The dark-eyed junco is my favorite mountain songbird. It's just one beautiful little bird. Their preferred habitat is what you see here, brushy areas on the highest mountaintops in the Smokies and Appalachia. In the winter when the high mountains are covered in ice and snow, they will come down to the valleys and often be seen at bird feeders. This image was taken on the Forney Ridge trail on Clingman's Dome. The rocks you see are the actual trail. When walking the high mountain trails in the warmer months, the rustling you hear in the brush is almost alway a junco. I've been trying to capture a junco for years in their preferred habitat and finally got this one.

“The most visited national park, up to 10 million people, offers free entry,” said Keith Bellows, editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler. “You’re going to have to kiss that goodbye.”

Link

I don't know if Mr. Bellows is familiar with the history of the Park, why fees are not collected, or the political firestorm that would ensue if a fee proposal were to become serious. My bet is it will never happen. The Park will be allowed to die first which, umm, is pretty much what's happening right now. The image was taken Tuesday morning on the pothole-infested Cades Cove Loop Road.

This evening a total eclipse of the moon will start at 10pm and last about an hour. Read more about it at NASA.

The melting of the Arctic sea ice can sometimes seem like a distant theoretical subject better left for lectures by scientists and professors. To bring the subject home and see how much ice has already melted, click here for an interactive display. Use the slider control in the upper right to select the year. Notice the huge amount lost just in the last year. (apologies if this display made it into An Inconvenient Truth. I never had a chance to see it.)

Thursday evening 12/13 and into early Friday morning the night sky should put on a really good show. The Geminid Meteor Shower should start it's opening act around 10pm and peak around 2am. From Space.com:

"The Geminid Meteors are usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing the famous Perseids of August."

via Americablog

Update: From the AP: Ominous Arctic melt worries experts.

"The 4,500-acre lifestyle resort would include two lakes, a ski area served by a 3-mile gondola, more than 1 million square feet of retail space, a campground, a 305-suite resort hotel and conference center, a golf course and several thousand single family homes and condominiums."

From the Mountaineer, via AllSmokies.

Update: An interview with the local promoter at Smoky Mountain News.

Thinking maybe a bird will cheer things up a bit with all the bad news lately. The nuthatch always brightens my day with their whimsical preference of looking out at the world from upside-down. I wonder if nuthatches get knots in their neck.

Randy's recent foray into photographing the Perseid meteors (and now nails from space) got me to wondering if it would be possible to photograph man-made space objects with everyday camera gear. NASA publishes a very detailed guide on when the International Space Station (ISS) and the shuttle are visible in your area. The guide can be a little confusing at first, but it's easy to interpret if you remember that looking straight up is 90 degrees, looking at the horizon is 0 degrees, and for those of you weak in geometry, halfway between the horizon and straight up is 45 degrees. Over the next few days there will be some pretty good viewing opportunities of the ISS (and possibly the shuttle attached or nearby on Monday) in the Knoxville area.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar are starting a listening tour with the first stop at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park maintenance area this Tuesday. The maintenance area is about 1/2 mile behind the Park headquarters, but you can park at the Sugarlands Visitor center and enjoy a nice evening stroll with the additional hours of daylight. They will be listening from 6-8pm. Wouldn't it be impressive if hundreds turned out on a work day to a remote location in order to express support for the Park? Details from the Tennessean.

Update: The NPS press release indicates the meeting will occur at the W.L. Mills Conference Center in Gatlinburg, which makes a whole lot more sense.

I rarely watch the local news so don't know if this bit of info is common knowledge, but tonight (Saturday 3/3) the full moon will rise already in a lunar eclipse, which is a rare event. Best viewing times are between 6pm and 8pm provided the clouds stay away. Read more about it at NASA:

"In the USA, the eclipse will already be underway when the moon rises on Saturday evening. Observing tip: Find a place with a clear view of the eastern horizon and station yourself there at sunset. As the sun goes down behind you, a red moon will rise before your eyes."

It's probably the second or third snow in the high mountains but "First Snow" sounds better. This image is the Appalachian Trail at Newfound Gap taken this morning. A steady stream of backpackers were making their way to the Icewater Springs shelter and points beyond. What you can't see here is the 30 degree temps and 30mph winds with blowing ice and snow. I'll be thinking of these backpackers tonight up there at that shelter while I'm relaxing in my La-Z-Boy by the fireplace with hot cider watching the Simpsons.

I took a Sunday stroll over the Great Smokies and up the Blue Ridge Parkway a bit today. The leaves are not quite peaked but are looking much better color-wise than the last few years. The image above was taken standing on top of "The Loop" tunnel just above the Chimneys trailhead. The red berries lower right are Jack-in-the-Pulpit fruit. I had to wait a very long time to get this short stretch clear of cars, and still managed to clip one at the very top. Oh well, I've created a gallery of today's pics at this link. Nothing special, just the usual sights along the way. Be sure to scroll right below the thumbnails to see all of them.