Fauna Friday - The Return of Mothra

I found a big, beautiful moth on our garage door just before we went camping, and coincidentally while we were in the campground there was another one perched outside the bathrooms all day.

He was so soft and fuzzy, it was very tempting to reach out and touch but I managed to contain myself.
Didn't want to hurt or scare him!

My Googling efforts indicated he is a Polyphemus Moth.

If only he'd fully opened his wings, I would have been treated to a couple of very stunning eye-like dots on the lower portions.
Oh well, maybe another time.
It was still very enchanting to be able to examine him so closely and he hardly moved at all.  I wonder if he had just emerged, or if he was drying off after the drizzle we'd had in the night......

Fauna Friday

Since gardening season is ramping up, today's Fauna Friday features a couple little caterpillars from last year's garden.
Here we have the Saddleback Caterpillar, which I found lurking on my Toad Lily plant.  It's a beauty, but apparently the poisonous sting is quite painful.

Next, introducing the Cabbage Looper.  This little bastard and his buddies nibbled their way through my Roma tomatoes.

Look at what they did to the Romas!  And that's just a few of the tomatoes they ruined.
*kicks tiny green asses*

Fauna Friday

Today's feature is Shamsie again!  She's so cute hanging out in the window, she likes to sit there for a few minutes and see what's up outside - there's construction going on across the street so she's curious about the hammering and whatnot.

A piece of paper will often keep her busy for a while and stop her from chewing up things she shouldn't mess with.  Here's a video of her fiddling around on the window sill.

Fauna Friday

Nesting time!
We were walking along the Clinch River and I noticed a Great Blue Heron nest, the bird appeared to be feeding chicks or maybe arranging sticks in the nest.  Sorry for the shakiness but when you zoom in that far every little wiggle becomes a giant wobble.

Fauna Friday

A couple days ago, I opened the front door to go outside and sweep the front porch.  On the doormat, I discovered an array of straw and dead branches from my clematis vine.  I was perplexed and wondered how they could have traveled so far down the porch without a very strong wind.  Then I noticed a couple sticks out of place in my door wreath......

...... then I looked inside the wreath........

Yes!  Some little bird is (or was) attempting to build a nest in my wreath!
Too bad there's no peephole in the door, it'd be so fun to spy on the culprit.

 I doubt construction will continue, but if it does I'll post more details.













And, just because he's a pretty bird who keeps hanging around our backyard with his wife, here's Mr. Cardinal:

Fauna Friday

Along the Clinch River by Norris Dam, you can often see Great Blue Herons.  These big birds really are a sight when soaring through the air and wading in the waters on their long spindly legs.  The other day, one flew right over our heads honking like a loud old goose - wish I could have captured that on video!
Here is one patiently fishing at the weir dam:

Fauna Friday

On Sunday while we were walking along the Clinch River  I was busy gawking at everything around me except where I was stepping, and I nearly trod upon this garter snake!

Quite a beautiful creature.

Ssssstep ssssssoftly, Ssssssstupid! 



After checking each other out, we both slithered off on our merry way.

Fauna Friday

I was sorting through old photos last night and I ran across some pics of these guys, who we discovered while house hunting a couple years ago..
They were so pretty and sweet.  And we didn't get spit on, either - bonus!

I seem to remember their names were chocolate-related...... I believe one was called Hershey, the other might have been Cocoa (not sure).  If I had a couple of these beautiful critters, I'd probably name them Fernando and Lorenzo Llamas.  Yes, I'm totally positive that's completely original and nobody ever thought of it before  ;-)

Fauna Friday

Epic fauna exploration occurred during another hike around Cades Cove on Tuesday.
Let's get started!

Several hawks circled high above as we trudged through the grassy fields.

Along a creek we found large bleached bones, probably deer.

Leg bone. (1st time it was warm enough to not wear hiking boots this year - felt weird.)

I lost count of the deer we saw that day - a LOT.

Two kestrels passed, one stopped briefly while crows fussed nearby.

Hanging around along Hyatt Lane.  See/Hear/Speak no evil?

Recent heavy rains and snow melt had flooded many of the creeks and streams in the area. As we passed through this debris pile along the banks of Abrams Creek, S. spied a frog - try to find it in this picture!  Click here for the answer.

Can you spot the frog in this debris?

Ribbit!

Bumpy little dude.

Wild hogs have been tearing up the grass along the creek.

As we passed along, we spooked a couple blue herons into flight - not this one!

This big beauty had discovered an all-u-can-eat frog buffet & just ignored us.

A brief video of the heron struggling with its unwilling meal.  About 5 seconds after I stopped filming, the frog took a long, quick slide down the heron's throat.  That's life......

Fauna Friday

This has been turkey week - we've seen a ton of them!  On the way to Townsend there's always a big gang of about 20 that we see in the fields next to the road, spotted them again on Wednesday.
On Sunday, we were finishing our hike along the Roaring Fork Road (which is closed to vehicle traffic for the winter) and as we neared Ely's Mill we crossed paths with a rafter of turkeys (that's the official term for a bunch of them, interesting choice) :

Just after I stopped the video, two turkeys were startled by us and took flight, landing high up on the hillside where the rest were headed.  It is amazing to see that happen, as big and galumphy as they appear, they are quieter and more graceful in flight than you might expect.
Also of note, Ely's Mill is getting their bee hives ready!! Hooray for mountain honey!  I'm sloooooowly using my one jar of wildflower honey I got from them last season, it tastes *exactly* like the cabins and forests along the Roaring Fork smell (to me).  Heavenly.

Fauna Friday

Spring is inching closer and the birds and frogs are singing up a storm around here.
A beautiful bright red cardinal was singing his little head off in our backyard yesterday.
You might need to turn up the volume, I filmed this from inside the house with no doors or windows open - he was pretty loud, though!

Frogs are laying their eggs now.
This cluster was spotted near the Little Pigeon River in Great Smoky Mtns National Park. Frogs will often lay their eggs in abandoned hog wallows such as this, which collect and hold water after a rain.

Fauna Friday

Today, let's check in on my Indian Ringneck, Shamsie.  She's been sitting on her eggs for a while now (there are 5), they won't hatch as they aren't fertilized..... but instinct is strong and she will brood them for a time before she decides she's had enough of that.

"Um, you do know you're about to get mauled, right?"

"For cryin' out loud, can't a girl nest in peace? Bug off!"

Fauna Friday

This week we have a Fauna Friday that is actually composed of flora photos because the fauna itself was not available for interview ;-)

While hiking along Clear Creek in Norris Dam State Park last week, we came upon evidence of beaver activity.

Sharp teeth required.

The foreground tree was brought down by beavers.

......and then they set to work on the branches.

These are indeed busy little beavers, though we could not discern a particular area which they may be attempting to dam.

Fauna Friday

Today we have a couple more pics from Cades Cove, which really is a great place to observe wildlife:

And not-so-wild-life!

Fauna Friday

I'm instituting a new weekly feature here on the blog!  Welcome "Fauna Fridays", wherein I will post a few pics of the creatures I've seen during the week.  Enjoy!

This week's fauna were all sighted on Wednesday while hiking in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was a cool, dreary, misty/drizzly day - my favorite kind and the best for hiking off-trail!

Red-tailed Hawk (I think) - we saw many hawks while driving & hiking.

The only things we saw more than hawks were deer - lots!

....including a handful of lovely bucks.

11 deer in this field near the Elijah Oliver cabin.