Sunny

Morning was hot. I expect the afternoon was even hotter.  The night heron seemed to be lurking behind the fence.  The wrens and hummers buzzed around.  So did flies, and a few butterflies.  I could see the caterpillars on the parsley.  The mint attracted soldier beetles, wasps and a bee. 

Blue dasher, amberwing, pennant, and saddlebags dragonflies found perches, all but the blue dasher atop a pine candle.  I only saw a skink once.  The blue jays kept out of sight but left the bark butter dish rocking.  There were hardly any clouds and not much breeze, though the sky got hazy toward evening. 

Blue sky

Wrens were bustling about  in the morning.  I saw a bluebird as we left the house.  A defunct June beetle was lying inside next to the car window.  Blue jays emptied the bark butter dish but I got no pictures.  Egrets were out on the creek. A Carolina wren appeared on the seed feeder and a house wren poked around. 

A goldfinch got a drink from the ant moat.  A black swallowtail was back as were dragonflies and great golden digger wasps. The caterpillars continued to consume the parsley.  Another hummer was deceived by the gladiolus.

Hot sun

There was a flurry of wrens at breakfast, but they were too fast for me.  At the doctor's office a handsome English sparrow proclaimed his territory from the corner of the roof.  When we arrived home, a widow skimmer was guarding the lantana.  A bluebird swooshed down from the roof and then kept watch on us from the dogwood. None of this did I manage to photograph.  But, in the back yard, a yellow crowned night heron stalked the pool.

More dragonflies perched along the retaining wall.  A dragonfly I think was a four spotted skimmer perched on the pine tree.  A twelve spotted skimmer flew over it.  A black swallowtail fluttered around the caterpillars on the parsley.  A great golden digger wasp visited the mint and drew my eye to something lurking under a leaf.  I think it was a crab spider.  A small black wasp struggled with a meal as big as itself. 

An egret waited by the dam outfall.  A blue jay discovered the bark butter dish was empty.  The hummers needed a refill too.  A skink ran across the steps and into a crevice. The night heron reappeared under the bulkhead in the afternoon. 

Toward evening a brilliant male hummer stopped to feed but rushed off almost immediately.  One or possibly two large birds of prey landed in a neighbor's pine that was screened from view by the oak.  Clouds had covered the sky during the afternoon but they broke up in the North at sunset. 

Cloudy

There were sprinkles of fine rain in the morning.  Titmice visited.  I suspect they were this year's.   Hummers and blue jays also visited.  And an egret lurked below the dam. 

Later there was some sun.  I could now see two caterpillars on the parsley.  A skink dashed across the concrete. There were more wasps than dragonflies or butterflies. 

When the wind gusted, I got a glimpse of the lake including a cormorant and a turtle. 

Overcast

A couple of titmice came for seeds but did not return.  I caught a bluebird emerging from the nestbox.  Wrens were active around their birdhouse.  Hummers and blue jays dined.  And a male cardinal again went after something on the parsley - not the caterpillar. An egret watched the dam outfall.  A fledgling cardinal with a dark beak foraged under the feeder. 

A dead bunny was floating in the water.  Small, pale butterflies jittered back and forth as they flew.  The black swallowtail caterpillar consumed an entire head of parsley flowers.  A great blue skimmer perched and something darker zipped around, but there were not a lot of dragonflies today. 

Cooler

The morning sky was sharp and blue with cloud streaks but by lunch it had gone white.  I saw some small butterflies,some wasps, that black bee, and some dragonflies.  A caterpillar chomped at the parsley flowers.  A skink skittered under the chair. I saw more skinks, but none waited for the camera. 

The wrens were flying in and out of their house.  Hummers fed and one chased off another.  I believe I saw an osprey but the trees made it hard to be sure. Egrets continued to haunt the dam spillway. 

Summer storm

An egret was taking early advantage of the water flowing out from the lake which seems to attract fish.   A cardinal had some bark butter.  I never saw a jay, but I think they slipped past me. 

Several dragonflies danced in the air over the pine.  A small black bee fed on the herbs.  A Needham's skimmer used the bamboo stake perch. The female goldfinch returned.  The wrens were not discouraged by yesterday's wind and rain. 

Clouds moved in by supper time.  The sinking sun turned them orange.  Then around 8pm, a writhing storm swept out of the North, first lightning and high winds, then a downpour. After about three quarters of an hour,a rim of blue appeared in the North while the thunder crashed overhead. The lightning was nearly constant but mostly cloud to cloud.