Category Archives: Journal

Lula Lake Winter Wonderland – January 2014

Leave a reply

We (along with much of the rest of the country) have experienced a couple of significant cold snaps recently – Polar Vortex is what I’ve been hearing it called.  In any case, I thought it might provide an opportunity to see some iced waterfalls, and fortunately the Lula Lake Core Property “open day” on January 25 corresponded with one of these cold snaps where we had several days with temperatures staying well below freezing.  My son-in-law and I grabbed some warm clothes and headed up onto the mountain.  It was everything we’d hoped for; here are a few images…

Lula Falls

Partially frozen Lula Falls

Continue reading →

Reflections of Fall – #Fall_Colors

Leave a reply

My wife and I headed out for some sunrise photography a couple of days ago, but as we rummaged around getting ready, we were almost too late for the sunrise – not quite, as you can see below, but almost.

Flintstone Sunrise

Flintstone Sunrise

Fortunately, it was a beautiful brisk morning and the fall colors were just about peak, so we spent some time photographing various scenery.  I’m not a landscape photographer, but some of the reflections of the fall colors in a local pond made a few of the photographs worth posting here so I don’t lose track of them.  Below are my favorites, generally south to north across the pond; click on the photo for a larger image.

Continue reading →

#Jeep and #Fall_Colors

Leave a reply

The driveway to my daughter’s house goes through a lovely wooded area – beautiful year round, but especially in the fall when the leaves are at their peak.  My wife and I were out photographing the sunrise this morning, and I was positioning the tripod-mounted camera for photographing their driveway when one of our grandsons came by on his way to his college classes.   I just liked the sequence with the jeep.  BTW, he did stop to chat.

Jeep and Fall Colors

Jeep and Fall Colors

Continue reading →

A Drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway – Roanoke to Hillsville #fallcolors #brp

1 Reply

My wife and I were trying to get back home on Friday, 10/5, for a grandson’s final football game of the season (6th grade), but we managed to carve out a few hours for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway between Roanoke and Hillsville in Virginia.  We were glad we did.  The weather was wonderful, and the colors, while not yet to peak, were quite wonderful.

Tree in fall garb along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Tree in fall garb along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Continue reading →

Double Trillium grandiflorum – Nantahala Gorge

Leave a reply

As my wife and I were returning from North Carolina on Monday, we passed a huge display of Trillium grandiflorum along the roadway.  (Several Trillium simile also included – we’ll see those later.)  Amongst the display I found this double form of the plant.  I don’t recall seeing one before.  6 petals, 6 leaves (bracts), 6 sepals (presumably, I see 5 in the photo, but didn’t count because I was precariously positioned on the roadbank taking the photo.)

Double Trillium grandiflorum

Double Trillium grandiflorum

Continue reading →

#Waterfalls and #Wildflowers – The Pocket – an Early Spring? 02/04/2013

3 Replies

On Monday, Feb 4, I took a ride down to The Pocket at Pigeon Mountain with a couple of my grandsons – Chase and Jeff.  To a great extent this was to get them out from in front of their computers/video games, but also, since we’ve had such a warm winter, to check to see if there were any early signs of spring.  We walked the boardwalk and all the way up to and above the falls.  We had a good time, and even though I was expecting some indication that spring is around the corner, I was surprised…

Waterfalls in The Pocket by USWildflowers, on Flickr

Waterfalls in The Pocket

Continue reading →

Riverwalk #Birding this week – Gadwall, Hooded Merganser, and More…

Leave a reply

From time to time my wife claims that I can be obsessive, but I don’t know what she’s talking about.  On a completely unrelated subject, I’ve been to the Chattanooga Riverwalk at least 5 times in the past couple of weeks.  On Mondays I have the privilege of spending the afternoon with two of my home-school grandsons, Chase and Jeff, so this week we walked a couple of miles of the Chattanooga Riverwalk, and then on Tuesday Cindy and I visited the pond next to the Curtain Pole Road parking area of the Riverwalk.  They were a good two days for our birding – we were able to photograph three lifers we’ve seen during these couple of weeks of walking the Riverwalk.  Here are some photos; the Gadwalls and Mergansers are from the pond next to Curtain Pole Road, and the Green-winged Teal was on the pond at Amnicola Marsh.

Hooded Merganser - Lophodytes cucullatus by USWildflowers, on Flickr

The Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) is pretty shy. This is typical of how it positioned itself.

Continue reading →

Another Visit to Amnicola Marsh #Birding #Wetlands

Leave a reply

A doctor’s appointment took me out to the foot of Missionary Ridge on Thursday morning, and since I was out in the vicinity I decided to make another visit to the Amnicola Marsh along the Chattanooga Riverwalk.  I was hoping to get a closer look at the Hooded Mergansers we’d spotted a week earlier.  And while those ducks were there, I once again proved that not only am I a rookie as a birder, I’m still a rookie as a bird photographer.  I can get frame-filling photos of birds that act like wildflowers – allowing me to approach closely and spend some time taking several photos, as did the Canada Goose and the Mockingbird shown below.

 

Canada Goose - Branta canadensis by USWildflowers, on Flickr

Canada Goose – Branta canadensis

Continue reading →

A Visit to Pigeon Marsh

Leave a reply

There is a small but scientifically significant marsh on the top of Pigeon Mountain in Walker County, Georgia.  While my many visits to Pigeon Mountain are for wildflower photography, there’s not a lot of that going on in January, so my wife and two of our grandsons visited the Pigeon Marsh on Wednesday, Jan 23.  This marsh was shown to me a year or so ago by Jay Clark, a gentleman with more knowledge of the natural history of Pigeon Mountain than any other I know.

Pigeon Marsh by USWildflowers, on Flickr

My grandson inspecting Pigeon Marsh

Continue reading →