Today's outing is, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's biennial conference, an excursion. We have joined leader Brent Martin of the Wilderness Society and co-leader and top birder, Heather Nagy for this short 2 mile hike in the Cowee Mountains. I counted only 11 species we either saw or heard today, a measly number for a bird outing. We got see both the Indigo Bunting and the Black Throated Blue Warbler. The other birds were common enough to not get excited.
Bright red seed pods on these trillium was a neat sight to see. Our leader Brent Martin was well versed in the type forest we were in, trees which surrounded us and birds we should have heard. He did identify Spotted wintergreen as Pipsissewa, but I'll let that slide. Spotted wintergreen has variegated leaves and Pipsissewa has all green leaves.
Above we walk out on an overgrown boardwalk into a Spruce bog. Everything looks like a bog this year with the constant rainfall. However, this is a rare type bog. Due to the overgrown rhododendron, we couldn't see much.
This spindle shaped yellow coral fungus is called Spindle shaped yellow coral fungus. Too bad everything isn't that easy.
We concluded the hike in a nice overgrown pasture where we should have spotted a lot of birds. There were pretty Black eyed susans and Summer Phlox to enjoy.
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