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An Escape From The Heat
A glimpse of what winter does for me. Ice with its chilling diamonds. Sparkles so fleeting. Beauty that makes my heart sing. Ice on Yucca (Yucca gloriosa).
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Hooded Warbler
Hooded Warblers (Setophaga citrina) have been delighting me here in the mountains for many years. They spend the breeding season in eastern North America, and the winter in Central America and the West Indies. If you feed the birds during the summer, these birds generally won’t come to your feeders. They spend all their feeding moments gleaning…
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Sassafras Trees Are Dioecious
Seems winter has given up. Spring has won the battle of the seasons and is stepping through the woods. Right now, mid-April, Sassafras Trees (Sassafras albidum) are in bloom throughout the woods of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. Creating a soft watercolor wash of pale yellow. Sassafras is a dioecious tree, meaning any…
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Flowering Dogwood
The Flowering Dogwood trees (Cornus florida) here in my neck of the woods are just beginning to open as the Eastern Redbud blooms (Cercis canadensis) are on their way into decline. That’s the pattern every year. A slight overlapping of their big show. Like homemade vanilla ice cream with home grown strawberries on top. In…
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Downy Woodpecker
The Downy Woodpecker, Picoides pubescens. A permanent resident here and in most places in their native range. That range, with the exception of the desert southwest and the tundra of the north, is nearly all of Canada and the United States. But in the northern portions of their territory, some may wander a bit south…
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Tomorrow is SPRING!
Many of you know that I love winter, my totally, over the top, favorite season. But I also delight in the seasons changing. If the seasons stayed the same, day after day after day after day I wouldn’t be content. I think the world of CHANGE. Sometimes even Mother Nature just doesn’t want to let…
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Winter Aconite
The same day that I first heard the raucous clacking of wood frogs coming from the pond, my Winter Aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) were beginning to bloom. Just hours before meteorological spring was about to begin. These small screaming yellow beauties were a gift from a dear friend years ago. Since then they have won my…
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Song Sparrow
Some might think this an LBJ. A little brown job. But certainly deserving of more distinction than that. This, a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) and a master of camouflage. A bird that is known for its rich collection of songs. Quite the crooners, males use their songs to identify their territory and to attract females.…
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Hoarfrost
The cold temperatures of winter can create such works of wonder. Often so delicate they can’t be touched for fear of destruction. Occasionally the beauty makes me forget that what I am looking at, such as these rose hips of Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora), is something that I work diligently to rid my woods of.…
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Yellow-rumped Warblers
An occasional visitor to my bird bath, in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. A Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). Fondly called Butterbutts by birders. If you don’t have a bird bath, I sure recommend one equipped with a water warmer to keep the water from freezing during the coldest that winter can throw at you. These warblers…