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A Pair Of Downy Woodpeckers
A pair of Downy Woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) have been coming to my feeder regularly for quite a while. This image is of the male. The male and female Downy Woodpecker look similar with the exception of the red spot at the back of the male’s head. The female has no red, just black and white.…
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Chatterbox Neighbor
A tiny guy that I see and hear every day. It is quite the chatterbox and if I didn’t know better I would think that it was scolding me. But surely that isn’t the case. We’re neighbors after all. It is at the feeder often and every evening it will choose either the bird house…
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Just The Beginning
Yesterday I took a look where the Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) usually come up and sure enough, there they were. Just as I expected. Little purplish-green leaves coming up through the soil. Given 3 or 4 weeks and this is what the plants will look like. They bloom for about 3 weeks. What a splendid…
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Honey Pinkgill Mushroom
Well this morning was quite a surprise. I went out to fill the bird feeder and as I stepped off the back porch there was a sprinkling of tiny mushrooms looking up at me. When I say “tiny” I mean that the largest caps were less than an inch across. Perhaps 20 of them, minus…
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Tiny Pond Lots Of Clacking Day And Night
They have been out there in the little pond since at least February 11th clacking away day and night. They’re having a ball in their breeding season. Meeting up at the neighborhood little pond. Eggs in the water, waiting for the season to move along. Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus). Nature is great entertainment. All one…
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Redbuds Soon To Be Pink
The Eastern Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are preparing for their annual PINK spring celebration. Their red buds are coming out soaking up the sunshine in preparation for loads of blossoms. For me, here in the mountains, that will be a wait of 3 or 4 weeks. And during the time when they are in full bloom…
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Yellow Blooms
March 1st. Happy meteorological spring! Right on time, Daffodils (Narcissus) are celebrating. There are years when snow greets the first of the Daffodils. This image is from one of those years. March 3, 2016 to be exact. Makes no difference to the flowers, they just pop back up and shake the snow off. They’re tough.…
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One Of The Woodpeckers
A year round resident, year round in most of the eastern US. A medium sized woodpecker. A female Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus). It showed up this morning teasing me with poses that didn’t last very long but I managed to get a few pictures. This makes me think, I’ve got to get into the kitchen…