critters

I have enjoyed seeing the small wildlife in my yard lately, when sitting quietly near the garden, or down on the ground pulling weeds. A toad (or frog?) that hopped away just too quick for a good photo-

glimpse of a fat skink-

Even happier to find, on this very sad-looking broad-leaved milkweed

Monarch caterpillars!

and quite a few aphids.

I have not been over on this newly sunny second sideyard much- the stand of tithonia is mostly left to its own devices. About once a week I clip off dead flowerheads, but haven't needed to wipe off aphids or strip the lower leaves that get blackened. They stand straighter, too. Healthier I think. It's true what I read, they just needed more sun. Even though I thought the other side had plenty of sun.

I wonder if same is for the milkweed. Is the swamp milkweed on the first sideyard not quite as healthy, is that why the caterpillars are all on this side, even though there's far fewer plants? or did the butterflies just happen to find these three isolate plants, and not the others? Well, at least they're notorious for spreading so next year I'll have more (milkweed)!

Other things I've been glad to see, though not gotten photos of: bright yellow goldfinches feeding on my dead echinacea again. I can recognize their high, twittery voices now. Hummingbird- one day I saw it twice, so pretty like a hovering jewel. Leopard frog in the grass by the vegetable garden, with striking, neatly-arranged pattern on his back. Tiny jumping spider that approached me crawling across the bench cushion. Catbird making its way through the garden beds, if I sit very still it doesn't notice me. Wrens poking around the potted plants on the upper deck. Swallowtails and skippers and hairstreak butterflies. 

I haven't seen any preying mantids this year, though. Where are they.