The Mountains Are Calling

Soon I will make my annual sojourn to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park this Fall. A place of such natural beauty with forests and valleys and rivers. I captured these images many, many years ago with a very different camera. These were taken with a Pentax 1000 manual camera using Fuji Nokia slide film. Somehow, against all odds, I had set out to learn to take photographs using this manual camera given to me by a dear friend years before. Here are some of the best photos of the park I captured using this mode of photography. I guess you could say I mastered it as best I could.

On this particular visit I had driven over the mountain and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway quite a ways before turning back to the park. On my way back over the mountain I stopped at Morton's Overlook late in the day and waited about a half hour to capture this sunset. The only sunset I have ever captured I can even say I'm remotely proud of.

I had also paid a visit to Cade's Cove during that same trip and was lucky to capture these two White Tailed Deer bucks going head to head in a field right off the entrance to the park. They weren't actually fighting. They were only sparring. Still it was a sight that stopped traffic. I'm certain I've posted these images before, but probably back in 2009 or 2010. Remember I said they were taken from many years back. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I might try to get to Cheekwood tomorrow. The only thing holding me back will be 50 degree temperatures. Perhaps. ENJOY!

White Tailed Deer, Sander's Ferry Park

A few weeks ago I encountered two White Tailed Deer fawns grazing on the lawn at Sander's Ferry Park in Hendersonville while two bucks devoured the low hanging branches of a shrub nearby. Today I happened upon the same family hanging out in almost the same location at the park.

The park is a mere five minutes from my home and sits on the southeast side of one of two peninsulas separated by Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville. I enjoy driving to the park as the main road runs along residential neighborhoods on the west side and several marinas on the east.

I believe this buck is the matriarch of the family. When he gives the cue everyone takes off in unison. No doubt I will encounter this family again. Hope you are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend. ENJOY!

Fallow Deer, Land Between the Lakes

Land Between the Lakes is a patch of land that sits between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake in the southwestern part of Kentucky. It runs north to south between the two lakes. It is only about an hour and a half from Nashville. I decided to visit recently before the cooler temperatures drifted in and the leaves began to change color. I especially wanted to visit the Elk and Bison Prairie.

After a brief visit to the Elk and Bison Prairie, knowing I would stop back before heading home, I drove a few short miles to Hermatite Lake. This is a small lake that sits on the eastern side of Land Between the Lakes. I had hoped to captured images of the Lotus flowers there, but after a short hike realized they were not in an easy spot to photograph.

As I was leaving Hermatite Lake, four White Tailed Deer wondered into the parking area. Except one of the Deer was very very light in color. A quick 'Google' search determined I had encountered a Fallow Deer. The one lighter colored Deer was a Fallow Deer. Fallow Deer are indigenous to Asia and Europe and were imported to the United States back in the early 1900's. There are as few as 150 Fallow Deer remaining in Kentucky at Land Between the Lakes.

They are considered an endangered species and hunters are prohibited from hunting them. Beside being much lighter in color, the other distinctive marking that sets the Fallow Deer apart from their counterpart, the White Tailed Deer, is their large flat antlers. Their antlers resemble a Moose's antlers although I am not sure if they are as large. You never know what you are going to find when you venture out. Amazing find. Back soon with images from the Elk and Bison Prairie. ENJOY!

Babes of Spring

After a day of rain a few weekends ago, I drove the short route to Long Hunter State Park located on the southeast side of Priest Lake. I had only visited this park one other time back in February in the dead of Winter. On that visit I captured a few images of a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker which was a Life List bird for me.

On this visit new green grasses blanketed the large fields along the drive into the park with woods on either side. I slowed down half way back into the park as I approached several White Tailed Deer munching on the new grasses of Spring.

Sitting in my car, I watched them as they quietly grazed on the grasses. Occasionally, one of them would wander back toward the edge of the woods and reach up and grab a leaf off of a low hanging branch. All the while they seem to keep an eye on me.

As I was about to pull away and head back home, with dusk fast approaching, this little guy turned before departing into the woods and looked back over his shoulder at me as if to bid me farewell. I snapped a few images of him and then off he went. I will be back soon, but until then have a fantastic weekend. ENJOY!

Linking to Saturday Critters

Two Springs

From a fly fisherman in Tremont to a Heron fishing the Little River, from the mountain view atop Clingman's Dome to the view across the meadows of Cade's Cove, this park keeps giving back to me each Spring that I visit.



Just a few of the images from the past Springs I have paid a visit here. Here being the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Stay cool out there. ENJOY!

White Tailed Deer in Snow

A beautiful White Tailed Deer stood across the stream as I sat safe and warm bundled up in my car.

Every now and then when the snow flies I will make my way from one area of our city to the next via a back road in hopes of seeing a scene such as this. It gives me a little pick me up in the course of a busy day. It also left me wanting to photograph more wildlife in this snow covered world. Tonight brings more snow. Perhaps tomorrow I will see what foal and fowl there is to capture. Have a good weekend all! ENJOY!

January Is a Wrap

January was very frigid cold with the polar vortex keeping us hopping every other week repeatedly dropping the temps to below zero and the wind chill even lower. Before I even realized it January was wrapping up and February was upon us. I thought I'd take a look back and share a few more images captured in January.

Earlier this week I drove south of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, to see if I could catch a few thousand Cranes roosting there only to find only three Cranes remaining. The rest of the Cranes had flown in late Saturday, and because of another frigid air mass coming up that day, had flown back out early that morning and were gone. I captured just a few images of the three Cranes I did find and then headed back home.

This year on my annual trek to the Bluegrass area of Kentucky to visit the horse farms in Winter, I stopped to check out my secret stash of White Tailed Deer. Knowing exactly where they hang out and call home, I grabbed a few images of them before heading deeper into the horse farm area.

In the middle of January I traveled to Mustatatuck one Sunday to check out the wildlife at the refuge. Virtually no waterfowl was visible that day, but I did catch a glimpse of an Otter slipping back under the ice on Persimmon Pond in the back of the refuge. Jumping out of my car I climbed a hill and walked over to the bank of the pond to take photos. The Otters tolerated my presence for quite some time. The Otters can be difficult to spot at the refuge because there are many bodies of water. There's two huge lakes in the refuge and another smaller one as well. There are five major swamps, not to mention countless ponds. I consider myself lucky to have caught sight of the Otters as it could years before I see them again.

And finally, way back on New Year's Day, I captured this last image of the Sandhill Cranes in Ewing Bottoms, west of Seymour, Indiana. There were thousands of Cranes busily foraging for food and performing their mating dances in the bottoms near Brownstown. Luckily, I got to the bottoms in time to capture some images of the Cranes before it began to cloud up. It was a great month for wildlife viewing albeit rather cold and downright freezing at times, but I persevered. I wonder, where did January take you this year? ENJOY!

Once Only!

This is the one and only time I've seen a deer in Bernheim. I encountered this fella as I was driving through the forest way back near the Canopy Walk. In all the many, many years that I have visited this beautiful nature preserve I had never seen a deer. So you can imagine my excitement at seeing this guy crossing the road and heading back into the woods. ENJOY!

My Bluegrass Backyard!

Today was the perfect day for a Sunday drive. It has been almost a year since I visited the beautiful horse farms in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. The sun was out, however, the high didn't get out of the 20's all day. I began my trip taking the last Frankfort exit. Then I drive south toward Woodford County about a mile and then I turned east onto 1681. It's the back way in to the horse farms of Midway, Kentucky. This route allows you to see a great deal more of the horse farms.

White tailed deer were everywhere along the backroads. Some were laying next to the fences of the horse farms. Many were grazing between the wooden fences and the old limestone fences. I'll share more photos of my trip as the week goes by. We have snow on the horizon this week for Kentucky. ENJOY!