Nooga Naturalist

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Blairsville, GA
Nooga Naturalist

Two naturalists looking for the natural history of the Tennessee River valley, with an eye toward birds and turtles.

09/03/2026

Red Fox. Study from Blink video. Still sorting out the neighborhood foxes. Still thinking this one is a red fox as the muzzle is longer, the feet & legs are dark, and the underside of the tail is dark.

09/02/2026

Striped Skunk. Sketches from Blink video. The apparent swarm of skunks haunting the neighborhood nightly is paring itself down as we realize we can differentiate individuals among this cast of characters. The first is “handsome boy,” called that even we don’t know if it’s a boy or it’s considered particularly attractive to others. We sorted it out by its lack of a broad white tail stripe, and the particularly narrow back stripes which taper from the nape of the neck to the spigots of its stink sprayers. Will it stay this way as it ages, or will it grow the white tail? August 31, 2026.

09/01/2026

Blue Jay. Sketch from life. Primary wing feather I found today while watering the native plants we put in this spring in the backyard. Remarkably little blue. *NOTE: feathers from most native birds can only be held with appropriate federal and state permits.

08/31/2026

Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Study from life. We’re up to five hummingbirds at a time dive-bombing each other. Had a few minutes watching one this evening to try sketching from memory.

08/28/2026

Day 239. Red-throated Loon. Study from images by . A friend asked me if I could memorialize a special family sighting of a red-throated loon near the family’s cottage in Maine. It was a pleasure to do it. August 12, 2026.

08/27/2026

Day 238. Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Study from life + image. The adult male hummingbirds seem to be clearing out. This male hatched this spring and has just begun getting its adult throat feathers. August 26, 2026.

08/26/2026

Day 237. Eastern Meadowlark. Study from life + image. There’s only one place in the county which I have seen so far which has a meadowlark. I say “a” meadowlark as I have only seen one at a time on the same utility wire, in a farm field, for over a year. The feathers of its right wing were ruffled the whole time today, and I was too far away to figure out why. August 25, 2026.

08/24/2026

Day 236. Grape Leaffolder Moth (Desmia funeralis). Study from image. Sketching subjects are where you find them. This Grape Leaffolder moth was hiding behind the trash bin on the garage wall. Circumstances (namely, the need to take the recycling to the transfer station) dictated that I could only give it a hard look, shoot a few reference images to drop into iNaturalist, and get on with the trash-hauling duties. I
wish everything could be a field sketch from life but it is what it
is…. August 24, 2026.

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Blairsville, GA
30512, 30514

Website

http://mountaintownnaturalist.wordpress.com/

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