Ray Zimmerman's Blog - Posts Tagged "birds"
A Page from my Field Notes
Sunday, August 25, 3:30 to 5:30 PM
Location: Guild Trail (Chattanooga) stating at St. Elmo access point.
Route: I walked NNE on the trail until I crossed the long bridge near Ruby Falls and returned by the same route.
Weather: 88 degrees F and mostly cloudy
40% humidity with winds E at 2 mph
Barometer 30.1 and steady
Visibility 10 mi
Habitat: Second growth forest – appears to be well drained – somewhat rocky
Vegetation: Ferns and late summer perennials were plentiful along the trail. Further back, shrubs and understory trees give way to oaks and hickories.
Species List
Pileated Woodpecker calling but not seen
Ebony spleenwort
Ironweed - blooming
Kudzu – blooming
Wild Sunflowers – blooming
Jewelweed – blooming
Ragweed and giant ragweed – blooming
Poke – in fruit
General Comments: This trail gets extensive use, primarily hiking and mountain biking, with a trailhead and parking area on Ochs Highway near the intersection with Tennessee Avenue. Hikers also access the trail at the north end from the Ruby Falls parking lot.
A portion of the trail abuts my residence and I have made more extensive wildlife sightings from there, including, but not limited to White Tailed Deer, Gray Fox, Raccoon, Bald Eagle, and Opossum, with Screech, Great Horned, and Barred owls calling on occasion. Migrating Sand Hill Cranes have passed over spring and fall.
The Chattanooga Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society holds bird walks here in the spring with extensive warbler sightings.
Location: Guild Trail (Chattanooga) stating at St. Elmo access point.
Route: I walked NNE on the trail until I crossed the long bridge near Ruby Falls and returned by the same route.
Weather: 88 degrees F and mostly cloudy
40% humidity with winds E at 2 mph
Barometer 30.1 and steady
Visibility 10 mi
Habitat: Second growth forest – appears to be well drained – somewhat rocky
Vegetation: Ferns and late summer perennials were plentiful along the trail. Further back, shrubs and understory trees give way to oaks and hickories.
Species List
Pileated Woodpecker calling but not seen
Ebony spleenwort
Ironweed - blooming
Kudzu – blooming
Wild Sunflowers – blooming
Jewelweed – blooming
Ragweed and giant ragweed – blooming
Poke – in fruit
General Comments: This trail gets extensive use, primarily hiking and mountain biking, with a trailhead and parking area on Ochs Highway near the intersection with Tennessee Avenue. Hikers also access the trail at the north end from the Ruby Falls parking lot.
A portion of the trail abuts my residence and I have made more extensive wildlife sightings from there, including, but not limited to White Tailed Deer, Gray Fox, Raccoon, Bald Eagle, and Opossum, with Screech, Great Horned, and Barred owls calling on occasion. Migrating Sand Hill Cranes have passed over spring and fall.
The Chattanooga Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society holds bird walks here in the spring with extensive warbler sightings.
For the Last Carolina Parakeet
Also published in the literary journal Number One, Gallatin, Tennessee, 2019 edition.
For the Last Carolina Parakeet
I imagine the loneliness of your aviary
there at the Cincinnati Zoo where your
predecessor, the last Passenger Pigeon,
flew off to oblivion just a few years earlier.
One voice is not a choir.
You were part of a social species,
descending by the thousands,
on fields to consume cockleburs,
or orchards for luscious fruits.
One voice is not a choir.
Some labelled you a pest
and pursued with shotguns.
Audubon noticed your species
in decline even in his bygone days.
One voice is not a choir.
No welcoming song of your fellows
greeted your waning days. Does your
skin adorn a museum, just as your
ancestors’ feathers adorned ladys’ hats?
On voice is not a choir.
It saddens me to think my adopted home
of Tennessee once knew the calls and colors
of a native parrot. One scientist titled
an article about your kin, “Forever Gone.”
No voices remain in the choir.
For the Last Carolina Parakeet
I imagine the loneliness of your aviary
there at the Cincinnati Zoo where your
predecessor, the last Passenger Pigeon,
flew off to oblivion just a few years earlier.
One voice is not a choir.
You were part of a social species,
descending by the thousands,
on fields to consume cockleburs,
or orchards for luscious fruits.
One voice is not a choir.
Some labelled you a pest
and pursued with shotguns.
Audubon noticed your species
in decline even in his bygone days.
One voice is not a choir.
No welcoming song of your fellows
greeted your waning days. Does your
skin adorn a museum, just as your
ancestors’ feathers adorned ladys’ hats?
On voice is not a choir.
It saddens me to think my adopted home
of Tennessee once knew the calls and colors
of a native parrot. One scientist titled
an article about your kin, “Forever Gone.”
No voices remain in the choir.
