Yellow butterflies and barn swallows.

I cannot even count the number of yellow butterflies I've seen today.  So pretty.... bright yellow, big ones and little ones, and even a few teeny ones.  There were so many flying around the plants that I just stood out in the courtyard for a while and just watched them.  The butterflies especially liked the red sage that's near the garage.... and the yellow of the butterfly wings was so intense that when they got close to the esperanza plant they seemed to be the exact shade of yellow as the blooms on the plant.

I'm glad that neither Mickey nor Gatsby seem interested in catching butterflies.  Mickey is into lizards, and Gatsby is into napping and eating, so the butterflies are safe.  At least from the cats.... I don't know if larger birds will catch butterflies..... it seems that the black crows go after just anything that's within their reach.

There are still four barn swallows out in the porch nests every night.  Most of the swallows have gone now...... I don't exactly know where they fly off to (Capistrano?) but at this time of the year there's hardly any swallows left.  Being that we had a dozen nests around the porch during spring and summer, and the barn swallows survived the over-100-degree weather, you would think they'd all want to stay around now when we're having our 'second spring.'  But just the four remain.... they fly all over the yard during the day, and then come back to two of the nests for the night.  Two of the birds cuddle up together in one nest by the steps, the other two are in an adjacent nest on top of one of the porch columns.                                           

I wonder if the nests they choose for sleeping are the same ones they were in as baby birds. The two birds that sleep in the nest right by the back steps are very trusting of me and the cats.... they watch me go up and down the steps in the evening and they just sit there in the nest and look without flying away.  When the baby birds were in that particular nest this past spring, they did the same thing... they peeked over the edge of the nest to watch me come and go.   Same birds?  No idea, but it's a nice thought just the same.

Picture-perfect, glorious day today.... nice and warm, not a drop of humidity, beautiful blue sky filled with yellow butterflies.