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.
Another winter has come and gone and no Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca). During only two winters I’ve had one come to visit, over the course of perhaps fourteen years. Each of those two winters, just one individual that I saw and captured in pixels.
A large and chunky sparrow. The Fox Sparrow hangs out with other sparrows, so the size difference is easily spotted. That, and the warm reddish brown coloring make one easy to identify. They do a cute little shuffle as they search for seeds in the soil. One hop forward and then a jump back with both feet raking the soil.
I’ve read that they really like to have a brush pile close by. That should be easy to provide. Hoping that will make a difference. Maybe the other birds will like it too.
Such great fortune to have Mother Nature as my landscape architect up here in the mountains. She provides me with such wondrous plants to enjoy. Like native Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea). I just have to help her out with things such as the removal of exotic species invasives. Which I have to admit is not at all a small price.
While reestablishing a long abandoned trail in the woods I’ve come upon an impressive expanse of Golden Ragwort. Needing to get from one side of it to the other I found myself apologizing to the plants I was tiptoeing across. I can only imagine the wonderful sight they will be when they are in bloom.
Right now they’re in bud. Quite fancy, even at this early stage. They’ll mature from a deep rich purple to a yummy luminous yellow. Those yellow blooms perched upon flowering stalks perhaps as much as two feet tall.
If you’d like to plant Golden Ragwort in your formal garden it grows well in mesic to wet soils in sunny to shady locations. It’s a plant that will outcompete many weeds that will show up and I wouldn’t suggest it be in a garden with bashful plants who will be lost in the shuffle.
Hellebores (Helleborus) are champions in my gardens. Though not native to North America but to Europe, they are extremely well behaved. They haven’t wandered at all from where I planted them long ago, only spreading slowly by rhizomatous roots.
They’re an evergreen perennial that begins to show buds in January as icy winds blow.
Soon to bloom. An added bit of cheer for the dark days of winter, but I must say those dark days of winter are my favorite of days.
And now as April is soon to be here, the blooms just keep on coming, clear into early summer. I love them.
If you’ll bear with me, I’m going to start calling this plant by its scientific name largely because I had misidentified it and want to make it clear to me what it is. That’s why I’m reposting about this precious little plant. Getting things straight in my mind.
A couple weeks ago as the earliest of the early spring plants were just peeking their noses up out of the earth I noticed one in particular. It had the look of what, maybe Fringed Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia)? Something at the back of my head said “yellow flowers” though. Sure enough it is Corydalis flavula.
Today I checked on these guys coming up in the woods. I’m seeing more of the leaves reaching to the sky. They remind me of an intricate Pennsylvania Dutch scherenschnitte. Though they seem to be reaching to the sky, they’re not going to grow much taller. They’ll top out at around ten inches high.
Corydalis flavula is an herbaceous perennial ephemeral native to the eastern United States. It contains many alkaloids that make plants distasteful and can be toxic to livestock and pets. I am truly astounded at how many plants fit into this toxic category.
The lemon yellow flowers have quite an unusual shape and the name, Corydalis, comes from a Greek word that means “crested lark.” I’ve put these flowers on my list of photos to get. I want more close-ups!
The seeds that form in Corydalis flavula’s mini seed pods have that appendage, that some seeds have, called an elaisome. Another one of those plants that get ants to bring the seeds to their larvae. The larvae are fed the elaisomes and the seeds are thrown into the ant’s “trashroom” which is the perfect place for those seeds to grow. Wait for it again in the next growing season and thank those ant farmer’s.
Greenbriers and Catbriers are in the Smilax genus of plants in the family Smilacaceae. About 300 species of these vines live worldwide. Twenty of the species are native to North America north of Mexico. Eleven are native to Virginia.
The small flowers of Greenbriers and Catbriers attract bees, beetles, and flies as pollinators, with their carrion scent.
The flowers produce blue-black berries that attract birds and animals throughout the winter. And I’m surprised how many animals eat the leaves of these plants.
And of course the thorns! I really had to hunt to find an image of the thorns. For me that’s the most memorable part of these plants. BUT I’ve gotta give these plants credit. They’re a valuable part of the environment.
And I love to see the leaves dappled with rain drops as it twines through the beautyberry bush.
My first sighting this season was yesterday. The state insect of Virginia, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio glaucus). Native to eastern North America. The butterfly I saw yesterday had just emerged from its chrysalis. Brand new.
This is what a chrysalis looks like. Though NOT an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail chrysalis, it looks to a large extent like one. One major difference would be more rich brown and less bright yellow. The shape is basically the same. This is a Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) chrysalis.
In the autumn an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar will form itself into a chrysalis. NOT a cocoon but a chrysalis. Cocoons are used by moths. Chrysalises are used by butterflies. In ten to twenty days or over the winter the caterpillar makes incredible changes. As if by magic it will become a butterfly — to live just six to fourteen days.
Mainly males, after emerging, often will gather at puddles to take in sodium and minerals which tend to be lacking in the adult’s diet and are necessities for reproduction and flight. This is called “puddling.”
Speaking of reproduction, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails generally have two broods each year. Females lay their eggs on such trees as Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) and Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina). Those eggs will hatch in four to ten days as caterpillars. The earliest stage of the caterpillar looks just like bird droppings. The mature caterpillar is green, with eye spots, and a pale “neck ring.” Further to the front is a little purply-pink head.
Although most females look nearly like males, mostly yellow and black, there is a black form of the female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. This is a method of protection. The black form is a mimic of the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) which has a disagreeable taste. Predators have learned to avoid both the Pipevine Swallowtail and the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail’s black form. The portion of females with this coloring is more common in areas where there are more Pipevine Swallowtails.
The caterpillar becomes a chrysalis which becomes a dazzling butterfly. And so it goes. On and on.
If ever there was the perfect use of the word “diminutive” I think it would be for describing Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum). A lily that grows to be just six inches tall. A bit too big for a doll house but still mighty small for a lily.
It’s flower which dips shyly has no petals but six radiant yellow tepals surrounding six stamens with an ovary in the center with three stimata. Bees are the flower’s pollinators. And contents of the seed capsules will, I’m hoping, increase the population of the Trout Lilies.
Today I’ve come upon emerging Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla), Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum), Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) but still no Trout Lily. I’m looking forward to being able to share these plants with you once they are up and gleefully blooming. Stay tuned!
A male Downy Woodpecker has a red spot at the back of his head
The Downy Woodpecker, Picoides pubescens. A permanent resident here and in most places in their native range. That range, with the exception of the desert southwest and the tundra of the north, is nearly all of Canada and the United States. But in the northern portions of their territory, some may wander a bit south for the winter. Or if in the higher elevations may come to a lower elevation.
A female Downy Woodpecker has no red, only black and white
They are little woodpeckers. In fact, they are the smallest woodpecker native to North America. The size of a White-throated Sparrow. Little. Downy Woodpeckers are nearly identical to the Hairy Woodpecker, who is about the size of an American Robin. NOT little. Keep that in mind when you see one of these black and white beauties. I’m accustomed to seeing the Downy Woodpecker, and on the occasion that I see a Hairy Woodpecker, the size difference is enough to make me say, “Whoa!” For me, there is no mistaking one from the other, the size difference is quite striking.
Another difference that you might find helpful is the size of their bill. The Downy Woodpecker’s bill about 1/3 the size of its head. Think CUTE. The Hairy Woodpecker’s bill is about the same length as its head, from the base of the bill to the back of the head.
Though Downy Woodpeckers mainly eat insects, beetle larvae and caterpillars, they also eat berries, acorns, peanuts, sunflower seeds and grains. During the winter, when I’m able to feed the birds, Downies are frequently at the suet feeder.
During the warmer months the bears up here in the mountains, want to join in with the birds, getting their food, so I restrict my bird feeding, reluctantly, to the winter.
But I keep three bird baths full, one with a dripper. Without feeding them I still get to see the best of the warm weather birds. Pure delight.
A bird that doesn’t migrate. Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) is a bird that comes to my feeders during all seasons. Well, all seasons that I have those feeders out. Bears think the seeds I put out for the BIRDS are for bears as well. During many months of the year I must consider the pluses and the minuses of putting out feeders when bears may be roaming. For me, a tough choice to make.
I’ve discovered a Tufted Titmouse loves peanut butter and hulled sunflower seeds. But its diet consists to a large extent, of insects including caterpillars and stink bugs. I sure wish they’d eat MORE of the Brown Marmorated Stinkbugs that are way too plentiful around here.
The Tufted Titmouse enjoys berries that are in season in the neighborhood, as well as seeds, acorns and beech nuts.
Given a choice of seeds of different sizes, it will chose the largest. It will then take that seed to a nearby branch securing it in its feet, and work on it with its beak. Whacking it into smaller sizes so that it can be eaten in a genteel manner.
A Tufted Titmouse pair will build a cup-shaped nest in a cavity in a tree. A natural hole in that tree or a cavity created and abandoned by some other animal. Or the couple may settle into a bird house put out by a human, or choose an open pipe of just the right size. The nest will take shape using bark strips, leaves, moss, grasses, wool (as in the above image) or hair of all sorts of animals.
Look carefully at the photo above. There, blending in with the many branches of flowering dogwood are a group of Tufted Titmice. And drumroll please. A group of Tufted Titmice is called a “banditry” or a “dissimulation” of titmice. Who THINKS of these names!?!
