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Harvey   Her name was Harvey. She appeared between steps and banister one mid-September morning when the rising sun slanted through the porch and illuminated her perfect web. We stopped in our tracks, not willing to damage her handiwork; carefully, we traced our fingers under the orb, feeling for her long anchor threads. Remarkably, there…

  “Look carefully and tell me what you see, but don’t use the common name for it.” I hand fifth grade students from a local school some objects that I have gathered from the forest floor. The eager voices shout out the words you would expect. Leaf. Pinecone. “Those are good answers but now look…

Dacusville Elementary They might not remember the name Attakullakulla. They might not remember feldspar. They might not remember which pines have the shortest needles, or the name of the tree with the big leaves. But they will remember finding salamanders on wet rock under a waterfall. They will remember how amazing sand looks under a…

  September mornings on the lake sometimes start with a light breeze and a little chop in the main basin. As we leave the dock, most folks, including myself, have a light jacket or sweatshirt on. However, it doesn’t take long this time of year before the sun warms everything sufficiently. The jackets come off,…

Zugunruhe There’s a restless edge under these bright blue skies as summer is being nuzzled by autumn. Autumn is like that dog you’ve allowed on your bed, only to find your furry friend is stretching across your space, pushing with all four paws until you are sleeping on an outside sliver of mattress, centimeters from…

Sometimes the best memories aren’t made under clear skies—they’re made when you’re laughing through the rain. Whether it’s creating cool ideas, lending a hand, or braving the elements, Jay and Dawne are always there with big smiles and bigger hearts. This photo says it all: caught in a Jocassee rainstorm, wrapped in ponchos and laughter,…

More Vultures ‍Saturday was Vulture Awareness Day. Perhaps you missed the memo. For future reference, this falls on the first Saturday of September, every year. Along the base of the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment, we are blessed with two species of vultures. They are often seen together, black and turkey, cleaning up the morning roadkill….

  Well, we made it through the fun and busiest part of the summer and now we’re gearing up for a busy fall (700+ JWC school kids coming). THANKS to all of you who have graciously contributed to make this happen! As naturalists, we pay close attention to everything happening around us here in the…

Vultures It takes a special kind of person to love a vulture, but on the dock at Devils Fork State Park, here we are, standing together in our admiration of the one bird who makes most folks shudder with disgust. The vultures are, in our collective opinion, magnificent. Dozens of them roost in the narrow…

Jocassee Wild Child Guides Are Gearing Up! Long before the first school bus arrives, JWC guides are out scouting trails, checking caves and coves, exploring waterfalls, and dreaming up fresh adventures for local school children. This year brings creek critter safaris, geology hunts, and hands-on climate lessons—designed to spark curiosity while meeting South Carolina state…

Wild Life Slow-as-we-can-go, we paddle the shoreline of a lake that is not Jocassee. One single spotted sandpiper leads our way, jumping from rock to rock just ahead of our quiet canoe. The bird hops past puddling butterflies, bobs under webs of spiny orb weavers, dances around a whole village of unidentified spiders who have…

  The first thing you might notice about the Yellow Fringed Orchid is that it may not be yellow at all, but more of a cantaloupe color. But sometimes flowers are actually more yellow than orange. So I would guess that Linnaeus–who first named the plant–was looking at the more yellow ones. Later the plant…