A Spring Walk...

Spring has advanced several stages in the last few days. I took the camera on our constitutional along the Riverwalk this evening.



Samaras are everywhere. We called them helicopters when I was a kid. They are the winged seeds of maples.



These samaras are on a silver maple overhanging the river.



"Lovliest of trees, the cherry now, is hung with bloom along the bough..." Housman wasn't far off. Some of the black cherries along the river are already past peak bloom.



Everywhere you look are tassels of some sort. I'm not sure which tree these backlit strands are decorating. Later note: This is Boxelder (Acer negundo) the only maple I know that has compound leaves.



Another clump of samaras on a silver maple tree.



Another I should know, but don't. Later note: This is also Boxelder (Acer negundo).



This tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is putting out perfect miniatures of the adult leaves.




I'm 'sposed to know this one and the next. Later note: Above is Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia). Below is Carolina Silverbell (Halesia tetraptera).



I'll look 'em up and get back to you. Later note: Thanks to Richard Ware for helping me ID these guys.



The new leaves of Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) add color to our spring walk.





As the sun goes down I point the camera up at the undersides of American Dogwood (Cornus florida).



The fading light makes an interesting backlighting for this single dogwood bloom.

Walking with the BotSoccers

Saturday I joined a Georgia Botanical Society field trip at the half-way point. I missed the morning trip to the Nature Conservancy's Black Bluff Preserve where the 40 or so BotSoccers examined that beautiful north slope biome for early spring wildflowers. The Dutchman's Breeches were exuberant. I stopped by for this shot on my way home.

Update, April 6: Richard Ware sent the plant identifications that label the pictures below. Thanks, Richard!

Dutchman's Breeches - Dicentra cucullaria



Wild Blue Phlox - Phlox divaricata

When I caught up with the group they were gathering under the big shelter at the Lock and Dam Park south of Rome, breaking out the coolers, and having lunch -- interrupted occasionally by a question from someone wandering the surrounding lawn and asking about some diminutive plant huddled under and between the grasses.

It took a little determination to pull the curious group from the lawn toward the trail. Along the way they stopped to identify stubborn little green things grasping for soil and water in crevices of the parking lot or ...

Sadie Price's violet - Viola priceana

The first part of the walk was through some large trees such as Shumard oaks, Tulip trees, Mockernut hickories...

Mockernut Hickory - Carya tomentosa


...between lumps of crushed stone on the graveled path.

and maples. This old tree had fallen...

and provided welcome fresh bark to the beavers

Toadshade Trillium - Trillium cuneatum

We climbed past the ancient gravel pit and the metal overlook. I got to talk with Charles Seabrook...

... the South Carolina low country native who has been the Atlanta Constitution's nature writer for a decade or more. Interesting fellow. He talked of having telephone operators asking his nationality when he dropped a dime in a pay phone as a homesick underclassman at the University of South Carolina to try to call his home on a coastal island.

I don't remember what Richard called this fellow...

Hoary Puccoon - Lithospermum canescens

... but it caused a bit of a stir in the group of botany enthusiasts. But then anything green with the possible exception of Sprite cans and privet hedge interested them.

One BotSoccer would declare his opinion of a questionable plant on the hillside while another would politely demur. "Nowadays most folks consider that a variety of such and such." "Not me, I think it should be considered a separate species...." Etc.

Richard Ware, my good friend and the leader for this excursion points out the beautifully blooming serviceberry overhanging the river ...

Downy Serviceberry - Amelanchier arborea
Cutleaf Toothworth - Dentaria laciniata
Violet Wood Sorrel - Oxalis violacea

Downy Serviceberry - Amelanchier arborea

... the sweetshrub, the mayapples, and dozens of others. His friend Max wanders away from the group often and calls out occasionally about an interesting find -- sometime a possibly new find for Floyd County, or even the state.

As we crossed a more open area of grasses and briars I caught this pair of Eastern Blues mating.

The north-facing rock-outcropping beyond the primitive camping area is the prize location. My effort at capturing an image of an early and tiny orchid in full bloom failed. But the bloodroot, toothwort...

Cutleaf Toothworth - Dentaria laciniata

and sorrell...

Violet Wood Sorrel - Oxalis violacea

cooperated better.

It was a great walk. I'll update this post with scientific names when I can get Richard or Teresa to help me...hint, hint. (4/6/08 -- Got 'em. Thanks, Richard!)

Today (Sunday) is the trip back to Pigeon Mountain. How I wish I could go. My photos from that wildflower walk last year may be my most popular post of all time. Next weekend many of my family will be together for Don's memorial service. Maybe I can talk a few of them into an excursion to LaFayette to see the bluebells and trillium and trout lilies.

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By the Way: Don't forget to get your submissions in to Learning In The Great Outoors, the carnival of environmental education, hosted for April by Barb at The Heart of Harmony. You can use this handy submission form.

From the Archives: A River Walk

From the Archives March 19, 2006:

The now-defunct Monthly Marathon Blog inspired this post two years ago. I was very pleased with some of these pictures. When I heard this week that the City of Rome is planning a new Silver Creek Park in downtown Rome where some of these pictures were taken, I thought I'd take this post out of mothballs. The new park would include the area shown in the final four photos and the old postcard below.

Here is a map of the proposed trails and park.
And here are the Rome News reports:
Rome News 1
Rome News 2
Rome News 3

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A River Walk

3.5 miles around downtown last night and 5.6 miles today down the levee (above) to the confluence then up First Ave to the Silver Creek trail. 58.1 miles for the month. Here are a few more pics I took along the way:

Our courthouse reflected in the Oostanaula



The confluence of the Oostanaula (left) and Etowah (right) rivers to form the Coosa River. The bridge at the right is the Robert Redden Footbridge, a former railroad bridge that rotated on the center column so steamboats could continue up the Oostanaula. The bridge at the right takes Broad Street across the Etowah to the foot of Myrtle Hill.




The Silver Creek Trail crosses the Etowah on another railroad bridge turned footbridge (above) then follows little Silver Creek for three-quarters of a mile as it cascades down to the river.


I've lived in Rome since 1962, but I was completely ignorant of these picturesque downtown views until last week!



Notice the nearly vertical sandstone and shale layers, evidence of the crumpling of the former sea floor here in the Ridge and Valley province between the Blue Ridge and the Cumberland Plateau. At our school I can take my kids out to the driveway cut and pull shell fossils and crinoid stems from the crumbly sandstone.



The creek flattens a little as it nears the river.




The 1913 postcard (above) shows a mill on Silver Creek. I suspect the foreground is a bridge over the Etowah and the mill was at the mouth of Silver Creek. Or else it is high water on some other section of the creek. If anyone knows where this picture was taken, please let me know.

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By the Way: Don't forget to get your submissions in to Learning In The Great Outoors, the carnival of environmental education, hosted for April by Barb at The Heart of Harmony. You can use this handy submission form.

A Great Birthday Present

Of course the actual reason that so many of my family came together today was the earliest Easter of our lifetimes. Gathered here in Rome were my mother, my sisters Joan and Debi, their husbands, in-town nephews Jonathan and Andrew, my wife, my youngest daughter, out-of-town-but-soon-to-be-homefolks niece Lyn and her hubby, son and two daughters -- AND our illustrious Auburn aeronautics professor nephew Gil with his vivacious wife and two precocious sons Lewis and Mark --- AND Gil's airplane!!!

Gil long ago earned the love and admiration of his uncle, but today!! He took me -- and Lillian -- up for an aerial photography session in his little Cessna. What a thrill!

I am so pleased to have lots of aerial shots of our school woods. If you look carefully at the triangle of wood in the top right corner you can make out our little brook flowing more or less along the hypotenuse and glinting in the sun.

Our school sits among the long Armuchee Ridges wrinkling up along the edge of the Cumberland Plateau. The farthest ridge is probably Lookout Mountain along the Georgia-Alabama border. The next would be Taylors Ridge that runs all the way to Tennessee. The foreground is Rocky Mountain with its strange manmade lake that is drained and recreated daily as water is pumped up to the reservoir during low-electrical-demand hours, only to plummet down tunnels to drive electrical turbines during the peak hours.

The heart of Rome is between the rivers. The Etowah on the right and the Oostanaula on the left bound our downtown. The great symbol of Rome, perched atop a hill toward the left side of the picture and visible from just about anywhere in town, is our famous clocktower. Built in 1870 by the Noble brothers, it was the primary storage tank for the city's water system for many years. Now it houses a wonderful little museum inside what was once a water tank. You can take the spiral stairs between the brick outer wall and the tank to the observation deck. Our vantage point today was even better.

Our tour covered our fair city. Here you see the Shaw homeplace along the Oostanaula River. The big red roof is the hotel down the street. Count the houses to the seventh left of that roof. It's easy to see the Riverwalk on both sides of river and Ridge Ferry Park across the Oostanaula.

Here's a little closer look. Our big black roof and the black shadow of our huge magnolia make our lot one of the darkest looking from the air. It is directly across the street from the middle of the three red-roofed buildings.

Our pilot patiently explained all his manuevers to his neophyte flyers, and passed a mint to Lillian who was feeling a little queasy in the back. Gil had warned us that the ride would be a bit bumpy because of the active air currents on this cool but clear day.

Our welcoming committee, and crew for the immediately following flight to Auburn, Alabama, greeted us on our return to Rome's Richard B. Russell Airport.

Thanks Gil. What a hoot!! When can we do it again?

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By the Way: Don't forget to get your submissions in to Learning In The Great Outoors, the carnival of environmental education, hosted for April by Barb at The Heart of Harmony. You can use this handy submission form.

Photo Blogging: Along the River

The Oostanaula River pushes over stone (I suspect a part of the Rome fault) near the site of Major Ridge's famous ferry of the late 1700s and early 1800s. I doubt that the Cherokee chief and trader ever saw the river quite this low. If it had been this shallow in May of 1864, it may not have given the Confederates on Myrtle Hill much protection from "Uncle Billy" Sherman and his troops. I wonder if there are any archeological efforts being pursued to take advantage of the exposed banks of the rivers around Rome. I took this shot during a walk with Sheila last week.

Peekaboo! Some Nature Shots

As we walked along the river last weekend I noticed this ailing little tree and its occupants. On the return I tried to sneak up on the little guy. He saw me and scooted up through the holey bole and popped out at top (pic #1 below) to survey the situation. I waited and sure enough he scurried back down to the lower opening and posed for me there.

A female downy woodpecker found the neighbood cuisine delicious.

The same week I caught these birds on a field trip with my fourth graders:



A great blue heron sits by the shore of a beaver ruin.



A warbler visits a feeder station.



A trio of black vultures turn their backs to us in the tippy top of the dead pines.

o

An injured black vulture eats a thawed chick as he underges rehabilitation at the nature center aviary. My students, being fourth graders, are fascinated that the brilliant vulture has such disgusting adaptations. It defecates on itself, coating its legs with a white mixture of uric acid and feces that helps to cool the animal in warm weather and to kill bacteria it picks up from its rotting meals.