Haw River

Tag

By Jordan Lake Dam Critters, 4 photos 10/07/2018
Jordan Dam Critters
 
The monarch butterflies are migrating and this morning at the dam I had more than a dozen flit past me, all heading south.
 
 
The veins are so well defined on the wings of this common buckeye butterfly.
 
 
And, so, when is a butterfly, not a butterfly?
For the answer: study these next two photos…
 
 
When the flying insect is a grasshopper.  How about the elegance in those wings!!

By Jordan Lake Dam birds, 4 photos 10/01/2018
Doing a little catching up with some birds from the last couple of days.
 
I have put the great blue heron first because I think he is asking just why is his lake full of trash.
He can understand in his way the tree trunks and limbs and vines but the trash just bewilders him.
If you zoom in you can all kinds of human debris in the water.  This is at the foot of the Jordan Lake Dam Tower.
 
 
The beautiful adult female bald eagle is searching among the debris for a fish to capture.
 
The 3-year-old eagle has caught a fish in amongst all the debris and trash.
I was startled that I caught so much of the reflection, at the distance I was shooting.
 
 
 
Oh, my a chimney swift!  There were about a dozen of the birds out chasing flying insects.
A life list first for me today.

By Jordan Lake Dam, post flooding 09/27/2018
Jordan Lake post flooding:
You are correct: this is not the normal hues of the river water.
I was tweaking the photo to bring out the colors of the great blue heron when I realized that with a tad bit more of “blue” I could show you much better the anger of the waves of the Haw River as it escapes the dam’s tailrace. The tweak also allows you to see the water starting to lap once again over the fishing pier which is where the heron has landed.
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

By Jordan Lake Dam, post Hurricane Florence, 1 slideshow 09-19-2018

Jordan Lake Dam this morning, post Hurricane Florence and in the midst of many rivers flooding. Where I could, I provided photos of before and after the storm and the ongoing river flooding. The dam is doing EXACTLY what it was built for: flood control. Without the Jordan Lake dam and reservoir, the flooding downstream would have been even more devastating. My thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers for helping to keep us safe and mitigating the wrath of the hurricane.

 

By lakeside home
This black vulture has good reason to be worried: people keep leaving litter in his beautiful lake home.
I see the vultures as part of nature’s maintenance force.
I would hate to see what a world without the vultures’ uncomplaining work would look like.
Please share the work of the Clean Jordan Lake Organization and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Tell others of the concerns of the vultures, the bluebirds, the eagles, the herons, the ecosystem we call Jordan Lake.

vulture litter sign