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Black-throated Green Warbler
A migrating visitor yesterday. A female Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens) making her way to the birdbath. An insect eater, especially caterpillars during the mating season. B-TGWs eat berries during migration. Poison Ivy berries being a favorite. Their breeding territory is eastern North America, western Canada and cypress swamps along the southern Atlantic coast. Their…
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Pie Tonight
A delicious new pie recipe. Put together, baked, and out of the oven this afternoon. For our dessert tonight. Topped with vanilla ice cream. Oh my! Was it ever GOOD! Hatch Green Chile Apple Pie One unbaked 9″ pie crust Six medium sized apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 2″ pieces. Place into pie crust.…
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Dressed For Autumn
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum). Putting on an eye catching show in the mountains. Rich yellows, golds, reds, oranges and purply-browns. Summertime, they produce a black berry supported by a scarlet cup-like stem. Seldom noticed. They’re there though. Just look for them. But these autumn leaves, no search is necessary. That color can’t be missed.
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Pumpkins For Sale
Across Washington Boulevard, at the East Falls Church Metro Station, Arlington, Virginia. A pumpkin stand. My pastel painting.
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Little By Little
More and more brilliant. Each day, little by little the leaves are becoming more and more, the perfect autumn coloring. These few, scarlet Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) leaves.
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The Noisemaker
Oh my goodness! Such happy sounds, but so much of it! I love to hear the constant chatter. Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus).
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Extremely Rare
Extremely rare, but they do exist. American Chestnut (Chestanea dentata). Before 1904, this fast growing, tall tree ruled swaths of eastern US forests. I mention the year 1904 because that is when the chestnut blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica) was first discovered at the New York Zoological Gardens. The blight was introduced to the US by…
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A Little Yellow Mushroom
Yellow Unicorn Entoloma (Entoloma murrayi). A cute little mushroom that looks as if it ought to be right next to the Pixie Cup Lichens for the pixies’ and fairies’ enjoyment. A cap that is cone-shaped, or bell-shaped, that is pointed at the top. This pointy top is referred to as an umbo in the fungus…
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Scarlet Berries
July finds them emerald green, blending in with other greens. Not to be noticed by the dedicated hiker. I find them though. The dedicated nature photographer. Understated berries of Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum). But come October, contending for attention, in competition with the colorful leaves, the berries have become a brilliant shade of scarlet. Maybe even…
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Slowly Slowly
Slowly, slowly, autumn’s full blown color palette is creeping in. Right now it is: “Oh! Look at that tree!” Not a hillside of color but just a few leaves here and there turning with all their might to a spectacle of hues. Changes in a leaf’s world, encourages slowing and stopping of photosynthesis which makes…