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Soon To Be Queen Anne’s Lace
June 25, 2026 Delicate looking pink feet clutching the fuzzy stem of what will become a beautiful flower. A year round resident, a male Goldfinch (Spinus tristis), has about reached its peak breeding season plumage. Captured here clinging to what will become the bloom of Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus Carota). This flower is an herbaceous…
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Redbud Seedpods
June 24, 2026 The Redbud trees (Cercis canadensis) up here on my mountain in April, reach out with their branches, painting the still black and white landscape with a striking pink hue everywhere one looks. Now it’s June and those pink blooms have become seedpods, waiting to fall to the ground to become more Redbud…
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Ruby-throated Hummingbirds Raising Little Hummingbirds
June 23, 2026 Here, a Ruby Throated Hummingbird (Archilochusus colubrid) seeming to dance as she approaches a Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma). These Hummingbirds are here for their breeding season and soon we’ll be seeing a population explosion thanks to all the fledglings that will be arriving at the flowers that seem to call to them.…
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A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher In The Garden
June 22, 2026 A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) showing off the length of its extra long tail. Impressed by the small size of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)? Perhaps the size of this Blue-gray Gnatcatcher will surprise you as well. Their weights are quite similar, weighing in at a bit lighter than a few pennies.…
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A Hummingbird At The Beebalm
June 21, 2026 I’m so pleased to have Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma) blooming again. They’re dependable perennials. With brilliant red flowers that call to Hummingbirds and other pollinators. Blooming with perfect timing. It won’t be long until there will be multitudes of these birds flying, as the nestlings fledge. Beebalm petals have a long, tubular…
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Great Spangled Fritillary On Common Milkweed
June 20, 2026 Yesterday Great Spangled Fritillaries (Speyeria cybele) and several species of bees were found on a patch of Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) up here. Oh, what a fragrance those flowers have! That scent must be an invitation to pollinators all around, a plea perhaps, to come drink the nectar and help spread the…
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An Indigo Bunting On Its Perfect Perch
June 19, 2026 An Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea), here for the summer, has found the perfect perch for posing. I used to often bike along the W&OD Trail, in Northern Virginia, where I’d frequently see these beautiful birds sitting on utility wires, singing their, “what! what! where? where? see it! see it!” song, as I peddled…
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Wild Berries
June 18, 2026 Black Raspberries (Rubus occidentalis). They’re beginning to ripen up here, much to the delight of oodles of animals including many bird species like catbirds, finches, wild turkeys, robins, blue jays, and cardinals. Mammals such as raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, deer, bears, mice, opossums, and foxes also enjoy the berries. The stems of…
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An American Chestnut On The AT
June 17, 2026 Yes, they still do exist in the wild, though it is a rare sight. This is an American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) on Hightop, along the Appalachian Trail. Notice the ocean wave edging. That is one of the key components in identification of this very special tree. This is just a bit above…
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Green Blackhaw Drupes
June 16, 2026 Green drupes of June. Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium). What starts out as soft, off-white, flat-topped clusters of flowers, eventually turns into many drupes that are green, becoming pink, then a rich, deep blue-black. Each one, half an inch long. These drupes generally last into winter. A perfect mid-winter much needed food source.…