Waves of rain

I was busy during the sunny morning.  At lunch, three black swallowtails danced around the rue with occasional excursions to the parsley.  A blue dasher watched the buzzing wasps and bees on the herbs.  Blue mud wasps joined the crowd of sand wasps, digger wasps, threadwaisted wasps, and scoliid wasps. I glimpsed a skink disappearing into a hole in the steps. 

All afternoon starting at 2:40pm, thunderstorms rolled through with short intense bursts of rain.  Just before the rain began, a yellow crowned night heron landed on the dock.  In between the waves, high flying dragonflies picked off the little humidity-loving pests. 

Rare visitors

We picked the last (probably) of the blueberries and a big bowl of figs.  A spinyback orbweaver protected the figs though it was far to small to catch the wasps and hornets I saw.

I rescued a firefly, so they were still around even though I hadn't seen any flashing in the evening.   A brown thrasher hunted under the sakaki.  A blue dasher used one of my perches while a Halloween pennant rode the top of the hackberry.  A tattered skimmer made short forays from its bamboo perch. 

A zebra swallowtail feasted on the butterfly milkweed until it disappeared in a flurry of hungry birds.  The blue jays and bluebirds wanted bark butter balls so I hope the butterfly just fled. A while later, a monarch arrived on the butterfly milkweed. 

Titmice were content with seeds.  A few hummers visited.  A great crested flycatcher darted around the trees.  A red bellied woodpecker sunbathed up in the oak.

The waxing moon was gradually enveloped in clouds.  A bright Jupiter trailed behind.

Cooler

There was a light overcast in the morning and a breeze that made it quite pleasant.  Little brown click beetles were beginning to show up in the water.  Blue jays showed up everywhere. A murder of crows was in full cry over something they pursued from tree to tree.  The blue jays followed but a mockingbird just watched.

The black and greenish-white banded wasp on the mountain mint seemed to match the photos of a sand wasp, Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus.  I had thought it might be a bee.  There have been far more great golden digger wasps this year than in previous summers.  I don't know if it's the mountain mint or whatever resulted in so few butterflies.  Speaking of which, there was a cloudless sulphur and later an orange butterfly.  

I saw a couple of skinks but got no photos.  Hummers visited including one male.  Male woodpeckers came for bark butter balls, both a downy and a red belly.

A four spotted pennant used a bamboo perch while a Halloween pennant flew from the highest twig of the hackberry.  Later a tattered slaty skimmer rested on a bamboo stake.  

The parent brown thrasher had the fledglings down by the creek and was apparently teaching them to hunt mud crabs.  I caught a swallow in flight. 

Donner & blitzen

 A blue dasher used a bamboo stake perch.  The mountain mint was full of life.  I saw honeybees and other bees, lots of great golden digger wasps, thread-waisted wasps, and others. 

Apparently the bluebirds were raising another family, I think the third this year.  I went to the garden center and sweated a gallon of water to buy a daylily.  K planted it and thunder began almost immediately, but two hours later not a drop of rain had fallen.  I was in online meetings and the lightning flashes left me somewhat anxious, but we did not lose power. 

Unpredictable storms

 A squirrel had cherries for breakfast.  I wasted a lot of time trying to catch a dragonfly in flight.  A caterpillar appeared to be eating a strawberry plant.  Young titmice were apparently learning to use the feeder. 

The meteorologists were saying no chance of rain even as the heavens opened in a typical summer afternoon thunderstorm.  It was quickly followed by a second one thundercloud.  The vegetation got a good soaking and the humidity slid up past the descending temperature.  All the windows fogged over.  The region was still under a heat advisory but the storm cooled us down to the 80s.

Squirrels foraged in the wet vegetation and then had to clean themselves off.  A hummer looked at the mountain mint while titmice made a commotion near the hummer feeder.  Sunset glowed orange and briefly tinted the moon. 

Soupy air

I couldn't stand being outside for very long in the morning because of the heat and humidity.  A black swallowtail flitted erratically around the yard.  Brown thrashers grew bolder with their desire for bark butter balls.  A young one walked around the back of the pool. 

Clouds drew in and lowered the heat a little.  Bluebirds followed blue jays to the feeder.  A female cardinal sought shade to eat her bark butter ball.  Later a Carolina wren did the same.  A female red bellied woodpecker inspected one of the dogwoods.  An egret rested on a dock piling. 

An ailanthus webworm moth (Atteva aurea) joined the bees and wasps on the mountain mint. A slaty skimmer used the perch nearby.    A Japanese beetle chewed on a hibiscus flower. 

Rain that was not predicted fell in the late afternoon but didn't amount to much.  It trailed off leaving the air to reabsorb the rain that fell.  An egret and a heron flew North toward mammatus clouds that bulged downward in round hemispheres.

Lively

For July, it was pleasant - low 90s and moderate humidity.  All sorts of wildlife showed up to enjoy the day. A blue jay began with a bark butter ball.  Then I spotted a cicada killer in the chaste tree.

At lunch, a buckeye joined the bees and wasps on the mountain mint.  A black swallowtail circled the rue.  I found a blue mud wasp on the mountain mint. A night heron landed on the dock while I was pruning hackberry branches that intruded into my view. 
I rescued a young earwig and got stung again by another dratted sweat bee.  And I found a mud crab in the pool which I netted and released downhill.
A slaty skimmer was bumped from its perch by a widow skimmer.  I saw several skinks but only got pictures of a very small one. 

Up on a sunny oak limb, a male red bellied woodpecker was having a spa day, preening and sunbathing.  Earlier it had raided the bark butter balls. A brown thrasher had the same idea.  Bluebirds made occasional visits.  The Carolina wren preferred to take its bark butter ball under a chair and peck it apart.  Goldfinches came to drink from the ant moat. 


The crescent moon was faintly visible overhead mid afternoon. It was sharper after dark, but there was less light for the camera.