Best of 2018!

It's that time of year when I share the best of 2018 captures. We visited several botanical gardens, a national wildlife refuge, an artist's village, a state park, and I even spent an afternoon capturing images of Elk and Bison at the prairie at Land Between the Lakes. And least of all, I threw in a few images from around Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, Tennessee. While I didn't travel far out of state, I still managed to capture some unique images. I hope wherever 2018 took you in your travels you were able to stop and smell the roses and take a few pics to tell your story. Have a wonderful 2019 and here's to lots of new adventures and journeys with your camera in tow. ENJOY!

A Wattle and A Snood

As I drove around the Elk and Bison Prairie recently, there were flocks of wild Turkeys foraging in the meadows. Most were off in the distance, but several were close enough to photograph. I cropped one image that caught my eye. I don't know why but a Turkey's brightly colored head has always been fascinating to me. His wattle, the fleshy skin that grows under his throat, is pink and bright red at the end. I read blood pools in the wattle when a Tom wants to attract a hen.

I read that Turkeys are a form of pheasant. I also read that the Tom's gobble while the females make a clicking sound. Also, that fleshy skin that grows above their forehead is a snood and also pools with blood when Tom is on the hunt. It appears from my photo, that Tom is definitely on the hunt for a lady. A new week is upon us, and need I say it, a new season is around the corner. Oh, Fall where art thou. Please bring us cooler temps soon. ENJOY!

A Photographer's Favorite

A large Bison stood motionless taking in the heat of the day at the Elk and Bison Prairie at Land Between the Lakes earlier this week. The hustle and bustle of small calves, nary a few months old, rustling around him didn't make for even a stir. As I snapped images with my long lens, I noticed him standing quietly in the fray. It was obvious he knew the daily routine of the Bison herd. Of all the images I captured on that day this one stood out. The sun gives his dark black and brown fur a warm, rich sheen. A tiny weed grows in front of this huge beast. The most delicate and the most beastly exist in harmony. What a contrast. To read more about the Elk and Bison Prairie, click here. Have a great weekend all. ENJOY! 

Bison Loom Large

After you enter the Elk and Bison Prairie at Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky, you travel on a three and a half mile loop, in a 700 acre enclosure, where the Elk and Bison roam free. The prairie is a natural grassland with ponds, woods and creeks scattered throughout.

I found the Bison herd crowded together near the end of the loop road. Some were rubbing large boulders while others were headed to a large dust pad nearby. The first image is the matriarch, the very largest Bison in the herd. He was huge. 

There are about 60 Bison in this herd including the calves which are born in May. Breeding season is July to September as was evidenced by the males stalking the females throughout the herd. I even witnessed the matriarch as he attempted to mount a female unsuccessfully. She moved off and he fell off.

These are American Bison or Buffalo. The Bison is the largest land mammal in the United States and the national mammal. Bison graze, rest and chew their cud in two hour intervals and then move to another location to graze again. Perhaps that explains why the Bison always seem to be roaming.

Just before I left the prairie, I saw this little fella nudging his Mother who finally complied. So adorable now, but imagine his size all grown up. The heat and humidity made for heavy breathing for some of the larger Bison. I enjoyed this visit more than my last, as I planned my arrival a tad later in the day, in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Elk grazing in the meadow. ENJOY!

Linking to Scoop 339

Elk Watch

At the Elk and Bison Prairie at Land Between the Lakes, if you plan a trip very early in the morning or late in the day, you can view the Elk as they munch on grasses in the meadow. They stay hidden in the tree line in Summer during the hotter climes of the day, so plan accordingly if you want to see them.

The Elk and Bison Prairie is almost dead center in Land Between the Lakes in Golden Pond, in the very remote southwest corner of Kentucky. It's a pleasant drive from Nashville on a major highway. The countryside you see in Kentucky along the drive is really beautiful with lots of gorgeous farmland. On this visit, I waited patiently for the Elk, and finally was rewarded as this guy ventured out of the woods. He was munching on the grass and eventually tugging at the leaves of a low hanging branch. Then he noticed his gal was missing and slowly made his way across the meadow in hot pursuit.

This gal surely is the apple of his eye. She came out of the woods and began to graze, slowly making her way across the meadow, and finally disappearing into a thicket. The bull wasn't far behind following her in hot pursuit.

Such beautiful, amazing creatures. The huge rack on the bull, covered with its new layer of velvet, was gorgeous. It's extremely hot here in Tennessee. We're in the Dog Days of Summer, although it feels as if we have been there all Summer. There's high heat and humidity daily with afternoon thunderstorms. I am waiting for Fall to bring cooler temps. ENJOY!

Linking to The Scoop 339

North American Wild Turkey

The devil is in the details. Surely you have heard that saying before. It came to mind when I saw the detail in this image I captured of the North American Wild Turkey. The blues in his head and neck. The grays and whites of his feathers. The browns and blacks of his tail feathers. Two North American Wild Turkeys pecked at the grasses as they trotted through the prairie meadow at the Elk and Bison Prairie in Land Between the Lakes, in southwestern Kentucky last week, as I drove the route to view the Elk and Bison.

The Elk and Bison are the heroes of the meadow there. As I drove the route I decided that the wildflowers growing in the prairie meadow there, and the Turkeys trotting in the short grasses beside the meadow, perhaps they should be the heroes. The yellows and golds of the Goldenrod. The whites of the Queen Anne's Lace. The lavenders of the Thistle. The tans of the tall grasses. Could those things not be heroes too. ENJOY!
Linking to Saturday's Critters

Elk, Land Between the Lakes

While visiting the Land Between the Lakes Elk and Bison Prairie, I wasn't sure I would even see the Elk as it was the middle of the day. Elk tend to come out early in the morning and later in the afternoon or early evening. The first drive through the prairie, I captured this image of an Elk resting near a thicket of trees and brush not far from the road. This was the only Elk visible at that time.

On my second visit, the same Elk was still resting in the same place I had left him about an hour and a half before. As I approached the area in my car and pulled into a parking lot, the Elk popped up and walked gingerly over to the brush. He munched on leaves from the brush and trees for a bit which allowed me to capture a few images. There are about 55 Elk residing in the prairie right now. I can only attest to there being one as that is all I saw.

Normally, when I see the Elk in the Smokies they are grazing on grasses in the meadow so it was rather nice to get to see them doing something a bit different. They are such huge animals. When meandering my way through the Bison a few minutes earlier, an Elk had gotten too close to the Bison and was ran off by several of them. I don't know if it was this Elk. My guess would be it was a different one.

It has been a wet Friday here in Nashville. It is supposed to clear up by mid day tomorrow. I have a few images of the Bison to share with you. It goes without saying that I have been working really hard since I moved to Nashville. So it has been nice to get out the past few weeks and pay a visit to Fall Creek Falls, Cheekwood and the Elk and Bison Prairie at Land Between the Lakes. Have a great weekend. And to those who lost their lives in 9/11 and those who survived to live on in their name, God Bless You. ENJOY!

Elk, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

At the Oconaluftee Visitor Center on the North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there were no Elk to be seen which was the norm. As I made my way back through the park, I happened upon this lone Elk munching on the grasses in a field right off the road about two miles from the visitor center.

She is a sow and I don't think she gave birth to a calf this Spring as there was no evidence of one with her. I loved that she also did 'not' have a radio collar on which made for nicer images. As the group of cars that stopped to watch her graze began to grow, the Elk would look up every now and then. This was one of the looks she gave me as I sat across from her in the car at a good distance. It was a priceless look. When it started to rain, she looked up and all around her, and then abruptly turned and hightailed in the opposite direction and crossed the road heading for the treeline next to the river. It made one wonder what was going through her head at the time. If you look closely, you can see a few rain drops in the image. At least she posed for a few pics for me. ENJOY!

Elk, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

On my visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park earlier this year, I drove to the far eastern side of the park where the Oconaluftee Visitor's Center is located, right outside of the small town of Cherokee. I had hoped to catch a glimpse of the Elk herd that had been seen in the fields the previous evening. I waited next to the field where the Elk had been the night before, but no Elk appeared.

So I moved on down to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in hopes of seeing them. One lone female Elk made an appearance that evening while I was there. And luckily, this she came out of the woods and moved almost all the way up to the edge of the Visitor Center. So I was able to get a few images, with my 300mm. As you can see, this Elk was not only tagged, but also bears a radio collar to track her movements. All of the Elk in the Smokies, both near Oconaluftee and in Cataloochee Valley were reintroduced into the park about ten years ago.

When I first arrived at the center, one of the park rangers standing at the edge of the parking lot mentioned to us that there was a possibility that the Elk may not come out to graze, as it was the height of the birthing season, and many of the female Elk were giving birth to new calves.

In the past, when I have photographed the Elk, it has been in Cataloochee Valley, which is also part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but is quite a distance from the main park boundaries, and is actually located in North Carolina. Aside from the added drive to reach this area of the park, the drive up and around the mountain to gain access to Cataloochee Valley itself is long and winding and, at times, arduous as you are hugging the side of the mountain. To make matters worse, the road is not paved, but gravel. So having an opportunity to see even one Elk on my trip, without having to make that drive to Cataloochee, was worth the waiting. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. The weather here has cooled off and will be in the 60's and 70's for the next week. Did I mention how happy that makes me. ENJOY!

Elk, Cataloochee Valley, GSMNP!

The beauty that is our wildlife. The elk were out, some banded, some not, at Cataloochee Valley in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in northwest North Carolina last week. Such beautiful creatures. Not an easy drive to this area of the park which is far removed from the main area of the Smokies. But still a beautiful area. This is where the original elk were reintroduced some ten years ago or more to the park. Just a few of the "Big Bulls". ENJOY!