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Biophony Lake Jocassee is so beautiful it is hard to look away. But when the black locusts are blooming and the Oconee Bells are spent, I like to close my eyes and listen to the music of life. Millions of birds have been migrating to their nesting grounds. Some away from the Jocassee Gorges and…

Spring ‍ Morning dawns calm, bright, in a world washed clean by night’s rainfall. Turkey vultures dry their wings along the boat dock; a small waterfall sings happy water sounds. A ghost—or a cloud of sweet birch pollen—drifts by, a dust of gold barely visible against green rhododendron leaves. Mountainsides are fully green now…

  ‍I carved out a five day slot in the busiest month of the year in nature, April. My goal was to paddle the shoreline as far around the perimeter of Lake Jocassee as I could in five days. Some call it the 90 mile challenge as Jocassee’s “living” shoreline. This time of year is…

Woodworkers ‍ We feel like we’re under siege, surrounded by bombinating locals. They seem convinced that we are intruding on their property. They hover, facing us but for an occasional darting sideways glance, yet they are constantly on the move. Distinctive yellow capes cover their backs, matching their small yellow noses. Their feet dangle…

  We started Monday with rain and 5 boats of 7th graders from Gettys Middle School. As the bus arrived, the rain stopped right on cue. Sunshine returned for most of the week as 8th graders from Pickens and 4th graders from Hagood Elementary joined us on Wednesday and Thursday. Our goal in the ~4…

Ptyxis ‍ ‍Today in history, bud scales rolled back on a young hickory outside my window. Over the course of the day I literally watched baby leaves grow. How was so much leaf and stem contained in such a small package? The answer is ptyxis, an origami folding of the leaf within the bud….

BLOOM TIME: On Tuesday, we did a tour under blue skies that show an abundance of wildflowers blooming. These included Flowering Dogwood, Downy Serviceberry, Mountain Silverbell, Oconee Bell, Canada Violet, Faded Trillium, Vasey’s Trillium, and a new discovery that I learned the ID of the next day with Keith Bradley’s class. This was Sand-myrtle, Kalmia…

LOON TIME! Time to leave us, that is. Spring loon migration is in full swing. On some days in the early predawn you can hear Loons hooting over most of the lower basin. On other days, the lake can be hauntingly quiet, like it was this past Tuesday morning when we saw only 10 or…

Wild for the Child ‍ Misty gray cloud nestles onto Lake Jocassee like a feather blanket, settling pollen onto calm water in clumps thick as pancake batter. Visibility is zero. Four boats head into this mysterious void with no landmarks visible to guide the way. The fourth graders onboard, out for a Jocassee Wild…

‍It’s not unusual to see an occasional small float plane flying over Jocassee as pilots hone their skills, landing and taking off again, but Tuesday was different. Two firefighting planes (possibly Fire Boss Water Scoopers; see link below) made multiple trips throughout the day, carrying ~ 800 gallons of water each trip to help suppress…

Burned ‍ ‍Six months ago, Hurricane Helene stormed up the southern face of the Blue Ridge Escarpment in a swirling fury of wind and rain. In the aftermath of landslides and uprooted trees came light, pouring through canopy gaps, opening the forest floor to new life. This month, spring brings soft green back to…

Pretty Boney They come in pulses. Or so it seems. One day lots of Loons and Bonaparte’s can be seen from the dock, the next day the lake is quiet. I include both birds as their migrations, both fall and spring, seem almost synchronous. The call of the Bonaparte’s (let’s call them Boneys for short)…