A little sparrow that I don’t often see. Small and quite tame, I’m pleased when one shows up at my feeders. The Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) is a bird that will come to feeders, or eat scattered seeds on the ground. During the summer though, insects and spiders are a big part of their diet.
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There is a visitor at the cabin. Betelgeuse. Named after the red supergiant, second brightest star in the constellation Orion. One of the largest stars one can see without the aid of binoculars or a telescope. And often the tenth-brightest star in the nighttime sky.
Pretty cool, huh? Well she certainly lives up to her reputation. The absolute perfect visitor. Sitting in the bath tub, calling until one turns on the water, so that she can get a drink. Mighty cool!
A female Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus), gathers fluff from last summer’s Tall Anemone (Anemone virginiana) to use to construct her nest.
Here you can get a better look at what she’s gathering, from a seed head of Tall Anemone.
Throughout the winter my gardens remain untouched just as they were at the end of autumn. I don’t clean them up because, as you can see, the birds gather what they can to eat, and to build nests.
The woods are getting soft hints, just whispers of various shades of red. The Red Maple trees (Acer rubrum) are in bloom. This happens quietly. It doesn’t get much attention. There is a subtlety as it happens. The flowers, quite small, just enough to only create a hint of the color.
As the flowers fade, a fruit develops. When I was little I called the fruit a helicopter. Magical to a child as they twirl down to the ground. They’re actually called a samara. Whether a helicopter or a samara, they are still magic.
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Along a trail, a ways up the mountain above my cabin, Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia) rise up to greet the evening. The first evening of the new season, spring 2023.
There are 87 species of violets native to North America, or perhaps even more. Scientists are unsure of that number. Of those species, there are butterflies that depend on the plant as its larval host plant. These are Fritillary caterpillars. Fritillary butterflies are divided into two groups, the Greater and the Lesser Fritillaries. The Greater Fritillary butterflies are larger in size and depend totally on violets as their larval host. The Lesser Fritillary butterflies generally are smaller and also depend on the violets as a larval host plant though not exclusively.
Violets are welcome in my gardens. All the better for Fritillary butterflies.
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A storefront in Roanoke and what do I see? A pair of RUBY SLIPPERS just waiting for me. (I can do it too, my dear amigo Gar-ee!)
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Flip the pages of the calendar ahead to June and this is what you’ll find in some of my gardens. Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a wonderful flower to attract pollinators, and what better example to find than a Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus).
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Oxalis stricta.
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The Mourning Cloak Butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa). One of the first butterflies that you’ll see in early spring, or during warm winter days. They’re able to accomplish this because they overwinter as adults in locations such as tree cavities or under loose tree bark. Emerging as an adult rather than having to mature from a larval or pupal stage, having a head start over other butterflies.
They sometimes are the first butterfly that you’ll see in the spring (like me, today!). They also have one of the longest lifespans, at 11 to 12 months, of any butterfly.
They generally can’t be counted on to be pollinators, since they prefer eating rotting fruit and the sap of deciduous trees.
I’m looking forward to seeing many more Mourning Cloaks as the calendar’s pages are turned.
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This one, the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata), which I love to find along the trails up here. A lovely color. Metallic, emerald green, though some lean toward a blue-green.
A beneficial insect, consuming insects and other arthropods that are pests in our gardens and woods.
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