In celebration of Thanksgiving 2017 and Alabama’s remarkable biodiversity, Â 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?
Barking treefrogs are found statewide and require fish-free ponds for breeding – Photo by Mark Bailey
I’m Beautiful!
Plicate Rocksnail (Leptoxis plicata) Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River, Blount and Jefferson Counties – Photo ADCNR/AABC
Working on my tan
Striped-necked Musk Turtle (Photo from Outdoor Alabama)
My color truly is “indigo”
Indigo snake – photo by Pat Byington, Bham Now
Lunch!
Great Purple Hairstreak – photo fro Alabama Butterfly Atlas
Just blending in
Diana Fritillary- photo by Sara BrightSpicebush Swallowtail – from the Alabama Butterfly Atlas
I bloom every year between mid-May to June on the Cahaba
Majestic Cahaba Lily, photo by Pat Byington, Bham Now
Do you think “painted” best describes me?
Painted Bunting – photo by Ken Hare
Let’s dance!
“Whooping crane at play” – Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by: George Lee
Coming in for a landing
Sandfhill crane in flight – Photo by: George Lee
For Rent: Bees
Favorite bee “condo” at Ruffner Mountain
We found a new home!!
Vermilion darters found on a new section at Turkey Creek – photo courtesy of Freshwater Land TrustOnly found in the Birmingham metro area, Vermillion Darter – Photo from Pat O’Neil
Only in Alabama
Alabama cane brake found only in Alabama, photo by Chuck Byrd, The Nature Conservancy of Alabama
The Walls
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
Cahaba River – Photo from Cahaba Environmental Center
One of the deepest canyons east of the Mississippi River
Fall at Little River Canyon, photo by Pat Byington, Bham NowPhoto of Little River Canyon 2017 – by Pat Byington, Bham Now
In our backyard
Photo of Peavine Falls at Oak Mountain State Park courtesy of Alabama State Parks.
More beautiful falls
Little River Canyon Falls – photo by Pat Byington, Bham Now
A hidden treasure in Dekalb County
High Falls on Sand Mountain, photo by Pat Byington
Top of the World in Alabama
View from Bald Rock at Cheaha State Park, photo by Pat Byington, Bham Now
And this is why we care
Students from the Cahaba River Society’s CLEAN program, photo from the Cahaba River Society
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.
