Saturday, April 29, 2006

Early Mornings





Those of you who know me know that I like to get up early....before dawn is preferable. I try to write for about a half hour and then if I'm at home I usually have my breakfast and get on with the day. Here at Snowbird, I enjoy taking a walk out to Sunrise Point to check out the birds. Craig gets up a bit after I do, and he and our friend Bill have been going out to the point too. This is the view we were greeted with this morning...Lake Santeetlah is down below us. It is a truly incredible view, isn't it!! We take along our binocs and listen to the birds calling....and then try to spot them. The migrating warblers are all stopping by now and we are treated with many views of these little guys. This morning we spotted a Redstart and a lovely Indigo Bunting. Back at the Lodge we saw a Blackburnian Warbler...truly a sight to behold.


This is a new plaque which is mounted on a railing by a couple of benches out at Sunrise Point. It fits the bill for me!








After breakfast we brush our teeth, pick up our box lunches and head out for the day. There are eighteen of us in our group.... friends from Gainesville, Craig's cousins from Athens, two friends from Atlanta and another two from Cincinnati, Ohio....and we meet here every Spring for a long weekend of highjinx in North Carolina. It is so much fun! The food is great, the wildflowers are incredible and the birding is superb! Two of the couples in our group are getting married in the next few months, so tonight the rest of us are surprising them with a champagne cocktail hour! What fun! Shhhhh....don't tell!!!

If Blogger will allow, I will include a couple of wildflower photos.






This is the Showy Orchis, one of my most favorites. Imagine walking along a pathway in the woods and seeing this beauty crop up beside you! Truly unbelievable!!!





This is the Bellwort. The forest just carpeted with these along with white Trillium and pinkish purple wild geraniums. It is a sight to see! Two in our group are excellent birders, so while we are inspecting the wildflowers, they are listening to the bird songs and then finding these lovely creatures in the treetops. This morning we saw Scarlet Tanangers, Rose Crested Grossbeaks, Redstarts, Blackburnian Warblers, and Yellow Winged Warblers, along with the usual Towhees, Carolina Chickadees, Robins, Gold finches, Tufted Titmice.





Well, this is more than blogger and my limited internet connection here has allowed me to post in the past few days, so I'd better quit while I'm ahead!

Have fun!

3 comments:

Felicity Grace said...

I'm glad your connection held out! Super photos! Wouldn't it be wonderful if all plagues were as inspiring and uplifting as this one?

Anonymous said...

Ahh! That view was truly amazing! =)

Gerrie said...

Oh, I love that plaque - I am stealing it!!