On our second drive though Roaring Fork I concentrated on nature. The Smokies are full of wildflowers in the spring. I saw many new species. I added a couple of things seen other places to this post. I welcome corrections to my attempts at identification.
“The 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires, also known as the Gatlinburg wildfires, were a complex of wildfires which began in late November 2016. Some of the towns most impacted were Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, both near Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The fires claimed at least 14 lives, injured 190,and is one of the largest natural disasters in the history of Tennessee.
By December 12, the fires had burned more than 10,000 acres (15 square miles) inside the national park, and 6,000 acres in other parts of the area. At least 14,000 area residents and tourists were forced to evacuate, while over 2,000 buildings were damaged and/or destroyed.
One of the largest wildfires was the Chimney Tops 2 Fire, which burned more than 10,000 acres, and closed the Chimney Tops Trail.
The Great Smoky Mountains wildfires were the deadliest wildfires in Tennessee, as well as the deadliest wildfires in the eastern U.S. since the Great Fires of 1947, which killed 16 people in Maine. In addition, the fires were also the most deadly and destructive of the 2016 Southeastern United States wildfires.
American country singer and notable local resident Dolly Parton was among many notable figures to pitch in to assist victims.” Source: 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires – Wikipedia
I saw a Roughed Grouse, Barred Owl, Pileated Woodpecker, Turkeys, Dear, Elk and Black Bears. I wasn’t able to photograph most of them.
Calvert Vaux Park : NYC Parks (nycgovparks.org) is a park consisting mostly of ball fields by Coney Island Creek in Gravesend, Brooklyn. It has seme nice shorefront areas. This is one of 3 posts. Marc found the preying mantis in the wildflower area. The locust borer is a new one for me.
After a short stop at Jamaica Bay I decided to visit the community gardens at Floyd Bennett Field to look for butterflies.
A couple of decent butterflies.
Clark Botanic Garden is a small place in North Hempstead, Long, Island, New York.
Only two. I didn’t try very hard.
