April 3, 2025
They’re blooming now. Wild Strawberries (Fragaria vesca). Popping up like weeds, all over. They’re native plants. Plants that I thoroughly enjoy. I don’t wildiscourage them.
The strawberries they produce have an exceptionally wonderful flavor. The only problem with the berries is that they are so tiny. They will be here, getting ripe near the end of May. I can’t wait!
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April 2, 2025
Yesterday afternoon and the first Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio gloucus) of spring, checking Daffodils (Narcissus) for pollen.
No adult Tiger Swallowtails live through the winter. These Swallowtails spend the winter as chrysalises and will emerge as adults beginning right about now.
Looking forward to seeing many more as spring turns to summer.
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April 1, 2025
A Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) sitting amongst pink blooms of an Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis).
The buds as well as the flowers are a valuable source of nutrition. Downy Woodpeckers, along with many songbirds including Cedar Waxwings, Chickadees, Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, Juncos, and others, eat these buds and flowers.
Exquisite flowers making clouds of pink in the woods.
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March 31, 2025
Both these images are of the same species of butterfly. Spring Azures (Celastrina ladon) which are active right now. A very small butterfly with a wingspan of about an inch. Tiny.
The image above gives you a glimpse of the dorsal side (the side of the wing which you see when the wings are open) with its lovely blue. The dorsal side of their wings is seldom seen since Spring Azures usually alight with their wings up and closed.
This image shows the ventral side (the side exposed when the wings are closed) of the wings which are white with dark specks.
Spring Azures live just a few days as butterflies.
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March 30, 2025
Yesterday morning I heard beautiful musical phrases each repeated twice, coming from the woods. A Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) singing his heart out. It is the male Brown Thrasher that sings, and he has a vast repertoire of songs. Even more songs than other songsters and family members Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) and Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos).
Their bright yellow eyes are intriguing and I’ve learned that when I see a Brown Thrasher with pale gray eyes, it is a juvenile. As they mature their eyes turn the characteristic yellow, or sometimes orange.
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March 29, 2025
A quick glimpse of blue in the garden this morning. An Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) came by for a brief drink and a quick, “Hello!” They’re only seen occasionally. Hoping a pair will use one of the houses that are out for them this spring.
Quite the pleasure to see.
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March 28, 2025
March 27, 2025
Another solitary bird. One that is around but not obvious, since it enjoys dense shrubs and lots of leaf litter in which to search for their next meal of seeds or insects. An Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). The male Towhee sings its song, an easy one to remember, “Drink your teeeeea!”
A bird that is here year round near my cabin.
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March 26, 2025
Little white and purply-blue Violets blooming near my frog pond, in the first week of spring. Bi-colored Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia f. priceana). Native to the eastern half of the United States and Canada. Violets are the host plant of many Fritillary butterflies.
Welcome spring.
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March 25, 2025
Often I’ll hear it calling its name before I see it. A Phoebe (Savornis phoebe) who often flicks its tail.
An insect eating bird that will take off from its perch in pursuit of its prey and return to that same spot to eat it. A solitary bird, so the one I see often around the cabin is indeed just one.
Glad to have it around eating insects.
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