Yellow Sweet Clover: Golden Flowers of Fragrant Melilotus officinalis

Summary: Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis) is an Old World plant that has extended its homelands via worldwide introductions, especially in North America.

Melilotus officinalis, known traditionally as common melilot, yellow melilot and yellow sweet clover; Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 15:46: Alvesgaspar, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Melilotus officinalis is an Old World herbaceous flowering plant native to Eurasia.

Melilotus officinalis claims homelands from central Europe, especially the Mediterranean region, eastward into Tibet.

Through successful introductions, the aromatic biennial (Latin: biennium, “two-year period”; from bis, “twice” + annus, “year”) has extended its range to Africa, the Americas, Australia and northern Europe.

Melilotus officinalis was transported to colonial America in the late 17th century primarily for agriculture and for apiculture (Latin: apis, “bee”). In the United States, the aromatic biennial claims naturalized homelands in all 50 fifty states as well as in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

In Canada, Melilotus officinialis thrives in all ten provinces and in two territories, Northwest Territories and Yukon, but not in Canada’s largest territory, Nunavut, where Melilotus albus (White Sweet Clover) is common.

Melilotus officinalis is known commonly in English as Common Melilot, Ribbed Melilot, Yellow Melilot, Yellow Sweet Clover or Yellow Sweetclover.

Yellow Sweet Clover is classed as a forb (Ancient Greek: φορβή, phorbḗ, "fodder, pasture”), or herbaceous flowering plant other than a graminoid (grasses, rushes, sedges), in the Fabaceae or bean, legume or pea family.

In the first year, Yellow Sweet Clover appears as a multi-branched, single-stemmed plant.

In the second year, Yellow Sweet Clover plants increase their stem number and maximize heights from 3 to over 6.5 feet (0.9 to 2.0 meters) in the second year.

Leaves form as trios of leaflets on alternate sides of stems. Gray green leaves present oblong, serrated silhouettes.

Flowering occurs in second-year plants. Tiny, yellow flowers appear between April and the end the May. Each flower, about a quarter of an inch (7 millimeters) in length, daintily droops on densely clustered spikes, or racemes (Latin: racemus, “bunch, cluster”; Ancient Greek: ῥάξ, rháks, “grape”).

Coumarin, a fragrant chemical compound, is responsible for the musky, sweet fragrance exuded when leaves or stems are crushed or cut.

When Yellow Sweet Clover becomes moldy, bishydroxycoumarin, the active ingredient in coumarin, oxidizes to 4-hydroxycoumarin, a strong anticoagulant that may lead to fatal internal hemorrhaging, or bleeding, in livestock.

In a hotspot of red (Trifolium pretense) and white (Trifolium repens) clovers, three sturdy Yellow Sweet Clover plants cluster along the western fringe of the dirt path winding through the meadow framing my yard’s southern border. As second-year plants, they glitter the landscape with their flowers, which opened over Memorial Day weekend.

Yellow Sweet Clover's golden floral display extends lengthily across summer and into autumn.

closeup of Melilotus officinalis leaves and stems: Jan Bakker (Rasbak), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Melilotus officinalis, known traditionally as common melilot, yellow melilot and yellow sweet clover; Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 15:46: Alvesgaspar, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melilotus_April_2010-1.jpg

closeup of Melilotus officinalis leaves and stems: Jan Bakker (Rasbak), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melilotus_officinalis_Citroengele_honingklaver_blad.jpg

For further information:

Gucker, Corey L. “Melilotus alba, M. officinalis.” US Forest Service > National Forest Service Library > Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) > Plant Species Life Form  > Forb List. 2009.
Available @ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/melspp/all.html

"Melilotus alba, Melilotus officinalis." US Forest Service > Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) Database > Plants > Forb.
Available @ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/melspp/all.html

“Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam.” USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) > GRIN Taxonomy for Plants > Taxon.
Available @ http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?24009

Tenaglia, Dan. “Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall.” Missouri Plants > Yellow flowers, Leaves alternate.
Available @ http://www.missouriplants.com/Yellowalt/Melilotus_officinalis_page.html

Thangavelu, Arasi, MD. “Coumarin Plant Poisoning.” Medscape > Drugs and Diseases. Updated March 31, 2014.
Available @ http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/816897-overview

“White and yellow sweet clover (Melilotus alba, M. officinalis).” Minnesota Department of Natural Resources > Nature > Invasive species > Terrestrial Invasive Species > Invasive terrestrial plants.
Available @ http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialplants/herbaceous/whitesweetclover.html

Tremarctos ornatus: Spectacled Bear as Real Life Paddington Bear

Summary: Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus), also known as Andean Bear, is a short-nosed bear native to the tropical Andes subregion of South America.

Spectacled Bear, Parque Nacional de Cutervo en Cajamarca, northwestern Peru: Luis Padilla, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Tremarctos ornatus is a New World bear native to South America. The only living representative of the bear subfamily of Tremarctinae is endemic (Ancient Greek: ἐν, en, “in” + δῆμος, dêmos, “people”), or unique, to the Tropical Andes.

The biodiversity-rich subregion of the Tropical Andes encompasses 2,100 miles (3,300 kilometers) of the continual Andes mountain range extending from north to south for about 4,300 miles (7,000 kilometers) along South America’s west coast.

Tremarctos ornatus claims main homelands from Venezuela southwestward through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Historical reports also indicate the omnivore’s presence in eastern Panama and in northwestern Argentina.

Tremarctos ornatus is known commonly in English as Andean Bear, Andean Short-Faced Bear or Spectacled Bear.

Paddington, the lovable, ursine (Latin: ursus, “bear”) character featured since 1958 in a series of children’s stories by English author Thomas Michael Bond (born Jan. 13, 1926), is an anthropomorphized (Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος, ánthrōpos, “man, human being” +‎ μορφή, morphḗ, “form, shape”), or humanized, Spectacled Bear from darkest, deepest Peru.

The mid-size bear with a short snout, round ears and short neck typically has blackish fur that sometimes evinces brown or red hues.

The common name of Spectacled Bear derives from the pattern of tan or white facial markings that partially or fully ring their eyes and that often extends over cheeks, muzzle and throat, and down to the chest. Spectacle markings are unique to each individual bear but sometimes are absent altogether.

Spectacled Bears adapt to the wide range of coastal and inland habitats found throughout their Andean homelands. Their preference may be for cloud forests, but they also thrive in high altitude grasslands as well as in desert scrub.

Although classified as a carnivorous mammal, Spectacled Bears devote most of their omnivorous (Latin: omnis, “all” + vorare, “to devour”) diet to non-meat sources such as flowers, fruits, honey, moss, tree wood and vegetables.

Spectacled Bears are considered to be a vulnerable species because of increasing threats to their livelihood. Activities such as agriculture, mining and oil exploitation lead to habitat fragmentation and loss. Poaching occurs for such purposes as consumption of their meat, live capture for the pet trade, or usage of body parts for traditional medicine.

Reclusive and shy, Spectacled Bears have unique standing in the global bear family of Ursidae. They are the only living representative of the subfamily of short-faced bears, the Tremarctinae. Spectacled Bears also are the only extant, or surviving, species of bear native to South America.

Hopefully their current conservation status, which has been listed as vulnerable (VU) by the Fontainebleau, France-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 1973, will improve to least concern (LC) long before the close of the 21st century.

Otherwise, the Tremarctini tribe of short-faced bears may become extinct despite ancestry reaching back 13.6 million years (13.6 Mya) into Earth’s Miocene (Ancient Greek: μείων, meiōn, “less” + καινός, kainos, “new”) epoch.

Just as Paddington Bear was saved from taxidermic eternity, so Spectacled Bears may stage a comeback and thrive as a living species rather than as museum specimens.

Paddington Bear statue, Paddington Bear Trail, London, England; Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014, 13:04:18: Martin Pettitt, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Spectacled Bear, Parque Nacional de Cutervo en Cajamarca, northwestern Peru: Luis Padilla, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oso_andino_Porcon.jpg

Paddington Bear statue, Paddington Bear Trail, London, England; Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014, 13:04:18: Martin Pettitt, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdpettitt/15228725194

For further information:

García-Rangel, Shaenandhoa. “Andean bear Tremarctos ornatus natural history and conservation.” Mammal Review, vol. 42, no. 2 (2012): 85–119.
Available @ http://www.academia.edu/3271926/Andean_Bear_Natural_History_and_Conservation

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana: Home and Garden Elegance of Florist Kalanchoe

Summary: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, known as Christmas Kalanchoe or Florist Kalanchoe, is an Old World vividly flowered, easy-to-grow succulent native to Madagascar.

flowers and foliage of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana: David Hughes of Plantfacts.com, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is an Old World tropical perennial native to Madagascar, an island country off southeastern coastal Africa in the Indian Ocean. Kalanchoe blossfeldiana especially thrives in the humus soil habitats of the fairly cool plateaus of the Tsarantanana Mountains in northern Madagascar.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (kal-lan-KOE-ee bloss-fel-dee-AY-nuh) has the scientific synonym of Kalanchoe globulifera.

The genus name of Kalanchoe is generally believed to derive from gāláncài, the Cantonese name for an Asian species of the primarily Africa-based plant.

The specific epithet, or species name, of blossfeldiana honors international seed merchant Robert Blossfeld (1882–1945), who introduced the succulent as a commercial houseplant around 1932 in Potsdam, capital of Brandenburg state in northeastern Germany.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is known commonly in English as Christmas Kalanchoe, Flaming Katy, Florist Kalanchoe or Madagascar Widow’s-Thrill. The common name of Christmas Kalanchoe recognizes the succulent’s flamboyant, lengthy flowering that may begin in late autumn and continue into spring. The common name of Florist Kalanchoe reflects the popularity of this congenial, easy-to-grow succulent among horticulturists.

As a member of the orpine, or stonecrop, family of Crassulaceae (Latin: crassus, “thick”), Florist Kalanchoe exhibits simple, succulent leaves. Dark green, thick, waxy leaves present a graceful silhouette of scalloped edges.

Small, four-petaled, tubular flowers open as clusters on peduncles (Latin: pedunculus, “footstalk”; diminutive of pes, “foot”), or floral stalks, above the shiny foliage. The open flowers are reminiscent of baby chicks with huge open mouths in anticipation of food foraged by their parents.

Flowers bloom profusely in a brilliant range of shades of orange, pink (including salmon), red (including scarlet), yellow and white.

The Royal Horticultural Society, founded in London, England, in 1804, recognized the excellence of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana as a garden ornamental with its prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 2012.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (flowering habit), Walmart Kahului, Maui; Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008, 11:17; image 080117-1758: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Usually Kalanchoes enjoy bright indoor light as house plants and full sun as outdoor garden plants. And yet Kalanchoe blossfeldiana thrives in my outdoor shade garden encircled by variously shaped, large blue rocks.

Unlike other shade garden plants that mostly are wild and usually wind seeded, Kalanchoe blossfeldiana represents a mindful, planned planting as a gift from my sister, who fell in love with Kalanchoes decades ago and who always raises plants from cuttings.

As a herbaceous perennial, Florist Kalanchoe dies down outdoors to the soil level during cold winters but sprouts again in spring.

Their resurrection usually goes unnoticed amidst the spring fanfare of early bloomers such as Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), crocuses (Crocus spp), daffodils (Narcissus spp), garden hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis), grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum), Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and violets (Viola spp).

In my yard, Kalanchoe blossfeldiana surges almost overnight to maximum heights and spreads of almost 1 foot (0.3 meters). The seemingly overnight surge catches my attention sometime between the verdant appearance of Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) along Florist Kalanchoe’s western arc of blue rocks and the jeweled opening of wild columbines (Aquilegia canadensis) near the rocks’ northeastern arc.

The carefree ornamental then holds my attention and vivifies the shade garden throughout summer and autumn and as long as possible into winter.

closeup of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana flowers: Danilo Prudêncio Silva, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

flowers and foliage of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana: David Hughes of Plantfacts.com, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalanchoe.blossfeldiana.jpg

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (flowering habit), Walmart Kahului, Maui; Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008, 11:17; image 080117-1758: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starr_080117-1758_Kalanchoe_blossfeldiana.jpg;
Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 4.0 International, via Starr Environmental @ http://www.starrenvironmental.com/images/image/?q=24900863515;
Forest and Kim Starr (Starr Environmental), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/starr-environmental/24900863515/

closeup of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana flowers: Danilo Prudêncio Silva, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalanchoe_blossfeldiana.JPG

For further information:

Baldwin, Debra Lee. Designing with Succulents. Portland OR: Timber Press, Inc., 2007.

Davenport, Millie. "Kalanchoe HGIC 1563." Clemson University > Cooperative Extension > Home & Garden Information Center > Landscape, Garden & Indoor Plants > Indoor Plants > Flowering Plants. April 2007.
Available @ http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/indoor/flowering/hgic1563.html

Gilman, Edward F. "Kalanchoe blossfeldiana." Fact Sheet FPS-309. University of Florida Cooperative Extension IFAS > Environmental Horticulture Department. October 1999.
Available @ http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/shrub_fact_sheets/kalbloa.pdf

"Kalanchoe blossfeldiana." Plants Rescue > Types of Plants > Succulents.
Available @ http://www.plantsrescue.com/kalanchoe-blossfeldiana/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Aquilegia canadensis: Jeweled Wild Columbine Nods to Breezy Melodies." Earth and Space News. Monday, April 20, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/aquilegia-canadensis-jeweled-wild.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Podophyllum peltatum: Umbrella Leaf Charm of Mayapples in Spring." Earth and Space News. Friday, April 17, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/podophyllum-peltatum-umbrella-leaf.html

Big Dipper Firefly: Yellow Green Twilight Flashes of Photinus pyralis

Summary: Big Dipper Firefly (Photinus pyralis), also known as Common Eastern Firefly, is North America's commonest firefly, flashing yellow green light at twilight.

Photinus pyralis and Felis domesticus; Wednesday, June 27, 2007, 19:45:17: Terry Priest (art farmer), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

New World native insect Photinus pyralis is the most common firefly in North America. The light-producing beetle claims homelands throughout the central and eastern United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

Photinus pyralis (Ancient Greek: φῶς, phôs, "light” + Ancient Greek: πῦρ, pûr, “fire”) is known commonly in English as Big Dipper Firefly or as Common Eastern Firefly.

The common name of Big Dipper reflects the J-shaped pattern flashed on the upswing by roving Photinus pyralis males.

The common name of Common Eastern Firefly acknowledges the flighty, light-producing beetle's status as the most common firefly east of the Rocky Mountains.

The firefly, or lightning bug beetle, joins two other insects -- ladybug and honeybee – in Tennessee’s official state insect trio.

In 1975, Tennessee designated fireflies, of which Photinus pyralis is the most familiar, and the seven-spotted ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata), also known as C-7, as state insects (Tennessee Code Annotates, Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 3, Section 4-1-308).

In 1990, the honeybee (Apis mellifera) was designated as official state agricultural insect.

The Common Eastern Firefly flits happily across agricultural, riparian (Latin: riparius, “of a river bank”), and suburban environments. Preferred landscapes emphasize meadows, streams, and woodland edges.

With a maximum adult length of around 0.5 inches (14 millimeters), Big Dipper Fireflies have six jointed legs and a three-part dark brown body.

The rounded head is outlined in yellow with two orange accent spots, two antennae and compound eyes.

The second segment, the thorax (Latin: thorax, "breastplate, chest"; from Ancient Greek: θώραξ, thṓraks, “breastplate, chest”), features two pairs of wings. Males use the second pair for flying while short-winged females seldom fly.

The last section is a flattened abdomen with light emission capability.

As a member of the winged beetle order of Coleoptera (Ancient Greek: κολεός, koleós, "sheath” + πτερόν, pterón, "wing”), the attractive insect in the firefly family of Lampyridae (Ancient Greek: λαμπάς, lampás, "lamp, light”) has elytra (Ancient Greek: ἔλυτρον, élutron, "sheath”). The pair of front wings functions as protective cover for underwings. Big Dipper Firefly elytra are dark brown accented with narrow yellow margins.

Firefly illumination derives from bioluminescence, a form of chemoluminescence in which a chemical reaction in a living organism produces and emits light. Fireflies flash light at twilight to attract mates. As a member of Photinus, the lightning bug genus known as rover fireflies, Photinus pyralis features solitary roving rather than group flying by males flashing for females.

Big Dipper Fireflies light up their world in a palette that includes greenish blue, yellow green, reddish white and white orange.

At twilight, from late spring through autumn, my black-and-white Maine coon kittycat, Augusta "Gusty" Sunshine, likes to position herself on the soft needles carpeting the ground around the more westerly of the two Eastern White Pines (Pinus strobus) demarcating the northern borders of the upper north terrace's shade garden.

As she sits elegantly and reflectively, on her haunches or in sphinx pose, Big Dipper Fireflies spiral around her, illuminating "Gusty Gus" and the Eastern White pines with their rhythmic yellow green flashes.

Photinus pyralis; Monday, June 11, 2007, 19:54: art farmer from evansville indiana, usa, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Photinus pyralis and Felis domesticus; Wednesday, June 27, 2007, 19:45:17: Terry Priest (art farmer), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/artfarmer/643081671/;
terry priest (art farmer), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/artfarmer/643081671/

Photinus pyralis; Monday, June 11, 2007, 19:54: art farmer from evansville indiana, usa, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Photinus_pyralis_Firefly_4.jpg; terry priest (art farmer), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/16849297@N00/541888571/

For further information:

“How These Beetles Create Light.” The Washington Post > Metro. July 10, 2009.
Available @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/07/11/GR2009071103099.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Book Review: The Fireflies Book by Brett Ortler." Wizzley > Pets & Animals > Insects > Other Insects.
Available @ https://wizzley.com/book-review-the-fireflies-book-by-brett-ortler/

"Photinus pyralis Common Eastern Firefly." Encyclopedia of Life.
Available @ http://eol.org/pages/1173778/details

"Photinus pyralis Firefly." BioWeb UW LaCrosse > Biology 210 > Matousek Hann.
Available @ http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio210/s2013/matousek_hann/classification.htm

"Tennessee State Insects." Netstate > States > Symbols > Insects.
Available @ http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/insects/tn_insects.htm

"Types of Fireflies." Firefly.
Available @ http://www.firefly.org/types-of-fireflies.html

Eastern Bluebird: Brilliant Blues of New World Songbird Sialia sialis

Summary: Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) is a New World bird in the thrush family (Turdidae) native to North and Central America with distinctive blue coloring.

Bluebird pair; Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 11:35; photo by John Gresham: Virginia State Parks staff, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Sialia sialis is a New World native passerine (Latin: passerinus, "of sparrows"), or perching, bird with a large range encompassing North and Central America.

In Canada, Sialia sialis claims breeding season homelands in six provinces, from southeastern Saskatchewan eastward through southern Manitoba, primarily eastern Ontario, southern Quebec, eastern Prince Edward Island, and northern Nova Scotia.

In the United States, the blue-plumaged percher claims breeding, nonbreeding and year-round homelands from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and as a disjunct, or separate, year-round population in southeastern Arizona and southwestern most New Mexico.

In Mexico, Sialia sialis maintains nonbreeding season populations primarily in three northeastern states (Coahuila, Nuevo Léon, Tamaulipas) and year-round populations from northwestern border states of Coahuila and Sonora southward to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with a disjunct population in the southeastern state of Chiapas.

In Central America, Sialia sialis lives year-round from southern Guatemala, across most of Honduras, and into northern Nicaragua.

Breeding Season, Nonbreeding Season and Year-Round Distribution of Eastern Bluebird; blue = native (nonbreeding seasons only); green = native (year round); yellow = native (breeding seasons only): rbrausse, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Sialia sialis is known commonly in English as Eastern Bluebird.

Eastern Bluebird is recognized as the state bird of two U.S. states: Missouri and New York.

As one of three New World bluebirds in the thrush family (Turdidae), Eastern bluebirds present a plump silhouette with rounded head; short, straight bill; long wings; short tail; short legs.

Males display warm red brown breast and throat, white belly and royal blue brilliance on their head and back.

Females display subdued elegance with grey brown heads, orange brown breast, white belly and blue-tinged tail and wings.

Eastern Bluebirds traditionally prefer forest openings and open meadow landscapes near large trees with scant ground cover and sparse underbrush.

Eastern White Pines (Pinus strobus), with their generous branches, minimalist forest floor, velvety needles and soaring sturdiness, are attractive arboreal sites for Eastern Bluebirds.

baby Eastern Bluebirds in May, Sky Meadows State Park, northwestern Fauquier County, Northern Virginia; Thursday, May 16, 2013, 11:24: Virginia State Parks staff, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Eastern Bluebird eggs, laid in clutches of two to seven, usually have pale blue or green shells. White shells are a rarity.

Parents raise one to three broods annually. Hatchlings born later in the year tend to overwinter with their parents.

Eastern Bluebirds especially favor the three Eastern White Pine trees in my yard. The tallest pine stands as gracious sentinel on the southeastern border, near the intersection of the gravel driveway with one of the county’s main roads and in proximity to hay fields and sunny meadows. The other two pines cluster close together at the northern end of the north retaining wall that demarcates the upper north terrace’s shade garden.

Several resident Eastern Bluebirds flash their distinctive blueness against late spring's cloud-patched blue skies as they comfortably fly on food or nesting missions from hidden homes high in the Eastern White Pines.

The colorful flashes remind me to appreciate the eastern bluebird’s tough resilience in claiming -- unlike now-extinct passenger pigeons -- new preferred arboreal haunts after being chased out of their all-time favorites, blight- and root rot-stricken American Chestnuts (Castanea dentata).

Eastern Bluebird female with young'un; parenthood in Alpharetta, northern Fulton County, northwestern Georgia; Thursday, May 10, 2007: lecates, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Bluebird pair; Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 11:35; photo by John Gresham: Virginia State Parks staff, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bluebird_Pair_(5571915138).jpg;
Virginia State Parks (vastateparksstaf), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/vastateparksstaff/5571915138/

Breeding Season, Nonbreeding Season and Year-Round Distribution of Eastern Bluebird; blue = native (nonbreeding seasons only); green = native (year round); yellow = native (breeding seasons only): rbrausse, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sialia_sialis_distribution.png

baby Eastern Bluebirds in May, Sky Meadows State Park, northwestern Fauquier County, Northern Virginia; Thursday, May 16, 2013, 11:24: Virginia State Parks staff, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_Easter_Bluebirds_(8744819426).jpg;
Virginia State Parks (vastateparksstaf), CC BY 2.0 Generica, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/vastateparksstaff/8744819426/

Eastern Bluebird female with young'un; parenthood in Alpharetta, northern Fulton County, northwestern Georgia; Thursday, May 10, 2007: lecates, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/lecates/492591980/

For further information:

"Eastern Bluebird: Life History." The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds > Guide.
Available @ http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/lifehistory

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper: Mosaic Colors of Pesky Romalea microptera

Summary: Eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea guttata) is a New World insect native to the southern United States and distinguished by striking colors and large size.

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, South Florida; Friday, Oct. 3, 2003, 16:39: Klaus Hoffmeier, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Romalea microptera is a New World grasshopper native to the southern United States. The voracious plant eater claims primary homelands throughout Florida and Georgia; northeastward into eastern South Carolina and central North Carolina; and northwestward into most of Georgia, southern Tennessee, southern Mississippi, western and southern Louisiana, and east central Texas.

The colorful, flightless insect also ranges into Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Romalea microptera (Ancient Greek: μικρός, mikrós, “small” + from πτερόν, pterón, “wing”) also has the scientific synonym of Romalea guttata (Latin: gutta, “speckle, spot”).

Romalea microptera is known commonly in English as Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, Southeastern Lubber Grasshopper or Georgia Thumper.

Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers favor moist, open areas, such as croplands, fields, lawns and roadsides. In Florida, the pesky natives proliferate in drainage ditches near citrus groves.

The journey to adulthood is prefaced by five -- sometimes six -- instars, or developmental stages, in nymphs.

Noticeable characteristics of Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers include vivid coloration of adults, flightlessness and large size.

Alternatively, adulthood may culminate in a dark morph variant, characterized by overall blackness punctuated by sparse, yet vivid orange and yellow marks.

In addition to vegetable crops and Florida's citrus groves, Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers enjoy: Amaryllidaceae family flowers, especially amaryllis (Amaryllis spp.), crinum (Crinum spp.) and narcissus (Narcissus spp.); pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata); pokeweed (Phytolacca Americana); sedges (Cyperaceae family); spurge nettle (Cnidoscolus stimulosus), also known as tread-softly.

On Wednesday, May 13, as I was walking along a popular trail about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south of my home, brilliant colors of gold, orange and red caught my attention in the green grass along the roadside.

An Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, measuring the length of my index finger at 3 inches (7.62 centimeters), lay peacefully on its right side, with no visible injuries or trauma to betray the cause of death.

Its place of death is an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper's habitat paradise. The site features acres of grass. A nearby mesic (Ancient Greek), or moist, landscape favors sedges (Cyperaceae family) and mixed deciduous (Latin: deciduus, "that which falls off") groves. Especially American sycamores (Platanus occidentalis) and willows (Salix spp.) dominate the groves. A halcyon roadside and a lengthily winding stream frame the vegetative landscape.

adult dark morph Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, University of Mississippi Field Station; Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014, 13:32: Fredlyfish4, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, South Florida; Friday, Oct. 3, 2003, 16:39: Klaus Hoffmeier, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romalea_microptera.jpg

adult dark morph Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, University of Mississippi Field Station; Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014, 13:32: Fredlyfish4, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romalea_guttata_UMFS_2014.JPG

For further information:

Kevan, D. Keith McE. “Romalea Guttata (Houttuyn), Name Change for Well-Known ‘Eastern Lubber Grasshopper’ (Orthoptera: Romaleidae).” Entomological News, vol. 91, no. 4 (September and October 1980): 139–140.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2693523

Scherer, Clay W., and John L. Capinera. "Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, Romalea microptera (Beauvois)(=guttata (Houttuyn))(Insecta: Orthoptera: Acrididae).” Featured Creatures > Entomology and Nematology Department > University of Florida IFAS Extension. October 1996; revised July 2013.
Available @ http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN13200.pdf
Available @ http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/lubber.htm#lifecycle

Red Winged Blackbird Eggs: Blue Green With Brown Black or Purple Marks

Summary: Red Winged Blackbird is a New World songbird liking such wetland flora as cattails and willows. Dark spots mark the large end of their pale blue green eggs.

Female Red-Winged Blackbird in Bluffer's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Central Canada: Mdf, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Agelaius phoeniceus is a New World passerine (Latin: passerinus, "of a sparrow"), or perching, bird native to North and Central America. The soniferous (Latin: sonus, "sound" + ferre, "to bear") percher enjoys a large native range for breeding, residency and wintering.

Breeding favors homelands in the northern continental, or Lower 48, United States and expands the expressive songbird's range.

In Canada, all ten of Canada's provinces and two (Northwest Territories and Yukon) of Canada's three territories welcome breeding Red Winged Blackbirds.

Expanded ranges for breeding in the United States include: northern Cook Inlet and northern Kalgin Island in Lower Cook Inlet in south central Alaska; between the Tanana and Yukon rivers in Alaska's east central districts of Fairbanks North Star Borough, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

Residency increases the range of Red Winged Blackbirds.

In Canada, Red Winged Blackbirds reside on the west coast along western coastal British Columbia, including southern Vancouver Island, and in the east in southeastern Ontario, southeastern Quebec and in Southern, or South Shore, Nova Scotia.

In the United States, Red Winged Blackbirds reside throughout the Lower 48.

In the northwestern Caribbean Sea, Red Winged Blackbirds reside on the southwestern Cuban island of Isla de la Juventud ("Isle of Youth") and in northwestern and southwestern Matanzas, southeastern Mayabeque and western Pinar del Río provinces in western mainland Cuba.

In the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, Red Winged Blackbirds reside on the islands of Abaco, Andros, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama and New Providence in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

In Mexico, except for two northwestern states of Sinaloa and Sonora, Red Winged Blackbirds reside in all remaining federal entities (29 states + federal district of Mexico City).

In Central America, Red Winged Blackbirds reside in northern Belize, southwestern to south central Guatemala, northwestern Honduras, western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica.

Wintering may occur in Mexico's northwestern and north central provinces of Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Nayarit, Sinaloa and Sonora.

Red Winged Blackbird distribution map; blue = breeding; green = year round; orange = wintering: Cephas, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Agelaius phoeniceus (Ancient Greek: ἀγελαῖος, agelaîos, "gregarious; in a flock" + Latin: phoeniceus, "deep red") is known commonly in English as Red Winged Blackbird.

Female and male Red Winged Blackbirds exhibit sexual dimorphism (Ancient Greek: δίς, dís, “twice” + μορφή, morphḗ, “form, shape” + -ισμός, -ismós, suffix forming abstract nouns). Males display bold coloring contrasting glossy blackness from head to tail with distinctive red and yellow epaulets, or shoulder patches. Smaller in size, females present overall dark brown coloration, with brown-and-buff breast and belly, and a whitish eyebrow.

During their breeding season, which may extend from February to August, peaking from mid-May to July, Red Winged Blackbirds lay a clutch of two to four beautiful pale eggs for each of one to two broods.

Shells are blue green to gray, with brown, black or purple markings that especially decorate the large end of the oval-shaped egg.

Red Winged Blackbirds favor such wetland habitats as fresh or saltwater marshes, rice paddies, vernal (Latin: vernalis, "of the spring") pools and willow (Salix spp.) forest areas.

Females build nests low, near the water surface in marshes or near the ground in drier locations, such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa) fields and sedge (Cyperaceae family) meadows.

Just hatched! Red Winged Blackbird chicks, Ernst Waterfowl Production Area, North Dakota; Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014: USFWS-Mountain Prairie, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Preferred flora for establishing their tightly woven cup-shaped nests include: cattails (Typha spp.), goldenrods (Solidago spp.), reeds (Phragmites australis), sedges (Cyperaceae family) and willows (Salix spp.).

As I was weeding the banks of the ephemeral creek that winds through the willow grove demarcating the west lawn, I uncovered a Red Winged Blackbird's broken, pale eggshell. The pale blue greenness of the shell was decorated with brownish black squiggles at the large end of the egg.

Ever since that discovery, a male Red Winged Blackbird has flown from the nearby cattail-filled vernal pool to perch on a willow a few feet across the creek from me. He stays awhile to serenade the world with beautiful sounds, of which my favorite calls are reminiscent of clear clinking and tinkling of glasses.

Helpful friends; flamboyant male Red Winged Blackbird picks ticks off White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Big Stone National Wildlife Area's native prairie habitat, west central Minnesotaa; photo by Naomi Ballard: US Fish and Wildlife Service -- Midwest Region (USFWSmidwest), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Female Red-Winged Blackbird in Bluffer's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Central Canada: Mdf, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agelaius_phoeniceus2.jpg

Red Winged Blackbird distribution map; blue = breeding; green = year round; orange = wintering: Cephas, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agelaius_phoeniceus.svg

Just hatched! Red Winged Blackbird chicks, Ernst Waterfowl Production Area, North Dakota; Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014: USFWS-Mountain Prairie, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmtnprairie/11857385834/

Helpful friends; Male Red Winged Blackbird and deer friend in Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge, west central Minnesota; photo by Naomi Ballard: US Fish and Wildlife Service -- Midwest Region (USFWSmidwest), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmidwest/9606730083/

For further information:

Hauber, Mark. E. The Book of Eggs: A Life-Size Guide to the Eggs of Six Hundred of the World's Bird Species. Lewes, UK: Ivy Press, 2014.

Jaramillo, Alvaro, and Peter Burke. New World Blackbirds: The Icterids. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.

"Red-winged Blackbird." Wild Bird Watching.
Available @ http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/Red-winged-Blackbird.html

"Red-winged Blackbird: Agelaius phoeniceus." Fairfax County Public Schools > Island Creek Elementary School > Study of Northern Virginia Ecology.
Available @ http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/red-winged_blackbird.htm

"Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)." National Park Service > Presidio of San Francisco > Learn about the Park > Explore Nature.
Available @ http://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/nature/red-winged-blackbird.htm

"Red-winged Blackbird: Life History." The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds > Guide.
Available @ http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird/lifehistory