A Mississippi Kite and Matters of the Heart

I was introduced to a juvenile Mississippi Kite at the Raptor Rhapsody Festival at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, a bird that immediately melted my heart.  While you scroll through the images of this beautiful bird and enjoy his expressions, also imagine gentle peeps, vocalizations that were so soft that it was easy to miss them in the background chatter.     

He's called Miki, and his handler, Kathy, is a volunteer with Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky.  I wish I had more of Kathy in the image.  She was clearly smitten with this young bird, as well.  She described interaction with this kite as one of the many benefits of volunteering for a raptor rehab center--the opportunity to spend intimate hours with birds that are more often seen briefly and at great distance.

A day later at my exhibit table, I had a very pleasant discussion with a visitor who described his wife's blog, their connection with nature bloggers we knew in common, and their experience at the New River Gorge Birding and Nature festival in WV in 2008.  (I attended this festival in 2009).   It was not until this week, after seeing Kathy's post at Life, Birding, Photos and Everything, that I put this couple together and realized his wife and Miki's handler were one and the same!

Kathy explained that this juvenile is healthy but imprinted on humans.  On this morning at the festival, the wind was stirring and the juvenile repeatedly lifted his wings and spread them.  Kathy believed he was enjoying the feeling of the wind against his wings.  There was no doubt she was enjoying time spent with this beautiful bird.  

On the last day of the festival, the Raptor Rehabiltation Center of Kentucky released six rehabilitated American Kestrels and two Great Horned Owls.  What a happy outcome for their efforts!

Hard-shell gourd basket with pine-needle coiling displayed in my art exhibit at the festival

In addition to exhibits, there were many other programs on-going at the festival.  Brian "Fox" Ellis, a talented educator and performing artist, uses his stage presence to educate and inspire children and adults of all ages. I had the opportunity to witness his engaging portrayal of the naturalist and artist, John James Audubon, as he told stories related to his historic pursuit of birds in art.  To my delight, the story I witnessed was a Cherokee tale about a race between a hummingbird and a whooping crane, the tallest and smallest of our migrating bird species in North America.

It was also a great pleasure to present my own stories about bird encounters and the photography that brings birds closer to me and provides the detail and inspiration for my art.   One of those artistic pursuits resulted in the creation of Operation Migration's Whooping Crane Activity Book.  Thanks to Operation Migration's staff and volunteers, we were able to have these booklets available at the festival.  What a personal joy it was for me to hand these books to teachers and witness the expression of gratitude in their faces.  For this I owe a special thanks to both Operation Migration and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.

Click Operation Migration's Whooping Crane Activity Book to see more pages in this free resource for educator's classrooms and find links for ordering information.  The juvenile Whooping crane class of 2010 is about to embark on its first migration journey south behind ultralight 'parents'.  To follow this incredible journey, visit Operation Migration's Field Journal.  Also, especially adapted for students and teachers, visit Journey North's reports on the ultralight-led Whooping crane migration.

Click this link to see all my posts on the Raptor Rhapsody Festival at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.

Related Links:
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
Mississippi Kite--Cornell
Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky
Life, Birding, Photos and Everything
Brian "Fox" Ellis--Fox Tales International
Operation Migration
New River Gorge Birding and Nature Festival

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #111 to promote the conservation of our world's birds.

Raptor Rhapsody Festival--Cumberland Gap National Historical Park--Part II

Each time I go to a nature festival, like a walk in the woods, I come home with something new to think about--new information, new friends, new insights, new experiences with nature.  Exhibiting and presenting at a festival stretches that experience to another dimension, one that is especially heart warming and gratifying.

But before I leave my reptile exhibit neighbors, I want to introduce you to an Alligator Snapping Turtle, an incredibly prehistoric appearing creature that kept its keepers busy for three days.  Inhabiting mostly southern waters in the USA, this turtle weighed about 30 lbs though appearing much heavier, and seemed  intent on visiting the world outside his container.  Notice the star-shaped tissue around his eyes that gives the appearance of eye-lashes.  The hunting technique of this species of turtles depends upon camouflage and this  star arrangement breaks up prey's ability to recognize the eye.  

Peter Lindsey, handler from Kentucky Reptile Zoo, picked him up at the request of a visitor who was impressed by his long tail.  The automatic response from the turtle was to open his mouth wide.  Not a set of jaws I would want to accidentally encounter.

This is a defensive response but this same open jaw posture is also his hunting posture.  Peter explained that the worm-like appendage near the end of this tongue, technically called a 'vermiform', functions as a lure.  The turtle, who can stay submerged for three hours, holds his mouth open while at rest and the vermiform moves in the water acting as a lure to attract fish.  Snap!

His sidekick, a Gopher Tortoise, held in a separate dry container, had friendlier jaws and was a touchable exhibit member for the children (and plenty of adults).  Being located beside this exhibit kept me laughing.  I had forgotten how much kids love snakes and turtles!

Next post, a beautiful raptor with liquid eyes and a few other things that warmed my heart.

Links:
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
Alligator Snapping Turtle--Wiki
Kentucky Reptile Zoo

Raptor Rhapsody Festival--new faces, new birds, and snakes!

I've just returned from the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park's three-day Raptor Rhapsody festival with a warmed heart, a satiated mind, and a renewed appreciation for the variety of ways people who love nature share that love with others.  

Above you see one of the bird-y characters circulating the grounds of the visitor's center, greeting students as they swarmed off buses throughout the school day on Friday.  Such energy and excitement!  And there to greet them were birds of all kinds, historical exhibits, nature exhibits, imaginative story-tellers dressed in character, a variety of educational programs, including a reptile exhibit from the Kentucky Reptile Zoo.  

An unexpected fun part of my experience and my closest exhibit neighbors for three days were a trio of pit-vipers--a Timber Rattlesnake (pictured above), a Copperhead and a Cottonmouth Water Moccasin (shown below).  

With a sturdy piece of glass between us, being nose to nose with a venomous snake doesn't take a lot of courage. In fact, it's reassuring to know more about these snakes, how to recognize them and what to expect from their behavior.    

The Cottonmouth, pictured above and below, appeared the most menacing, maybe because he moved around more and gave me better looks.  

They all have that characteristic wedged head and eyes with slit-like pupils rather than the more rounded pupils of a non-venomous snake.  The rattlesnake remained coiled most of the time, rattling his tail periodically, a soft sound that is important to recognize if you are out on the trail.

Timber Rattlesnake above

One visitor showed me a recent cell phone image he took of two Timber rattlers coiled under a rock overhang near the trail he was hiking in northeast TN.  The sound of the rattle alerted him.  He snapped the image and moved on.

I made a pact with their handler, Peter Lindsey, that if he would give me notice when he was about to take the snakes out of their glass display cases for their trip home each day, I would be sure and not accidentally bump into them!  As a matter of fact, I usually stopped what I was doing to observe and snapped these images, getting  some of my best looks at the Copperhead, who remained hidden under a plank most of the time. 

Once, while watching, I noticed how close Peter's hand came to the Copperhead while he was lifting the box lid, which was closed because the Timber Rattlesnake was already inside.  So I asked him why the Copperhead didn't try to bite him while his hand was within reach.  Peter's answer, snakes have no reason to go after anything as large as a human being.  They go after small mammals they can swallow and eat.  Their reason for biting humans, when it does occur, is self-defense and/or surprise.  

Next:  An Alligator Snapping Turtle and a juvenile Mississippi Kite      

Links:

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Kentucky Reptile Zoo

Raptor Rhapsody Festival--Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

What you see in the image below is a kettle of more than a dozen hawks, most of them Broad-winged hawks, spiraling in the thermals over my yard this past week.  What an unexpected surprise.  Naturally, I was so taken with what I was seeing, that they starting disappearing behind the trees before I even thought to lift my camera!

Fall migration is such an exciting time of year.  Birds are on the move, in route to their wintering grounds, and trees are busy with migrants, plucking berries or dining on the insects that gather around them.

And all of that activity is exactly the focus of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park's Raptor Rhapsody Festival this weekend.  It's all about nature and birds--bird walks, bird watching, bird presentations, hawk migration watching at Pinnacle Overlook, as well as, stories about the pioneer history of these beautiful Appalachian mountain ridges.  

While you're visiting the festival activities, come by and say, hello.  I'll be exhibiting and demonstrating art, and giving presentations about the fun I have with Birds and Art.   

For information about the park and the Raptor Rhapsody festival visit Cumberland Mountain National Historical Park

A Bird Welcome to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

I paid a short visit to the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park this past weekend to take advantage of the beautiful weather we had on Sunday and enjoy the mountains.

When I reached the Pinnacle Overlook the mountains were still veiled in fog.  As I waited for the sun to clear the view, a Yellow-billed cuckoo paid a visit, perching in full view on a tree at the edge of the trail.  Of course I had the wrong lens on the camera for this shot.  But his appearance, along with the arrival of a Pileated woodpecker, made my first visit to the overlook all the more welcoming.

I got one more teasing glimpse of the cuckoo about ten minutes later as he flew closer and lower to grab one of the blue berries pictured below.

His berry-plucking style was more like a snatch as I caught the flash of brown wings and light underbelly as he departed.  The upside is, I'll be visiting that spot again soon and I know at least one place where he likes to hang out.   Below, the beautiful view from Pinnacle Overlook as the fog was lifting.

The park contains 24,000 acres and more than 80 miles of trails nestled in ridges of the Appalachian Mountains that spill into the three states of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.  From the Ft Lyons trail near the overlook you can see the peak where the borders of these three states come together.  The park abounds with history and stories of pioneers who crossed these ridges on foot.  Something to consider as you take in the view.

I visited the park's visitor's center where I'll be exhibiting art and giving presentations on Birds and Art during the Raptor Rhapsody festival October 1st, 2nd and 3rd.  The three-day festival has a packed schedule of bird related presentations and activities, including a hawk migration watch at Pinnacle Overlook, several in-the-field photography classes, and numerous nature and history interpretive programs that will be taking place throughout each day.

Below are a few of my finds as I wandered the park's trails.

Golden aster with spider web, above, and Jewel Weed, below.

A Halysidota tessellaris caterpillar (Banded Tussock moth) with lichen, below.

A gorgeous Question Mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis).  I love the way the icy blue edging on the wings stands out against that pale leaf! (Click image to enlarge.)

Below, a sketch of the view from Pinnacle Overlook.  

You may enjoy the following links:

For information about the park and the Raptor Rhapsody festival visit Cumberland Mountain National Historical Park

Discover Life's ID Nature Guide is a great help in identifying many species and where I found my caterpillar and confirmed the Question Mark ID

And if you like Pileated Woodpeckers, you may also enjoy visiting my series of posts on the Pileated Woodpeckers that occasionally visit my yard.  Always a treat!