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Mixed Feelings
Great to see a bear cub again. This is not the one that was seen today though. This picture is from a couple years ago. The one on our lane today was too quick, or perhaps too shy to have its picture taken. But at least a bear is back! Before today, the last Black Bear…
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It’s The Little Things
White clover (Trifolium repens) that was cut just a few days ago towering over the mushrooms. That’s mighty little. It’s Conocybe lactea with the common name of White Dunce Cap. A mushroom often found in grass, popping up right after a rain. They’re thin, fragile, lasting only a few hours before disappearing. You’ll often find me…
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Redstart In The Garden
Another visitor today. A female American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). They don’t come to the feeders that I put out, but they really enjoy the birdbath, which is just a few feet from this spot.
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Red-eyed Vireo At The Birdbath
I hear them frequently in the woods surrounding my cabin. Making a call that sounds like a Catbird saying, “Myaaah!” Or more of a melodious song, that I use a mnemonic to remember, “Here I am! Where are you?!” As with other birds that I wouldn’t see ordinarily, the Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), is looking…
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Barometer Earthstar
Barometer Earthstar (Astraeus hygrometricus). An interesting little mushroom. Starting out as a minuscule, round, white blob that looks like the mushroom that I wrote about 2 days ago, a very small Giant Puffball Mushroom. As it matures it takes on the shape that it is known for, with 4 to 20 irregularly sized petals or…
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Tithonia
Tithonia rotundifolia. Native to Florida, Louisiana, Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. NOT native to Virginia but it is a well behaved annual which I try to plant every year. I thoroughly adore it for the many butterflies, including Monarchs, and the hummingbirds that the dazzling orange flowers attract. A bright orange magnet in…
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Giant Puffball Mushroom
Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea). Easily, of all the many mushrooms that I have seen growing along the trails I hike, this species of mushroom is the coolest one I have ever seen. They look to me like something that has arrived from outer space, sitting there observing the humans of Earth. It also brings to…
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More Nesting Activities
It pleases me greatly that Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) chatter around the woods near my home all year long. And nearly every year a pair will choose some strange object in which to build their nest and raise a family. Of course I provide the strange objects, hanging them from the front and back porch…
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Spring Blooms of Sweetspire
Sweetspire (Itea virginica) in the rain. A shrub native to the southeast United States. Bees and butterflies love the blooms. And in the autumn Sweetspire gets my nomination for best color of the season. A great alternative to the exotic invasive Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus).
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A Busy House
The female Chickadee (Paridae) has built her nest. I expect by now the eggs have hatched and both the male and the female are out searching for caterpillars, spiders and insects for their young. A bit of a timeline: One to two days after the female builds the nest, her eggs are laid. She incubates…