Grapeyard Ridge Trail

Today I hiked with some friends on Grapeyard Ridge Trail, which is 7.6 miles long.  We started in the Greenbrier area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and hiked over to a car we had parked on Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.  This trail took us through a variety of habitat types which yielded a wide array of wildflower and bird species!

 

Here is a strange looking plant that took us a while to figure out.  After seeing it several times, we finally decided that this structure must be the early flower buds of Galax, Galax urceolata, which generally doesn't bloom until May or June.  This plant grows in dry, acidic soils, often along side Trailing Abutus, Epigaea repens, Mountain Laurel, Kalmia latifolia, and other members of the Heath family.  It's also noteworthy to mention that Galax has a distinctively pungent odor.

 

Wild Oats, Uvularia sessilifolia, is a member of the Lily family that is usually found in dry soils. 

 

I haven't seen this flower since last year, and even then I think I only saw it once.  There were several beautiful patches of Wild Oats on Grapeyard Ridge

 

 

Here is another wildflower that we found somewhat challenging.  After consulting a field guide, we deduced that this aster is likely Golden Ragwort, Senecio aureus.  It was growing alongside the creeks that we frequently crossed during the first 2 miles of this trail.

 

Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, is one of the earliest blooming wildflowers in our area, so I was somewhat surprised to see a few still in bloom.

Trout Lily, Erythronium umbillicatum, is a beautiful and interesting wildflower.  I always see more trout lily leaves than flowers.  Last year I learned that trout lilies only produce flowers when they have two leaves.  Therefore before they even bloom you can predict which plants will produce flowers and which will not. 

Spring Beauty, Claytonia virginica, is another early spring wildflower that has been in bloom for a while now.

 

There are 11 species of Phlox in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Luckily they don't all bloom at the same time and in the same place.  This is likely Creeping Phlox, Phlox stolonifera.

Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides, is everywhere right now!

 

Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides

 

Blue Cohosh, Caulophyllum thalictroides, is named after its blue stem and blue flower buds.

 

It was just beginning to come into bloom, and as you can see the flowers are yellow and not blue as you might expect!

Dutchman's Breeches, Dicentra cucullaria.

I was excited to see this member of the lily family, Large-flowered Bellwort, Uvularia grandiflora.  We only encountered this single flower in bloom on our hike.

Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum, being pollinated by a bee!

Wood Betony, or Lousewort, Pedicularis Canadensis.

 

I have never ever seen so much Large-flowered White Trillium, Trillium grandiflorum, as I did today! 

The last mile of Grapeyard Ridge and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail were covered with this beautiful trillium in shades of white and pink!  These flowers turn pink with age.

 

 

We saw over 30 different species of wildflowers today!  In addition to those pictured above, we also saw:

 

Plantain-leaf Pussy Toes, Antennaria plantaginifolia

Trailing Abutus, Epigaea repens

Cut-leaf Toothwort, Dentaria lacinata

Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense

Wood Anemone, Anemone quinquefolia

Buttercup, Ranunculus sp.

Star Chickweed, Stellaria pubera

Halberd-leaf Violet, Viola hastate

Wood Violet, Viola palmate

Yellow Woodland Violet, Viola pubescens

Round-leaf Yellow Violet, Viola rotundifolia

Long-spurred Violet, Viola rostrata

Common Blue Violet, Viola sororia

White Violet, Viola sp.

Yellow Trillium, Trillium luteum

White Erect Trillium, Trillium erectum

Bishop's Cap, Mitella diphylla

Serviceberry, Amelanchier sp.

 

 

 

We also saw and heard lots of birds! 

This black and white warbler was one of the few birds I actually saw.  I rely heavily on identifying birds by their songs rather than sight, as these tiny songbirds can be extremely difficult to locate visually.

Birds I heard include:

Broad-winged Hawk
Wild Turkey
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Northern Parula
Louisiana Waterthrush
Black-throated Green Warbler
Ovenbird
Hooded Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Carolina Wren
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee
Blue-headed Vireo 
Dark-eyed Junco
Eastern Towhee
Pine Sisken

First Flowers of Spring

I expected our hike today to be a winter hike, but I was pleasantly surprised to encounter several signs of spring! My friends and I hiked roughly 10 miles on Turkeypen Ridge, Schoolhouse Gap, Bote Mountain, and Finley Cane Trails.

On Turkeypen Ridge I was shocked to see Trailing Arbutus, Epigaea repens, in bloom!  I really didn't expect to see any flowers in February.

 

 

After Turkeypen Ridge, we took a detour through White Oak Sinks, which is well known for its stunning array of spring wildflowers.  Again I really wasn't expecting to see any flowers this early, but we found several Spring Beauties, Claytonia virginica!

We even found a single Hepatica, Hepatica nobilis acuta!


Birds sighted or heard include:

Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Downy Woodpecker
Turkey Vulture

One of the most unusual sightings of the day were bats!  White Oak Sinks is a limestone depression with lots of nearby caves.  We saw at least 4 bats (not sure of the species) flying around near the cave entrances.  Of course, bats should not be active in the middle of the day in February.  We speculated that this unusual behavior is likely a result of White Nose Syndrome which is sadly affecting bats throughout eastern and central North America.  White-nose Syndrome.

In addition to wildflowers, birds, and bats, we also saw several Mourning Cloak butterflies.

Charlie's Bunion

Last week a couple friends and I hiked out to Charlie's Bunion on the Appalachian Trail.

 

 

We began our hike at Newfound Gap shortly after the road opened.

Here is the view from the Appalachian Trail shortly before Charlie's Bunion.

A view of the mountains from Charlie's Bunion.

 

 

It was so wonderful to be up here in the snow.  Since the road was closed due to snow and ice earlier in the day, the trail had not yet been packed down and had nearly 10 inches of snow in places.

Oven in the woods

Yesterday when I was out on the Cosby Nature Trail with my friend, Renee, we startled an Ovenbird, Seiurus aurocapillus.  She suddenly jumped up out of nowhere and started a broken-wing display.  I have only really seen this behavior in shorebirds, but I have heard of other ground-nesters doing it too.  Dramatically feigning an injury, she tried to lead us away from her nest.  We didn't want to disturb her for long, but I had always wanted to see an ovenbird's nest!   Before long we were lucky enough to discover her nest and her babies inside! 

Ever wonder why these warblers are called "oven" birds? Take a look at their oven-shaped nests! This is the first "oven" I have ever seen, aside from in books. It made my day!

Roan Mountain

So it has been a while since I have posted to my blog.  I was having some computer problems, but I just got a new computer so I am up and running again!  Here are some photos from a trip my husband, Kevin and I took to Roan Mountains a few weeks ago.  We stayed at the state park and did a couple day hikes on the AT in the National Forest...when it wasn't raining too hard...

We brought our two dogs Wesley and Merlin.  They enjoyed hiking up to Jane Bald on the second day.   

As we were hiking, the fog was rolling in and we got caught in the rain on the way out.

We were really excited to find Alder Flycatchers, Empidonax alnorum,  on Jane Bald, Roan Mountain, and at Carver's Gap.  I believe this is the most southerly nesting population and the only one in Tennessee. 

Other cool birds we saw included:

Red Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra

Canada Warbler, Wilsonia canadensis

Magnolia Warbler, Dendroica magnolia

Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica.  

The Rhododendrons for which Roan Mountain is famous were not yet in bloom up top, but there were a few starting to bloom at Carver's Gap.  These are Catawba Rhododendrons, Rhodendron catawbiense, which are usually found at high elevations.  The white rhododendrons that are in bloom at low elevations in Great Smoky Mountains National Park right now are Rosebay Rhododendrons, Rhododendron maximum. 

White Oak Sinks

I finally went to a place in the Park called White Oak Sinks.  It was really cool!  Saw lots of great flowers, a few caves (entrances only) and a waterfall.

Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum.

Here is a millipede, Sigmoria sp.  These milipedes smell like cherries when they you pick them up.  They curl up into a call and secrete a substance also found in cherries.  I was trying to find out exactly what it was
and I found several different answers.  Cyanic Acid?

Here is the same millipede when it isn't freaked out!

This rock has some of my favorite plants on it!  Stone crop, Sedum ternatum, is in bloom.  There are also two types of ferns: Walking Fern, Asplenium rhizophyllum, is the long skinny one that doesn't really look like a fern.  The second fern, I am tempted to call a Polypody Fern, Polypody sp., but now that I have a field guide in front of me, I am thinking it might be Resurrection  Fern, Pleopeltis polypodioides.  Next time I go out there I'll have to bring the fern book and take a closer look.

Here is a closer look at Stonecrop, Sedum ternatum.  it is very succulent and is usually found growing on rocks.

Sorry, I don't know what kind of snail this is...just a cute one!

Saw lots of Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum.

More Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum.

One of the many pathways leading to White Oak Sinks.

Here is another millipede, but this one does not smell like cherries.  Millipedes are great.  I can pick them up and don't have to worry about getting bitten.  Unlike centipedes which are poisonous carnivores, millipedes eat decaying leaves and help turn leaf litter into soil.  On each segment, they have two legs, where as centipedes only have one.

This was interesting.  I have heard that violets hybridize and I think this is what has happened here.  At first glance I thought it was Common Blue Violet, Viola sororia, but it may have hybridized with something else.