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Watching The Blueberry Crop
Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) Eastern Towhees are here in the mountains of central Virginia year round. Their diet is primarily insects, seeds and berries and during the summer they tend, of course, to eat more insects. True bugs, beetles, ants, caterpillars, moths, millipedes, spiders and snails are all on the menu. But there’s something special…
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Hosta
Hosta (Hosta) can be a beautiful addition to your garden if you don’t have it already. Hostas are herbaceous perennial plants that are native to China, Japan, Korea and the Russian Far East. They produce attractive clumps of leaves each summer which are topped with blooms that are either white or lavender. But a word…
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Eastern Towhee
A large sparrow with a long tail. The Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) fills the edges of the woods here with their beautiful song of “Drink your teeeeaa” all day long. For me, a constant companion. Here in Virginia these Towhees have haunting red eyes but in Florida and northern Georgia they will have light straw…
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Brown Thrasher
Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). Quite the handsome bird. It makes me think of a Roadrunner with its very long tail and long curved bill. They’re here during their breeding season but are year round in the deeper Southeast. The feeders here at my cabin don’t tempt them, not even the suet, but they love my…
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Red-spotted Newt
I have an adult Red-spotted Newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, in my small pond. Doing research, and learning about this newt has been a fun journey. A type of salamander, they start out their life in a pond, marsh, stream or small lake, as an egg mass that resembles a big wad of cotton, attached to…
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Glowing Land Snail
Lot Of Snails There have been many, many snails this summer. I suppose their number is not unusual. I not only see occupied shells with their slow moving residents, but also abandoned shells bleached white, standing out against the dark soil looking like a mushroom, or a piece of quartz waiting to be found. I…