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.

Wheel Bug

The Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus) is a true bug that uses its enlarged front legs to grab and hold its prey, then punctures it with a robust, curved beak which it uses to suck the body fluids from its victims.

It is part of a group of bugs called assassin bugs (family eduviidae). Measuring in at 1 to 1.5 inches, the Wheel Bug is the largest of about 150 species of assassin bugs here in North America. 

In the photograph above are young Wheel Bug nymphs. You’re asking for trouble if you pick up an adult or a nymph Wheel Bug. When handled carelessly (and who is to judge what that is?) a Wheel Bug will indeed bite, or perhaps a more appropriate word is pierce, a human hand creating a great deal of pain which lasts for many minutes and then the site becomes numb and that can last for days.

Another Wheel Bug nymph. This one, more mature than the red and black nymphs in the previous image. Despite their propensity to bite a hand that picks it up, a Wheel Bug is something that is beneficial to us. They make meals of critters that we generally don’t want to have in our gardens. Garden pests such as the Tomato Hornworm, Japanese Beetle, Mexican Bean Beetle, Leaf-hopper, Western Tarnished Plant Bug, Colorado Beetle, Striped/Spotted Cucumber Beetle, Aphids, Caterpillars and at the top of my list — Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs. Yes a mighty good one to have around. Just don’t pick it up.

Solomon’s Plume

Solomon’s Plume (Maianthemum racemosum), an herbaceous perennial in the lily family (Liliaceae). The berries are a brilliant crimson right now at the end of October, and easy to spot along trails in the mountains. Just as easy to spot, in the spring, are the flowers which bloom for about 3 weeks, late April into May.

Solomon’s Plume is native across most of North America north of Mexico in elevations of up to 9,000 feet. It is a plant that prefers partial shade, and deep, moist, soft soil. But it can be found in dry, rocky soils much like where it is growing when I see it in the woods on my mountain.

In the autumn the leaves of Solomon’s Plume die back, disappearing until the spring when the plants sprout up again from rhizomes and secondary fibrous roots. Those sprouts become arching, slightly zigzag stems with alternate ovate leaves.

The tiny flowers that appear on the end of those arching stems are pollinated by beetles, flies and bees. The berries which replace the flowers during the summer each contain a few seeds, are round, and 1/4″ across.

This is what the berries look like mid-July. Gradually they’ll become the bright crimson berries that are on the plants now in October, waiting for birds such as Ruffed Grouse and Veery to dine on them. Helping distribute the seeds, spreading the plants further through the woods.

Chicken of the Woods

Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus). A species of bracket fungus found in Europe, North America east of the Rocky Mountains, and parts of Asia.

Primarily found on oak, but also cherry, beech, chestnut and sometimes on conifers. These trees found with Chicken of the Woods growing on them are often dead or dying but the fungus is sometimes found on living trees as well. When the host tree contains toxins, as is sometimes the case, those toxins will be absorbed into that fungus making that fungus also toxic.

So many beautiful mushrooms. So many remarkable fungi. Such amazing colors right here on my mountain. So many marvelous things to be discovered.

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula). They spend their summer in far northern North America and the western mountains. Winters are spent in the southern and southwestern United States and Mexico. Some mountain populations in the West relocate to lower elevations during the wintertime. And now they’re here on my mountain. I’ve seen one or two the past few days looking for insects in nearby trees.

Their diet throughout the year is mainly insects but during the winter months they’ll also eat berries and seeds.

The male has the distinctive ruby crown. Other distinguishing features of both male and female are the white wing bars against black bars, the white incomplete eye ring, and the habit of constant wing flicking.

The measurements of this bird – a length of 4 inches and weighing just .25 ounce makes it one of the smallest songbirds in North America. I sure am glad to have these tiny creatures back in my woods.

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A Coral Mushroom

A Coral Mushroom. Perhaps a Smoky Worm Coral (Clavaria fumosa/rubicundula). Captured in pixels because as I hike through the woods I go slowly. Very slowly. The more slowly I proceed, the more I see. The more discoveries I make. Not discoveries that will shake the scientific world but discoveries that will bring great jubilation to my heart. That’s how I tick. Get out there and find Mother Nature at her best.

For me it is not the number of miles I achieve, but what I find. So many mushrooms. So many insects. So many flowers waiting to become part of the perfect composition. There is so much out there just waiting for me. If only I will go slowly. If only I will look. If only I will take it all in. With my camera.

Little Wood Satyr

Little Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela). Not brightly colored. Not large. But this is not a moth but it is a butterfly. Its wingspan is 1.5 to 1.875 inches. They often perch with wings wide open on the leaves of trees or in leaf litter.

Larval host plants are sundry grasses such as Kentucky Bluegrass, Orchard Grass, Centipede Grass and some sedges. As adults they feed on sap, fruit, carrion, aphid honeydew and in unusual occasions nectar. Their caterpillars overwinter in leaf litter, emerging in the spring.

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Silverrod Revisited

Silverrod is a perennial, herbacious plant. Its scientific name is Solidago bicolor. “Solidago” in that name means that this plant is in the genus of Goldenrod. There are approximately 150 species of Goldenrod, most of which are native to North America. A few of these are native to Asia and Europe.

This one, Silverrod, was a total surprise to me. I had assumed all Goldenrod are yellow or gold as the name implies. But no. This one is a rebel. The flower heads are actually clusters of many flowers much like the structure of a daisy. There are white ray flowers. These are the only white ray flowers in a flower in the genus Solidago in eastern North America. They surround a number of yellow disk flowers, in total creating that very subtle light yellow color. Silverrod is blooming right now, in the higher elevations of my mountain. Slow hiking brings great reward!

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Pumpkins

Not pumpkin spice. Some think there is just too much of that. This is just pumpkins. But much like pumpkin spice, pumpkins are ubiquitous right now. These marvelous round things are native to Central America and Mexico.

The pumpkin was one of the first plants grown for human consumption some 7,500 years ago. Along with the fruit, the flowers, and the leaves are also edible.

And now it has come to mean so much to some of us. A symbol of the passing year. Halloween approaching. Thanksgiving. Something to paint on the side of a boulder. A way for art students to express themselves.

Something for decorators and foodies to play with. Discover new varieties.

Something to bring glee to some of us when we have our very own personal pumpkin.

Something for some of us to lose our heads over as the other pumpkins pedal by.

I have my favorite pumpkins. Right up very close to the top of the list are pumpkins with twisted stems. Very important for them to have twisted stems. It adds such character.

But at the absolute top of the list are pumpkins covered in snow.

Snow on pumpkins just screams perfection.

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American Copper

American Copper (Lycaena phlaeas). A butterfly that I seldom see. And yet the Massachusetts Butterfly Club describes its distribution in that state as, “One of our most ubiquitous butterflies.” Looking at a distribution map of this butterfly in North America I see it can be found from Nova Scotia south to Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas; and west across the Great Lake states to North Dakota. And indeed its population is much more dense in New England. I was fortunate a bit ago to find one basking in the sun on the leaf of a Sunflower at my cabin and I was able to capture it in a photo.

The American Copper is a small butterfly with a wingspan of just a smidgeon over an inch. Its caterpillar eats plants such as Sheep’s Sorrel, Common Sorrel and Curly Dock. The adult butterfly feeds on the nectar of Buttercup, Goldenrod, Clover, Butterfly Weed, and Yarrow. The lifespan of this butterfly is a very short two weeks.