The fixed, hard stone provides an ideal path for water to rush down the mountain. The stone may seem immobile and rigid but in time it will be defeated by the steady pounding of the water and the quiet, patience of the moss. For now they share this space and offer a beautiful, peaceful spot to sit and rest.
Canada Violet
This Canada Violet was growing along a hiking trail in Shenandoah National Park when I was there last May.
I love these mountain pools in Shenandoah National Park. This one is downstream from Dark Hollow Falls but you can find scenes like this throughout the park.
Click on the image to see a larger version of the photograph.
The Carolina Chickadee is a common bird in the Southeastern United States. I photographed this one in Shenandoah National Park but we get plenty of them visiting our backyard bird feeders throughout the year. They are gregarious, often congregating with Titmice, vocal, and pretty acrobatic. As you can see in this photo, they frequently hang under branches to find food.
Carolina Chickadees are also quite small. According to allaboutbirds.org they only weight between 0.3-0.4 oz (8-12g). Every winter, when it gets really cold I wonder how they survive. Thankfully they do.
I nearly stepped on this caterpillar while hiking in early January. Legend has it the area between the black stripes on the woolly bugger or woolly bear caterpillar indicates how mild or harsh the winter will be. The larger the area between the black stripes the milder the winter is supposed to be. Since the rear black stripe can’t even been seen in this photo the caterpillar prediction is for a pretty mild winter.
A crow watches the field below from a barren tree in the Big Meadow area of Shenandoah National Park.
This White-Tailed Deer fawn kept looking up to see what I was doing as I approached. I never got close enough for it to move away but it kept pretty close tabs on what I was up to. Luckily the lighting worked in my favor and I was able to capture this image with a catch light in the deer’s eye.
This pine stands alone near the top of a hill, in a meadow at Shenandoah National Park.
About a week ago I visited the Big Meadow section of Shenandoah National Park, specifically looking for deer. As I walked through the meadow I noticed this White-Tailed Deer watching me. I was able to get much closer, the deer in the park are quite used to people, but I like this image of the meadow with the deer resting in it.
I can’t identify the plant which produced this seed pod but I can confidently say it wasn’t a dandelion. It was low, leggy bush with dried up leaves when I took this photo in November. Regardless of my ignorance, I thought the plant’s seed pod was worthy of a close up photo.
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