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Common Whitetail Dragonfly
I’m constantly learning things as I dig through my books and page through various sites on the internet. One of today’s new things is the word to describe the color quality of the abdomen of a male Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia). That word: pruinose, which means frosted in appearance. Makes me think of blueberries which…
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Hooded Warbler
Hooded Warblers (Setophaga citrina) have been delighting me here in the mountains for many years. They spend the breeding season in eastern North America, and the winter in Central America and the West Indies. If you feed the birds during the summer, these birds generally won’t come to your feeders. They spend all their feeding moments gleaning…
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Pickerel Frog
A pond will attract some fun creatures. Even a small man-made pond. Immediately after the pond at my cabin was put in, frogs began arriving. One species of frog that visits is a Pickerel Frog (Lithobates palustris). A word of caution. The pickerel frog is the only poisonous frog native to the United States. You may…
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Great Spangled Fritillary
One of many species of Fritillary that depend on native violets as their host plant, Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele). They’re seen in the central and northern United States and southern Canada sporting a wingspan of about three inches. Many adult butterflies have a very short life. In contrast, adult Great Spangled Fritillaries live from…
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Violets for the Birthday Girl
She’s celebrating her 104th birthday. Absolutely marvelous. She’s part of an amazing family. A family that brings love to everything they do. And she loves Violets. So Violets it will be. There are somewhere between four hundred and five hundred different species of Violets in the genus Viola, and those Violets are scattered all over…
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Red-spotted Purple
Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis). With a wingspan of three to three and a half inches. Looking quite handsome with its iridescent blue with tiny orange spots on the dorsal (top) side of its wings. At this point I have to mention that this butterfly is on Butterfly Bush. BUT this plant is NOT in any…
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In Defense of Poison Ivy
I know, I know. I understand. It grows where I don’t want it. The NERVE. It makes me itch just to look at it and heaven forbid if its oil gets on someone else’s sleeve and that sleeve brushes against me. But Poison Ivy is a native, and native birds love the berries. Afternoon after…
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American Lady Butterfly
During the summer while my volunteer White Wood Asters are blooming I can count on seeing bunches of American Lady Butterflies (Vanessa virginiensis) sipping the nectar. I see there are oodles of larvae host plants listed for American Lady Butterflies. Asters are one of the plants listed. Purple Coneflowers will also attract them and make…
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Scarlet Beebalm
Soon to be glowing red in a big swath of my garden. Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma). Native to eastern North America. Attracting hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. Fluttering, buzzing and humming. Spicebush Swallowtails (Papilio troilus) aren’t the only butterflies that enjoy the nectar and help pollinate the Scarlet Beebalm. Oodles show up. A carefree plant that…
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Western Springbeauty
A couple months ago (April 12, 2021) I wrote a blog post on Virginia Springbeauty. Sometimes there is a plant or a bird that has an almost twin on the other side of the continent. That’s the case here. Virginia Springbeauty (Clintonia virginica) is native to eastern North America, and it has an almost twin,…