Sweltering

At breakfast I noticed a spiderweb glittering in the low-angle sunlight.  Then I was away all morning.  When I looked at the car temperature it was 107°F. 

A male goldfinch came for a drink from the hummer feeder at lunch.  There was a hummer chase, but most of the birds must have been too hot to eat.  Butterflies were out, however.  I saw a cloudless sulphur, an orange sulphur, a black swallowtail, and a buckeye.  I could not locate the argiope down in the spartina, but I did see a four spotted pennant obelisking in the heat.

We picked figs in the late afternoon, competing with wasps, honeybees, and flies.  A yellow dragonfly patrolled over the garden bench but that didn't help us.  After that, I finally got into the water where I rescued a couple of bees I suspect had had too much fig juice.  The rosemary began blooming again recently and that too attracted bees.  Hummers fought over their feeder at supper.  I startled a night heron on the dock. 

Pleiades

I did get up before dawn (thanks, K) and saw nine meteors in a half hour.  Then I thought the sky was getting lighter and mosquitoes were beginning to wake up, so I didn't wait for a tenth.  The meteors were as bright as the brighter stars but the streaks were quite short.  They all seemed aimed between North and West, though that could have been because I was on the North side of the house, trying to block street lights.  The sky was clear after all but so washed out from lightscatter that the visible stars were few.  I thought a bright one to the East was a planet, but it may have been Sirius.  

When I finally got up for the second time, the morning was well advanced.  The seed and hummer feeders were busy, but not the mealworms.  I saw a great crested flycatcher in the redwood and a brown thrasher in the cherry.  Later a couple of the brown thrashers chased through the grass. 

A drowned cicada that had never molted into an adult was drifting in the pool.  I suppose it must have fallen while climbing to a good molting spot.  I rescued quite a few bees and wasps and a couple of beetles.  After I got out, a robber fly perched on one of the bamboo stakes.  There were dragonflies and butterflies but they did not cooperate with the photographer.  The argiope still haunted the marsh grass.  Several great blue herons flew over and one fished downstream.

I believe I counted six blue jays at lunch plus a black bird that I couldn't identify.  In the afternoon a flock of robins flitted from tree to tree along with the blue jays and the black birds.  I saw a Carolina wren in the dogwood above the creek.  A hummer tried the butterfly weed but left quickly. A skink scurried across the lower patio. 

Hot

Hot sun alternated with dark-bellied clouds that promised rain but didn't deliver.  A stinkbug walked around the window at breakfast.  That was about it.

Later in the morning I rescued beetles from the water.  A couple of Carolina wrens ran around on the trunk of the oak.  A black swallowtail worked hard at laying eggs while a cloudless sulphur just flitted through the trees.

At lunch a downy woodpecker and a titmouse tried to get turns at the feeder.  The hummer was distressed by all the activity so close.  A couple of grackles got nowhere with the feeder.

Dragonflies prowled the afternoon air.  A four spotted penant perched on the same spartina as the argiope - a lethal combination. A yellow crowned night heron perched on a piling, then flew up into the redwood.  Egrets hung out at the dam. 

At supper, I saw a hummer, a wren, and a snowy egret.  Tonight, tomorrow before dawn actually, is peak for the Perseid meteors.  The prediction is cloudy, alas.

Humid

The windows fogged and dripped.  But there wasn't much to see anyway.  Three blue jays flew into the oak.  The hummer went for flowers instead of the feeder, so K swapped it with fresh. 

Bu mid morning the bugs were out: butterflies and dragonflies, bees and wasps, spiders and flies. I saw a faded female pondhawk.  A robber fly was well camouflaged on a branch. A wasp threatened mating cabbage whites.  A black swallowtail found the herbs.  So did skippers.  A variegated fritillary laid eggs on violet leaves.  And a red spotted purple drank from the pool then sat on the edge and fanned itself.  A wolf spider walked on water.  A tiny jumping spider shared the window with larger cobweb spiders. 

In the late afternoon a skink peered into the birdbath.  A male slaty skimmer used the taller perch.  A goldfinch inspected the sunflowers.  A couple of brown thrashers met on the beautyberry.

Showers, sun, and storm

Light rain fell at breakfast.  A tiny wren perched with the finches on the feeder hanger but was scared away by the cardinals before I could get the camera focused.  It wasn't a Carolina.  A blue jay moved from tree to tree.  The hummer ignored the rain.  A titmouse also came for seeds.  The feeder birds continued to squabble, perhaps because the fledglings have increased the competition. 

An argiope moved in under the porch light where they've lived in previous years.  The other argiope was still in the spartina. 

In the morning, a great egret rested on the neighbors' dock.   At lunchtime, a different blue jay snatched mealworms.  It had lost its head feathers like some of the cardinals.  A male goldfinch landed, then left.  After lunch, we saw the juvenile yellow crowned night heron on the dock doing its vampire impression again. 

The frog was back on the pool step.  I wish it would eat the green head that came after me.  Before that, I rescued two honeybees.  A black swallowtail feasted on the zinnias.

In the middle of the afternoon, a dark front moved in from the West and dropped torrents of rain for an hour.  It moved on and the sun shone, but the horizon was a-boil with ominous cumulus.  Overhead, streaks and wisps and puffs of cloud made a complex pattern.  The streets steamed. Dragonflies and skippers emerged from wherever they hid from the storm. 

Gray

Two Carolina wrens, a dove, titmice, and a hummer joined four cardinal fledglings for breakfast.  A light rain fell briefly around 10:30am.  I believe this titmouse was shaking the rain off its feathers.  We picked figs in case there was more rain.  One fly was more interested in meat than fruit.  The argiope was still in the spartina. 

An adult night heron perched on the dock bench. The snowy egrets had not left the dam outfall.  The frog was back, calmly sitting on the top step of the pool ladder.  I rescued a click beetle.  Then a more serious rain began shortly after noon.

There was a little sun in the afternoon.  Robins and the woodpecker were back in the cherry.  The birds on the seed feeder were greedy and unwilling to share.  The hummer kept an eye on its feeder. 

Overcast

The prediction for full sun sure failed.  There were moments when the sun broke through, but the sky stayed white.  The birds got up late.  A Carolina wren came for mealworms.  The usual suspects plus their adopted cowbird and a titmouse competed for a place at the seed feeder.  A female downy woodpecker joined in.  Later a male goldfinch did too. 

A young red bellied woodpecker ate cherries.  So did robins and a brown thrasher.  Brown thrashers and robins also poked through the mulch beds.  I glimpsed a male ruby throat but it darted off.  Snowy egrets were still fishing below the dam. An adult night heron hunted in the lawn above the bulkhead across the creek. 

A skink ventured out during one of the sunlit moments.  The argiope remained in the spartina. A Halloween pennant also perched in the spartina while a blue dasher sat next to me on the patio.  A black swallowtail laid eggs on the rue but a tiger just flitted by.  A duskywing skipper pollinated the mint.

I caught a small green frog in the pool.  A hummer tried different guard posts but I don't think it could watch both the front yard feeder and the cannas behind the house.  A blue jay joined the robins in the cherry tree. The afternoon was sunnier but the sky never really cleared and it clouded over again in the evening. Dragonflies with spotted wings hunted over the house after sunset.  A few fireflies were still around as I listened to the cicadas and crickets.