Tourists at home

We've tried this before with a variety of events/situations keeping us home. Today dawned brisk bright and we put our provisional plan into motion: a visit to the Silver Bluff Audubon Center and Sanctuary -- about 45 miles away, in Aiken County, near Jackson SC.

It turned out to be a splendid outing. The center is remote, bounded on one side by the Savannah River and slightly west of the Savannah River Site (US Department of Energy), consisting of "3,250 acres of upland pine forest, hardwood bottom lands, open fields, lakes, and streams" (from the site's brochure). A quiet morning for a walk, we heard (more than spotted) birds, identified late-blooming wildflowers, especially enjoyed listening to the murmuring, sighing breezes high in the long-leaf pines.

While we were on the boardwalk over a sometime wetland, I noticed this fallen, turned up, spotted sweet gum leaf. I managed to get both the leaf and Tal in the photograph.


As we neared the sanctuary, Spanish moss became prevalent. I was surprised by the amount of moss in the pine trees along the trail we walked.