Road Trip - Part 3: Fauna

Well, these pigs aren't exactly wildlife, but we thought they were pretty cute. They, as well as the chicken below, we found on an old homestead in Great Smoky Mountain National Park (I'll have more photos of the old buildings in a later post). The chicken did not like its picture taken, so we left it alone right after Daniel snapped this photo lest it attack us...
There were butterflies everywhere, which is something I always love!

A little snail made its way up a tree,
and wild turkeys were strutting their stuff!
One evening we spied a huge elk. If you click on the photo to see it larger, you can see that he's wearing a collar - I assume to track his movements. I read that Elk were native to the Smoky Mountains but their numbers had been decimated over years of hunting. This elk belongs the ones that have been reintroduced into the park.
Now, the most exciting wildlife we saw - a black bear - was running so fast across our path that we didn't have time to get the camera out. Daniel first thought it was a big black dog and then realized it was a bear and yelled to me. We both got a look at it before it disappeared into the forest. It was the first bear I've seen (Daniel had already seen on in New Mexico) and it was so exciting! And thanks to the great information at the North American Bear Center, I was not even afraid.

In Shenandoah National Park we saw many, many deer, some of them right around our tent at night. This one was hiding,
this one right out in the open,
and this little fawn we surprised out of its hiding place, and we felt bad about it! It ran a few feet and found another safe spot.
Monkeys?!? Well....we went to the National Aquarium where we saw the next three exotic creatures in a rain forest exhibit. Of course, we saw lots of fish as well, but didn't think to take photos!


In Williamsburg, VA, we took the car ferry across the James River (so beautiful!!) and Daniel snapped this photo of seagulls flying alongside us.
And when we arrived at the pier, we saw this huge osprey nest. We saw the baby briefly before it snuggled back down, but the adult bird was magnificent to observe!

And then, the wildlife back at home so happy that we were back!
It's good to be gone and it's good to be home again!!

I hope you aren't tired of our photos yet, as tomorrow I have for you Part 4: Old Homesteads.

P.S. Daniel's knee is continuing to improve. After last Saturday, his knee gave him lots more trouble (I think the surgery pain killers wore off) and he had to lie down much more and ice it. But starting today, he's able to move a little more again. Thank you for all your well wishes!!