Mosquitoey

There was some rain late yesterday and the day was cloudy, humid, and buggy.  The hummer feeder was empty and a fresh one not out yet when a male ruby throat stopped for a drink.  How frustrating for the bird and me!  K hung the fresh feeder but the male did not return.   Female hummers approved.  

I expected more dragonflies than the one that perched briefly.  A robber fly lurked on the railing, looking like a Hulk-size mosquito.  I believe it was an Eastern hammertail (Efferia aestuans).  A blue mud wasp fidgeted around the mountain mint.  I saw leaf-cutter bees and other wasps, including great golden digger wasps.  

Pool rescues included a fig beetle and a green metallic tiger beetle that had the nerve to bite me.  In revenge, I made the tiger beetle pose.  Technically, it was a six-spotted tiger beetle, (Cicindela sexguttata).  I also hauled out a huge leaf-footed bug although it was a goner. 

A mosquito got into the house.  After buzzing around, it lit on the bug repellent!  And there it sat for a couple of minutes enjoying the smell of camphor, I guess.  It certainly told us the worth of that spray.  Sunset was very pink. 

Waiting for rain

After a sprinkle fell in the morning, the sky cleared.  During my swim I rescued a green metallic tiger beetle, a mama spider, and two azalea caterpillars, Datana major.  I didn't do well at photographing the guests on the mountain mint but there were bees, wasps, and skippers.  One skipper was a pale duskywing that had me fooled.  A black swallowtail and a monarch passed by.  A variegated fritillary drank milkweed nectar.  And right below it was a monarch caterpillar. 

The big Argiope spider fed well but the smaller ones went hungry.  I was collecting money plant seeds and disturbed a bold jumping spider, Phidippus audax, all tucked up in a silk bed.  It hustled across the patio and into the violets.   

Blue jays noticed the barkbutter balls.  Hummers rejected the feeder so I need to change it tomorrow.  The rain finally fell around 5:30pm.  

Solar power

A male goldfinch paid an early visit.  Later, a monarch egged the butterfly milkweed.  Fiery skippers joined the bees and wasps on the mountain mint.  A buzzard circled.  I checked on the three Argiope spiders and all were OK.  A slaty skimmer perched near me and snatched invisible bugs out of the air.  The Southern purple mint moths infested the rosemary again - I need to deal with that. 

The wind was very gusty and thrashed the leaves off trees.  The hot sun so energized the insects that I missed quite a few.  Something that might have been a hummingbird moth swooped down on the mountain mint then shot over the house.  I glimpsed rusty wings and some yellow on the body, and it had a vertical profile.  Later, I saw another duskywing skipper.  

The hummer, or hummers, seemed unfazed by the wind.  A lot of sugar water got drunk.  One I thought might be a male perched on a dead twig atop the wild cherry despite the wind.  It was a very dark hummer, for sure, but with no hint of ruby. 

A blue dasher joined the slaty skimmer.  And I realized that what I had assumed was another wasp was actually a female Eastern amberwing, Perithemis tenera.  Also, I glimpsed what I thought was a male widow skimmer, at least I got an impression of black and white wings.  Sometime after 5pm, the weather shifted from hot wind pushing cumulus out of the SSW to a slow-moving overcast. 

Hot and windy

A goldfinch was determined to get breakfast.  A hummer found the feeder despite the red "flowers" fading.  In the pool I rescued a different kind of spider.  It was brown and had a cobweb spider shape and had gotten on a leaf raft which made rescue easier.  I also caught a frog and took it up to the patio to photograph.  It hopped into the grass and hid its head like the proverbial ostrich.  I suppose that if I hadn't known it was there I wouldn't have noticed it. 

One of the Argiope spiders caught lunch.  It looked like it might have been a dragonfly.  Fiery skippers, a duskywing, and the usual insects crowded the mountain mint.  A palamedes swallowtail zipped across the yard before I could think to raise the camera.  A great blue skimmer feasted on the little biters.  A monarch made a brief stop at the butterfly milkweed. 

K said the temperature hit 100.  While not sticky, there was enough humidity to make the air heavy and hard to breathe.  The wind kept pushing clouds out or the Southwest but rain did not materialize.  In the late afternoon, a female common whitetail  hunted from the patio.  They like to be on the ground except when flying.  I caught glimpses of dragonflies aloft but no pictures. 

Hot and humid

The heat and humidity was really oppressive but it suited the dragonflies.  I found another Argiope web but something ripped up the spiny back web.  A skinklet was insistent about crossing the patio.  A baby cardinal had no tail.  A fresh hummer feeder had no customers.  Blue jays found the barkbutter balls.  Mosquitoes found me while I picked figs.  I saw live wasps and defunct fig beetles. 

Dragonflies

Dragonflies were plentiful all day but I didn't see any of the more gaudy species, just workmanlike blue dashers and slaty skimmers.  One perched at the top of the wild cherry but I couldn't identify if silhouetted against the sky.  A slender black & yellow wasp was new but hard to photograph.  The usual bees and wasps visited.  A gray hairstreak bustled around the hibiscus which had no flowers to explain its interest.  A snout and many fiery skippers fed on the mountain mint.  The rue held the interest of a black swallowtail.  The Argiopes were right where I last saw them. 

The black & white cat hung around and made the birds anxious.  I evicted the frog from the pool again.  Skinks, large and small, scurried around the patio.  Big cumulus seemed to threaten rain but they just kept moving.  The bald cardinal posed on a dragonfly perch.  The male goldfinch preened in the wild cherry.  Hummers kept coming to their feeder.  

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Sunny

The orchard spider that disappeared was close to where the Argiope spiders appeared.  I wonder if they had anything to do with the other spider's dis appearance?  A fiery skipper looked fine in the sunlight.  A tiger swallowtail was only a blur on the camera.  A very tiny skink had begun to regrow its lost tail.  A less fortunate one was drowned in the skimmer.  A few dragonflies hunted from perches but I didn't see any high fliers.  

A sleepy orange butterfly nectared on the butterfly milkweed.  A snout butterfly perched on a dead dogwood twig, imitating a dead leaf.  A cabbage white visited the mountain mint.  A very dark skipper did too.  It was rusty brown in bright sunlight but black most of the time and in motion way too often.  K hung a fresh hummer feeder and it took a few hours for the birds to get used to it.