Wildflower Pilgrimage

Bluets

 When our friend suggested we join them at the 63rd annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage at the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, we gladly agreed, since we haven't been to the park for many years. I thought the name was unusual, until I looked it up.

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith, although sometimes it can be a metaphorical journey into someone's own beliefs.

Purple Phacelia and Robin's Plantain

Since the GSMNP has over 500,000 acres, we didn't get to see everything, of course, but we usually put in 8 - 9 miles hiking each day in different parts of the park. Sessions covered wildflowers, of course, but ferns, mosses, trees and shrubs, birds, and other topics of interest to the nature pilgrim, led by experts in the field. Sometimes the leaders were a little too expert, and academic, so I appreciated anyone who spoke English rather than Latin when discussing the flowers!



Columbine




One trip went to Cade's Cove for birding, following the winding road tucked between a roaring mountain stream and high limestone cliffs. You have to keep your eye on the road in such conditions, but my attention was distracted by bright red flowers clinging to the cliff as we rounded one corner. "Columbine!" I shouted, soon followed by "Fire Pink!" On the way back, we drove extra slowly, searching for the cliff with these two flowers we had seen nowhere else. A narrow pull off area allowed us to risk life and limb crossing the road to peer up at the rocks for columbine and fire pinks who prefer this habitat.

 

Fire Pink

Painted Trillium

Trilliums are the stars of the wildflowers in the Smokey Mountains, as we saw many different varieties, but my target for the week was the painted trillium, which I have never seen anywhere. We asked if anyone knew where they were, and only one group had spotted them on one certain trail. It rained all day, but we were determined to find them! So it's pouring as we make the 2.2 mile one-way climb up Porter Trail. As we began to think about giving up, we turned one last corner and there they were! About 15 painted trilliums grew on a large mossy boulder, shining wetly in the rain. I expected them to be as large as the others, but these were only 3 - 4 inches tall, probably due to the limited nutrition available when living on a rock! Laughing in triumph, we celebrated with BBQ at the bottom of the road.

 

Sweet White Trillium

 

The large white trillium and yellow trilliums were more common than the painted trillium, but I never tired of seeing them. I don't know which is more beautiful - a hillside covered in trilliums or focusing in on the heart of just one perfect flower.

 

Yellow Trillium

Although I avoid the Latin scientific names as much as possible, I'm starting to swing the other way. It's hard enough to recognize the plants and learn all the common names for them, but many related flowers, such as trilliums, are so similar and the multiple common names are so confusing, that I'm starting to learn Latin for them. Sigh!

Sweet Orchis

Orchids are always a prize finding on any wildflower trip. The showy orchis bloomed everywhere...

Yellow Lady's Slipper

...but we had to make a long hike for the yellow lady's slipper. 

Maidenhair Fern

 

What else did I learn on my pilgrimage? Take a magnifying glass or loupe along - it's essential for identifying most ferns, and fascinating for any plant. Learn the proper names for the parts as much as possible - the vocabulary doesn't transfer over from flowers to ferns. Mosses don't have common names at all, so I'll just make up my own. Get a small white umbrella to use as a filter for bright sunlight. Use low gear when driving downhill in the mountains, and pull off to let the speedsters pass while you enjoy the view. Don't let rain stop you. Everything dries once you get back to the motel, and you feel so strong by reaching you goal even in the rain. Take lots of Aleve for sore feet and back muscles. Be sure you have a fully charged extra battery for your camera. Yes, indeed, I was a nature pilgrim at the Wildflower Pilgrimage. 

Spring is Here!

 

 

A little bird, he told me so
He said come on, get on the go

 

 

Open your eyes the sky is full of butterflies

 

 

 

The blossoms on the trees stir up the honey bees

 

 

Spring makes my fever right

 

 

Spring fever, spring is here at last

 

 

Spring fever, my heart’s beating fast

 

 

Get up, get out spring is everywhere!

 

 Don't waste time! The Spring wildflowers don't last long. It you wait, you might miss it!

Follow the Birders to Goose Pond

Muskrat Den in Marsh

The Kentucky Bird List sends emails to subscribers about sightings in this state, and, of course, Indiana has one too, but I don't subscribe to it. Others in the Beckham Bird Club do, however, and at the board meeting they were talking about a Redshank sighted at Goose Pond, IN. "What's that?" I asked, and as birders do, someone pulled out their smart phone to show me a picture. It is a Eurasian sandpiper-like bird with bright orange-red legs and bill. It doesn't belong in mid-America though, and would be considered a very rare bird here. Hmmm, I've heard about Goose Pond, and this might be a good opportunity to explore it and get a rare bird on the same day. Let's do it! Google maps says it's about 2.5 hours from Louisville, on two lane roads most of the way, to Linton, in western Indiana. "Just look for all the cars and follow the birders."

The flat corn fields spread for miles, with natural gas pumps nodding here and there. Suddenly the sun shines off water, as lakes, ponds and shallow pools in the corn fields announcing my arrival at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area. The last glaciation flattened most of Indiana, and left a large ice chunk at Goose Pond creating a basin which still retains water due to the clay layer underneath. Farmers fought with the marshiness for years, with limited success. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) purchased the entire 8,000-acre Goose Pond site from a private landowner in 2005. The Goose Pond project is part of several very large Wetland Reserve Projects that NRCS has put together up and down the Wabash River to help re-establish part of the weave of the Mississippi flyway. As a result, Goose Pond is attracting some of the most diverse birds that anyone has ever seen in the state. Listen to these chuckling leopard frogs! I thought they were some kind of strange bird at first.

Northern Shovelers and Blue Winged Teal Ducks

I followed the birders, who all had long faces. "No luck today," they said. Although the Redshank had been sighted for 4-5 days, it was gone now. Goose Pond attracts the normal water birds - ducks, geese, Sandhill Cranes, and sandpipers, but in its short existence, has also hosted a number of very unusual birds for Indiana, including a Roseate Spoonbill, Whooping Cranes (whose whereabouts are not broadcast to the birding world), a Hooded Crane (also from Asia), and Black-necked Stilt.

Look at the normal range for the Redshank! I know that birds can fly from the Arctic to Antarctic on a regular basis, but Indiana is definitely NOT in the normal territory of this bird. I was sorry to miss it. But of course, Goose Pond is about 8,000 acres, and it could easily have moved to a different area, along with the Black-necked Stilt which I also missed. I often wonder how the first birds who needed to move developed the whole pattern of migration. How in the world did this one bird get so far off track and away from everything familiar? Now it will have to find its way home somehow.

American Pelicans

I did, however, get some good views of about 500 American Pelicans, Double Crested Cormorants...

 

Green-Winged Teal

...some Green-Winged Teal, Northern Harriers, American Kestrels...

Rough-legged Hawk

...and a beautiful Rough-legged Hawk. I actually lugged my scope for at least a mile, moaning about its weight every step. I need a scope wallah - a servant who does nothing but carry and setup the scope when I want it. Had trouble getting it to focus well too, or is that just my eyes at this stage of life? Hooray for Indiana, for restoring wetlands - we need more of them!



March Madness

Bufflehead Ducks on Ohio River

Yes, in Kentucky, March Madness means basketball. Well, don't shoot me, but I don't really care about basketball. 

Coots Looking for a Handout at Freeman Lake

But when the KY Bird List sends a notice about some cool bird that has been sighted, that's when I go into action. Get out the bins! Put gas in the tank! Buy a large cup of coffee at Thornton's! It's time for a ROAD TRIP! Yesterday Pat and Jane Bell said the white trout lilies were blooming at Bernheim, and Common Loons in breeding plumage were at Freeman Lake. WooHoo! That's worth a trip, so let's go.

Bloodroot

Now, here's where the madness part comes in. When I left home at 9:30 this morning it was 22 degrees! Hey, it's supposed to be Spring, right? How about some sunshine, and warm breezes? Nope, cold temps, a few snow flurries, and a biting wind coming across the lake. BRRRRR! But when March Madness hits, I have to just suck it up, put on the long johns, and head out anyway.

White Trout Lily

 I looked online but could not find an answer to a pressing question in my mind this morning. When it's this cold, why don't the early blooming wild flowers freeze? Do they have some sort of anti-freeze in their sap? Dick is taking a botany class at U of L this semester, so I asked him to see if his professor knows. Look how small these trout lilies are compared to the brown leaves. They always bloom early and I usually miss them, but not this year! The bloodroot is still wrapped in its protecting leaf, like a child wearing a coat. When the sun comes out for a few days, they will open up for pollination.

Turkey Vulture Sunning at Bernheim Forest

This solitary Turkey Vulture at Bernheim looks pretty cold. Did you know they can reduce their body temperature at night, then sit in the sun to warm back up in the morning?

Common Loon - Freeman Lake

Common Loons were the target bird du jour at Freeman Lake. About 5 individuals swam there - waaayyyy out in the middle, of course. Got some great looks through the scope. I've only seen them in winter colors, and these were in the full black and white.

Pied-billed Grebe - Freeman Lake

The little Pied-billed Grebes swam closer to shore, and their stubby little beaks are unmistakable. I thought I saw some Horned Grebes with horns, but they were so far away I was probably just imagining it.

Red Breasted Mergansers

A small flock of Red Breasted Mergansers napped on the water. Although the wind was blowing fiercely, their head feathers always look like they are having a bad feather day. A little later, they all woke up and the males competed to see who could raise his head the highest as the females watched.


Killdeer at Freeman Lake

Couldn't resist two little killdeer. They are so seldom close and on the ground for a nice photo.

Duck Love

Freeman Lake is known for some of the oddest colored ducks you've ever seen. Now I know why. Duck Love was the popular activity on the lake today. Sometimes 3-4 males tried to mate with the same female at the same time. She was clear under water for quite a while, and I assume she can hold her breath for a long time. Hey, get a room guys!

Why Do Birds Matter?

 

Hermit Thrush

Why am I a birder? Why do birds matter in general, and specifically, why do they matter to me? Wow, such serious thoughts for a birder to have after a blustery morning of birding in March! We received the March/April issue of Audubon Magazine this week, and it is particularly thought provoking. Then Jeff Gordon, President of the American Birding Association, was the speaker at the Beckham Bird Club annual banquet last night, and talked about the image birders present to the world.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

The magazine quotes the opinions of famous and not-so-famous birders, and you will probably agree with them. Birds make any place a chance for discovery. Birds are important because they keep systems in balance. Their fate is our own. Birds remind us that there are angels. Our hearts soar on their wings and their songs. What’s good for the birds is also good for us.

Brown Creeper Camouflaged

The article that caught my interest, however, was entitled "Follow the Money."

Some might not realize the tangible value of birds, but it would be foolish to underestimate how tough life would be without them.

Birds keep farmers in business. They provide critical information about our environment, also known as "ecosystem services." History is packed with stories of birds saving the day from an invasion of insects. Just picture those elusive little warblers, patiently jumping from leaf to leaf looking for insects. Raptors provide natural rodent control without damaging the environment for other animals or plants.

Brown Creeper

Birds stimulate the economy by being beautiful and attracting birders by the thousands. I know how much I spend on birding equipment and travel. U.S. Fish and Wildlife made a study in 2006 estimating that birders spend $12 billion annually on travel, and an additional $24 billion on equipment like binoculars, camping gear and nest boxes. That money ripples through the economy and generates $82 billion in output, employs 671,000 people and enriches state and federal governments by $10 billion. Have you been to any of the big birding festivals recently? Yes, I would believe these figures. What this country needs is more birders! Why can't some politician base a campaign on this?

Great Horned Owlets

Of course, not everyone is interested in birds enough to go out on a cold snowy morning in March, just to look for birds. In fact, many people would say we are all crazy to do so! But lots of people like to stay nice and warm at home looking at their computer or soap operas on TV, and the birding option for those folks is Nest Cams on the Internet. There are many options for about any species you can name. People can get addicted to true reality TV by watching these nest cams. You see the patience and diligence of the mother on the nest, no matter what the weather. You watch as the parents struggle to find enough food for their growing youngsters. If a predator appears, you gasp in horror. In short, that family becomes yours, and that feeling of connection, of relation, makes all the difference. You cheer when the chicks leave the nest, and hope they can survive in the big bad world out there. It makes you think of your own children....Now the birds are important, where before was merely indifference. Why do birds matter? Because they are like us.

Owling in Paradise

 

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

I remember hearing John Denver sing this song when I was in college, and yesterday I went birding at this very place. In the late 1950's, the Bucyrus-Erie Company got the contract to build the world's largest shovel, to be known as the 3850. It took two years to build and each piece was shipped by rail to the new mine at Paradise, to be named the Sinclair Strip Mine. Roads had to be built and a special rail line was made. Special rail cars were made just to haul some of the parts of this big shovel. The assembly of the shovel took eleven months. Once the mine became operational, some of the construction people became miners. In the mean time, TVA was building the world's largest power plant nearby. In the early 1960's, the Sinclair Mine became operational as well as the Paradise Steam Plant. For the next twenty-five years, Sinclair Mines and Paradise Steam Plant were partners in the production of power.

In 1986, the Sinclair Mine had removed most of the coal in the area. The 3850 Shovel was not through. It had been a "star" and the center of attention for almost three decades and it had one more job to perform. With fanfare, the news media, a lot of the miners, the company that built the machine and the company that operated the machine, State and Federal Government and the EPA looking on, the 3850 had one more big dig to make. It would now be used to dig its' own grave. The 3850 faced the new pit and started to dig. It settled into its' final resting place and was soon covered with the Kentucky soil and rocks that it had been digging for a quarter of a century. Peabody had to reclaim the barren pits under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, and now Kentucky Fish and Wildlife operates the Peabody WMA there.

 

Preston and Shari Forsythe live nearby and regularly post to the KY Bird List about the birds they see at the Sinclair unit at Peabody WMA, and they invited me to join them for an evening of "Owling in Paradise." Glad I went with someone experienced, since I would quickly have become lost of the gravel roads in the gathering darkness.  Arriving about an hour or so before sunset, we were immediately treated by 5-6 Short-eared Owls chasing each other around on one of the warmest afternoons in months.

 



As we drove slowly with our windows down, Shari spotted what she thought to be a Mockingbird perched nearby. Closer inspection revealed a Loggerhead Shrike glowing in the sun! We all expected to see them in Florida, but this is the second I've found in Kentucky this winter.  Shrikes hunt the same small mammals as the owls and harriers in this area.




At times, the Harriers and Owls would chase each other. Territorial disputes? There seemed to be so many birds in the same place that the mice didn't stand a chance.

 

The Paradise power plant still operates with TVA, and the smoke billowing from the towers has a distinct yellow tinge to it. I wonder what their scrubber capacity is. I am definitely torn by this issue. I want a clean environment for our wildlife and birds, yet I depend on electricity just like everyone else. I don't like strip mines (and definitely not mountaintop removal), but since the mines closed, the economy of this area has taken a big hit. Not prosperous looking by any means. Some of the lakes and ponds have water, but I didn't see cattails growing along the edges. I assume Fish and Wildlife keeps an eye on the acid levels here, but I do wonder a bit...

We hoped to get a glimpse of the Pan-STARR comet just after sunset, but a layer of haze or clouds blocked our view. While standing on the highpoint of the S2 area, we must have sighted 14-15 owls, given that it's hard to keep an accurate count of rapidly flying birds. Driving out again, we found another 4-5 owls perched in branches, looking all around as we crept up to them so I could take a quick photo through the car window.  Wonderful owling this trip, but I'm still working on a really good closeup. As Scarlett O'Harra said, "Tomorrow is another day."

Winter Birding Close to Home

Guess I didn't get enough birding in Florida last week, since I went out again here at home. Several people from our bird club have seen a White-winged Scoter on the Ohio River, which is a life bird for me. According to the field guide, this sea duck should be wintering along the coast or the Great Lakes. This lone female must have gotten blown out of her territory by one of the recent winter storms. The Overlook is also home to domestic geese and ducks, and some pretty strange looking hybrids. My favorite is the tuxedo duck - a cross between white domestics and wild Mallards.

Nearby Perrin Park is a nice neighborhood park, which hosts some surprising birds sometimes, and is always worth a quick visit. Canada Geese are the dominant species every day, but this time I found three little Ross's Geese paddling around with the big guys, and one solitary male Hooded Merganser. I've never seen Northern Shovelers paddling around in circles with their heads under water before!

Visitors must be few and far between at the feeding station. I walked there for another look, and got absolutely mobbed by geese and ducks looking for a handout! If a child had been with me, I would have picked it up and run away! I was surprised that all the geese were wearing leg tags.

One goose tugged on my heartstrings though. She obviously had a broken wing and could not fly. She followed me around the platform begging for food. If she can't find it on the ground or in the lake, she must go hungry since she can't fly to another source of food.

Although it still plenty cold to me this afternoon, if Sandhills are starting back north, other winter visitors will be leaving soon as well. So I thought it would be a good time to head out to Shelby County, KY, to check on the Short-eared Owls there. Arriving about 45 minutes before sunset is usually a good time to find them, and 3-4 were flying low over the fields. Some of these photos are a little clearer than the first time, but are still fuzzy due to the distance. The house down the road has SEOs sitting on fence posts in their back yard. I may try this location one more time, and knock on their door to ask if I can use their yard. I bet they don't even know about these beautiful birds!