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.

The Pointer

A Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) that looks as if it is posing for an artist. About to become a museum piece on canvas.

This Junco, the one that I am used to seeing, is one of 14 or 15 subspecies of the Dark-eyed Junco. Each having the same basic size and shape but colors that vary. The subspecies include this slate colored group, a white winged group, a brown backed group, a pink sided group, a gray headed group, and a red backed group.

The subspecies of this slate colored group has the widest distribution, including nearly all parts of the North American continent.

I grew up calling this junco, a Slate Colored Junco. Now they are all lumped together and they’re all Dark-eyed Juncos.

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Spiderwort

Today a few leaves of Spiderwort (Tradescantia) were spotted emerging from the soil. It’s native to eastern North America.

Come May, blooms will be gracing the garden, to the delight of bees.

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Feather Care

A Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) yesterday at the birdbath. Feather care.

Keeping those feathers clean is essential for health. Clean those feather little bird. Keep those feather free of dirt, parasites, and bacteria. Keep those feathers in tiptop shape.

The birdbath next to the garden here at the cabin is a busy place even during the winter. Not just for drinking but for feather care. Very important.

Blue Quartz

A good bit of time yesterday was spent roaming a lovely spot in western Albemarle County, Virginia. Me and my camera, spotting new to me Lichens and Mosses. On a meandering trail to the Mechums River. I was pleased to find Groundcedar (Diphasiastrum digitatum) and Striped Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) along the way but I wasn’t expecting to find rocks of Blue Quartz.

Sure enough that’s what it is. I’ve known that it is found in Madison County but here it is in Albemarle County too. These two pieces are about 1.75″ at their widest.

Keep your eyes open for surprises. They’re out there.

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Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). That’s quite the scientific name to remember.

Both the male and female Red-headed Woodpeckers look exactly the same. The juvenile has a gray head rather than the red head that his parents have.

I’m delighted to finally get a photograph of this woodpecker. Now I’m going to concentrate on getting a better image. That means taking out the serious equipment. A tripod and a long lens. Stay tuned.

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Occasional Winter Resident

Little, friendly creature. Doesn’t come to the feeders, but loves the birdbath. An irruptive species that only migrates this way when food supplies dictate. Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis).

During the summer the Red-breasted Nuthatch is found in the northern parts of Canada, where like woodpeckers, a nesting pair will excavate a hole in a favorite tree. Aspen, their tree of choice.

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Frequent Visitor

Captured here, in its classic pose. A White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis). It often will start at the top of a tree, going down head first, looking for insects, nuts and seeds, and invertebrates. Sometimes it will stash away what it finds, in a crack or crevice in the tree bark, carefully covering it with moss, snow, or a piece of bark.

And these Nuthatches are frequent visitors at the suet feeder.

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Sulphur Dust Lichen

There are many rock walls up here in the mountains, including some that are around my cabin. This one, above, is a tenth of a mile long, reflecting an enormous amount of hard labor to create.

These walls are reminders of how intensely farmed this land was. A remarkable thought considering how rocky and how steep it is up here. Certainly an acknowledgement of the determination of residents of these mountains decades ago.

Many of the rocks in these walls are a bright yellow color. That color is Sulphur Dust Lichen (Chrysothrix chlorina).

One of many lichens that can easily be found up here, growing on rocks, trees, buildings, soil, and tombstones.

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¡Por Fin!

Or, in English, FINALLY! Freezing rain during the night, ending with nearly an inch of snow over everything. Here, an image from this afternoon.

I am pleased as Punch!

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Ruffle Lichen

Lichens, such beautiful and intriguing things. Not a plant, not an animal. A combination of two organisms, a fungus, and a alga or cyanobacterium.

This particular one, Salted Ruffle Lichen (Parmotrema crinitum), found growing on a tree branch.

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