Cooler

A North wind brought a beautiful Spring day but I mostly had my back to the window..  A female bluebird lunched on seeds.  Goldfinches visited at suppertime, but only for a drink.  Then the female red bellied woodpecker had some seeds.  Of course, there were cardinals, house finches, chickadees, and a titmouse.  And that was all I had time to see.  

Dragonflies

Overnight rain dropped the temperature.  A blue jay came for rain-softened barkbutter balls.  I took advantage of the pleasant weather to do some yard puttering.  Tiny, bright orange wolf's milk slime mold Lycogala epidendrum popped out of the end of a landscape timber.  There were eleven flowers on the orange daylily.  A Carolina horse nettle was blooming.  Parsley flower heads looked like fireworks bursting.  The first gladiolus spears appeared.

I spotted a dragonfly on a clump of dead leaves floating in the pool.  It didn't move even when touched so I figured it was dead.  I think it might have had a damaged wing.  In the afternoon, I found it floating on the surface of the water so I hauled it out and discovered it was alive.  My best guess is that it was a harlequin darner Gomphaeschna furcillata.  A female blue dasher kept watch from a dried up daffodil.  Lots of wasps were busy around the yard.  I rescued a bumblebee and a couple of beetles.  The forktail damselfly was again perched on the pool coping in the late afternoon. 

A soaring bird might have been a Mississippi kite.  An egret flew downstream.  The male pileated woodpecker came by to see if there was suet.  But even though I put out fresh sugar water, I didn't see a hummer.  

Beautiful weather.

An early blue jay landed in the trees.  Another tried to get some seeds but the baffle closed.  The first blue jay showed how to do it.  I rescued a few beetles and spiders from the pool.  The only flying insect I saw was a cabbage white.  In the evening, a Carolina wren had some barkbutter balls.  Clouds made sunset colorful.  

Stealth blue jay

The day was bright and breezy.  Dragonflies cleaned up the post-rain blood seekers.  A blue jay sneaked seeds.  And a rose bloomed.  I found a few spiders in the pool.

Thunder and lightning

A goldfinch pair visited at breakfast.  A female cardinal chased another away, then snuggled with her mate on the feeder perch.  Avian soap opera.  Five orange daylilies bloomed and a rosebud opened.  Rain began mid morning. 

While we were eating lunch, lightning flashes were accompanied by thunder that rumbled for a long time.  A hummer was not deterred from her feeder.  Around 6pm the light dropped and another set of storms rolled through with the same drawn-out, rumbling thunder.  The rain was heavier, filling the ant moat.  I saw a red bellied woodpecker on the feeder but it was too dark and rain-streaked for a photo.  

Afternoon thundershower

I put fresh hummer juice out in the feeder that is least affected by rain.  After lunch and before the rain, I startled a beautiful green female (or possibly teneral male) pondhawk that I only saw as it flew away.  Buds on the butterfly milkweed were getting orange.  I saw no sign or eggs or caterpillars though.  The rain was enough to wet everything, but not much more.  Afterward, the hummer returned.  While swimming, I noticed a mother spider clutching an egg pearl and trying to stay out of the water on the top step of the ladder.  A mosquito pestered me for a while but I think I may have gotten it.  

Dragon and damsel

The female bluebird was back at the seed feeder.  Both sexes are more interested in seeds noe that we're adding a mix to the sunflower seeds.   The female pileated made a brief stop but didn't find any suet.  Blue jays found the barkbutter balls.  An orange daylily bloomed.   The hummer returned.  A grown up skink put its head out, saw me, and retreated. 

At last, today more Odonata appeared.  Male and female blue dashers used the bamboo perches.  As did a female common whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia).  A damselfly watched from the pool edge.  Maybe that's why I wasn't bothered by an in-your-face bloodsucker?  A small orange snout butterfly, an even smaller pale butterfly (probably an azure), and a black swallowtail explored the vegetation.  Wasps searched everywhere.  I rescued a ground crab spider Xysticus (sp) but I think I drowned a mother wolf spider with a ball of eggs.