today

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Drop by Ijams today and say "Hello."

We'll be doing an animal presentation at 2 and 3 p.m., plus a "Mindfulness Walk" at 4 p.m.

Who knows, I may even pull a feather out of my head much to the delight of the redtail. 

"So, that's how it's done?" 

- Photos by Chuck Cooper

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mindfulness

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Recently, I learned a new word: “paracme.” It’s found in the Oxford English Dictionary and means “the point at which one is past one's prime.” 

Ouch! Someone had to put a label on it.

I spent a long time pondering: did the word apply to me? And finally decided that if I was pondering if the word applied to me it probably did apply to me. 

But, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing since my life has never been better, richer or more rewarding, albeit my heart is full of saddness because my mother just passed away. 

Pacacme brings wisdom and the understanding that each day is to be savored. It could be argued that you really do not start to live fully until you reach paracme; everything before that is preparation for the life you were destined to live.

So, having determined that, I breathed a sigh of relief.

And then I wondered if the term could also apply to flowers. If so, I just love purple coneflowers (a.k.a. Echinacea) in paracme, the time when their color begins to fade, their petals start to droop and their seedheads begin to swell.

The lavenderish flowers develop this lovely ballerina quality, as though they are taking their final bows after a fervent performance. A bit past prime, but still lovely nonetheless.

And speaking of living fully, I'm leading a mindfulness walk this Sunday at Ijams. Here are the details from our PR department...

Sunday, August 16, 4 p.m.
Mindfulness Walk at Ijams (Recommended for adults) The Ijams Sanctuary Series is a new program designed to help visitors slow down and appreciate all the beauty in their surroundings. “Shinrin-Yoku,” or forest bathing, is the slow, meditative exploration of the forest using all five senses. By removing distractions such as cell phones, cameras and even talking, participants are able to truly engage with their surroundings and experience the restorative properties of nature. The fee for this program is $7 for Ijams members and $10 for non-members. Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.


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this 10 o'clock

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A hardy thank you to the 10 o'clock Garden Club of West Knoxville.

I spoke to them this morning about "Creating a Bird Friendly Yard," one of the Living Clean & Green series of programs offered by Ijams Nature Center.

Yes, we make house calls. 

And, yes. The topic of hummingbirds did come up. 

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hummingbird festival

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Special thanks to my good friends—hosts Russell Biven and Beth Haynes, and producer Lee Ann Bowman—at WBIR's Live@5@4 for inviting me on today to talk about the upcoming KTOS Wonder of Hummingbird Festival at Ijams on Saturday, August 22, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For a look at the interview, click: WBIR Channel 10 Live@5@4.

For event schedule, click: Hummer schedule.

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one last summer camp

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Such fun! I led one final great insect expedition with the summer camp kids from local Boys & Girls Clubs last Friday at Ijams. With area schools cranking up, it was the last summer camp of 2015. Alas, the insects of summer go away too.

Sigh...

For more photos go to: One Last Summer Camp.

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Cicada-Tomat-Uh

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Swamp cicada

I   J   A   M   S       H   A   P   P   E   N   I   N   G

Sunday, August 9, 4 p.m. 

Cicada-Tomat-Uh

(Ages 5 and up) After spending a three years underground, the cicadas are out and about. Enjoy a summer afternoon with Ijams senior naturalist and storyteller Stephen Lyn Bales (that would be me) as he searches for buzzing dog-days cicadas, a.k.a. jarflies.

We’ll sip “cicada juice” and enjoy fresh tomato sandwiches—Sunbeam bread with Duke's mayonnaise. (B.Y.O.B. Bring your own bologna.) while learning the different species and each of their unique buzzy songs that are produced by vibrating their abdomens. 

Fee: $3 for members and $6 for non-members. Pre-registration is required; please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

The five common local annual species are:
 

1) Swamp cicada
(Neotibicen tibicen)

2) Scissor grinder cicada
(Neotibicen pruinosus pruninosus)

3) Robinson's cicada
(Neotibicen robinsoniaus)
 

4) Lyric cicada
(Neotibicen lyricen)

5) Linne's cicada
(Neotibicen linnei)  

And we'll look at katydids, those raucous nocturnal singers that hide in plain sight by mimicking leaves. 

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Hummingbirds at Ijams

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I   J   A   M   S       H   A   P   P   E   N   I   N   G

Saturday, August 8, 10 a.m. 

Birding & Brunch: Hummingbirds

(All Ages) Join Ijams naturalist Stephen Lyn Bales (That would be me) for this fun and light-hearted look into the world of ruby-throated hummingbirds. We’ll be showcasing the hummers of summer as you learn more about these fascinating little flyers through Lyn’s incomparable storytelling. Plus a look at the rufous hummingbird a rare visitor in winter.  

We’ll also enjoy a hearty continental breakfast. The fee for this program is $5 for Ijams members and $8 for non-members. Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

-Above photo by Wayne Mallinger 

Rufous hummingbird

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lucky shot

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Sometimes, you just get lucky.

I was photographing wildflowers at Indian Gap on the Smokies crest when I noticed a brightly colored beetle land on a flower very near me.

I stepped closer, began to frame the image and almost at the same instant that I squeezed the shutter, the beetle opened its elytra and unfurled its wings. Click! And the magnificent bug had flown. Had I gotten the shot? One nanosecond later, I would have not.

I had never seen the beetle before, but I soon found the cloaked knotty-horn, a.k.a. elder borer in an Audubon field guide. It’s a long-horned beetle noted for its bright orange cloak, metallic-blue back and the enlarged knot-like knees at the antennal segments. (For some reason, my knotty-horn only has one antenna.)

The knotty-horn lays its eggs in the ground near the base of an elderberry shrub. (And there were plenty of elderberries growing near where we were.) The larvae burrow into the stems of the plant (hence the second common name: elder borer). The small grubs then move down into the roots and pupate in the soil. The adults appear from June through September to start the process anew.

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breathtaking

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Scissor-tailed flycatcher. Photo by Jason Dykes

“Life is not about the breaths you take; 

it is about the moments 

that take your breath away”

Unknown author

It was a nondescript section of two-lane road north of Pikeville in the Sequatchie Valley. Nothing more, a rural road like any other in East Tennessee.

Yes, Sequatchie. It's a soothing word that happens to be Cherokee and may mean “beautiful valley,” as indeed it is.

We were searching for unusual birds with an unusual name—scissor-tailed flycatchers. Kingbirds far from their normal summer range of Texas and Oklahoma. 

Following the lead of Jason Dykes who followed the lead of Jason Sturner, we knew where to look. "On Highway 127 just before mile marker 20 going toward Pikeville. The birds were in the open sitting on wires above the road."  

That directive was two weeks old but it held true. Rachael Eliot and I found one just after mile marker 20 going away from Pikeville, but that's the same thing.

Scissor-tailed flycatchers are beautifully sculptured with enormously long black and white tails elongated much like the post High Renaissance painting style of Mannerism that featured lightened forms.

The males tails are longer than the female's but she birds choose their mates and the pick the males with the longest, most flashy tails. So female choice drives this affectation. Although the species also uses it's long tail to help it catch flying insects their "nourriture de choix."

Without the tail, they are plain gray flycatchers, that is until they lift their wings to reveal the flashes of salmon pink on their undercarriage.

Yes, salmon pink.

Our quarry was sitting on a power line very much like Jason's photo at the top. We pulled off the road and with binoculars raised, got a good long look as the marvelous creature preened and flew from its perch, using its wondrous tail to aid it in catching a snack.

Thousands of years of evolution have led to its exquisite form and color.  And there it was only a two-hour drive away.

Indeed, it was breathtaking.  

Having just seen a scissor-tailed, she smiles.

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Tennessee Jones?

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"I'm the brains. You're the brawn." "Say, whattttt?"

If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones.

Ijams was honored to have Indy and his Raiders "girlfriend" Marion Ravenwood visit the camp kids during Tall Tale Week. 

Well...it wasn't exactly Indiana himself, but rather his older brother Tennessee Jones, who has quite a large chip on his shoulder because his kid brother gets all the attention. After all, who was first? Tennessee became a state in 1796, and Indiana in 1816. And, Tennessee Jones taught his younger sibling Indiana everything he knows. (And his strong-minded, sassy girlfriend Mary Eaglewood taught TN Jones everything he knows.)

As she says, "I'm the brains. You're the brawn."

As the tall tale goes, Indiana pursues "new junk"—crystal skulls, golden goblets, chests full of ghosts, all man-made trinkets—while Tennessee Jones searches for the truly old, old Mesozoic things, namely dinosaur fossils.

Word had gotten to TN Jones that a possible paleo-site had been discovered at Ijams and the camp kids went on a dino dig just like true paleontologists.

And you'll never guess what they found. 

Thanks, Jenny! Great job in the role of a sassy girlfriend. 

Tennessee Jones shows the camp kids a true Mosasaurus fossil while Eaglewood straightens him out on the details.

Ijams staffer Augusta imitates how a T-Rex used its front legs.

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thank you Missy

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Missy Kane (Far right) with her hiking group at Ijams

A robust thank you to Covenant Health fitness expert Missy Kane for bringing her 2015 Get on Local Trails hiking group to Ijams Nature Center recently for a guided nature walk.

We explored the natural history of the original Ijams' Homesite, plus the River Trail and Toll Creek. 

2015 Get on Local Trails is sponsored by Legacy Parks, Parkwest Medical Center and Thompson Survival Center.

Thank you also to April Tomlin Senior Services Manager with the Office of the County Mayor and to our friends at the Knoxville News-Sentinel and photographer Paul Efird.

For more information about the hiking program call (865) 541-4500.

Photo by News Sentinel: Paul Efird

Photo by News Sentinel: Paul Efird

Photo by News Sentinel: Paul Efird

Photo by News Sentinel: Paul Efird

Photo by News Sentinel: Paul Efird

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Mom

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Mary Helen Bales

Has put away her labor and leisure too.

“Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me.” The key word in this line by poet Emily Dickinson is “kindly,” the key phrase is “could not stop,” because Mary Helen Bales was indeed kindly, she always thought of others. She also rarely stopped moving, a hard worker, always in motion, always walking somewhere. Even when her 86 years forced her movements to be confined a therapeutic walker, she took the decline with good grace. She slowed, but never stopped. Sitting still was not in her répertoire.

Mom and I both loved to walk or hike or scurry, as long as it was fast. She saw my first steps, I saw her last. A large part of who I am is rooted in her

She taught me to walk and talk and my love of birds. And in the end, what more did I need?
 
Born a Latham at home on Panther Creek off Chapman Highway on March 21, 1929, Mary Helen Bales of Gatlinburg passed away at UT Hospital, Tuesday, July 7 after a brief unexpected illness.

Mary Helen Bales • Circa 1973

Growing up on a Sevier County farm, she became a tomboy. As a young mother, she was athletic, could run like a deer, play baseball with the kids and mastered the newly invented skateboard with ease. A devoted mother, Mary Helen insisted her two children complete college, an opportunity she never had.

With husband Russell, Mary Helen was a long-time co-owner of Bales Cabins on Baskins Creek in Gatlinburg. Just 11 cabins built by granddad Homer. She loved the tourist trade because she enjoyed people and serving their needs while they vacationed in the Smokies. Once she knew you liked something, she always provided it.

In her later years, after putting away her labor, her favorite leisure became TV game shows. She liked the fast-paced repartee, the mental quizzes where everyday people like herself could earn big money. Her favorites were the perennial “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy.”

Her beloved husband Russell Bales preceded Mary Helen in death. Those left behind to grieve her loss are daughter Darlene and son-in-law David Brett, three grandkids: Leighanna, Michael and Logan Brett, her son, that would be me, and extended family Rachael Eliot and Karen Sue Webster, and “Sis” Shirley Patterson.

A member of Laurel Grove Primitive Baptist Church of Gatlinburg, her simple graveside service will be held Sunday, July 12 at 2 p.m. at Shiloh Cemetery in Pigeon Forge. Elder Ralph Smith will conduct the service with Atchley’s Funeral Home handling the arrangements.

Once one of the fourteen children born to Rev. Michael and Mary Jane Latham of Sevierville, the sole survivor Mary Helen has gone home to join her siblings: Clarence, Lela, Kate, Marion, Harris, Edmond, Elizabeth, Joe, Ruth, Marie, Faye, Albert and Alvin.

May they all now, rest in peace together once again.

In lieu of flowers, send your mother a bouquet and hug her.  

Still walking until the very end, 
especially when the stroll could be outside.
Somehow I know there will be miles and miles and miles 
of new walking trails in heaven.

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sad vlad

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Goosebumps with Sad Vlad

 Sad Vlad, so sad. A vegetarian vampire for 400 years, so boring. A life of pale skin darkness, so pallid.  And because Vlad is a vegetarian, he doesn't consume human blood but rather the blood of trees, the sap that flows through the phloem and xylem of woody vascular plants. Yes, trees. He's a sapsucker, so anemic.

With candles aglow, the camp kids of Monster! Monster! Day Camp went to visit him in his crypt (Ijams basement) laid out on his cold slab (storage shelf) and took him a present, a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's, the champagne of artificial tree blood, which he promptly slurped, so so sweet. 

Vlad asked the camp kids to learn how to identify his four favorite sappy trees: sweetgum, sassafras, tuliptree and, of course, sugar maple. Yum! And yes, Sad Vlad does enjoy a good stack of pancakes, even Eggos. He's not a vegan.

Not everything in nature that seems like a monster, be it spider, snake, wolf, bat, hawk, crawdad, vulture or creepy, crawly millipede, is a monster. Some things just live quietly in the dark and sip sap, so like a cicada.

Photos by Jill Sublett and Sammi Stoklosa. 

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welcome outdoor writers

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Early bird writers in front of a giant Rubik's Cube, one of the few remaining symbols of the 1982 Knoxville World's Fair.

The early bird gets the worm, i.e. a fresh start to the new day.

A warm welcome to the Outdoor Writers Association of America attending a conference in Knoxville this weekend.

I met a group of early birds for a guided 7 a.m. nature walk from the Holiday Inn at World's Fair Park to Second Creek just before it flows into the Tennessee River at the University of Tennessee, or from a well-manicured cityscape to a more natural lush riparian habitat.

The early bird writers were from a mix of states. 

Thanks goes to member and past president Rich Patterson for arranging the walkabout, and to the weatherman who arranged a cooler, damper morning.

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Osprey brunch

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Oh, did I mention how much I love osprey?

The second annual Ijams Osprey Brunch was held a week ago and the osprey did not disappoint. There was a lot of activity at the nest and around the area. 

The brunch is timed for late in the nesting when the nestlings are almost grown but yet to fledge. This year's clutch of three are almost as big as their parents. 

Historically, this fish-eating bird of prey only had a limited presence in the Tennessee Valley and the widespread usage of DDT curtailed even that. Today, with the banning of the pesticide in 1973, the species is making a robust comeback and expansion of their range. In modern times, osprey have only been in East Tennessee since the early 1980s. Now there are multiple nests up and down the chain of TVA lakes.  

Thanks to all who joined me. And thanks to Kodie for the brunch and Jim McCormick for the osprey photos!

Click the below links for a look back at other 

Birding & Brunch outings

Chuck-will's widows

Winter ducks

Migrating hawks