A lonely blooming water lily at Bass Lake, North Carolina
A Lonely Lily
Foggy Images – Clouds over Bass Lake
Low hanging clouds over Bass Lake viewed from Moses Cone Manor
Foggy Images – Moses Cone Manor View
Low hanging clouds create a foggy scene over Bass Lake as viewed from Moses Cone Manor. Flat Top Manor, as it is most commonly known, is also called the Moses Cone Manor, and is located on Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
The Curve of the Linn Cove Viaduct
This award-winning complex concrete bridge (Linn Cove Viaduct) is a symbol of pride to landscape architects and engineers for its marriage of beauty with utility and habitat protection.
Foggy Images – Linn Cove Viaduct
Fog slowly rolls towards Linn Cove Viaduct on Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. The Linn Cove Viaduct hugs the face of Grandfather Mountain and is recognized internationally as an engineering marvel.
Images in Fog – Tree Shapes
Shapes of trees are accentuated in the fog
Images in Fog – Playground
A deserted playground enveloped by fog at Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Images in Fog – Bandstand
An empty bandstand creates a striking image in the fog at Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Images in Fog – Creek
A small creek flows into a foggy Bass Lake, North Carolina
Images in Fog – Woods
Fog in the woods creates a mysterious aura at Bass Lake, North Carolina
Images in Fog – Water Lilies
Water lilies with blooming flowers floating at Bass Lake in a foggy environment
Images in Fog – Canada Geese
Canada Geese gather and swim around in fog at Bass Lake, North Carolina
Images in Fog – Bass Lake
Fog creates a mystic environment for photographers. While the clarity is somewhat blurred, it adds a bit of mystery to the images. Normally a clear lake on a sunny day, Bass Lake in North Carolina is shrouded in fog creating an eerie image.
Heron Reflections
Captured this heron far from the boardwalk at Audubon Center at Beidler Forest, South Carolina.
Green Lizard
The green anole is one of the most commonly encountered lizards in South Carolina, and is often incorrectly referred to as a chameleon due to its ability to change color from green to brown. Spotted this anole on the boardwalk of Audubon Center at Beidler Forest, South Carolina.
Prothonotary Warbler
This Prothonotary warbler looks like a bit of spring sunlight with its golden-yellow head and breast set off by blue-gray wings. “Prothonotary” refers to clerks in the Roman Catholic Church, whose robes were bright yellow. To a Prothonotary Warbler, a great breeding habitat features dead snags and trees full of holes, always near water—whether rivers, swamps, or bottomland forests. The Audubon Center at Beidler Forest, South Carolina is home to numerous Prothonotary warblers.
Audubon Center at Beidler Forest
The National Audubon Society’s Francis Beidler Forest in Four Holes Swamp contains within its 18,000+ acres, the largest remaining stand of virgin Bald Cypress/Tupelo Gum swamp forest left anywhere in the world. One thousand year-old trees and native wildlife abound in this pristine sanctuary that has been untouched for millennia.
On our camera club field trip, we were underwhelmed by the number of birds and wildlife that we saw, but viewing the swamp from the boardwalk was worthwhile.
A cypress knee is a distinctive structure forming above the roots of a cypress tree. Their function is unknown, but they are generally seen on trees growing in swamps. Some current hypotheses state that they might help to aerate the tree’s roots, create a barrier to catch sediment and reduce erosion, assist in anchoring the tree in the soft and muddy soil, or any combination thereof.
Wide-eyed and Bushy-tailed
It wasn’t only swans and irises at Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, SC. Captured this squirrel posing on a tree branch showing off its wide open eyes and bushy tail. Colorful bokeh effect in the background.
Iris Beauty
Iris is a genus of 260–300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, which is also the name for the Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris. Here is a beauty at Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, South Carolina.
Irises at the Gardens
How can you ignore irises at Swan Lake Iris Gardens, Sumter, SC? While not completely in bloom in the gardens, there were sporadic signs of irises.
Photos by Ravi 