Holy Smokies Part I

I just got back last night from my first trip to the Smoky Mountains; wow, what a spot!  In speaking with a friend last summer that has been a number of times I knew I had to experience the spring wildflowers at their peak.  I'm going through a tonne of photos but thought I'd share a few tonight.

Here's a view looking south over North Carolina from Newfound Gap.  After running a bit late trying to get to our first scheduled hike of the 65th annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage (realizing we had missed our meeting point in the central part of the park only when we had driven well into North Carolina), Alyssa and I spent the first day exploring on our own.  Newfound Gap is one of the higher elevations in the park making for significantly cooler temperatures.

The following days were spent at lower elevations among rich mature forests filled with all sorts of species new to me including 2 species of Rhododendron which you see growing in profusion along the banks of this stream.  The park has great Wood Turtle habitat and they are known to be present in stable numbers.

The trip was certainly plant-heavy, fuelled by the diverse greenery (which changed it's composition every hundred yards) and my co-worker and fellow field botanist Andrew who also came down for the trip.  I was hoping to see at least one of the 30 salamander species known from the park but came up empty handed (that's what you get searching leaf piles at seeps for a total of 10 generous minutes over the course of 3 days!).  Anyways, this Eastern Gartersnake was basking contently in the 20-28°C sun we had all week long.

One trail yielded a flurry of a dozen or so Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.  So much fun to have a bunch of these flitting around you as you walk along.

I spotted an interesting mix of bees, butterflies and moths all puddling together on some damp soil, busy spot.

At our rented cabin we had some interesting wildlife including this Azalea Sphinx moth (and a tonna of Stink Bugs - Tennessee apparently has a bit of an infestation).

A pair of Scarlet Tanagers sang and perched among the trees 25m off the porch, I've got to say I'm happy with this little point and shoot I've had for about a year now.  It was awesome having a beer or three on the balcony and each night we had a single Whip-poor-will calling down to the left and further out approximately 4-6 Chuck Will's-widow calling late into the night.  I've been listening to the call to take me right back to relaxing on that porch.

I got a decent shot of this Blue-headed Vireo

Silver-spotted Skipper

And this I swear had the makings of a West Virginia White, it flew off before I got a decent shot but from what I saw (and the endless carpets of toothwort - it's host plant), I think it may very well have been one.

Stay tuned for more updates from the Smokies as well as Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky!