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.

Gray Catbird Here For The Summer

June 12, 2026

I heard it before I saw it. A Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) posing on a post, for my camera. They’re just here for the breeding season, but at least they spend that much time here.

I adore seeing them, and hearing them too. An insistent and loud songster, the male will begin his repertoire before the sun rises, and continue until long after the sun has set. Included in his list of sounds are mew calls, which indeed do sound like a domestic cat. His songs also include whines, nasal tones, whistles, squeaks, gurgles, imitations of other birds and frogs, as well as mechanical sounds. Mockingbirds will repeat the same sound three to four time, not the Catbird. They’ll sing many unique phrases, seldom ever repeating the same sound twice in a row.

Female Gray Catbirds don’t sing often, and when they do, they produce a more quiet, soft version of the male’s involved song. She often sings the song, which she has heard him sing, back to him.

Ah nature. So special.

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The Butterfly Weed Is Blooming!

June 11, 2026

The Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is finally blooming up here. I’ve really been watching and waiting. Looking forward to its brilliant orange flowers. Looks like others have been watching and waiting too.

This is a Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus) drinking nectar from the blossoms which provide the butterfly with energy and carbohydrates.

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Old Fashioned Street Lamps

June 10, 2026

Striped Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata), looking to me much like old-fashioned street lamps which might line tiny streets for woodland fairies.

Striped Wintergreen is native to eastern North America and Central America, a small rhizomatous perennial wildflower in the blueberry (Ericaceae) family. Its fragrant flowers are waxy, white or subtle pink, in small clusters topping a single stem. Those stems are surrounded, at the base, by whorls of deep green leaves which have mottled white stripes.

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Nymph Of Leaf-footed Bug

June 9, 2026

After a Leaf-footed Bug (Acanthocephala terminalis) hatches from its egg it goes through 5 instars as it works its way to becoming an adult.

This is one of those instars, which looks perfect for dropping in on a steampunk sponsored stroll through a local botanical garden.

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A Female Scarlet Tanager

June 8, 2026

This, a female Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea).

I’m glad to have these beautiful birds here for our warm season. Though they tend to be in the tippity-tops of trees here in the woods, I get to hear them often, with both the female’s and male’s song that sounds much like an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) with a sore throat.

And when things are really going my way, I’ll even get to see either a female with her muted shades of yellow and gray, or a male dressed in feathers of brilliant scarlet and black.

And if I’m really really lucky, my camera will manage to get a picture or two.

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Vocal Red-eyed Vireo

June 7, 2026

A Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) is a bird that has a lot to say, in very few words. In mnemonic terms it simply says, “Here I am. Where are you.” Very quickly. Over and over. I’m hearing them quite often, and seeing them when I’m lucky.

And this is the nest of a Red-eyed Vireo, just a bit more than 2 inches across, in a cup shape, suspended from the horizontal fork of a Flowering Dogwood tree (Cornus florida). It’s woven strips of bark, grasses, and pine needles, along with bits of wasp or hornet nests. All this is held together with spiderwebs and caterpillar silk. This tiny spot is lined with fine grasses, bits of roots, and sometimes animal hair.

Pure magic.

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Spotted Horsemint

June 6, 2026

Spotted Horsemint (Monarda punctata) a member of the mint, Lamiaceae, family, which explains its sqaure stem and wonderfully fragrant leaves. They are native to a good part of the eastern, southern, and midwestern US, including Texas and New Mexico. Their native range extends into eastern Canada and northeastern Mexico.

They’re just beginning to bloom alongside trails in the mountains of central Virginia now, in early June, and will continue blooming for many weeks. The flowers attract a good number of pollinators such as native bees, honeybees, butterflies, wasps and hummingbirds.

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Brilliant Orange Chicken Of The Woods

June 5, 2026

Oh my! After all these years roaming about in the woods, I still can’t get over the colors I find in mushrooms! Purple, turquoise, orange, you name it and I don’t doubt that it exists.

This is one of the orange ones. A Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus). What a delight to find. It’s a species of bracket fungus that is found in Europe, North America east of the Rockies, and parts of Asia, growing on dead or mature hardwood trees. When the host tree contains toxins, as is sometimes the case, those toxins will be absorbed into that fungus, making that fungus also toxic. I have no concern about that since my camera and I only take pictures.

Yes, I’m out in the woods simply for the photos, and for all the wondrous colors. So many fun things yet to be discovered.

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Gray Beardtongue

June 4, 2026

Gray Beardtongue (Penstemon canescens), is in bloom right now along trails up here in the mountains. It gets is common name, including the confusing “gray”, because its stems and leaves have a thick covering of tiny hairs which create a subtle gray look.

It often grows to a height of about 30 inches tall, topped with a cluster of flowers located at the top of the main stem. It’s flowers are pinkish-purple, pale purple, or violet, which attract native bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Its native range is the eastern US as far north as Pennsylvania and as far south as Alabama. Its range extends west to Illinois.

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A Couple Drops Of Rain Yesterday Morning

June 3, 2026

The couple raindrops yesterday morning were a surprise, and enough to add some texture to my photo of a bright yellow bloom of Narrow Leaf Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa). A couple were blooming just a few days ago and today they are opening up all over. Their blooms open in the morning and slowly fade by evening. This is a plant that grows to 1.5 to 3 feet tall. Pollinators that are attracted to these daytime blooms are native bees, butterflies, skippers, and hummingbirds.

A similar flower, Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) blooms beginning in the evening and continues their bloom through the night into the morning. Growing from 1 foot to a towering 6 feet, attracting sphinx moths, hawkmoths, and bats.

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