Sunday, April 05, 2015

Winged Deer bluebells, Easter 2015

This beautiful spring morning is now a beautiful spring afternoon. The Bradford pear trees are really starting to show their white. My quince is a gorgeous red. And the redbud trees are trying hard to be pink. My neighbor’s pussy willow is in its best color before settling down to the standard green of summer. In my yard, however, only the forsythia is in bloom and it looks pathetic.

I drove from Piney Flats, Tenn., to Watauga, Tenn., this morning. The route is rather uneventful but I did spy a common raven mixed in with the Turkey vulture at the Watauga Quarry. It soared and then folded in its wings to drop and call. The quarry has been home to nesting raven for years.

A few days ago I saw the cliff swallows at Pickens Bridge on Boone Lake. The lake is miserably down since a leak was discovered at Boone Dam and TVA has been forced to keep the lake levels at minimum. This will really hamper the spring bird count along the lake. But the shoreline and the pylons of the bridge all look so naked. This is a problem that TVA says will be around for a while. The leak is at the earthen part of the dam. I suppose after 50 years the dam would become saturated enough to finally spring a leak. To say the least, the homeowners on the shore are really mad.

I stopped by Winged Deer Park which is on Boone Lake just north of Johnson City. Winged Deer is a great place for bird watching. Second growth forest, landscaped lawns, shoreline, and lake. Today was a good morning for a walk and I ended up at the bluebell patches. If ever there was a sign of spring it is the Virginia bluebells. They have spread far from their little patch of 15 years ago. I keep thinking some day I would plant bluebells in my yard.

This picture is a year old. I’ve been to the bluebells in the fog, cold late evenings, too early, and too late!

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