Amnicola Marsh Is Drying Up
Probably just for this year.
During a typical summer, Amnicola Marsh is covered with American Lotus blooms.
The Marsh is a birding hotspot with an eBird page. https://ebird.org/hotspot/L673792?yr=cur
This year it is dry, but this is not surprising given the current drought.
In 2016 it was drier. I remember a juvenile Wood Stork visited. The Wood Stork is not a typical bird in Tennessee, but they show up occasionally. You can see a photo of one on the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency website.
That was the same year wildfires burned Gatlinburg and the Chimney Tops portion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Great_Smoky_Mountains_wildfires
A fire also burned a large tract at Cohutta Wilderness in Fannin and Gilmer Counties in Georgia. Closer to Chattanooga, a fire burned the Dade County portion of Lookout Mountain. I remember the air being smoky for a few weeks.
On a happy note, the stork appeared in my poem The Elegance of Clouds.
I visited the marsh again yesterday morning and this morning. Three Great Egrets have moved in. Three yesterday and four today. This morning, I got there shortly agree sunrise. That is the trick to spending time outdoors when it is this hot.
Here is a link to more photos of the marsh. https://www.rayzimmermanauthor.com/the-rains-come/july-11th-2024