Category: Natural History
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Snake, Dog, Deer, or Fish Flower
…and there where the pale April sunlight filters through the leafless branches, nod myriads of these lilies, each one guarded by a pair of mottled, erect, sentinel-like leaves. ~ Mrs. William Starr Dana in How to Know the Wild Flowers, 1917 Few spring woodland flowers put on a show like Erythronium americanum (although I am Read more…
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A Milky Way within the Wood
Surely no flower of the year can vie with this in spotless beauty. Its very transitoriness enhances its charm. ~ Mrs. William Starr Dana in How to Know the Wild Flowers, 1917 Twice this past week I came across one of my favorite wildflowers, Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis. When open, the pure white flowers of Bloodroot Read more…
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Let the Blooms Begin
The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size. ~Gertrude S. Wister Spring is a wonderful season for so many reasons, not the least of which is the explosion of wildflowers that spreads across our state beginning in February and lasting through May. One Read more…
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A Mirror in the Woods
Spring comes earliest to the bottoms of stagnant pools – there no cool winds blow – no hoar frosts penetrate – but they grow protected as under a glass. There are fewer disturbing influences to rob them of the full advantage of the sun’s increased altitude. ~Henry David Thoreau Conservation groups, in partnership with Partners Read more…
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On Silent Wings
All nature is a new impression every instant. ~Henry David Thoreau While out working in the yard yesterday I saw one of the early signs of a woodland spring, the first Falcate Orangetip butterfly. These dainty white butterflies flit through the woods for only a few weeks each year searching for mates and plants in Read more…
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Window Treatment
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. ~Langston Hughes Several times this winter I have heard that familiar thud that means a winged beauty has collided with my window. A quick glance shows the track left behind by such a collision – a few feathers Read more…
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Beware the Ice of March
Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. ~Robert Frost I went out before dawn this morning to get some firewood and skidded on a thin sheet of ice that had formed overnight on the deck. The dreaded freezing rain had bent over the shrubs near the deck as the thermometer Read more…
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March Madness
The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke About two weeks ago, I blogged about what I thought would be my last snow of the season. The day I posted that topic, it snowed Read more…
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Signs
A track is a window to the past of an animal. Look at the ground as if it were a manuscript of the animal’s life. ~Tom Brown I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday and walked down the power line to a beautiful tract of woods I like to visit. It is a fairly Read more…
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The Last Snow?
What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. ~John Steinbeck Over the weekend I made a quick trip to my parents’ home in southwest Virginia . Like many regions in the East, their area has had a long cold winter. But, I am one of those strange Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 