Thankful for Alabama’s biodiversity (25 unforgettable photos)

Tortoise
Hatchling Gopher Tortoise, photo by Mark Bailey

Over the past month, Bham Now  published two installments about Alabama’s biodiversity.

Who Knew? Alabama ranks first in biodiversity. How did that happen?

Darters to turtles: Why Alabama’s aquatic biodiversity matters 

A third edition is forthcoming.

In celebration of Thanksgiving 2017 and Alabama’s remarkable biodiversity,  below are photographs from our biodiversity series and Bham Now’s weekly Nature Roundup

Enjoy and please share.

And if you have some time this Thanksgiving week, gather the family, take a walk in a forest or along a river bank.  Visit a park. We are truly blessed in Alabama with natural wonders big and small.

Celebrate and be thankful.

Who goes there?
Alabama aquatic biodiversity
Barking treefrogs are found statewide and require fish-free ponds for breeding – Photo by Mark Bailey
I’m Beautiful!
Snails Alabama
Plicate Rocksnail (Leptoxis plicata) Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River, Blount and Jefferson Counties – Photo ADCNR/AABC
Working on my tan
Sternotherus minor peltifer Thankful for Alabama's biodiversity (25 unforgettable photos)
Striped-necked Musk Turtle (Photo from Outdoor Alabama)
My color truly is “indigo”
Auburn
Indigo snake – photo by Pat Byington, Bham Now
Lunch!
Birmingham
Great Purple Hairstreak – photo fro Alabama Butterfly Atlas
Just blending in
Birmingham Alabama
Diana Fritillary- photo by Sara Bright
Birmingham
Spicebush Swallowtail – from the Alabama Butterfly Atlas
I bloom every year between mid-May to June on the Cahaba
Birmingham Alabama
Majestic Cahaba Lily, photo by Pat Byington, Bham Now
Do you think “painted” best describes me?
Birmingham Alabama
Painted Bunting – photo by Ken Hare
Let’s dance!
"Whooping crane at play" - Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by: George Lee
“Whooping crane at play” – Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by: George Lee
Coming in for a landing
Sandhill crane in flight
Sandfhill crane in flight – Photo by: George Lee

 

For Rent: Bees
Ruffner Mountain Birmingham Alabama
Favorite bee “condo” at Ruffner Mountain
We found a new home!!
Vermilion darter
Vermilion darters found on a new section at Turkey Creek – photo courtesy of Freshwater Land Trust
fish biodiversity
Only found in the Birmingham metro area, Vermillion Darter – Photo from Pat O’Neil
Only in Alabama
Flowers
Alabama cane brake found only in Alabama, photo by Chuck Byrd, The Nature Conservancy of Alabama
The Walls
Birmingham
Waterfall at the Walls of Jericho. Reader’s Digest has named the place one of the top hikes in America – photo via alltrails.com
Home to 131 species of fish
Birmingham Alabama
Cahaba River – Photo from Cahaba Environmental Center

One of the deepest canyons east of the Mississippi River

Birmingham
Fall at Little River Canyon, photo by Pat Byington, Bham Now
Birmingham Alabama
Photo of Little River Canyon 2017 – by Pat Byington, Bham Now
In our backyard
Oak Mountain Peavine Falls 2 0 Thankful for Alabama's biodiversity (25 unforgettable photos)
Photo of Peavine Falls at Oak Mountain State Park courtesy of Alabama State Parks.
More beautiful falls
Birmingham
Little River Canyon Falls – photo by Pat Byington, Bham Now
A hidden treasure in Dekalb County
10987668 10153056826172095 5805166987114877136 n Thankful for Alabama's biodiversity (25 unforgettable photos)
High Falls on Sand Mountain, photo by Pat Byington
Top of the World in Alabama
Cheaha
View from Bald Rock at Cheaha State Park, photo by Pat Byington, Bham Now
And this is why we care
CRS
Students from the Cahaba River Society’s CLEAN program, photo from the Cahaba River Society
Pat Byington
Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.

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