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Wild Geranium Time Of Year
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum), a charming native, herbaceous perennial plant blooming all around. It’s along the trails up here, along the edges of the dirt road going up the mountain, and in my gardens where it is welcome. A soft magenta flower that grows from a rhizome, the plant growing to 1 to 2 feet…
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A Mimic
The Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) is a bird that resides up here during the summer, but one that I seldom see. It enjoys eating insects that it finds in leaf litter under dense, low growing shrubs. It will also eat fruits and seeds. Due the presence of Black Bears (Ursus americanus), I normally don’t have…
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Roadrunner
Another visit to Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, Three Rivers, New Mexico, and an opportunity to get many images of one of my very favorite birds. The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), state bird of New Mexico. All these photos are the same bird, though with slightly different color ways. Its feathers are iridescent and vary depending…
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A Traveler
He showed up at lunch today. Gulping down the syrup as if this male had traveled long distances, which he certainly has. The very first of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) to arrive at my feeders. Now dinner has come and gone. There was a female traveler who came to the feeder while we were…
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Tiny Iris
Such a pretty flower but quite small. Reaching just 3 to 6 inches tall. Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata). There are 28 Iris species native to the United States. Iris cristata is one of them, found growing in the eastern and southern United States, on rocky, wooded slopes. Some are blooming right now in one…
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Purple Pink Blue
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica), herbaceous perennials, native to eastern North America. Painting its landscape with rich yummy purple, fading to pink and eventually turning to a lovely soft blue as its flowers mature. A beautiful palette for spring, April and May. By midsummer the blooms are gone, the plants disappear into the leaf litter of…
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Buttercup Family?
Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) is getting ready for bloom time, up here in the woods. It will be a while yet though, until it happens. The ones I’m seeing are 6 to 8 inches up. They reach 4 feet tall as they bloom. I was surprised just now, as I was looking through information on…
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They Seem To Pop Up Overnight
I’ve been watching, as I do with many of my plants. Knowing, anticipating. They seem to pop up unannounced. No hint that they’re there. This is one of many that I found today. A Virginia Springbeauty (Actaea racemosa) emerging next to a Confederate Violet (Viola sororia priceana). You can get an idea, comparing these two…
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They’re Blooming Now
I’ve been keeping watch over a patch of Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), looking forward to finding them blooming. That happened today. A beautiful, incredibly small flower, emerging from two mottled leaves. That bloom, no more that 1.25 inches across. Trout Lily are native to eastern North America, and such a joy to experience. _______________________________________________________________________ If…
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Circuition
This afternoon at my little pond. Wood Frog tadpoles (Lithobates sylvaticus) getting their nourishment from a cluster of Salamander eggs. The tadpoles are for the most part herbivorous, eating algae, and decaying plants, but occasionally eating the eggs of other amphibians. What a surprise to discover. I had no idea they would eat other amphibian…