Remembering Rex 18

•

It was three years ago plus a few dark hours—Monday, November 28, 2016—that a once contained wildfire in the Smokies was whipped into something more horrific by 87 mph winds. The resulting firestorm roared down out of the mountains and left a scar across 10,000 acres of the national park, plus in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and beyond. Fourteen people died, 134 were injured and many people were left with broken hearts.

Three years ago today, I published a post about the fire not knowing what had been lost. I even wondered about the four preserved cabins at Junglebrook and along Roaring Fork. I am related to all who once lived there. Their DNA is intertwined within my own. 

Unaware of its fate, I included a photo of a log cabin taken by Rex McDaniel. He often went there with his camera in hand. For him, it was a place of great solace, as it is for me. 

Had anything survived? 

Click: Gatlinburg fire storm



Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Happy Turkey Day

•

"Our two regular visitors came by this afternoon for a snack. I hope they aren’t on someone’s menu tomorrow!" emailed Lynne Davis late yesterday.

Indeed. They have been a regular part of our Thanksgivings since the very first one, so much so that wild turkeys had all but disappeared. But through focused conservation efforts they have made a slow comeback. Lynne and Bob Davis now routinely see them around their house.

Reports of the menu for the first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims celebrated with the Wampanoags and their chief Massasoit are a bit sketchy. Only two written accounts survive, one a letter written by Edward Winslow dated December 12, 1621 and the other, William Bradford’s “History of Plymouth Plantation” written 20 years later. The foods the men mentioned were corn, Indian corn (ground into cornmeal), barley (mainly used to make beer), peas (but only a few because the first crop didn’t do well), fowl (probably ducks, geese, swans and cranes), fish (mostly bass and cod), venison (the Wampanoags brought five deer) and wild turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving. 

And we all have many many things to be thankful for. 

•

Remembering Rex 17

•

Ever so often it is necessary to reinvent oneself. The old ways no longer apply. But perhaps the most spectacular re-inventors are the insects that go through complete metamorphosis.

Data fata secutus.

In September 2013, Rex McDaniel found a wonderful example in plain sight: the green park bench on the plaza in front of the Visitor Center at Ijams. Rex even got a video. 

Click: metamorphosis. 


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 16

•

When the 2016 edition of TN Naturalist @ Ijams went to the ponds to find and learn about frogs, newts and other amphibians, Rex McDaniel was there to record the fun of it all. And it was fun!

Click: amphibians!


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 15

•

In 2013, Rex McDaniel and I had a wonderful conversation about slugs that included a photograph by his son James. 

Yes, these mollusks, really shell-less snails, can be rather interesting. 

Click: white slug


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 14

•

And then there were our yearly May road trips to Chota, the Cherokee peace town. We went to honor the grave of Oconastota, the great Cherokee Warrior Chief who died there with peace in his heart in 1783 and in the afterglow, we listened for cricket frogs and chuck-will's-widows in the twilight. 

Rex McDaniel often went with us to be in that sacrosanct place on the lake, to be in the moment. 

Click: Chota in the twilight 

And make sure you listen to Jason Dykes recording at the end made that night in 2013. 


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 13

•

For the past several springs, a pair of red-shouldered hawks have built their nest in the trees behind Tiger's enclosure by the parking lot at Ijams.

In April 2014, the attentive eye of Rex McDaniel was the first to see the young clutch moving around in the lofty nest and he got a video of it. 

Click: red-shouldered hawks.


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 12

•

We looked at a hot day in June, what about a rainy day in May? 

In blustery May, Ijams is often slow on Mondays but the attentive eye of Rex McDaniel caught some action in 2012 even in the rain with a caption that could have read...

"Don't you just love Ijams." 

Click: rainy day.


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 11

•

On a hot day in June, what better way to escape the heat than go to the creek? And that's just what we did in 2016. The attentive eye of Rex McDaniel decided to come along to watch the fun. And it was truly a cool way to spend the afternoon. 

Click: in the creek.


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 10

•

One day in July 2017, the attentive eye of Rex McDaniel found a late Northern cardinal nest. Very active, low to the ground in the shrubs. July is somewhat late in the season for cardinals to be nesting. Most of the resident species—wrens, chickadees, titmice, robins—nest early. By July parent birds are beginning to molt. Feathers grow faster in the warm weather.   

Click: late cardinal nest. 


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 9

•

The attentive eye of Rex McDaniel took in the little things. He saw everything from big to small. As small as a fly blowing a bubble in 2013. 

Click: fly bubble?


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 8

•

If our topic was owls, Rex McDaniel was generally there, as he was in the fall of 2015 for the Ijams Owl-ology class that also featured wildlife rehabilitator Lynne McCoy and Sugar, a snow-white barred owl, and Laura Twilley with her owl cupcakes. 

Click: Owl-ology


Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 7

•

At the memorial "Celebration of Life" for Rex McDaniel held outside last Sunday at the original Ijams Homesite near the woods and pond that Rex loved, Sharon told a story of his attentive eye. 

When they were working on the front desk together, Sharon said she could go out to the Universal Pond in front of the Visitor's Center and not find a single frog, but Rex could go out after her and find 13, as he did when he found the first bullfrog in 2012.

Click: first bullfrog

Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 6

•

In 2014, Maryville Life magazine showcased the nature photographs of Rex McDaniel. We all were so proud of him!

Click: Maryville Life.

Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 5

•

Few people like cowbirds, probably not even cows. Naturalist and photographer Rex McDaniel took a photo of one and we covered that topic in 2013.

Click: cowbirds.

Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 4

•

Club moss? What in the world is club moss?

Well, naturalist and photographer Rex McDaniel and I covered that topic in 2016.

Click: club moss?

Photograph/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 3

•

Trust me. Birds take baths. They have to keep their feathers clean and cool off in the summer.

But they take their baths in private because they are so vulnerable. On any given day, a bird has to find enough food to survive one more day and avoid attention so that they are not eaten themselves.

So finding a secluded pool of water is important. They are taking a risk. Here is an indigo bunting, a gorgeous dark blue summer resident that Rex McDaniel found bathing in 2013.

Click: indigo bath.

Photo/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper. 

•

Remembering Rex 2

•

At Ijams Nature Center, Rex McDaniel became known as the "Owl Whisperer." Finding an owl in the canopy of the forest is not an easy task. But he could do it. 

His death affected us all. 

As we remember him, here's a look back.

Click: Owl Whisperer. 

Photo/graphic by his friend Chuck Cooper


•

Remembering Rex

•

Today, we celebrate the life of Rex McDaniel, friend to Ijams and friend to me.

Rex loved to explore slowly the grounds at the nature center, Cades Cove, Roaring Fork or just anywhere outdoors. Rex had an inquiring mind, a patient and thoughtful observer, an artist always ready to capture the fleeting moment with his camera. Because all moments are fleeting. 

Rex was an owl whisperer, he could find one if it was there, he had the "attentive eye" and always reminded me of the famous Ralph Waldo Emerson quote.

“To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same fields, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.”  

As I was remembering him I began to look back at the times he appeared in this blog over the years or in my emails from him with a subject line that simply said: "A photo for you."

The consummate interrupter naturalist, Rex shared nature through his photographs and stories. So here we begin our time of remembrances of Rex.

Click: strolling about

Above photo/graphic by Chuck Cooper.

Today, we met at the Ijams Homesite to celebrate Rex's life and share memories of him. And we know the quiet space was special to him because there and down the Discovery Trails to the pond and wetland, Rex could always find an owl, if it was there to be found. Because Rex was the owl whisperer.


Miss you, Rex. 


•

visit to the historic Cliff Dwellers

•

True cliff dwellers are rare. 

The two closest living relatives to the American kestrel are the prairie and peregrine falcons. Both are true cliff dwellers that prefer to nest on rocky outcroppings and search for prey in the lowlands. The smaller kestrels evolved to live closer to terra firma. They are secondary cavity-nesters that seek out hollow trees, abandoned woodpecker holes or even nestboxes that face open fields and meadows for their own nests.

Recently, Doc and I visited the Cliff Dwellers in the Glades community near Gatlinburg, my hometown. 

Doc is a non-flighted, state permitted American kestrel that has an injured right wing. He is in my care and under my state education permit, we are required to get out into the world to meet people and raise public awareness of the smallest falcon to live in the Americas, besides Doc likes the outings. They fall under the category of "enrichment" for the highly intelligent raptor. They are used to flying through the region, surveying their domain.

The Cliff Dwellers, 1941

The Cliff Dwellers is the oldest art and craft gallery in Gatlinburg. The historic structure was built in 1933 on the Parkway, the main street of Gatlinburg, by artist Louis E. Jones. It served as his home, studio and gallery until his death in 1958. Longtime visitors to the gateway to the national park recognize the building but perhaps not its current location. In 1995, the building was about to be razed by the new property owner, Smoky Mountain artist Jim Gray saved the structure and moved to its current home. This is a noteworthy accomplishment since the small resort town has lost most of its historic buildings. 

Today, the Cliff Dwellers is owned and operated by artists Louise Bales, Sherry Mummert, Pat K. Thomas and Winnie Utterback. (Full disclosure: Louise is my Smoky Mountain cousin.) The gallery showcases contemporary and traditional artwork of over 60 local artists including this naturalist and artist. 

Here's where we come full circle with this narrative. They stock and sell my illustrated Natural History notecards. Every notecard sold buys four mice for Doc the injured kestrel.

1 card 4 mice? What could be simpler? Quid pro quo, i.e. "something for something."

Cliff Dwellers. "A very interesting place." Indeed!

The Cliff Dwellers, 2019

Artist/Owner Louise Bales arranging my cards

 
•