The purpose of this feature is to give scout leaders, educators and naturalists an idea of some of the natural events coming up each month.  We will try to cover a variety of natural events ranging from sky events to calling periods of amphibians, bird and mammal watching tips,  prominent wildflowers and anything else that comes to mind.  We will also note prominent constellations appearing over the eastern horizon at mid-evening each month for our area for those who would like to learn the constellations.  If you have suggestions for other types of natural information you would like to see added to this calendar, let us know!

Note: You can click on the hyperlinks to learn more about some of the featured items.  To return to the Calendar, hit the "back" button on your browser, NOT the "back" button on the web page.  All charts are available in a "printer friendly" mode, with black stars on a white background.  Left clicking on each chart will take you to a printable black and white image. 

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Notes From June 2019

After completing the roof on my observatory, it was nice to take a hike on June 21st, the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. 

I looked forward to getting back to the Smokies. We would take the Appalachian Trail from Newfound Gap up Mount Ambler to the Boulevard Trail, then take that trail to Mount Le Conte, making the short loop to Myrtle Point on the way. Then it would be about 3,000 feet of downhill from the summit down the Alum Cave Bluff Trail to where we left one of our cars.  The total distance was 15.3 miles.

We left Townsend in the dark to get an early start on the trail. Clouds were drifting over Mount Ambler as we reached the summit. As we turned down a little side trail towards an overlook. I looked to my left to see sunlight backlighting the clouds and creating a sunburst! The slanting beams of light lit up the ferns on the forest floor. I took a second just to admire the view, then took the image at right.

Several Hermit Thrushes sang their flute-like songs as we began our trek down the Boulevard Trail. Winter Wrens and Red-breasted Nuthatches also helped greet the sun. Black-throated Green and Black-throated Blue Warblers called from the Rhododendron. A Brown Creeper worked it's way up a tree beside the trail. The views were wonderful! Much of the time we walked right on the spine of the mountains, the terrain falling away rapidly on each side of the trail.  We felt like we could see forever. Then came the climb up to Myrtle Point and its spectacular 360-degree vista.  We made our way to the summit of Mount Le Conte and stopped briefly at the Mount Le Conte Lodge. After a snack  at the shelter, we headed down the Alum Cave Bluff Trail.

My legs complained a bit on the long downhill to the trailhead, but we had more good views as we descended. A Veery sang its beautiful ethereal song. We arrived at the trailhead feeling tired, but what a way to begin the summer!

Sky Events for July 2019:

The Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower peaks in the morning hours of July 30th. The Moon will not interfere with the shower this year. The Earth is at aphelion, its farthest distance from the Sun in 2019, on July 4th.

Morning Sky:  

While humans have two sets of muscles that extend our limbs and retract them, spiders have only one. The ability to extend their limbs comes from a sort of hydraulic pressure created inside them. Pressure increases cause the legs to extend. That's why you often find a dead spider with all its legs contracted. It's lost the internal pressure. This type of locomotion may be why a spider's movement seems a little alien to us, and a little scary. But it's amazing to me that a jumping spider can use this system to jump with tremendous precision.

Whatever your views on spiders, they definitely are beneficial to the environment. If you want to know how many spiders there are in a field, go out some night with a flashlight, put it beside your temple, and look at all the diamond-like spider eyes looking back at you. You can walk down the flashlight beam and usually find the spider whose eyeshine you have seen.

Now think about how many more pest species we would have if that many spiders were taken out of the environment! Am I glad that we're big and they're small? You bet! But next time you see one of these little marvels, take a moment to appreciate them.

Another group of species said to have a high level of color vision are the Forktails. The Forktails are a type of Damselfly, and are much smaller than most dragonflies that you see coursing over the surface of a pond. But if you take the time to find them, they are unusually intricate and beautifully patterned.

Amphibians:

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