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.

Unpredictable, Sometimes, Winter Resident

An occasional winter resident. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). If I see one, I often see others. During the winter you’re going to see them eating berries from the bushes that provide their winter meals.

I’ve seen it mentioned that these Warblers will come to bird feeders where they’ll eat sunflower seeds, peanut butter, suet and raisins but I haven’t had success with that. The one thing I can count on is that they love a bird bath equipped with a water warmer.

I’ve been surprised at the birds that the bird bath will attract, no matter what the season.

Dark Skies

AH! Brilliant stars in the nighttime sky. That’s what I want. Here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia I’ve got nighttime skies that are way better than Arlington, Virginia, but it is certainly nothing to write home about.

Vacation has called me to Sapello, New Mexicoo. I’ve been there two or three times and I’ve been blown away. This is what dark skies are about.

Brilliant stars in a dark sky. There is nothing better.

Ice On Virginia Pine

Beauty of the season, though this year’s temperatures have not been cooperating. It’s a favorite subject of mine, ice covered needles and pine cones. This, Virginia Pine (Pinus virginiana).

Virginia Pine has short needles, about 2 inches in length that grow in twisted pairs. The tree lives to an age of 65 to 90 years, and to a size of 15 to 40 feet in height and a width of 10 to 30 feet. Often flat topped. Not your perfect, stately pine, sometimes growing at a slant.

But, hey, perfection is so overrated.

Jalapeños From The Garden

I’m putting together a calendar for my Mom. Going through all my photographs trying to decide on 12 of my favorites. I think this will be the image for September, the month when these jalapeño peppers were harvested.

Juncos In Winter

Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) at my cabin are winter birds. Not to be seen during the warmer months. UNLESS you go up the mountain to the higher elevations. To the ridge tops of the Appalachian Mountains where these Juncos reside year round. Winter and summer. They along with some that live in the west, don’t migrate at all.

And see those seed heads? Left in the gardens for the birds.

Bluebirds Are Here Year Round

In Virginia, Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) are here year round. They’ll occasionally roam from one location to another in search of their favorite fruits or berries in large groups. A behavior that makes me think of American Robins and Cedar Waxwings. Wandering to find their preferred foods.

I must get busy and clean out their houses. They’ll be shopping around for a place to build their nests soon. Egg laying begins late February into March which will be here in a flash.

Hackberry Winter Identification

I’m left with fewer hints as to what a tree is, now that it is meterological winter. Leaves are gone. Hackberry (Celtis occindentalis) gives me a couple other clues though.

Often Hackberry berries stay on the tree until early spring when hungry migrating birds return from their wintering grounds, but for the most part I don’t depend on those berries for identification.

One thing I depend on for winter identification of Hackberry is the Hackberry Petiole Gall which to the casual observer might appear to be berries, but these are the galls where the nymphs of Hackberry Petiole Gall Pysllid develop. Larger than the berries, more woody. They’re quite a common sight.

And as with many trees, the bark is something that can be used as identification. Often Hackberry’s bark makes me think of a 3D topo map. The younger the tree, the fewer ridges will be found, with much more “flatland.”

A tree that I love to find with its make believe topographic map bark.

The Winter Of SNOW!

This was just the beginning. My very VERY favorite winter of all time. This image is from December 5, 2009, and like I said, it was just the beginning. From just the beginning of meteorological winter, not even the beginning of astronomical winter, to the end of winter, that winter of 2009 – 2010, 72 inches of snow fell upon my cabin in the mountains.

During that winter and those snow events VDOT took excellent care of us, though they certainly had their challenges. This is how our road looked – often.

72 inches of snow in one winter — pure joy!