We went out to celebrate at a restaurant on the bay and while we ate the sky clouded. Then we stopped to buy herbs. At home, a Carolina wren discovered my basket-o-worms. Rain fell on me as I planted lavender for the hummers and parsley for the cooks (and swallowtails). However the rain was scarcely more than a mist and may be insufficient for the newly planted. I wanted to get marigold and chive seeds in too. The rue was loaded with little caterpillars.
A titmouse and a male towhee visited the seed feeder this morning, along with the regulars. The male goldfinch got a drink form the hummer feeder. The hummer did too, but she got juice, not water. The brown thrasher was busy around the camellia. I heard jays, geese, and wrens. In fact, I heard honking geese throughout the night through the open windows. The sun shone through clouds. Bees bumbled about. An egret stalked along the bulkhead. 
At lunch time, I was outside tuning hotdogs and listening to a towhee up in a tree in the front yard. A sort of echo was coming from the back yard cherry. The male towhee flew back to the cherry to investigate. Out popped a mockingbird that fled into the trees. Meanwhile the wrens carried on with their house and a jay flew by squalling. Later while we were eating, a bird tried to get into the wren house. I suspect it was a cowbird. It did not fit through the hole. 
There was a gorgeous smoky sunset with lots of rose and gold. Just before dark, I got around to planting the moon flower seeds I'd soaked. I threw them all in one hole as they were "packed for 2013," and who knows if any will germinate.
The brown thrashers were working on a nest in the camellia outside the kitchen window. Their strategy is to enter the camellia bush at ground level and hop by stages up to the nest. The house wrens were still nest building but the bluebird was back interfering. A grackle prospected in the grass. The hummer had breakfast and brunch. An adult skink sauntered across the steps with much tail wagging. Wasps enjoyed the heat and the swallowtail caterpillars munched rue. The sky had a white matte look but the sunlight was strong.
Work continued on the nests at lunchtime. A Carolina wren came for what mealworms the squirrel had left. A heron flew downstream and later an egret fished under the bulkhead. A skink climbed the bricks. Several species of polistes paper wasps continued to eat the bench. The sun was hot. Somehow I missed the blueberry flowers - little, hard, green berries have formed. The pinxter flowers and the first rose have bloomed. 
When I left downtown this evening the West was flaming and the rest of the sky was streaked with pink. Swallows or swifts were dancing in the air making high-pitched calls. 
A Carolina wren scurried around the birdbath and found the mealworms. A house wren worked on a nest in the birdhouse. A male goldfinch reflected the morning sun and a female hummer paid several visits to the feeder. The regulars came for sunflower seeds and a grackle hunted nesting material. The creek was choppy but the air was warm.
At lunch time I saw a skink down by the pool steps. A dragonfly buzzed the patio. Work continued on the wren house. A larger bird appeared to be trying to get into the birdhouse, though it may have been a wren and a trick of sight. Two male cardinals maintained their distance from each other.
The house wrens were still hard at work when I got home. Yellowjacket queens were house hunting. A black swallowtail visited the rue where there were already plenty of caterpillars. The Carolina wren investigated the bin where we dump stuff that falls in the pool. 
The great crested flycatcher returned. Other than that it was all hidden birds singing. Bees, wasps and bee flies were out and I saw a cabbage white. The rue was loaded with little black swallowtail caterpillars.
A tiger swallowtail again defeated my camera. Bees and wasps were plentiful and a bee fly lurked in their wake. A dragonfly hunted without pause, making a photograph impossible. A swallowtail caterpillar was finally big enough to see on the rue. I glimpsed a great crested flycatcher behind foliage and an eagle soaring. I heard blue jays, a woodpecker, wrens, and many anonymous singers that the leaves hid.
The male goldfinch returned in the late afternoon and serenaded the house. Then a Carolina wren prospected on the ground. Sunset was saturated with orange.
Later in the afternoon, a goldfinch pair visited the feeder but a male house finch pushed the female goldfinch off the perch. And the male goldfinch just kept stuffing his face. A Carolina wren hopped around the rosemary and I may have seen a house wren over by the birdhouse. A grackle chased a cardinal. Strange behaviors. The blue flag iris have begun to bloom. 