Many birds

The male hummer came early, possibly to avoid being chased by a female.  He was followed by a female downy woodpecker who gave the hummer feeder a harsh stare.  The bird thinks the suet should be there.  Rather than leave empty, she nibbled some barkbutter.  Then a bluebird did the same.  A female goldfinch drank form the ant moat.  Then a female red bellied woodpecker imitated the downy.  Brown headed nuthatches arrived and split up, one for seeds and the other for barkbutter.  A male pine warbler also wanted barkbutter. 

 I didn't take the camera to pick figs, but all I saw were a mockingbird and a bald-faced hornet.  There was a light breeze through the side yard and it wasn't as hot as I'd feared, but a sprinkle of rain convinced me to go back inside.  A black swallowtail drank from the butterfly milkweed.    A five lined skink was well camouflaged on the step.  The usual bees and wasps, and a fiery skipper, covered the mountain mint.  A female slaty skimmer used the perch by the steps, but moved when I walked past.  I saw an amberwing but it flew away.    

I found a frog in the pool skimmer.  It shot out the opening and tried to hide in my swimsuit.  I later caught it in the deep end.  There were seedpods on the butterfly milkweed.  After swimming, I ran out of battery and when I swapped, the other battery had no juice.  I must have forgotten to charge it.  So naturally, that's when another wave of birds arrived.  A mockingbird helped itself to a barkbutter ball.  Brown headed nuthatches came in pairs, that is, I only saw two at a time but I think there were four.  A female bluebird also craved a bite of barkbutter.  The woodpeckers and the pine warbler returned.  And a little after 5pm the rain began in earnest. 

So humid

At breakfast, the windows were fogged and everything dripped.  Hardly any air movement mitigated the misery.  Why did I ever want to explore the Amazon?  Fortunately, as the day warmed, the humidity dropped.  The brown headed nuthatch joined the usual seed eaters.  Hummers objected to the main feeder but found the little one.  Sawflies defoliated the hibiscus because I couldn't spray during rain spells.  Spider mites went to work on the mountain mint and the rosemary.  I glimpsed a dragonfly in the morning.  Another used one of the perches.  A red and black fly sat on one of the outdoor chairs.  I chased a frog around the pool.  Skinks scampered across the patio.  Cicadas sang.  

First frog

K picked figs so I picked blueberries till the sweat ran into my eyes and dripped off my nose.  But I got more than a quart before I gave in and threw myself into the water.   A smallish green frog was in the pool skimmer.  I had left the camera in the house because of predicted thunderstorms.  I managed to carry the frog to the door but when i tried to transfer it to my left hand, it wiggled free and belly-flopped to the concrete.  I got a couple of pictures while it recovered.  This episode convinced me to keep the camera with me.  That meant that when the rain began, I had to make a dash to get the camera indoors.  A yellow crowned night heron also dashed for cover in a pine tree.  I sat in the rain for a while but the temperature was falling, the wind was rising, and the lightning was coming closer.  We lost power briefly while I was showering the leaves and twigs out of my hair.  A second storm blew through around 7pm. 

Very hot

Early in the day, a cicada killer came bumping wt the glass, and then flew on about its business.  A hummer objected to the sugar water in its feeder so K hung a fresh batch. I very carefully rescued a large black bee and some brown beetles.  But I saw a skink dash after something in the air, maybe a jumping cricket?  As I dripped dry, a skink sunbathed on the step.  Turtles gathered on their log.   An egret fished under the bulkhead.  A four spotted pennant used one of the dragonfly perches. Then a slaty skimmer took possession  The underside of  black bee's abdomen collected pollen.  And it was still over 90 after sunset. 

Skinklet

I almost didn't see the tiny skink in the water.  It looked like it wasn't long out of the egg.  It squirmed out of my hand but tried to hide between my toes.  Fiery skippers competed with bees and wasps for mountain mint nectar.  The humidity fogged the camera lens.which created some eerie photos.  K picked the first batch of figs.  A squirrel went out on a limb to indulge in wild cherries. A tiny pale jumping spider hiked along the railing.  I would have said it was a magnolia green jumper if it had been green.  I appear to have lost the battles against spider mites and hibiscus sawflies.  

Yellow birds

A pair of goldfinches came for a drink and a look around.   Later a rumpled pine warbler checked out the barkbutter balls as they turned mushy in the rain.  A black swallowtail looked very small but it was an illusion because the pattern that outlined the wings blended in with the rue.  Rain came in waves all afternoon.  

Hairstreak

I admired the flowers in the front since the day lilies and hibiscus finished in back.  The mountain mint had its usual complement of bees and wasps, plus a black and white banded sand wasp.  And a gray hairstreak butterfly Strymon melinus visited the mountain mint.  

The black swallowtail caterpillar hadn't gone far.  A dragonfly took the perch outside my window. A swamp cicada, Neotibicen tibicen, for some strange reason. clung to the patio concrete.  In the afternoon, the sky clouded over and threatened, but didn't deliver.  I swam anyway and rescued beetles and a mama spider.  The wind kept blowing needles and leaves into the water faster than I could clean up.