I was up early again to enjoy the changing colors of sunset and golden hour, the singing birds, and the quiet before everyone else gets up.
Just after sunrise
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Carolina Chickadee
Eastern Bluebird
Carolina Chickadee
Red-eyed Vireo
Eastern Bluebird
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Thrasher
Eastern Bluebird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
The guys decided to go into Pigeon Forge to do some mini-golfing and visit the Titanic Museum while the gals enjoyed a day with two little girls. Here are a few photos from my husband's day.
Titanic Museum
Turkey on the driveway of the cabin - we saw a lot of turkeys on the side of the road in our neighborhood and throughout the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Later in this blog you will see close ups of one that spent more time outside our cabin Monday evening.
When the guys returned from their excursion, they brought firewood so we could enjoy a fire.
Listen for the Chuck-will's-widow which sang off and on throughout each night.
I did not realize Tennessee was home to scorpions until this guy crawled across the patio. A little more research shows two species of scorpions in Tennessee, one native and one non-native. Both have a bite no worse than a bee sting.
The sky was fairly clear and so I tried some night sky photography and even managed to catch a shooting star in one of them.
Since this was our last full day at the cabin, we really wanted to make the most of just relaxing among the gorgeous views and beautiful songs of the birds. We slept in a bit later and so didn't catch the sunrise but still were up early enough to enjoy the bird activity.
White-breasted Nuthatch
Eastern Bluebird
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Bluebird
Hooded Warbler
Eastern Bluebird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Over five days, we identified 22 different bird species. Eastern Bluebirds and Red-bellied Woodpeckers were the most common around our cabin and were often seen in pairs squawking and playing (it is mating season). The Hooded Warbler was the most exciting new species to me, as well as the nocturnal Chuck-will's-widow which could be heard each night. I got glimpses of a beautiful Pileated Woodpecker one day at the cabin (and again at Cades Cove on our way home - see the next post) but was never successful getting a photo of one.
Mid-morning we made a quick trip into Pigeon Forge to get some more chocolate and do a little shopping. We wandered the Old Mill Shops and picked up some pottery, soap, t-shirts, a puzzle, and of course chocolate.
In the early evening, a turkey wandered through the patio and yard of our cabin.
After I took these photos, he wandered off out of the yard and so we went back in the cabin. Not too much later, I heard what sounded like a turkey again and so I stepped outside just in time to catch one starting to peck at our car! I have no idea what he was trying to do but he was very focused on both sides of the car just in front of the front wheels.
