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.

A Pickerel Frog

August 17, 2025

My smallish, man-made pond attracts many creatures, including several different species of turtles and frogs. This one is a Pickerel Frog (Lithobates palustris). I love the pattern it’s wearing.

The Pickerel Frog is said to be medium in size, averaging 1.75″ to 3″ in length. Its body is gray or tan, and there are dark brown or black spots in two rows down its back. There are also dark brown or black stripes on its legs, and each side has another row of spots of irregular shape and size.

The Pickerel Frog is the only poisonous frog native to the United States. Its skin creates secretions that are troublesome to humans and can cause death to small animals. So if you are inclined to pick up frogs, don’t pick up a Pickerel Frog!

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Writing Spider

August 16, 2025

A Writing Spider or Yellow Garden Spider with the scientific name of Argiope aurantia. Seems every late summer or early autumn one of these beautiful spiders shows up among the Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida) at the yoga studio marking her spot with a zigzag pattern on her web. This is a female. The females measure in at between .75 to 1.125 inches. Male Yellow Garden Spiders grow to be .25 to .375 inches in length.

This Garden Spider is mighty good to have around since they eat many annoying pests such as aphids, flies, mosquitoes, moths, wasps, and grasshoppers. A good helper for the garden.

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Tiger Swallowtail That Is Not Yellow

August 15, 2025

When I think of a Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), I automatically think of a yellow butterfly with black stripes.

But there are females of that species that mimic Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor) and are mainly black. Plants in the genus, Aristolochia, that are in abundance in the south, are used as the host plants of the Pipevine Swallowtail. Those host plants give the caterpillars and butterflies an extremely bitter taste. Mimicking the Pipevine Swallowtail gives the female dark morph Tiger Swallowtail protection, since those Swallowtails are often avoided because of their unpleasant taste.

The dark female Tiger Swallowtail at times shows just a hint of the tiger stripes. Very subtle as you might be able to see in the photo above.

When it comes to mating, seems the males prefer the yellow females but the black morph is less attractive to predators so there are more of them around.

Yellow Tiger Swallowtails can be either male or female. The dark morph is always a female. Yellow offspring are produced by yellow females and dark offspring are produced by dark females.

Nature is amazing.

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Yellow Jewelweed

August 14, 2025

I’m used to seeing the very common Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), but up here in the mountains I also find Yellow Jewelweed (Impatiens pallida).

And on occasion I even see the white form of Yellow Jewelweed (Impatiens pallida forma speciosa).

Mother Nature is enchanting.

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First Buckeye This Season!

August 13, 2025

Yesterday I had a fun surprise. A seldom seen Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) sipping nectar from Apple Mint (Mentha suaveolens) which seems to be quite popular for pollinators.

Though some butterflies do not eat at all during their adult lives, the Common Buckeye does. They have a short life, living approximately ten days. During that time they consume nectar from a variety of flowers, and are sometimes seen puddling at damp or muddy areas to get moisture and vital nutrients.

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Summer Azure

August 10, 2025

Another butterfly in a popular spot, at the Apple Mint (Mentha suaveolens). Yesterday’s was a medium sized butterfly, a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta). This one is on the small side, a Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta), measuring in at about 1 inch.

It’s ventral or underside, as you see in this picture, is a pale gray with small dark markings. The dorsal or upper side is powdery blue, the female being paler or sometimes the same pale gray as the ventral side. The female also has a dark gray or black band around the outer edges of its dorsal side.

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Ready To Enjoy Blooms Of Apple Mint

August 9, 2025

A Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), thinking about checking out the nectar of Apple Mint (Mentha suaveolens) blooms.

Red Admiral adults don’t eat, but only drink. Seeking out the moisture of flower nectar, tree sap, rotting fruit, bird droppings, and wet soil to get minerals and electrolytes.

Plants in the nettle family (Urticaceae) are most often chosen as host plants for Red Admiral larvae.

A medium sized butterfly, they have a wingspan of 1.75 to 3 inches.

I often wonder why its name is not Orange Admiral.

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Just Right For A Dollhouse

August 8, 2025

Inflated Lobelia (Lobelia inflata), a plant with minuscule flowers, just right for a dollhouse. They’re 1/4 to 3/8 inch wide in colors of blue-violet, lavender or white. Native to eastern North America. Popping up in random places here on the mountain.

There is something called a calyx at the base of many flowers. It is the outer layer, a protective layer that is usually green.

This, in the case of the Inflated Lobelia, is where the seeds grow, inflating that calyx, shown in the picture above. And this inspires the word “inflated” in the common name. Those seeds, like the flowers, are minuscule and weigh hardly anything. Easily distributed by the wind.

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