Author Archives: Brenda Clements Jones

About Brenda Clements Jones

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.

Bear In The Garden

Finally, after a long absence, a Black Bear (Ursus americanus) has made its presence known to me. After seeing, not a single one for a few years, this is a treat. This one that showed up, providing me time to get several pictures, looking mighty healthy.

This beautiful creature is a youngster.

They leave their mothers when they are one and a half or two years old. I suspect that is the age of this one. Out on its own. Establishing its territory. Getting to know its neighbors.

I’ve been surprised that the Montmorency cherry tree has not been climbed, the apple tree has not been raided. Only a matter of time now.

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Dogwood Blooming In June

Leaves of Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa)

There are somewhere between 30 to 60 species of Dogwood in the family Cornaceae. This one, Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa), is quite different in many ways from the Dogwood that I’m most familiar with, Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida. But first, the leaves look very similar, and they are both opposite.

Gray Dogwood is in full bloom, as I am writing this, in June. Unlike my familiar Flowering Dogwood, with its large blooms, this Gray Dogwood’s flowers are very small and many, which grow together in rounded clusters.

As summer turns to autumn, the Gray Dogwood’s flowers turn to berries, and not crimson red berries, but creamy white berries, which birds love.

And along with those berries in autumn, come leaves turning lovely colors. And another difference – not the rich red of Flowering Dogwood leaves, but yellow with a hints of burgundy to add to the fiesta of fall.

Sunshine Yellow Blooms

The brightest of yellow, blooming right now. Narrow Leaf Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa), a native to eastern North America.

A member of the Evening Primrose family, Onagraceae. Bees, butterflies and skippers pollinate the flowers.

A delight to see, brightening the roadsides.

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Knock Your Socks Off Color

So many brilliant colors in the birds of summer. This is one, with knock your socks off color, Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea).

A member of the Cardinal family, Cardinalidae, that eats seeds, insects and spiders.

The Indigo Bunting often migrates by night, using the stars to navigate. That ability is absolutely remarkable.

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Bird Days

The summer birds are arriving. I’m having a grand time seeing the first of this, that, and the other bird, as each day ticks by. Yesterday was a good one for seeing firsts. Not necessarily a good day for photos though. As I’ve raved about in the past, my birdbath is a great attraction for the birds but it doesn’t guarantee that they will be still, or even actually stay long at all. This is the picture I managed to get, of my first glimpse of a Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus).

This is more like the image I was hoping to get. This one is from one year ago, give or take five days. June 13, 2022. It was at nearly the same place, about to take a plunge, perched on a branch of the hydrangea.

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Goldfinches At The Yucca

Not quite in their full summer plumage, the Goldfinches (Spinus tristis) were at the Yucca filamentosa yesterday afternoon as if it were their playground.

Truth be told, I’ve been sprinkling hulled sunflower seeds on the ground, which is what called to them.

Goldfinches are seed eaters. I love to let my gardens be, as summer turns to autumn and finally, winter arrives. Echinacea, Monarda, Anemone virginiana, many, many plants have the potential to feed these birds, well beyond their beauty during the summer.

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Being Bold

I’m thoroughly enjoying this elusive bird showing off its bold side. Circumstances must be just right for this Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) to step out and be seen. This picture is from today. Usually they are hidden under dense bushes. Hiding from my camera. Not so the past couple days with tempting blueberries on the bushes. Be bold! There are yummy berries to be had!

And oh, those piercing yellow eyes. The Brown Thrasher youngsters though have pearl gray eyes which gradually become that intense yellow, as they age. This picture is from 2017, when I was fortunate to capture a youngster in pixels.

And I’ve been wondering, am I seeing male or female Brown Thrashers? No telling. Their coloring, patterns, and plumage is all the same, whether male or female.

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Downy False Foxglove

Downy False Foxglove (Aureolaria virginica), flowers during the summer months, June through August.

Downy False Foxglove is a perennial hemiparasite. Hemiparasite means that it depends upon its host for some of its nutrients. In this case, Downy False Foxglove depends upon Oak trees (Quercus), mainly White Oaks (Quercus alba), getting these nutrients through their roots. Since this plant also possesses chlorophyll, it can carry out its own photosynthesis to produce nutrients.

It is native to eastern North America. The flowers open in the early part of the day and close in the afternoon.

The “downy” portion of its name refers to its leaves and stems, which have extremely short hairs covering their surface.

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Grape Tube Galls

Nature is full of surprises, like these galls that I found on a wild grapevine. They’re grape tube galls, created by a midge, Schizomyia viticola. The midge lays eggs on the leaf and the gall is the plant’s reaction to it. Actually there is very little damage done to the grapevine, and these galls are rarely found in vineyards. Amazing.

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Brown Thrasher In The Birdbath

Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). An elusive bird that most often is found in dense bushes, brushing its long beak back and forth in leaf litter searching for a meal of insects.

Most frequently I see Brown Thrashers while blueberries are just ripening. And timing was just perfect today. Many bushes with berries turning from soft green to deep dark blue covered in their beautiful bloom.

Berries to please this Thrasher and a birdbath perfect for a warm June day. All this brings it out into the open, for me and my camera, to get pictures of a bird that I’d unlikely see otherwise.

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