Linda Millington, our volunteer coordinator, sent me a funny email about Gray Tree frogs that use her patio umbrella as a place to hide out during the day. Here’s what Linda shared: Every year we have at least two tree frogs that love our umbrellas around the pool. We have large cement bases for the […]

Dave Williams has a family of Pileated Woodpeckers nesting in his neighborhood. He caught a few great moments showing the parents active at the nest, bringing in food. For anyone wondering about the benefits of leaving dead trees standing, this is a prime example of how they’re used. Simply wonderful! I’ll post the other shots that […]

If you love butterflies, then you have to love caterpillars! and this cool cat is hanging out on the leaf of a Sassafras tree! (it really looks like this when young — we didn’t do any digital enhancements, really — it’s just one cool cat!) It’s hanging out there because the Sassafras tree is one of the […]

Been getting reports of Monarch butterflies lately and it’s quite exciting! If you planted a Monarch waystation last fall, the milkweed is hopefully up and drawing in the Monarch females to lay eggs! Laura McGranaghan discovered some eggs and an emerging caterpillar on some milkweed near her office and got some terrific photos.  Her mom, […]

I’m talking about our wood frog tadpoles.  Remember back to March 5-10 when the eggs were laid? And then I posted those under water photos of the eggs and newly hatched tadpoles? Well here they are a few weeks later.  They won’t really sit still for photos now that they’re bigger, (I guess the camera […]

I thought this would be fun to share with everyone…. an underwater view of wood frog eggs from last week as well as some photos from yesterday of the newly hatched wood frog tadpoles. Remember those rain events around March 5-10?  Well in spite of the chilly temperatures, Wood Frogs (along with Spotted and Jefferson […]

Harry Pavulaan posted his butterfly sightings on the VA-leps listserv yesterday! Makes me eager to get outside today and see what butterflies I come across as well!  Today in Leesburg (Loudoun County), all in Balls Bluff Regional Park except where noted: 6+ Summer Azures (Celastrina neglecta) spring form, 3 confirmed by net/release. One male had […]

Our Ruby-throated hummingbirds are starting to make their incredible 600 mile non-stop flight across the Gulf of Mexico! Last week, just like clockwork, the first brave birds showed up on US soil!  They arrive here in Loudoun right around April 15.  The anticipation is building!  I love when they arrive! You can track their migration (and report your […]

While they have the word common in their name, they’re a rare sighting in Loudoun. Joe Coleman had a couple visit his feeders last week though!  Check out these shots – and keep an eye on your feeders for an uncommon visitor! Two COMMON REDPOLLS and a brown Purple Finch visited one of my thistle […]

Here’s an exciting sighting from Joe Coleman from last week.  What a great encounter! From Joe: A Long-tailed Weasel with a bad case of mange on its rump just walked through the woods in front of our house.  At one point it pursued a squirrel up a tree but didn’t catch it.  Unfortunately, I did not have […]