May day?

After I got home from work this evening, I changed into shorts and a t-shirt and headed over to Howell's. It was absurdly hot and humid here today, feeling more like the middle of July than the end of May—it was 88 degrees out when I returned to my apartment around 6:45 p.m., so I have no doubt we hit at least the mid-90s during the heart of the day. Good times.

To start off, a lone stalk of clover I spotted by the side of the road:



The late afternoon light turned this cardinal an absolutely striking shade of red:



On its way to another perch:



No idea what this might be, but it caught my eye as it moved along the side of the road:



This damselfly never budged as I took photos of it, even though I moved around to shoot it from both sides. I started to wonder if it was dead, so when I'd finished I blew on it. It proved it was plenty alive by going airborne and then flying straight at me, narrowly missing hitting me in the eye. So, a safety tip for everyone: leave sleeping damselflies alone.





This one was much more skittish, but did alight long enough for me to take a couple of pictures: