Sands of Time: May 2018

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Assalaamu Alaykum world. We went to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, TN. I did some walking away from my mother and grandmother on the trip and really enjoyed this part of the weekend vacation. There were a lot of plants and stuffed animals in the muesuem which I took pictures of and the trail.

Black Oak

Corn Snake
Pantherophis guttatusA female corn snake, like all her relatives in the rat snake family, will lay her clutch of eggs in midsummer in the loose, warm wood of rotting logs. Eight-inch young will hatch from white, leathery eggs in about two months.

Muskrat
Ondatra zibethicus
Expect to find these web-footed semiaquatic rodents in the larger slow-moving streams where there are plenty of water plants.
They feed at night on the stems, leaves, and root stalks of cattails, bulrushes, grasses and other water plants mixed with occasional bites of frogs, minnows, and mussles.

Wild Turkey

Mountain Laurel

Shining Clubmoss

Rufous-Sided Towhee

Small-leaved Rhododendron
Rhododrendron minimusThe low-growing dwarf rhododrendron of Mt. Le Conte and other high exposed ridges is the same species as the 10-foot-tall shrub found growing at stream side in the western part of the park. It has several common names-Piedmont, Cavolina, and small-leaved-because of this variety.
Know it by its small leaves with the rusty colored undersurfaces.

Rosebay Rhododendron
Rhododren maximumAlso known as great or white rhododendron, these plants bloom in June and July.

Hellbender
Cryptobranchus alleganiensisThis giant salamnder, locally known as the water frog, is found at the larger streams. Totally aquatic, it feeds on crayfish, snails, and worms as it crawls along the stream bottoms.

Belted Kingfisher

Wood Frog

Mink
Occupation-full time hunter. Look for them along any of the creeks, especially in areas with thick growth and plenty of fallen logs. Usually active at night, they prey on anything they can catch and kill.