An appreciation post for one of my favorite birds, the Anhinga! These birds are good divers and will completely submerge to catch their prey. Since they have no oils on their wings to repel water, anhingas have to stretch out their wings to let them dry before they can fly!
Pictures taken at Huntington Beach State Park, Murrels Inlet, SC
Linn Cove Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Grandfather Mountain State Park, North Carolina. One must scramble a bit to get this view, but that’s half the fun!
I can’t help but post this pic, even though it’s deeply flawed, from the west shoulder of Appalachian Gap in Camle’s Hump State Park, because there’s just so much interesting stuff going on it it! Maybe one day I’ll go back and wait for another perfect Appalachian Gap sunset… But until then, this pic will have to do!
Tumbled stone at the foot of the southern promontory of Appalachian Gap. Full disclosure: this is not the natural orientation of this picture, I’m taking artistic license!
Polytrichum commune (haircap moss) and some fern gametophytes on natural slate near Appalachian Gap, Camel’s Hump State Park, Vermont. Everything to do with rocks looks so much richer after a bit of rain!
Birch snags on the north hilside of Appalachian Gap, where Highway 17 cuts through Camel’s Hump State Park, near Starksboro, Vermont. This was the first picture I took on an afternoon helping one of Vermont’s official State Botanists check up on rare plant populations!
Bat stars love to eat urchins, and there’s a massive overpopulation of urchins on this stretch of coastline, so they have food galore. If you go tide pooling you’re almost guaranteed to see one. Their colors range from white to magenta to brilliant red to yellow and everything in between, so they really pop out ~
