Looks Like Spring to Me

Hepatica blooming today.

Mt. Roosevelt Trestle

Fossil Fuel Extraction Endangered List

The list includes a beautiful fish that the team at Conservation Fisheries is working hard to save:

Kentucky Arrow Darter: Toxic waste from mountaintop coal mining is poisoning streams and killing the rare Kentucky arrow darter fish (and contaminating the drinking water of downstream communities). The arrow darter has been wiped out from more than half of its range.

The full list and story is here...

Today at Hiwassee Refuge

We did get a view of the Hooded Cane as it flew by but nothing to show a picture of. We had a Whooping crane for a few minutes until it turned into an albinistic Sandhill crane...a rare enough white colored sandhill but not a Whooper.
I was amazed at the number of folks from foreign states and even countries that were hanging around. Some folks had been there for ten hours when we arrived. The light was pretty marginal for photos, as you can see from the above.

Golden Christmas

Our Christmas Eve hike led us by this little winter jewel, a blooming goldenrod on the lip of Walden Ridge. It sits in a small patch of dirt between the sandstone outcroppings that layer the last pitch to the ridge top. It would have been easy to miss or step on. I have no idea what species it is. In such harsh micro habitat, a particular plant can get dwarfed and twisted in the fight to survive, and the normal identifying characteristics escape me and my book.

December Anole

Taken this afternoon with my Christmas present to myself...

She's Alive...For Now

In the Morning Mist

Fossil?

I noticed this rock that turned up when I was digging on the edge of a service road above the creek. We see fossils in sandstone a lot but nothing like this in a conglomerate. The rock itself is about 6 inches across. What can anyone tell us about this?

More pictures

Whites Creek Fossil

November Morning

Seems like it is staying beautiful longer this year.

Morning after the storm

I was expecting all the leaves to be knocked to the ground but this was the view in the early light. As you can tell, in winter we don't get first light. The Rhea County side of Whites Creek Gorge hogs it all. That's fine with me because we get the views.

Looking Up the Hill

Taken from the bedroom balcony looking north. We're getting storms today so this may be the peak. I am amazed at how the same view looks so different as the light changes at different times of the day.

 Here's another shot in different light. The main tree species from left are black oak(still green), shag bark hickory, tulip tree (triple trunk, also mistakenly called yellow poplar), assorted soft maples, dogwoods, and a southern red cedar (actually a juniper).

Evening

Morning

Sunday Around the Yard

A Dahlia from the garden.

I think this plant is the most under appreciated plant in Tennessee. It'a a Farkleberry. (Yeah, I know) It's native and is a most beautiful landscape plant. The berries are edible, though a bit seedy. The foliage is spectacular in Fall. And it grows in lousy soil...But slowly. So it won't be a nursery favorite. Would you pay a bit more for a native plant that was good for the environment and the native wildlife?

I would!  This one is just outside my kitchen window.

Fall

Fall Visitors Now Dropping In

This Summer Tanager hasn't been seen all summer but is hanging out at the suet feeder for a few days now that it's fall. We've had scarlet tanagers all summer until a few weeks ago. This guy seems almost tame. Too bad he likes the shadows. A full sun photo would be spectacular. 

"Crack Them Dams Wide Open!"

American Rivers is the premier organization in the USA that works on the restoration and protection of America's waterways. One of their projects is to remove old dams and restore free flow where it can be done safely. You can watch this happen today.

Whites Creek Gorge Natural Area

I'm working on a slideshow for a project that involves Whites Creek.

The Difference a Day Makes

Compare to the last set of pictures.