Fish nesting sites

At Bass Pond recently, at Biltmore Estate, we saw these distinctive fish nests, complete with presumably females swishing around each circle. Remarkable.

I'd seen these sort of nests in the Hosta Garden pond years ago, at the South Carolina Botanical Garden (where I taught and worked for many years).  They were brim, there.

What sort of fish do colonial nests, and seemingly reuse them, I've not much clue.

I guess I need to consult my friend Google!  (See update below)

Fish "nesting" sites (Bass Pond, Biltmore Estate)

An follow-up note:  this post from the Lincoln Park Zoo describes the interesting nest-making and territorial behavior of male pumpkinseed, bass, and bluegills there (not to mention their parental role!)

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A wonderful morning walk

I've been trying to be more mindful and observant on my walks in the morning.  Not that I'm not inclined already to notice bird calls, plants in flower, neighborhood gardens, or whatever.

But it's nice to turn off the podcasts that I like to listen to, as well, and simply be present.

Sunflowers at Biltmore Estate

Meadow and clouds

Evergreens and clouds

This morning's walk, along the French Broad River, in the Biltmore Estate brought many moments of observation, from the clouds to the sunflowers and meadows.  It's an excellent out and back from Antler Hill Village around the lagoon to return ~ about an hour plus 10 minutes.

Thanks to the wealth of George Vanderbilt, and the stewardship (and business acumen) of his descendents, these viewsheds and riverfront access has been preserved and made accessible via trails for those of us who are passholders, a privileged group, too, to be sure, as well as the daily visitors.

It was a joy, under whatever circumstances, to walk in this wonderful landscape this morning.

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A Fourth in the mountains

Morning at Beaver Lake

Blue Ridge Mts (from the Grove Park Inn)

Downtown Asheville (from Grove Park Inn)

4th of July at the Grove Park Inn

Asheville is a wonderful place to be on the 4th of July.  Even if it was quite soggy most of the day.

We needed the rain that's fallen over the last few days, and an additional set of thunderstorms today helps even more.  A morning walk at Beaver Lake was luminous, and thankfully free of rain.  And in spite of the afternoon downpours, it cleared off in the evening, ready for fireworks.

The evening sky was so lovely, we went up to the Grove Park Inn to see the view.

Woody was admired by all (he gets a pass, apparently, being a lovely fellow, even though he's WAY beyond the size normally accommodated;  we just have to keep clear of food serving areas....)  He fulfilled his role (to make people happy!)

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Full moon

A late June full moon. It was a good shot captured by my (new) iPhone.

Posted with Blogsy

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Milkweeds

These milkweeds at Beaver Lake were striking in the evening light. Not sure of the species, probably A. syriaca.

Posted with Blogsy

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Mt. Mitchell view

The air was quite clear today, post cool front pushing the heat from the Southern Appalachians for a while.

Here were two views from Mt. Mitchell today.

Click to see the larger images!

Posted with Blogsy

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Trees in sunset light

The late evening light illuminated the ravine forest in sunset.  Neither of my cameras (iPhone 6 or venerable Nikon D100) did it justice -- not surprisingly.

They were surprisingly equivalent in the flattened light that they captured.  This is a photoshopped version of the iPhone image.

Still not what I saw in the magical evening light.

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