I just recently started observing bagworm moth phenology at Nature's Notebook. I also observe the tufted titmouse. Today I got some photos of both that I did not expect: Photo: Cathie Bird on July 12, 2020 Photo by Cathie Bird on July 12, 2020 This titmouse (or maybe others) caught,... Continue reading

I originally planted lavender for my use. The plant is several years old now, doing well, and making lots of flowers this season. I'm not the only critter in the holler who likes it. Continue reading

My first titmouse fledglings, first photo of a northern parula, and the holler's first great spangled fritillary of 2020. Continue reading

Yesterday as I was returning from my CSA veggie pick-up, I had to share the lane with a snapping turtle! I squeezed safely past her/him and drove on up to the house to drop off the produce and grab a camera. Approaching slowly and with caution, I got this photo: Continue reading

As the nation is gripped in the throes of large-scale protests and there are calls for justice in the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, as well as for an end to systemic racism and police brutality, this excerpt from Elizabeth Hinton’s From the War on Poverty to the... Continue reading

Time to do a toad post! So often I see toads -- especially around my planters -- but don't have a camera. This week the sounds, sights and good fortune capturing images of toads all came together. Continue reading

Northern Cardinal (Cardinális cardinális) - male - May 14, 2020. [Photo: Cathie Bird] Northern Cardinal (Cardinális cardinális) - female - May 14, 2020. [Photo: Cathie Bird] Continue reading

Looks like the holler will have a pair of yellow-throated warblers nesting again this year. Continue reading

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheúcticus ludoviciánus) - male - May 14, 2020 [Photo: Cathie Bird] Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheúcticus ludoviciánus) - female - May 12, 2020 [Photo: Cathie Bird] Continue reading

Trillium species -- at my end of the holler, at least -- had fewer flowers last year. I observe two Trillium grandiflorum plants which both produced a flower in 2020. Trillium-2 came up first and had a bud by March 22nd: On the same day, I caught the emergence of... Continue reading

A Carolina wren spent several minutes checking for bugs in this planter, sat on a post above a bird feeder, then spent some time on feather maintenance...Great fun for me to watch on a gray, rainy, chilly day in the holler. Continue reading

American goldfinch female sits on my rain gauge. May 12, 2020 [Photo: Cathie Bird] Continue reading

Indigo bunting (male) on May 12, 2020. [Photo: Cathie Bird] Continue reading

I have some photos and stories about plants ready to compose but I face a major distraction: birds. Lots of birds. Different kinds of birds. Birds I've not seen here before. So first I'm going to do a post on what's flying, singing, eating and nesting in the holler this... Continue reading

Following my decision to "hole up" in the holler around March 2nd, I signed up for the online nature journaling and field sketching course at Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird Academy, and made a discovery for future posts at HollerPhenology. Continue reading

Cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) on February 27, 2020. Photo: Cathie Bird Yesterday I discovered a cutleaf toothwort, the first of the flowering plants I observe at Nature's Notebook to emerge this spring. Today's photo shows the initial leaves of a second plant behind the more prominent one. It came up... Continue reading

On my first holler-walk since the subfreezing temperatures of last week, I didn't need a coat and didn't take my camera. Of course, I found all kinds of things to report: Amur honeysuckle and multiflora rose have a few leaves as well as plenty of leaf buds. I also found... Continue reading

Screen shot of a Status of Spring page map at USA National Phenology Network A few days ago I saw four turkey hens feeding together in the field where at least one of them will probably raise some chicks in a few months. Overhead the same day, I heard calls... Continue reading

A snapdragon survives the first hard frost. Photo: Cathie Bird, 11/16/19. An acorn germinates on the lane. Photo: Cathie Bird, 11/28/19. Scars on the apple tree. Photo: Cathie Bird, 12/25/19. Lichen, moss and leaves on the lane. Photo: Cathie Bird, 12/26/19. Remains of orange coneflower fruits. Photo: Cathie Bird. 12/26/19. Continue reading

Flower, Dogtooth violet (Erythronium americanum) on April 3, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird] Flower bud, Dogtooth violet (Erythronium americanum) on March 27, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird] Dogtooth Violet-3 on April 6, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird] Breaking buds, Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra) on March 19, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird] Buckeye leaves on... Continue reading

Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) on November 28, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird] The Amur honeysuckle was the last plant on my Nature's Notebook observation list to lose all of it leaves this fall. The last ones came down sometime before December 2nd. White Heath Aster (Symphotricum ericoides) on November 16, 2019.... Continue reading

In the past few weeks I've experienced a strong desire to revisit the TV series The West Wing that ran on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. Somewhat synchronously, as I began watching the show's first season on DVD, I received email notification of Weekly Vlog 137... Continue reading

Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) leaves on March 12, 2019. [Photo: Cathie Bird] I'm going to start this post with an ecopsychological observation as well as a phenological one. This past January 8th, I sensed (rather than saw) a fluttering outside my study window, and turned just in time to see... Continue reading

I still regard my encounter with a bug at Karma Dzong -- a meditation practice center in Boulder, Colorado -- with wonder and awe. Up to a certain point, what the bug did might be interpreted as simple coincidence, having nothing to do with my presence, thoughts, intentions or projections toward it. What unfolded beyond that point, however, compelled me to question some basic assumptions about what's possible in humanity's relationship to nature and any individual being within that field. The Shambhala Center at 14th and Spruce in Boulder, Colorado, known to me at the time of my bug encounter... Continue reading

My holler walk with Shadow on 11/11/18 [Photo: Cathie Bird] Peak color for most of the trees in the holler happened around the 25th of October. With windy storm fronts moving through during the first week of November, many of the leaves came down. RedMaple2, for example, lost all remaining... Continue reading