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Memories
Photographs often contain precious memories. Even photographs that were taken just a few minutes ago. That’s the case with this image. My Mom loves gardens and while she was very active, she had beautiful gardens filled with lovely flowers blooming or just waiting to come into bloom. These Daffodils, just out my kitchen window make…
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Black Birch
Black Birch (Betula lenta). A tree that’s common around my cabin. It’s a tree that is monoecious, meaning it has male and female flowers on the same plant/tree. The flowers of birch trees are called catkins. The photo, above, is of male catkins, on a branch I found on the ground after some wild winds…
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Not One But Three!
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens). Most often I’ll see one at the suet feeder. Less frequently it will be one at the hulled sunflower seeds or at the shelled peanuts. But only one. Yesterday, much to my surprise there were three Downy Woodpeckers. Not at any of the feeders. Just hanging out in the woods. Of…
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A Perfect Day For Pie
Happy February 23rd. A very warm day. Like a marvelous summer day. Here in the mountains it got up to 77°. The weather forecast for February 24th, two days from now, sleet, freezing rain and snow has been mentioned. Crazy. For today, it’s a perfect day for a custard peach pie. But then isn’t every…
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Lost My Marbles?
No. Actually I know exactly where they are.
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Soon To Be Blueberry Blossoms
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia). Surrounded by the branches of a blueberry bush. The buds have lasted through the winter waiting for spring, to expand and become blueberry blossoms.
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Wood Frog Eggs In The Pond
Just a few days ago the noisy Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) arrived at my little pond for their breeding season. Two days ago Granddaughter and I went out to check on the pond and the eggs. Here’s what was out there, and surely today there are many more. Those frogs have really been busy. Since…
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Looking For Lunch
Yesterday, just after noon a bird came by, surely on the lookout for its lunch. It sat in a Maple Tree which was thinking of bursting forth with red springtime blooms. The bird, a large one, a Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus). As it sat there, the birds at the feeders immediately realized the hawk was…
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Rock-shield Lichen
Rock-shield Lichen (Xanthoparmelia). A lichen that I commonly see up here growing on rocks. An incredible organism that is a symbiotic partnership between a fungus and an alga. I’ve become fascinated with lichens, but still I’m struggling to understand them. Not a plant, not an animal but an organism. There are about 3,600 species of…
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Winter Berries
A native small tree or large shrub, laden with berries now in winter. Providing food for small mammals, songbirds, and game birds. Blackhaw Viburnum (viburnum prunifolium). Growing in the woods around my cabin. Perhaps a couple more in prominent locations might be nice.