Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.
I had read of such romantic events. Some call it courtship feeding. I was fortunate to witness this just a few days ago for the first time.
Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis). The male is on the left, the female on the right. During courtship the male, in expressing affection, feeds the female.
The male is also telling his mate that he can find and share food with her while she incubates the eggs.
A sweet moment.
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Yesterday I was surprised and pleased to see a male Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) and I shared a couple pictures that I took, with you in last night’s post.
Now today, again, a male Restart showed up to amaze me several times this afternoon. Here, just two of the images I was able to get.
What I wanted to show you today, before I was distracted by the second visit of a male Redstart, are pictures of a female Redstart.
Quite similar but as is often the case, the female and the immature male Redstarts are very understated in color. Rather than the bold black and orange, they are soft shades of gray and yellow.
Redstarts are incredibly fidgety birds, seeming to never be still, even for a brief moment. Truly a challenging subject to capture in pixels.
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A total surprise early this evening as I was washing dishes. A male American Restart (Setophaga ruticilla) taking care of his feathers at the birdbath.
Redstarts are not the most frequent birds I see. They seek out insects from the forest floor to the tree tops and for the most part only come by for their feather care at the birdbath.
Their size, being a small warbler, just adds to the fascination when I see one. Cute little critters. When one seems to show off for me and my camera that is just icing on the cake. A bonus for the day.
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A confusing common name with so many species of flowers using that same one, including Maryland’s state flower. This particular one is Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida) which I am working on committing “Rudbeckia fulgida” to memory to avoid confusing myself.
One of the other Black-eyed Susans, (Rudbeckia hirta). Soon soon soon there will be Maryland’s state flower growing up here, this Rudbeckia hirta.
That’s a Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) sitting atop the Rudbeckia fulgida in that first picture. It’s a small butterfly that enjoys visiting flowers that are the same colors that it sports on its wings.
And those seeds that last into the winter? That is why I don’t clean up my gardens in the autumn. The birds thoroughly enjoy the seeds.
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Baorangia Bicolor (Boletus bicolor). One very cool mushroom, in a world filled with astounding mushrooms. This one red and yellow. Color is something that I adore and this fungus doesn’t disappoint.
The pores bruise with a dark indigo blue stain and the stem also changes color in a matter of a few minutes with little pressure.
This mushroom is found in China and Nepal, and in eastern North American, for the most part east of the Rocky Mountains. It grows under Oaks, or other broad-leafed trees.
There’s always something out there, just waiting to be discovered. One just has to look for it.
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Spotted St. Johnswort (Hypericum punctatum), with lots and lots of spots. They show up, as volunteers, in my gardens. Volunteers most welcome.
Five yummy yellow petals with many stamens surrounding a central green pistil. Those petals, of course, spotted.
Spots of black, the leaves but also the stems. Green flower buds show the spots too.
Found in eastern North America. Growing to heights of 1 to 3 feet with a bit of branching in the upper half of the plant. Hairless stems of green or occasionally red. Pollinators are Bees, Beetles and Syrphid Flies, which find no nectar but lots of pollen.
There was a new vendor, Beloved Brook Natives, at the Greene Farmers Market yesterday morning, with marvelous native plants. My wonderful husband bought two Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata), and brought them home, along with a farmers market breakfast. This afternoon I put them into a garden just outside the kitchen window. I got a good sign as I was finishing up the work, when a Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) and a Sweat Bee (Halictidae) came by to check out the flowers. Seems they approve of the addition to the garden.
Blue Vervain is native to all of the continental US and most of Canada. And much to my delight it is the host plant of Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia), a butterfly that is very special to me, though I don’t see them nearly often enough. I’m so pleased that in planting these Vervains, perhaps I’ll be seeing more Common Buckeyes.
Got my fingers crossed!
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Confusing Bumblebee (Bombus perplexus), a species of Bumblebee that is native to northern North America, where it can be found in Canada and the eastern United States.
Confusing Bumblebee on PowWow White Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Confusing Bumblebees live in colonies made up of one queen and the female workers. New, mated queens, overwinter in a state of dormancy emerging in the spring. The queen is responsible for finding a nest site where she lays her eggs.
A Confusing Bumblebee on a Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurpea)
Now that I’ve become familiar with this species of Bumblebee, I am noticing more and more of them. They continue to amaze me with their beautiful yellow color.
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Ghost Pipe (Monotropa uniflora), quite the surprise to find. What in the world?It’s an herbaceous perennial plant which is found in much of the United States, with the exception of the Southwest, intermountain west and the central Rocky mountains. It’s also found in Canada, and in parts of northern South America.
Ghost Pipe is a small plant, growing to between 4 and 8 inches tall. It’s color varies a bit, from snow white to pale pink.
It also varies to that same snow white with added specks of black or pink. These black specked white pipes make me think of black and white Holsteins roaming a hillside in Vermont, particularly that one flower that is looking straight at us on the right side of the image above. Do you see it Gary? These flowers sometimes are a rich bright pink too, though I’ve never seen them in that color. I’ll keep looking. Surely I’ll find some in that color way.
The Ghost Pipe starts out its week long life with its flower nodding down much like a full bent tobacco pipe. As the pipe ages, it ends up with its flower looking straight up.
And then those fascinating flowers become seed pods.
So these flowers are white. No green. That means they don’t perform photosynthesis. They are part of a group of flowers which are called mycotrophic. Rather than being like green plants using photosynthesis, these mycotrophic plants get their energy from other organisms. From fungi.
The Ghost Pipe gets its nutrients and carbohydrates through tree roots depending upon a “middle man” or that fungi.
The woods around me are filled with many enchanting plants and animals. This certainly is one of them.
This afternoon a Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) caught my attention as it alighted on a Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurpea). Looking well-worn, as if it had spent its few weeks taking great chances, perhaps escaping a predator or two.
I appreciate Great Spangled Fritillaries in part because their host plants are various species of native Violets. Violets, special plants, and with no Violets, there would be no Fritillaries.
The time that this Fritillary is able to fly as a butterfly is 2 to 10 weeks. Their native range is nearly the entirety of Canada and the United States north of Georgia.
