in the evening and fireflies began signalling. 

Cool and gray

It might have felt warm but the wind and humidity combined to chill.  The mulch came in the morning and sent everyone into hiding for a while.  Surprisingly, not much of it got into the pool.  Instead, dead roaches and live spiders floated on the water.  Titmice returned to the feeder.  At lunch time, a female bluebird spent time with the mealworms.  Later a blue jay snatched some and rushed off.  A skink rested on  the wood step frame.  I had not seen any for a couple of days. The hummer feeder was empty so I put out fresh, but I did not see any hummingbirds return to it.