“All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small.”
This Sunday, we are beginning a new feature with our friends at the Little River Canyon Center called the “Canyon Center Critter.” This week’s critter:
Grapevine Looper Moth
Tell us your encounters with this week’s Canyon Center Critter.
Merry Christmas, Birmingham – You're definitely on The Nice List. #instagrambham @RailroadPark @spannhttps://t.co/lQCsSpjrsX pic.twitter.com/mbaqycin5G
— Rachel Callahan (@ObjectivityRach) December 3, 2016
This week, we are pleased to announce our new partnership with the JSU Little River Canyon Center. Along with their support of Bham Now’s Nature Roundup, we also will be updating Bham Now readers regularly about the Canyon Center’s many activities, and developing stories, such as the one posted this morning about Little River Falls coming back to life this week.
Don’t Forget
Don’t forget to purchase (and save money with an advance tix purchase) your December 6th BOLD Series ticket to see Jim McClintock.
In just four days, we will be holding our 2nd BOLD Speaker Series on Tuesday, December 6th, 5:30 at Avondale Brewery.
Why should you buy a ticket and attend? Check out this video narrated by Harrison Ford – yes, Han Solo/Indiana Jones – describing McClintock’s observations and work. Join us on Tuesday!
Little River Falls is back!
From our good friends at the Jacksonville State University Little River Canyon Center, before and after pictures of Little River Falls one of the state’s most iconic waterfalls.
What a beautiful sight.
Waves of funding are becoming increasingly easier to come by, it seems, for events and innovative dealings within the Bham area.
Along with the recent approval of TopGolf, the city has moved forward, with a massive amount of funding to host the National Senior Games from June 2nd to the 15th!
Continue reading “Mid 2017 will Host Quite the Showdown in Birmingham – the National Senior Games”
It’s raining!
We are so happy to see this odd wetness coming from the sky. LOVE IT.
It is finally time to grab those umbrellas, Birmingham! Your prayers have been answered. Here comes the rain, and lots of it.
While a wind advisory has already made its way to our area, look out for the two-part severe storm event that’s expected to start tonight and last through Wednesday.
With these dangerous winds, there’s also the possibility for hail and maybe a tornado, too. This rain is not playing around! Dang. What kind of rain dances did ya’ll do for the past two months during the drought?
These winds are “strong enough to down trees,” according to the National Weather Service, and the advisory has been expanded to include all of central Alabama. That means it’s time to secure your lawn furniture, the soccer goal or anything in your yard that has the potential to blow away. Don’t forget about smaller plants in pots!
How Much Rain and When?
According to WVTM, a few rain showers have already started in Northern Alabama, but Birmingham won’t see rain until later tonight, possibly between 9 and 10 p.m.
Parts of Northern Alabama could see up to “five inches of rain,” but Birmingham is predicted to receive a little less, around three inches. Check out The Alabama Weather Blog for information and forecasts for traveling.
Did you know Ruffner Mountain has a fire lookout tower?
According to Bhamwiki, the Wharton Lookout Tower (also called East Lake Tower) is a 100-foot tall galvanized steel frame fire lookout tower erected in 1941 by the Civilian Conservation Corps on Ruffner Mountain near East Lake in what is now the Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve.
Continue reading “A Birmingham treasure – the Ruffner Mountain fire lookout tower”
The Alabama Environmental Council‘s Board of Directors have launched a “crowdfunding” campaign to fund their newly expanded recycling center in Avondale and to celebrate the organization’s 50th year in 2017.
Two of Birmingham’s most successful conservation organizations, the Nature Conservancy and Red Mountain Park, posted job openings this past week. Here are the links to their job postings:
Red Mountain Park – Financial Manager
Nature Conservancy in Alabama – Director of Freshwater Programs
In the coming month, the Whooping Crane, one of the rarest birds in North America will be returning to Alabama.
Yes, that’s right, for Whooping Cranes our state is – Sweet Home Alabama.
Continue reading “Sweet home Alabama – Whooping Cranes love our state”
Quote of the week:
“In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” -~Baba Dioum
Our favorite stories this week: Patagonia’s Give 100% to the Planet commitment, the story about the Little River Canyon National Preserve and where you can recycle cooking oil in Jefferson County.
Continue reading “Alabama weekly nature roundup – November 19 to November 25, 2016”
According to the Boston Globe, the uncovered items are believed to be a part of the first pilgrim settlement that arrived in 1620.
A team from the University of Massachusetts Boston excavated a cemetery called Burial Hill, home to the graves of several pilgrims.
They found discolored soil and calf bones under a layer of discarded items from the 17th century, and they believe the calf bones are proof of the pilgrim settlement, since Native Americans did not raise cattle in that area.
Please take a moment out of the madness that is the Thanksgiving holiday/Iron Bowl weekend and read the following inspirational prayer, poems and passages about our natural wonders here in Alabama and the South.
Have a nature-filled, meaningful, memorable, and joyful Thanksgiving.
“… Praise Thee, wondrous God for the blessed watershed that is Alabama, pliant to man’s needs, gracious to his questing spirit. May her sons and daughters not forget Thy bounty, nor fail to deserve Thy benediction through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen” ~From the state of Alabama Prayer at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
Continue reading “Thanksgiving for the earth – a prayer, poems and passages”
If you live in Forest Park, the historic residential section surrounding much of Highland Golf Course, you might wish you had cooked your Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Oh, and taken an extra long shower.
A water main line broke today on Glen View Rd and flooded the street for hours. The Birmingham Water Works was alerted early on, but reportedly said there were several breaks around Birmingham which delayed their appearance until late this afternoon.
As of 9pm, the faucets are all dry. We’re starting to feel like the Cahaba River.
