October 29, 2008

My bestest buddy Carroll took me off into the wilderness Thursday. We'd read many of the Looper's blogs and some boaters mentioned following the American White Pelicans southward along their journey. On this day I got my new camera body - a Canon 40D - so we thought we'd see if we could spot some white pelicans at the dam.

We arrived to a very windy, choppy lake below the dam. Fishing boats were rocking in high waves. Fishermen struggled to keep their balance as they threw their lines out into the chop. The Great Blue Herons were having a convention and we spotted a couple of cormorants and coots, but not one white pelican. We know of a trail through the brush that sometimes reveals "pelican island" when most of the leaves are gone. We give it a shot, but no pelicans. Obviously, they're not here yet.
Walking back along the trail we spot some beautiful berrying vines draping the trees like holiday garland. The glorious Virginia Creeper was in full autumnal glory with its deep, garnet red leaves and blue-black berries with red stems. This is one of my all time favorite vines.

This particular area is listed in the North Alabama Birding Trail and it's easy to see why birds of all manner are attracted here. There are high limestone cliffs upon which eagles and osprey perch watching for fishes. Herons and ducks and cormorants and loons and coots and all manner of water fowl are here as well for the great fishing. Songbirds twitter high in these trees thanks to the abundance of food and shelter. These Virginia Creeper berries won't be here long.

Several species of Sphinx moths rely on Virginia Creeper as host plant, and a variety of bees are attracted to the nectar and pollen.

Virginia Creeper is not poisonous but does tend to tangle in the wild with Poison Ivy, which you can see in the photo above. Poison Ivy has three leaves whereas Virginia Creeper has five. Poison Oak doesn't grow in North Alabama (so say the experts), plus it has whiteish berries, so if you see a five-leafed vine with blue/black berries in the wild it is Virginia Creeper. We also saw a brilliant red-berried vine with which we were unfamiliar. After consulting with our local Botanical Garden director we now know what it is. That'll be the next post.

For me, I love the autumn color of this vine and think it's fall finery makes for some pretty shots. So...what do you think? Are these photos clearer than my 20D photos? I wanted more resolution and the 40D is 10 pixels versus the 20D's 8 pixels. The 40D has lots of new tricks I've yet to learn, and I can't wait to play with it more. (...fair warning)