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Patiently Waiting
January 12, 2025 Patiently waiting for spring. Buds of Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) covered with icy snow. Flowering Dogwood flowers are actually not what you think. What are thought to be petals are not petals at all, but are bracts. The flowers are yellow, very small, clustered at the center, surrounded by the bracts. In…
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Warm Colors Of Sunrise
January 11, 2025 The ideal time to see newly fallen snow. Sunrise. Snow presents the landscape as a black and white drawing. Sunrise adds brush strokes, painting it with soft warm colors. Adding colors like no others, any time of day. Subtle glows, there but for a few quick moments. My favorite time to see…
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Seventeen Species And Counting
A female Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) at the old garden gate, watching all the action. Five days with nine inches of snow on the ground. Temperatures so cold that there is no melting. And now as I sit here writing this post there is another snow event happening. During these snowy days I’ve upped the amount…
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An Independent Sort
All sorts of hubbub going on with many birds gathering around, going to the suet feeders and the hulled sunflower seeds. The snow triggered a panic it seemed. Not this Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) though. Dressed in its winter outfit the little critter was calmly going from seedhead to seedhead of Gray-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) enjoying…
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Bluebirds At Noon Today
Many Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) gathered at the birdbath today. They live here in Virginia all year. During the summer they eat insects and there is plenty for them to eat here in the winter too, including the fruit of Eastern Red Cedar, Bayberry, Flowering Dogwood, Hawthorn, Holly, Mistletoe, Pokeberry, Serviceberry, Sumac, Winterberry, Wild Grape, Hackberry,…
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A Ristra And Snow
Next to the front door of my cabin, a ristra. Ristras are seen in New Mexico and southern Arizona. Strings of chiles hanging out to dry, for cooking and eating. Or simply to be used as a decoration. That’s the case here. A beautiful decoration representing a favorite part of this country, said to bring…