Frogs & Toads

I am responsible for our wildlife management program here at work. We are a registered wildlife habitat with the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) and Wildlife and Industry Together (WAIT). We have a few projects I have to keep up with and one of them is a coverboard project that is associated with the Catawba River Corridor Coverboard Project (CRCCP) that is run by the Central Carolina Amphibian and Reptile Initiative (CCARI).

I turn in data and photographs to Michael Dorcas, a professor of biology at Davidson University. He and a professor from Georgia have been putting together field guides of amphibian and reptile species in the southeastern U.S. and having them published. I received a copy of the Frogs & Toads of the Southeast in the mail at work last week. When I opened the envelope and looked at the book I was surprised to see one of my photos on the back cover. They also used another photo of mine in the book. The photo on the back is also used inside the book for the beginning page of the Toads section.

Day Trip to the BRP

Our son’s baseball game was cancelled Saturday morning and at about 9:30 AM we decided to head up to the mountains to enjoy the fall colors. We have talked about doing it for a few years now but have never done so because it would cause us to miss a game. It was quite spur of the moment and we sort of see-sawed back and forth about whether or not to go. In the end we just couldn’t help but pack it up and head out the door.

We got on the Parkway in between Blowing Rock and Boone and drove down close to Mt. Mitchell where it was closed due to some repairs of some sort. We could have taken a detour and got back on the Parkway down near Craggy Gardens but it was late in the day and we were getting hungry. Overall it was a pretty fun day except for the fact that it was fairly chilly. The only trail we hiked was Flat Rock because we spent most of the day driving and just taking in our surroundings. The BRP was quite crowded because the higher elevations were at their peak colors for the fall. Every parking area for trails off the BRP were overflowing.

A Saturday afternoon drive down the BRP during peak fall colors is something everyone should plan to do as often as they can. Gas was $2.89 in Gastonia and I think we saw it cheaper somewhere else. But the gas money was worth it.

 

Mountain Trip September 2008

Well, its been a couple of weeks since I blogged about anything. We were in the mountains the week before and I’ve had a really crappy week this week and haven’t wanted to blog about anything.

We made our annual September trip to Banner Elk and had a lot of fun. We didn’t do as much waterfall hiking this time around, but maybe next time. We did hike a lot though. We hiked to Rough Ridge off of the BRP. It was a lot of fun. The views were expansive and the weather was cool. Aaron brought his sketch pad and colored pencils and sketched the view from the top. Andrew hiked most of the way up but was carried at least half of the way down. After that my legs hated me. And they hated me even more later that evening when we hiked to Craborchard Falls after visiting the Mast General Store where we sat on the porch in rocking chairs drinking our Nihi peach soda from the glass bottle.

We hiked Roan Mountain the next day and I didn’t think my legs would bring me back down the mountain. We also made our usual trip to downtown Blowing Rock to play on the playground and get ice cream at Kilwin’s. I tried Rum Raisin this time and it was awesome. It tasted like egg nog. We also hiked the Flat Rock trail off of the BRP and did a little scenic driving. We hiked to Hunt-Fish Falls only to find two busloads of kids on a school trip had invaded the area. Aaron and I went up stream a little and built a rock dam in the creek. We had a great time with the exception of Friday when it rained. We were supposed to go to Tweetsie for our last day, but the rain prevailed.

Here are a few pictures from the trip. I wish I could claim the two sunset shots, but those beautiful photos were taken by my son.

 

A Snack for Later

Got this photo yesterday when I was out and about at work. This is a Black-and-Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia), or as it is more commonly known, a Writing Spider. I’m not a big fan of spiders myself but thought this was a cool photo.

September Sky

I thought this was worth sharing. A shot of the morning sky here at work.

Osprey at Clear Creek

I’ve seen an osprey at my work twice before today. All the sightings have been around this time of year. We have a couple of ponds here and that’s where I always see them. I took this photo with my boss’ digital SLR. This one was flying around the pond when I spotted it.