Here's a Flash gallery of some wildflowers seen along Parson's Branch Rd. yesterday. All kinds of wildflowers are starting to bloom, and there are plenty to see if you look closely.

Nothing new this week, so from our recent trip to Florida here's a Tricolored Heron fishing.

We were out running some errands this afternoon, and took detours on a couple of Dogwood Trails. The dogwoods aren't quite ready in some places, past prime in others, and generally not looking all that great this year. The redbuds are very nice, and there are some spectacular azaleas. Photos after the break...

A Ruffed Grouse (we believe) spotted along the Rich Mountain Rd. Monday. They have pretty good camouflage! A larger view and more photos after the jump...

Can you tell from this not so good photo? We're thinking a warbler of some kind. Maybe a Tennessee Warbler? Seen along Rich Mountain Tower Rd. today. Larger version and some more not so good photos after the break that might help...

(Click for bigger)

Pileated Woodpecker, a male, I believe. Taken at Lake Ashby Park in Volusia Co. FL, which is an excellent county run park that we discovered by accident. This was the first time I've been able to get photos of one of these fellows. He came right up near us on the trail, making a lot of noise like maybe he was being all territorial and stuff.

The Bald Eagle was back at the same spot at the Merritt Island NWR Wednesday. I managed to get a little closer for some better shots. See more from the series after the jump...

We were driving down the road towards the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge this morning and spotted this heron coming out of the canal along the side of the road. It had caught something, and was struggling to get airborne.

The heron flew out right in front of us, going down the road in the same direction. We had to slow down to keep from running over it. At first we thought it had a snake, but then we could see it looked like an eel. We followed the heron down the road for a minute, until it flew back over into the brush along the side of the road. We pulled over to watch. Click read more to see what happened...

Sitting on the deck this AM, watching dolphins play. A few more photos after the jump...

My "pet" Kingfisher at Maxey's, last week. He/she (actually, there is a pair -- one was hunting in the other cove) seemed less skittish than usual. Click read more for larger view and some other pics...

We went up to the Look Rock parking area on the Foothills Parkway for the Perseid meteor show last night. We got there about 12:30 AM and stayed until about 3:30 AM.

I was surprised by the number of people and all the traffic. There were people at just about every pullout, and some of the lower ones were almost full. We saw several people with cameras.

The difference in the number of stars you can see in the darker skies is amazing as compared to the suburbs. The Milky Way is so bright you almost don't need a flashlight. There were so many stars and they were so bright, the Mrs. (our star navigator for the mission) had trouble orienting the various constellations at first. It helped when we finally got out a compass and figured out that North was the opposite direction from what I thought. (I believe I have mentioned before that I am directionally challenged.)

The meteor activity seemed to peak between 1:30 AM and a little after 2 AM. We saw dozens of meteors -- I'd guess around 50, but we weren't counting. Some were quite spectacular. I saw at least one double and a couple of rapid fire bursts of two or three.

I took about two hundred continuous 30 second exposures (actually more, but I deleted a bunch of non-productive shots along the way) using a cable release with a locking trigger and continuous shutter mode, and managed to capture exactly four meteors that I can actually see in the images. There were several more that I was sure I had captured, but I guess they just weren't bright enough. Click read more for the two best, which aren't all that great, and some notes on what I learned.

Click image for larger view...

Black Capped Night Heron, Maxey's Park

Osprey with its catch, Maloney Rd. Park (Maxey's).
Click image for larger view...

Played hooky and went up to see the Roan Mt. rhododendrons. The festival starts tomorrow. Looks like the rhododendrons peaked about a week early, but they are still quite beautiful. It was a little overcast and quite hazy today. Maybe the atmospherics will be better this weekend for the festival.

Also wanted to go to Ridgewood BBQ, but apparently they close between lunch and dinner and we missed the lunch seating by about 20 minutes. Oh, well, maybe next time.

A couple more photos after the jump...

Steve at WhitesCreek (and others) predicted more bears in garbage cans all over the Southeast, but this is pretty extreme.

(By way of Michael Silence.)

On Parson's Branch Road today.

This handsome little fellow is giving me the evil eye because we lost the battle with the house sparrows* for his bluebird house.

We've torn out the sparrow's nest three times, once with eggs in it. I felt awful. But they keep coming back. Haven't had any food out for weeks. But they keep coming back. There's another nest in there, probably with eggs again.

The bluebirds and a chickadee were fighting with the sparrows over the house, but the sparrows won. (The chickadee put up a hell of a fight. He/she still comes around every now and then to harass them.)

A male and female bluebird pair were spotted this week fluttering around the hole in a watering can on the back porch as if they were thinking about that as an alternative. I felt awful.

Is it too late for the bluebirds to try to evict the sparrows, again?

(*House sparrows are actually Weaver Finches, imported from England in the 1800s. Supposedly, the entire U.S. population, estimated at 150-400 million, comes from 100 birds released in Brooklyn in 1851. At least that's what it says on the internets.)

We took Fletch's advice, sort of, and went for a ride over Rich Mountain road yesterday afternoon. There were quite a few wildflowers along the way. Click "read more" to see some photos. I gave up trying to identify all these (except for the trillium, phlox, and redbuds, and by the way the redbuds are absolutely beautiful up there right now). Any help appreciated...

(click to embiggen)

A Red-winged Blackbird, through the window.

I like these birds. Maybe because it's one of the few I can identify by its song. (I swear I think they used it for some of the bridge sound effects on Star Trek.)

We have at least three hanging around. This one and another appear to be immatures, although they are getting blacker ever day.

A Downy Woodpecker (we think). This looks like the female. There's a male, too, but I don't have a good photo of him. We finally got them to come around to the suet. We had to keep scaring off the starlings, and the woodpeckers figured out they could come by around 4:30 and not get hassled. The suet is all gone now, I need to go get some more before they forget it was here.

Don't forget, the great Backyard Bird Count starts today.

Northern Flicker in Lakemoor Hills this past Wednesday.

The Great Backyard Bird Count starts this Friday, Feb. 16th and goes through Monday, Feb. 19th.

What it is:

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.

Why do it:

Scientists and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where the birds are. Bird populations are dynamic; they are constantly in flux. No single scientist or team of scientists could hope to document the complex distribution and movements of so many species in such a short time.

What to do:

1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes during February 16–19, 2007. Count birds at as many places and on as many days as you like—just keep a separate list of counts for each day and/or location.

2. Count the greatest number of individuals of each species that you see together at any one time, and write it down.

3. Enter your results on the Great Backyard Bird Count web site!

Follow the above links for more info. It's a great educational outdoors/nature activity for the kids and fun for the entire family.

Here are the statistics from last year's GBBC:

Total Checklists Submitted: 60,503
Total Species Observed: 622
Total Individual Birds Counted: 7,594,742

Among Tennessee reporting localities for 2006, the Knoxville area topped the list with 81 species and 161 reports, which was more than double the nearest location (Nashville) with 78 reports.

You can view all the results from last year's count here. When the count gets underway, post yours in comments here!

Help me identify the birds in the (not very good) photos after the jump. (Also taken at Kyker Bottoms.)

Hooded Mergansers (I think?) at Kyker Bottoms.

(Click image for larger view.)

The State of North Carolina is going to purchase Chimney Rock Park:

The state will spend $24 million to buy privately owned Chimney Rock Park, a landmark in western North Carolina that has served as the setting for several major motion pictures, a state parks official said Monday.

Gov. Mike Easley is expected to formally announce the pending sale late this morning, said Charlie Peek, spokesman for the state Division of Parks and Recreation.

The article says the family who owns the park turned down $20 million and listed it with Sotheby's for $55 million. A private donation of $2.35 million helped sweeten the deal.

From the Maryville Daily Times:

According to Operation Migration co-founder Joe Duff, it is unlikely that Hiwassee will ever be used again as a stopover point for highly endangered whooping cranes because of a residential development proposed by Maryville-based developer Mike Ross.

"We suspect that we've already used Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge for the last time," Duff said Friday.

Through a joint venture with Chickamauga Shores Holdings LLC, Ross purchased 600 acres of private land adjacent to the refuge for $12.5 million. Ross said his company, Rarity Communities Inc., plans to build a golf course community with about 1,000 new homes on the land.

Duff says the cranes need isolation from humans and the development will be too close to the refuge to provide it.

It won't deter the Sandhill Cranes, though. You see them in peoples' yards and pastures all over the place down there. And a golf course manager in Florida told me they love to hang out on golf courses and wreak havoc on them. And he was only dealing with a dozen or so. It will be interesting to see how 15,000 Hiwassee Sandhills adapt to the new development.

The Sandhill Cranes are arriving at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge (map in PDF format) on their way to Florida from their summer breeding grounds in Wisconsin and points further north in Canada. We ditched work Wednesday afternoon and went down to see them.

TWRA will host the 15th Annual Cherokee Indian Heritage and Sandhill Crane Viewing Days at the Hiwassee Refuge on Feb. 3 and 4, 2007. Bill Lishman of Operation Migration will be the keynote speaker.

You can go any time between now and then (we had the refuge viewing platform to ourselves on Wednesday afternoon) and see plenty of cranes. There will likely be more cranes and they will be closer to the viewing area during the festival when they cut the corn fields to draw them in. For best viewing from the platform, take a good pair of binoculars (and a long telephoto lens if you want pictures).

You may also be able to get a closer look along Blythe Ferry Road. We happened along a large gathering in a cut corn field and were able to get a close-up view.

We didn't see any Whooping Cranes, but there are reports that three have been spotted among the Sandhills.

Directions: I-75 South to Exit 27, right/West on Sgt. Paul Huff Memorial Highway to Highway 60, right/North on Highway 60 to Highway 58, right/North on Highway 58 to Blythe Ferry Rd., left/West on Blythe Ferry Rd. to Priddy Rd., right/North on Priddy Rd. to the viewing area. The route is well marked with signs along the way. (If you're coming from the South, take exit 25 and go North on Highway 58.)

Photos after the jump...

Photo by R. Neal

Here's an interesting article from The Mountain Press about the Cataloochee Elk. It also explains why you might have noticed more bears in Cades Cove this year.