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Melodious Warbling
May 19, 2025 Oh what beautiful songs coming through the open windows today! A Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) was out roaming and singing his heart out. Delighting me with the sounds of nature. Mockingbirds, Catbirds, and Brown Thrashers are closely related, in the family Mimidae. A family known for being mimics and expert vocalists. The…
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Back From South America?
May 18, 2025 This morning I saw the season’s first Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea). They spend the winter months somewhere between southern Florida and northern South America. No telling where this guy has been. Even spending the winter in southern Florida means he was very far from here. They find their way over those incredible…
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A Pair Of Towhees
May 17, 2025 He came by just before lunch today. Splashing around in the birdbath to get those feathers clean. He had enough of the cleaning and went to a perch to shake off the water and get his feathers in order again. A male Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). Just a couple minutes later, she…
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Elderberries In Bloom
May 16, 2025 Blooming in the lowlands now. Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), a large shrub reaching 5 to 12 feet tall, leafing out early in the spring. Large, flat-topped clusters or cymes, of five-pointed, white, 1/4 inch wide, mildly scented flowers are emerging now and soon will be in full bloom up here in the mountains.…
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Carabus Beetle
May 15, 2025 The Carabus Beetle (Carabus serratus), a ground beetle native to North America, in both Canada and the United States. Ground beetles are a large family of beetles, Carabidae, with around 2,000 species in North America. A beautiful beetle, shiny patent leather black, with purple edging. They eat slugs, snails, worms, and insects…
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Blooms Of Maple-leaf Viburnum
May 14, 2025 Maple-leaf Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) is blooming right now in my yard, and along trails up here in the mountains. It’s a shrub that reaches a height of 3′ to 6′ and a width of 3′ to 4′. The fuzzy textured leaves grow opposite each other, and are 2″ to 4″ long and…
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Gopher Tortoise
May 13, 2025 Here’s my Dad stretched out on his driveway having a heart to heart chat with a Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus). This was a good number of years ago in Florida where Mom and Dad lived. Their house was on a circle and just across the street, the circle, and the tree shaded…
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Ebony Spleenwort
May 12, 2025 Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron), native to eastern North America, as well as southern Africa. It is a small evergreen fern that grows to between 6 and 10 inches tall. A fern that I have the pleasure of seeing occasionally as I hike the trails up here in these beautiful mountains. It not…
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An Incredible Moth
May 11, 2025 I see one perhaps once a year. A Luna Moth (Actias luna) with a wingspan of 3 to 4.5 inches, a beautiful pale green color, and a simple pattern on a sophisticated shape. This one is in mighty good shape. Some years, the one that I happen to see looks a bit…
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Always On Duty!
May 10, 2025 I’ve got an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) that seems to be always hanging around the yard, flying from its perch to catch an insect mid-flight and then coming back to that same perch. They’re solitary birds, not sociable. If there was any uncertainty of what this species of bird this is, I…