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A Visit From A Crow
March 10, 2025 The past few days I’ve been hearing many American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) making lots of noise out in the woods. This afternoon one came by to enjoy some of the suet that song birds have been enjoying for a long time. This is the first time I recall a Crow eating the…
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Goldfinches At The Maryland State Flower
March 9, 2025 I’ve been waiting. There is a relatively new planting of Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta), the Maryland state flower, on the back hill. I never clean up my gardens until late spring. That leaves the seedheads there all winter long for birds to come and enjoy a tasty treat through no effort by…
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A Native Stink Bug
March 8, 2025 It’s a bit of a pleasure to talk about a native stink bug given how horribly bothersome the non-native Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys) is. This photo is the nymph stage of a Green Stink Bug (Chinavia hilare) native to much of North America but one that I seldom see. It…
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Thank You For The Pose Downy!
March 7, 2025 Looking like it is taking a pose at an awards ceremony, a Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) sits in a Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida). It’s waiting for a turn at the suet feeders where it competes with Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus), Tufted Titmice (Baeolophus bicolor), and Chickadees (Poecile). Sometimes I see as many…
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Red Maples In Bloom
March 6, 2025 A great help to pollinators, the Red Maple tree (Acer rubrum) is one of our first native trees to bloom in the spring, or in this case in late winter. And also a great help to meet a neighbor down at the bottom of my mountain. This morning I stopped along the…
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Bigger Than A Hummingbird But Still Mighty Small
March 5, 2025 The Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis). Measures in at 3.1 to 4.7 inches in length. Mighty small and actually the smallest Wren in North America. They’re only here in my part of Virginia in the winter and they normally frequent areas more dense than I have here. It’s wonderful to see one and…
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Soon There Will Be Hummingbirds!
March 4, 2025 I’m delighted to say and a bit surprised that it will be occurring again in what seems such a short amount of time — next month Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) will be arriving again. The tiny clowns of the avian world. My first sighting last year was on April 17th when three…
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One Of Many
March 3, 2025 One of oodles of trips out to the Southwest. Its terrain so different. Its natural world so captivating. This, a trip up Mount Lemmon. Seeming so extremely high compared to my East Coast mountains with an elevation of 9,159 feet, it is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. _______________________ If…
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Second Day Of Meteorological Spring
March 2, 2025 Yesterday was the first day of meteorological spring. Too bad, that means winter is winding down and coming to an end. Last night though there was a low temperature of 15º. Winter is still holding on. At least so far. In the gardens around my cabin there are no native plants in…
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Zygodactyl Feet
March 1, 2025 A Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescensa) showing its zygodactyl toe arrangement. Woodpeckers, Owls, and Parrots all share the same sort of foot structure. They have zygodactyl feet. Two toes facing forward, two toes facing back. This allows these birds to more easily climb, grasp, and manipulate. More common in the bird world are…