Blog

‍KICK OFF! No, not that one. Mid February is the beginning of the most exciting two months for the loons of Jocassee. They have completed their mid-winter molt, when loons shed ALL their flight feathers and grow entirely new ones, in preparation for spring migration and the long flight to their breeding waters. Their winter…

Black Birds ‍ ‍A slow “whoop…whoop…whoop” passes overhead. A vulture. But no… a very big and very black bird, but not a vulture. Raven? Big black bird settles beside a large nest near the top of a young white pine. Nest building? I’m intrigued! “Caw, caw! Caw, caw!” One of the neighborhood crows calls, another…

  Although we still have weeks of winter left, the recent warm weather was welcomed and brings with it some noticeable changes. Earlier in the week we heard wood frogs calling from a small cove. We boated in to listen, but couldn’t get close because of a submerged tree in our path. Thanks Helene! This…

Shaped by Adversity ‍ We’ve come to the South Carolina coast for both business and pleasure, a short few days to watch birds and discuss a future book highlighting the mystery and wonder of the Jocassee Gorges. A morning walk with Mica the Magnificent (canine) takes us along the shoreline and back up through a…

  ‍Cool things happen when you meet fellow naturalists. So often on our tours, most everyone who comes out with us has some interest in nature and the beauty of this place. However, once in a while you get a chance to briefly connect with kindred spirits. This past week, I met just such a…

A Long Road Ahead‍ Bare-branch winter does little to hide chaos left behind on one fateful day in the autumn of 2024, beyond those terrible, terrible floods. Road trips reveal how much of the southeast was victim to a storm like no other. Healthy trees, ripped violently from earth, lay fallen across entire hillsides, fanned…

FLUTTERVILLE. That’s what we have named our front porch this year, all 30 feet of it. Along its length are 4 bird feeders, proof positive that we have learned nothing from prior visits by neighborhood bears. We live in the woods, so speciation is limited (red-bellied woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, cardinals, house finches, goldfinches and tufted…

More Winter!‍ What does it take to get twelve people in a boat, on a lake, on a day that won’t reach 48 degrees? An invitation. That, and the chance to see Jocassee’s famous waterfalls in a rare frozen state. It is cold, but the sun is shining, and the company is warm and lively….

Brrr…January! As this Canadian cold air mass sinks in on top of us, we’re busy prepping for the coming year. January is typically our coldest month and the wildlife around the lake are not much different than us when it comes to this cold. They seek shelter and food to ride it out. Rock outcrops,…

More Winter ‍ This spring, a female mud dauber wasp will chew her way out of the dirt chamber that’s protected her through this long, cold winter. She’s grown from egg to larvae to pupa to adult in that dirt catacomb. Soon it’ll be time for her to leave the nest and fly away with…

‍Meet the belted kingfisher: one of our year-round residents. It would be unusual not to see one of these graceful birds anytime you’re out on the lake. Most often, you’ll hear one long before you catch sight of it. These agile fish eaters are amazing acrobats. Their wedge-shaped heads, waterproof feathers and powerful flight muscles…

More Winter ‍ Snow, sleet, freezing rain, just as predicted. Crunchy slush, freezing soon to treacherous slickness on secondary roads, as predicted. We’ll go not further than Lake Jocassee, where wispy gray water vapor rises mysteriously into snow falling from equally gray sky. The puffs of snow in trees are so light they barely bend…