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.

Squash’em!

Spotted Lantern Fly (Lycorma delicatula). First arrived in North America (in Berks County, Pennsylvania) in 2014, probably on a shipment of stone from China. This alien invasive eats the sap of at least 70 tree species, including fruit trees, and shrubs, ornamentals, and soybeans. Its favorite plants are Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), grapevines, walnuts and most hardwood trees. Along with being in Pennsylvania it has already been found in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The image above is a Spotted Lantern Fly in the only condition that I like to see one in. It has been smashed.

Be on the lookout for an insect that looks like a moth or butterfly. They’re actually in the planthopper family, related to Cicadas, Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs, Aphids, and Leafhoppers. It for sure does look like a moth or butterfly -dressed in an outfit that is brilliant and otherworldly.

The picture above is a 4th stage nymph. Earlier stages are black with bright white spots. All nymph stages are wingless.

Keep your eyes open for these creatures and be ready to stomp on any that you find. Keep in mind that they are EXTREMELY QUICK!

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Copper Colored Cap

Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) with its copper colored cap, just a tiny bit smaller than a Song Sparrow, and just a tiny bit larger than a Chickadee.

Male and female look alike. A delightful summer resident.

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An Impressive Range

The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) has an impressive range including Europe, northern Africa, Eurasia, in North America northern Canada to Central America, Hawaii, New Zealand, and a few of the Caribbean Islands.

The Red Admiral has a wingspan of 1 3/4 to 3 inches. Their larval host plants are all members of the Nettle family (Urticaceae).

As adults, Red Admirals feed on nectar, they also seek moisture from mud, dung and even carrion.

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Skippers Here And There

A Sachem (Atalopedes campestris), dining on the nectar of Goldenrod.

And another Sachem getting nectar from Apple Mint.

There are more than 3500 species of Skippers recognized around the world, about 275 in North America.

Skipper is the common name for the Butterflies in the family Hesperiidae. Each Skipper in this family has clubbed antennae which has a hook on each, a chunky body, and a quick darting flight. In other words, Skippers are Butterflies, just a little different from the rest.

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A Checkerspot

A Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis). A medium sized butterfly with a wingspan of 1.5 inches to 2 inches. This one (both pictures are of the same Checkerspot) is on a Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus).

The host plants for these Checkerspots are all composites including Black-eyed Susans, Sunflowers, and Wingstems. As adults they dine on nectar, moist ground, and scat.

Odd things to dine on, but then I’m only a human, butterflies are quite different.

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How Colorful!

Looking as if it’s dressed to go out to a festive event with those striking colors, this is a caterpillar of the Brown-hooded Owlet (Cucullia convexipennis).

At this stag in its life it eats Asters and Goldenrods, and I’ve captured this one eating away on a Goldenrod.

As an adult it will become a very drab brown moth which eats nectar, fruits, sap, and whatever other sweet fluids it can find.

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Another Blue Flower

An unusual flower color. Of all the flower colors, blue constitutes less than 10 percent. These blue flowers are Tall Bellflower (Campanulastrum americanum), native to eastern North America.

A plant that grows with a central stem, that is usually unbranched, to a height of 3 to 6 feet. Part of the common name, bellflower, takes me by surprise. The flower is quite flat as opposed to a bell shape. Nothing new, I am often baffled by colors that are included in common names. I guess there are others that see things differently than I see them!

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Sherbet

Oh my. Wineberries (Rubus phoenicolasius) are everywhere up here. They’re an invasive plant, native to Korea, Japan and China.

The Wineberry is technically not a berry but a hollow cluster of drupelets called an aggregate fruit. Whatever the name, they are delicious, whether on your morning cereal or made into some sherbet to have for dessert after dinner.

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Fibonacci Sequence

A Confusing Bumblebee (Bombus perplexus) wanders on an Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) collecting pollen. In my wild imagination though, I am thinking it is examining the Fabinacci spiral arrangement of those cone florets. Surely it is that smart.

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