Animals

August · Gnawing & Lodge

American Beaver Sign

Fresh cream-colored tooth marks circle a trunk until the wood narrows into a faceted point. Wider frames follow the work outward—from chips around the stump to the full tree laid across the wooded slope. Later in August, falling lake water exposed a lodge built outward from the bank, its woven gray branches continuing down the newly revealed lake edge toward the cove.

Research Grade gnawing record → · Lodge record →

April · Waterfall Hollow

Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail

Lemon-yellow wings repeat across the damp floor of a rock shelter, every butterfly crossed by bold black tiger stripes. Open triangles, folded profiles, and flashes of powder blue gather among wet stone, fallen leaves, and the dark sandstone ledge below the waterfall.

March · Lake Keowee Cove

Eastern Black Bear

The bear appears as a deep black form at the far edge of a quiet cove, standing and then moving along the narrow shoreline. Charcoal fur is framed by silver-gray bare trunks, evergreen rhododendron, gray riprap, and blue-green water carrying long vertical reflections from the mountain slope.

July & August · Cove Edge & Wooded Slope

Eastern Box Turtle

An Eastern Box Turtle faces the camera beside the red-capped bolete it had been eating, its dark olive shell and yellow-speckled forelegs pressed into wet leaves on the wooded slope. Two other Laurel encounters place the same amber-and-olive pattern at a muddy cove edge and among shallow water and stone.

July observation → · August feeding observation → · August cove observation →

August · Rock & Forest Floor

Eastern Fence Lizard

A tiny fence lizard braces on a fingertip, its long toes ending in needle-fine claws and one rust-red shoulder mark interrupting the gray-brown scales. Dark bands cross the body and tail; a cream-white, charcoal-speckled underside appears in the overhead view.

View the observation →

July & August · Stream Edge

Eastern Newt

This saturated orange eft is the Eastern Newt’s terrestrial teenager—a juvenile stage spent walking the forest floor before returning to water as an adult. Its curling tail, black-ringed spots, pebbled skin, tiny feet, and narrow toes stand out against cream, rust, and blue-gray creek stones.

July observation 1 → · July observation 2 → · August observation →

July · Sandy Cove

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Lemon-yellow wings open into a broad, angular silhouette crossed by four velvety black stripes. Powder-blue crescents and two burnt-orange eyespots brighten the tailed hindwings, while sandy gray ground and a few grass blades keep the butterfly’s full span visible.

April & June · Waterline

Great Blue Heron

Balanced on a fallen trunk at the waterline, the heron folds slate-blue wings beneath a silver-gray back and lifts its rust-streaked neck toward the wooded bank. Exposed roots, mossy rock, tawny leaves, and reflected water make the bird part of the shoreline rather than a figure set apart from it.

April observation → · June observation →

August · Flowering Woodland Edge

Great Spangled Fritillary

With its wings folded, the butterfly becomes a mosaic of warm brown, tawny orange, cream, and large pearl-silver windows. As it turns and opens, the upper wings flash a brighter stained-glass pattern of orange panes divided by black lines. The butterfly remains perched among dusty pink flower clusters and broad summer-green leaves.

View the observation →

May & June · Open Water

Longear Sunfish

Turquoise lines curl across the cheek and gill cover, breaking into tiny blue flecks over olive-gold scales. The belly warms through yellow to orange, the eye glows red, and an open hand suspends the small fish above deep green water and the red edge of the boat.

May 2024 observation → · June 2026 observation →

August · Resting Moth

Luna Moth

A Luna Moth shelters from the rain by gripping the underside of a fern, its powdery blue-green wings pressed beneath the fronds and its long tails hanging into the leaf litter. Lavender eyespots and fine veins emerge in the closer views; from below, canopy light turns the wings translucent above Rachel’s upturned face.

View the observation →

May · Woodland

Pink-Striped Oakworm Moth

Chocolate-brown wings spread across a hand, crossed by muted rose bands and marked with one clean white spot on each side. The plump abdomen glows pumpkin orange beneath the dusky wings, with fingertips and a blurred woodland edge setting its scale.

March · Open Water

Rainbow Trout

The trout fills the frame with an olive back stippled in black, a rose-pink band along the flank, and a silver belly flashing beneath the fins. Its round eye, speckled face, and wet scales stay sharply visible against the saturated red shirt behind it.

View the observation →

July · Lake Edge

Red-Eared Slider

Curled tightly on an open palm, the young turtle becomes a fist-sized spiral of deep olive shell, fine yellow lines, striped skin, and one vermilion mark behind the eye. Another view turns it over to reveal a luminous yellow-green underside patterned with dark rings and brushmarks.

August · Shallow Water

Striped Fishing Spider

The spider lies nearly flat across a submerged stone, its long legs banded in charcoal, silver, and brown until they echo the rippled gravel below. In close view, the body becomes a small drawing in white lines and smoky patches, with bright points of reflected light gathered around the eyes.

View the observation →

August · Caterpillar

Yellow-striped Oakworm Moth

This is the moth before wings: a black caterpillar bristling with spines and striped in narrow lines of yellow and white. Its body stretches along a thin twig above cream-gray stone, while the hand-held view makes its small scale clear.

View the observation →