Today, Earth Day 2023. Today and everyday, do what you can to help keep this planet, Earth, hospitable for its inhabitants.
To see last year’s Earth Day 2022, go to brendaclem.com/earth-day-2022/ where you’ll see 12 birds that just like we humans, depend on this planet.
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Philadelphia Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus), is blooming all along the forest edges up here right now. It’s native to North America and found in all the states including Alaska and Hawaii, and in Canada.
The name fleabane comes from the misconception that it will repel pests. It is a flower that is quite attractive to pollinators. Here a Honeybee (Apis) demonstrates that point.
There are about 170 species of Fleabane (Erigeron) on this continent. Philadelphia Fleabane can be identified by finding its clasping leaves, as seen in the above photo.
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Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum), a charming native, herbaceous perennial plant blooming all around. It’s along the trails up here, along the edges of the dirt road going up the mountain, and in my gardens where it is welcome. A soft magenta flower that grows from a rhizome, the plant growing to 1 to 2 feet tall. Here it poses with an Eastern Tailed Blue (Cupido comyntas), which makes its first appearance of the season as the Wild Geranium begins to bloom.
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The Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) is a bird that resides up here during the summer, but one that I seldom see. It enjoys eating insects that it finds in leaf litter under dense, low growing shrubs. It will also eat fruits and seeds.
Due the presence of Black Bears (Ursus americanus), I normally don’t have bird feeders out while the thrashers are around, while the bears are active. I do have lots of blueberry bushes though, which brings the thrashers into areas where I know I can find interesting birds.
Brown Thrashers are in the family, Mimidae, which is a group of birds that are recognized for their vocalizations, and their capacity to imitate many birds and other noises that they hear as they go about their lives. The Brown Thrasher is indeed an excellent songster and can repeat as many as 2,000 different songs. As it sings, it repeats each song twice, a tip for me, to its identity.
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Another visit to Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, Three Rivers, New Mexico, and an opportunity to get many images of one of my very favorite birds. The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), state bird of New Mexico.
All these photos are the same bird, though with slightly different color ways. Its feathers are iridescent and vary depending on the light that hits those feathers.
The Greater Roadrunner is native to the southwestern United States and central Mexico, and it does not migrate.
The Roadrunner, of course, is known for its running abilities, running up to 26 miles per hour. The bird can fly but its method of choice is running, for chasing after its dinners of insects, small mammals, lizards and snakes (even rattlesnakes). They’ll also eat things that don’t require much speed, seeds, fruits, prickly pear cactus, and carrion.
See those feet? Two toes forward and two toes back, leaving “X” footprints.
What a treat it was to get these images. My favorite place, my favorite bird!
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He showed up at lunch today. Gulping down the syrup as if this male had traveled long distances, which he certainly has. The very first of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) to arrive at my feeders.
Now dinner has come and gone. There was a female traveler who came to the feeder while we were eating. And then a male. The same one? A new one? No telling. Two or three of these little birds have arrived today. Absolutely welcome. Let the hummingbird circus begin.
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Such a pretty flower but quite small. Reaching just 3 to 6 inches tall. Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata).
There are 28 Iris species native to the United States. Iris cristata is one of them, found growing in the eastern and southern United States, on rocky, wooded slopes. Some are blooming right now in one of my gardens.
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Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica), herbaceous perennials, native to eastern North America. Painting its landscape with rich yummy purple, fading to pink and eventually turning to a lovely soft blue as its flowers mature.
A beautiful palette for spring, April and May.
By midsummer the blooms are gone, the plants disappear into the leaf litter of the woods. Gone until early next spring when the purples, pinks and blues emerge to paint the landscape all over again.
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Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) is getting ready for bloom time, up here in the woods. It will be a while yet though, until it happens. The ones I’m seeing are 6 to 8 inches up. They reach 4 feet tall as they bloom.
I was surprised just now, as I was looking through information on Black Cohosh, to learn that it is in the Buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family. I sure would not have guessed that.
I’m looking forward to those blooms. Those white stalks of flowers reaching tall into the forest that make me think of ghosts of people who that lived up here in the mountains long long ago. Ghosts that come out to enjoy the emerald green woods of summer.
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I’ve been watching, as I do with many of my plants. Knowing, anticipating. They seem to pop up unannounced. No hint that they’re there. This is one of many that I found today. A Virginia Springbeauty (Actaea racemosa) emerging next to a Confederate Violet (Viola sororia priceana). You can get an idea, comparing these two flowers in this image that the Springbeauty and its buds are mighty tiny.
They always take me by surprise. It seems to happen overnight. They emerge and PRESTO! They’re about to bloom. Their buds, that look like miniature jalapeña peppers, soon to open.
White with just a hint of soft pink.
Not rain but water brought to quench the dry soil. Encouraging the little flowers to spread and bloom to their heart’s content.