Our humble, gray-shingled ranch house sits on a quarter acre lot only a few miles from downtown Asheville, North Carolina. Two blocks down, traffic ebbs and flows on the main artery to the city, and we can hear the sirens blast off as firetrucks exit the station. Yet, among other trees and bushes, a huge white oak, a hickory and a towering yellow pine grace our backyard—birds flitter and nest amid the limbs and shrubs. Bird baths, houses and feeders (when the black bears are not active) lure more avian visitors. I keep my camera with a telephoto lens handy, and, as I hope these photos will attest, sometimes I get lucky.
Jim Clark, a retired Air Force nurse, lives with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. In addition to Appalachia Bare, Jim’s photographs have appeared in 1807, RiverLink, and displayed at Mission Hospital. As a “citizen scientist,” he regularly submits wildlife photos to iNaturalist. For more about Jim’s wayward life in and out of Appalachia click here: https://www.appalachiabare.com/author/jim-clark/.
** All images in this gallery were photographed by and are the property of Jim Clark.