It is snowing in Alabama

Berry and I made a quick trip to the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge and viewed hundreds of Sandhill Cranes (Grus Canadensis) which were wintering there. They were grazing peacefully in fallow fields of soybeans. The sound of hundreds of Sandhill Cranes grazing in the next field over is like a loud rattle, their clucking and rumbling is like the bleating of sheep, Berry thought. From time to time, while hundreds of the huge birds wobbled noisily in the field, small groups of four or five cranes would suddenly take flight, move positions in the field or just rise about fifty feet in the air and circle the field.

We have gone on several vacations to Texas, Florida, Nebraska, and southern Mississippi where we saw Sandhill Cranes at each place. This place in Alabama is also one of their favorite wintering spots.

The Tennessee River used to be a huge logistical problem. In the 1800s, there were no dams to control the water flow. There were no expressway bridges to move freight across the river. In the early 1800s, George Colbert established "Colbert's Ferry" near Cherokee, Alabama. It was at the crossing of the Tennessee River along the Natchez Trace, an ancient American Indian trade route in the United States. At the time Mr. Colbert had rooms to rent and a ferry business across the river. He made a bundle. Once, George Colbert even charged General Andrew Jackson $75,000 at the local rates to move his Tennessee militia troops, horses and equipment across the Tennessee River during the War of 1812. $75,000... in 1800s dollars. Good work, if you can get it.

We got to the site of the old Colbert's Ferry around four thirty in the afternoon. It was very cold and started snowing as we peered up into the trees. Birds love Pine Trees in the winter due to the seeds in the pine cones and the sap oozing down the bark. They love American Sweetgum Trees (gumball trees) for similar reasons. In these trees at Colbert's Ferry there were three kinds of woodpecker, the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus Varius), the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides Pubescens) and the Red Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes Carolinus). The trees were almost loud with several of these birds calling to each other. The snow flakes came down in the half-light and there were woodpeckers everywhere. It was wonderful.

We spotted a busy little White Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta Carolinensis) climbing downward on a tree trunk. Their claws are formed in such a way that they are able to climb headfirst down a tree trunk in search of insect larvae or oozing sap. They are a fun bird to find anytime you find them.

Robert and Berry

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia