Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens). The perfect Christmas tree. An elegant beauty.
Purchase a small live tree. Plant it in the yard after it serves its first showing as the grand tree. Wait a few years for it to grow, cut it, bring it in, and let it have its second grand tree event.
While it’s in the yard it will be a showpiece, particularly in snow and ice!
Native to the central and southern Rocky Mountains. Lots of ice and snow there.
Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) is a perennial, evergreen plant that gets its name from either being green through the Christmas holidays, or from the resemblance of individual leaflets to Christmas stockings. There isn’t snow up here right now but I thought this an appropriate photo to illustrate that the plant is evergreen.
Like most ferns, Christmas Fern likes shade and grows in clumps from a central rhizome. Growing from 1.5 to 2 feet tall. It’s native to eastern North America and is a very common sight up here in these mountains.
As spring approaches I look for the new sprouts of fronds, called fiddleheads. They enchant me, looking like they’re dancing as they emerge from the soil, all set to take on another year of growth.
Take your time as you walk through the woods. There’s no rush and there’s so much to see.
If I had been in a rush on this day, I may have missed the sight of mushrooms growing out of a hole way up in the tree. Something I would not have expected to see. Take your time as you walk through the woods. There’s so much to see.
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) is a woodpecker that is only in my woods during the winter. Showing off a speckled look, rather than the striking black, white and red that I usually see on woodpeckers.
They leave marks on tree trunks that look to be a cryptic messages to some other part of the natural world. Rows of dots carefully placed.
These dots though are actually sap wells. The Sapsuckers drill the sap wells into the xylem tissue, where the sap is transported from roots up to branches of a tree. They dine on the sap, as well as insects that are attracted to, and often trapped in the sap.
I love to see the designs that they create in the tree trunks. So neat and tidy.
It always surprises me when I discover a mushroom growing in late autumn, but as you can see by my photos, it does happen. This one is Nitrous Bonnet (Mycena leptocephala). A fungus with a conical cap that can get to be just a bit over an inch in diameter. That cap has a raised center which in the mushroom world is called an umbo.
This species of fungus is sabrobic which means it feeds on dead or decaying organic matter, and in this particular case it feeds on conifer needles, cones and sticks on the forest floor. And indeed, if you look very carefully, you’ll see that these mushrooms have emerged among pine needles.
This look at the gills pleased me with its gray color. Not a color that I would have expected.
This blog gives no information about the edibility or toxicity of any of the mushrooms that are written about.
An egg case or Ootheca of a Chinese Praying Mantis (Tenodera sinensis). A Praying Mantis that is native to Asia and its adjacent islands. I do see a native species of Praying Mantis, Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) on rare occasions. A cause for celebration.
A faithful winter resident. This morning a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) appeared at my birdbath reminding me that soon I’ll need a water warmer out there to keep the water from freezing. These photos, above, are my visitor the Hermit Thrush this morning.
Perhaps you’ll remember that just a week ago I thought my first Hermit Thrush had stopped by to say hello. But it was another Thrush. The first time for me to see a Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus). A learning experience. Such subtle differences. These two lower images are the Swainson’s Thrush from last Friday. The most striking thing I notice (though still subtle) is the color difference. The Hermit Thrush has a cinnamon color on its wings and tail. The Swainson’s Thrush is gray-brown with no hint of cinnamon.
Now that I know the difference between these two birds, I’m hoping I’ll notice right away when another Swainson’s Thrush comes migrating through.
Thankful for the Blue Ridge Mountains along with the magical world of Mother Nature that is in these mountains. AND that I get to live up here witnessing that magic every day.
Wishing you a lovely Thanksgiving.
So many dear friends over the decades. Each one special in their own way. This is next door neighbor Bonnie on the left and me on the right. Best of buddies. And even now still making friends. Collecting friends like there’s no tomorrow. So thankful for each and every one of you.
I’m thankful for special moments. Moments never to be repeated. Thankful that sometimes I’m able to capture those moments as a photograph. This is one of those moments. My Dad’s hand reaching out to hold his great-granddaughter’s tiny hand.