OCCASIONALLY THAT SPECIAL, GREAT SHOT

As you probably gathered by now - Cherokee Lake isn't a great place to photograph wildlife.  It's just the way it is.  The day can drag out when there isn't wild things to watch and look for.  Every now and then, however, a great photo opportunity presents itself, even on Cherokee.  I know I've posted a lot of heron shots, especially shots of the black crowned night heron.  When an animal is cooperative I'm not going to turn my back on it no matter how many shots I have of it.  Below are some very unique and special shots of a night heron.  You're probably sick of looking at them, but this guy practically asked to be photographed.  See for yourself.

 He flew in and landed

What a beautiful bird!  

He was gone as fast as he appeared.  Only a moment to capture his image forever even though he was now gone - forever.

I've been up this river section of Cherokee Lake countless times and never once saw this old chimney back in the woods.  I'll have to investigate this thing.

I needed to get to the over-fall dam at John Sevier Reservoir and noticed only one fisherman on the water up there.  I decided not to approach him because of his position in relation to the plunging water at the over-fall dam.  That thing is a dangerous mess up there.  Check it out.

The cooling water for the generators has it's own section of the dam to flow over.

Notice the trees that are caught on the top of the dam.  Yes, those floated down to the dam and couldn't float over.  The water is running under them.  The rest of the river runs over the main dam.  Have a look.

You definitely don't want to get caught in the under-toe that this thing makes.

If I shut off my engine, the under toe will actually pull my boat toward the over-fall instead of pushing it away.  This is what makes these dams so dangerous.  Pennsylvania passed laws to tear them out.  Tennessee still tolerates them.  TVA has the power and the money down here.

 Muscovy Duck

I went home and unhitched the boat, loaded Shade onto the front seat and headed out again to investigate some new water for work.  On the way back from that, I stopped at the trout hatchery to let Shade have a few moments to herself.

Ever see a Google Earth vehicle?  They take the film that allows you to go to Google Earth and get street views.  Here's one below:

I'm really tired tonight.  It's been a busy week and tomorrow is back up to the Holston River at Rogersville.  Gotta get some sleep.  See ya.