Author: 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.

Click Beetles

This is an Eyed Click Beetle (Alaus oculatus), one of about one thousand species of Click Beetles in North America. These Click Beetles have something other beetles don’t have, a flexible connection between the first and second section of their thorax. This allows them to move their heads and first pair of legs independently from the rest of their body, and SNAP those two sections. This makes a loud click, and if they are on their backs, they’ll flip over. This is a great trick if being watched by a predator, more than likely startling or distracting the predator.

The Eyed Click Beetle is one of the larger Click Beetles. You can see in the top photo, with my hand for scale, that the beetle is nearly two inches long. Other species of Click Beetles are generally from one half inch, to one and a quarter inch. Most of them are brown to black, but some are leaning toward red or yellow, some with patterns. They generally have the same shape as this Eyed Click Beetle, long and narrow with a tapering toward the end.

Anchor Stink Bug

Anchor Stink Bug (Stiretrus anchorago).

Found in Central and mostly eastern North America. This is a good guy of the stink bug world, feeding on beetle larvae and caterpillars, including many agricultural and gardening pests such as the Mexican Bean Beetle and the Japanese Beetle.

There’s incredible variation in the coloring of the Anchor Stink Bug but rather than having a triangular scutellum, these bugs have a U-shaped scutellum.

An interesting creature to see and find information about.

Barred Owl

Barred Owl (Strix varia).

Yesterday afternoon as I wandered out into the vegetable garden, I heard a great cacophony of bird calls. Much more than what I usually hear. Within seconds a Barred Owl flew out from its ill chosen perch and settled onto a branch across the way. Things settled down immediately.

I went right away to get my camera with its long lens, and tripod. The owl tolerated 4 images captured by the camera and as I inched closer it flew away.

Quite happy it stopped by for a moment though the other birds would not agree with my glee.

Spotted In The Garden

Spotted St. John’s Wort (Hypericum punctatum). The herbaceous perennial is native to eastern North America into southern Canada. The plant grows to 2.5 feet, though often shorter as it volunteers in my gardens.

Aptly named, Spotted St. John’s Wort is covered with tiny spots. On petals, sepals, and buds.

And tiny spots on leaves too, as the Willow Leaf Beetle shows us.

Spotted St. John’s Wort shows up in my gardens, volunteering to add their beauty. I do try to corral them. Gather them together. Try to make it look like it was my idea that they are there, where they are welcome.

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Carolina Horsenettle In Bloom

Carolina Horsenettle (Solanum carolinense). Native to the southeastern United States. All parts of the plant are poisonous including the berries which look like yellow cherry tomatoes.

The stems, as well as leaves are hairy, and those stems, leaf midribs and petioles have many needlelike thorns.

Carolina Horsenettle is in bloom right now. Watch out for it.

Horned Passalus Beetle

As I was leaving the yoga studio yesterday morning a Horned Passalus Beetle (Odontotaenius disjunctus) greeted me on the sidewalk. One BIG beetle. They can grow to be 1.6 inches long and this one was certainly at least that long. Weighing in at 1 to 2 grams they’re able to haul 50 times their weight. A beetle that lives most of its life (about a year) inside a decaying log or stump, it only is out wandering when it is looking to mate. So very glad I was there to see it as it roamed.

I was struck at how this beetle looks very much like the patent leather shoes that I loved to get as my Sunday shoes when I was little. Actually one of its common names is Patent Leather Beetle. But Horned Passalus is the approved Entomological Society of America common name for this creature.

As its name would indicate, the Horned Passalus Beetle has a horn that is on top of its head, between its eyes, facing forward.

Threatening looking mandibles are part of their makeup as well. Eating dead wood is their way of life, clearing up debris in the forest.

Everlasting Pea

Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius) native to Europe. An herbaceous perennial vine that has 3 to 6 foot long winged stems. It’s occasionally found along woodland edges, at the sites of old homesteads or in this case at the site of an abandoned church along a dirt road in the mountains. The seeds of Everlasting Pea are poisonous, so though “pea” is in the name, don’t eat them.

Larger Flat-headed Pine Borer

Well, that’s quite a name. And take a look at this beetle. It’s quite the insect too. It grows to a size of 1.25 inches. The Larger Flat-headed Pine Borer (Chalcophora virginiensis) can be found throughout the US, anywhere conifers grow, where they breed on dead trees and stumps but they will also breed on live trees which will eventually kill the tree.

Under its dark-copper/black elytra (wing coverings) is a vibrant metallic blue-green abdomen that is revealed as the beetle flies.

As I was checking out my photographs of this insect, I was struck by its similarity to the Emerald Ash Borer, including the metallic coloring of the EAB’s entire body. Turns out this is in the same family of metallic wood boring beetles, the Buprestidae family, as the Emerald Ash Borer, which is aggressively devastating the woods up here as I type this. Not a nice wood borer.

Narrow Leaf Sundrops

A native of eastern and central North America, Narrow Leaf Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa).

The bright red-orange buds lead to blooming in the late spring and early summer, for a period of about a month. Bees, skippers and butterflies are the pollinators of these flowers.

As summer turns to autumn, the leaves of the Narrow Leaf Sundrops join with other leaves, turning to bright scarlet. A perennial, and a great source of color for three of the four seasons.