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.

Green Stink Bug

Green Stink Bug (Acrosternum hilaris) surely, if you live in an area with Brown Marmorated Stick Bugs coming into your abode, day and night, SURELY you know that this is NOT the BMSB.

The Green Stink Bug is not often seen around here, but I’ve known that it is native to this continent, so I was of the attitude, “It’s native, so it is not a problem.” Goodness, did I ever get that one wrong!

In the Biology And Management Of The Green Stink Bug, Journal Of Integrated Pest Management, K L Kamminga, A L Koppel, D A Herbert, Jr, and T P Kuhar write, The Green Stink Bug is one of the most damaging native stink bug species in the United States.

Wow. I had no idea what I was looking at.

Question Mark Butterfly

Question Mark Butterfly (Polygonia interroganationis), lives as an adult for 6 to 20 days. They choose cracks in trees or peeling bark to spend the coldest of the winter and if the weather is warm enough, they may come out for a fly-around.

That snow white crescent shape with a dot under it is why it is called a question mark. Takes a bit of imagination to see it, though it certainly shows up with no other connection to decoration of the wings. There is also a similar butterfly that is called a comma. And lo and behold its looks just like this one, but has no dot.

Red

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) eating the red berries of Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida). Nuts, seeds, and berries. Favorites of Cardinals.

Phoebe in a Flowering Dogwood Tree

Look closely. In a near perfect camouflage, an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe), is sitting in a Flowering Dogwood Tree (Cornus florida). Though it would seem the perfect spot for a little bird to stock up on some berries, this Phoebe feeds on insects and arthropods. They’ll also dive into water to catch minnows and other small fish from the surface of ponds. They don’t seem at all interested in these berries though.

Pawpaw Tree

The Pawpaw tree (Asimina triloba), is not the winner of the category “most spectacular color in the woods” during autumn. But it does have a wonderful fruit if you can beat the bears to that fruit. Bears love those Pawpaws.

There are many Pawpaw trees here in the mountains, including ones that I’ve planted here surrounding my cabin. My main reason for planting Pawpaws is this tree is the host plant of the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly (Eurytides marcellus). A butterfly that I love to see. Not the most abundant butterfly up here but perhaps more so because of my plantings.

Best Autumn Ever (?)

No telling if that is accurate. Who’s to say after all? But I think it is.

And this tree? A Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) against a cloudless azure sky. Yellow in so many shades, screaming yellow to butterscotch. One of many wondrous spectacles through the forest as autumn reaches its peak.

Witch Hazel In Bloom

A spot just up my dirt road. Take a hike to the top of Hightop, an elevation of 3587 feet, and you will see lovely Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) blooms aplenty. Each flower with 4 petals resembling yellow coconut flakes. They wait until late October to start their blooming. Much to my delight, adding to the festive nature of autumn.

A small tree growing to a height of 15 to 20 feet. Hamamelis virginiana is native to the entire eastern United States and Canada. It grows along woods’ edges and is quite happy as an understory tree.

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At The Yoga Studio

Year round. Three mornings a week. A gift for body and mind.

And now in late October an autumn view. What I see as I arrive these days for my yoga classes with my precious teacher, Kumud Vanderveer. Perfection.

Blueberries At Their Best

Blueberries at their best? Does that mean blueberries in a pie? Or in a bowl topped with vanilla ice cream? Mmmm. Maybe that is the berries themselves at their best. That, for sure, is when the berries are at their best.

But what I’m actually speaking of in this blog post is the blueberry bush. A blueberry bush is wonderful in each and every season. Spring with its blossoms, summer with its profusion of berries, autumn with its shout of autumn colors and winter with bare burgundy stems and scarlet buds covered in ice or snow.

Each season brings something special, but autumn, along with so many other tree leaves celebrating the colors of the season is certainly the very best of the blueberry bush.

Winter Wren

A Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) after a bath. A winter resident. Tiny. Much smaller than a Carolina Wren, weighing in at .3 to .4 ounce. Their favorite foods are insects and arthropods, and eat berries such as Juniper berries during the winter.

They’re full of energy as they search through dense underbrush looking for a meal. I find The Cornell Lab’s description of them to be amusing -“These energetic birds often bob their entire bodies as if doing squats while they nervously look around in the forest understory.”

So glad they come to spend the winter here.