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.

Eating Poison Ivy Berries

Seems mighty strange but Poison Ivy berries are quite popular with birds. Here, a Chickadee (Paridae) enjoys a snack of what else, Poison Ivy berries.

Chickadees, here at my location are just Chickadees. This area is where the range of two species of Chickadees overlap. Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) and Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). They are not only extremely similar in appearance but they also interbreed, so trying to decide which species one actually belongs to is useless. Whichever species, they’re often seen at the Poison Ivy vines.

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Lawyer’s Wig

Lawyer’s Wig (Coprinus comadtus). A fungus found in Europe, Asia and North America and commonly found in areas that suit its needs, in grassy areas, along gravel roads (which is where I found these), and waste areas.

A fungus with an odd method of spore dispersal. As it matures it will slowly turn to a black ink, dripping as it melts. Dripping with those spores. Eventually leaving only its stem. This strange spore dripping is called deliquescence and assures that the fungus lives on, generation after generation.

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Cardinal Catching The Sun

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). Soaking up the sun to chase away the chill. A few flakes of snow are a maybe in the forecast for up here. Birds are mobbing the feeders.

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Evasive Agaric

Evasive Agaric (Crepidotus versutus). A very small mushroom with a cap that is kidney shaped, fan shaped or circular. The color is white to gray, with an edge that is scalloped.

Small or very small. Its cap grows to be one inch wide.

These fungi are saprobes, decomposers of dead and decaying wood, leaves, and litter. Doing good deeds in the forest.

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Another Winter Butterfly

This is a Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) which is another butterfly that you might see fluttering about in the sun on a warm winter day. A butterfly that overwinters as an adult, but enjoys those days when the temperature rises.

Like the few other butterflies that overwinter as adults, the Mourning Cloak finds a crevice in a rock, under a wedge of bark on a tree, or beneath a shingle on a house seeking shelter from the cold, as they go into a state of torpor. These butterflies have chemicals, glycols, in their bodies that work like anti-freeze, which prevent ice crystals from forming. Protection from the freezing cold.

Watch for them when the temperature is much warmer than average. Watch for them on the sunlit side of your house. Watch for them taking a break, stretching their wings, waiting for spring.

Time Will Fly

Daffodil buds begin to appear on January 22, 2022 despite 17 inches of snow in the 3 weeks previous.

As I look through my photographs from last winter, January 2022, along with my notes of the weather, I am surprised at how quickly spring descended upon me and the gardens around my cabin.

And by February 23, 2022 Daffodil blooms were popping open

I first notice that snow was plentiful in the first weeks of January. Nine inches on January 3rd, three inches on January 7th, and five inches on January 16th. And then I compare the thought of that much snow with photographs of the buds of Daffodils coming up on January 22nd. Not holding back, spring is in the air. And yet, there is more snow as winter plows on.

It appears spring has arrived

As I turn to the photos of March 11th, I see that spring indeed has arrived.

But winter has other ideas

BUT, the very next day the Daffodils have a heavy blanket of five inches of snow.

But, oh the time flies. Snow or blooms, time really does fly.

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Winter Butterfly

While many butterflies here in Virginia will migrate to warmer climates to survive the winter, others will stay put and survive as eggs, larvae, or chrysalides.

Still others will overwinter as adults. They will find a crack in a boulder, under a piece of bark on a tree, or even wedge behind a shingle on a house to spend the cold winter. During sunny warm winter days they’ll come out to enjoy that warmth.

This is one of those that overwinter as an adult. Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis). So, if you’re out roaming on a warm winter day and see a Question Mark butterfly, you’ll know what’s going on. It’s just out enjoying the warm day, like you!

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Flicker Reflection

This morning at the pond. A Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) takes a sip and creates a reflection in the little pond.

One of the first things that was done here at the cabin after move in took place. A human made pond installed in one of the gardens. A place for inspiration. A marvelous thing to add to the yard given my love of nature. So many creatures, from many species of frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, there to entertain and educate me. I love it.

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Blackhaw Drupes

Drupes are much like berries – but different. A drupe is a fruit that has a pulpy outside with a single seed inside that is surrounded by a stony exterior. They come in many sizes, large such as peach, small such as Blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium).

Blackhaw drupes are eaten by Chipmunks, Squirrels, Hermit Thrush, Cardinals, Bluebirds and White-throated Sparrows.

Along with the flowers in spring, the colorful drupes through the summer into winter, and the purply-red leaves of autumn, it’s a good large shrub to find in your woods, or to plant in your garden.

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Enjoying New Year’s Day With A Tufted Titmouse

I’m enjoying the first day of 2023 with my green tea, in a mug that was given to me by a treasured friend. A mug with a Tufted Titmouse gracing front and back.

And appropriately I’m making notes on the birds that I’m seeing out my windows, coming by for the seeds that I’ve put out. The Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) is one of the busiest birds out there. At any given moment I probably see 5 of them, taking one seed at a time and vanishing with it before its return. During the year the Tufted Titmouse eats seeds and insects. They’re here at my cabin year round.

A successful species, they are expanding their territory further north, and according to numbers compiled thanks to citizen science reports, are also increasing their population in their traditional territory.

A tiny bird that is not shy when I’m out refilling the feeders. Greeting me with their song of peter-peter-peter.

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