Mountains to Sea

Blue Jay Point Park is a stop on the Mountains to Sea Trail (here)  The trail runs 1175 miles from the Great Smokey Mountains to the sea at Jockey's Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks.  You can see most of the state along the way.  

Here comes the sun

It looks spookier than it was.  The sun was just coming out after a cloudy morning.

Theme day: Yellow

April's theme is "Yellow".  So here is a yellow duck.

And a yellow rumped warbler, 

and a goldfinch.

Smells like Christmas

Walking on a trail in Blue Jay Point County Park, we smelled Christmas.  And sure enough, the trail had been newly mulched with ground up Christmas trees.  It's great to know that they get good use.

Biodiversity

This is the best demonstration of the importance of biodiversity that I've seen.  Each of the cones wobbles back and forth on it's round bottom like a weeble toy.  But the one with the most levels is most stable.  Sometimes children can understand things that adults have trouble with.

Have a seat

The porch at the Blue Jay Point nature center is an inviting space.

Recycled Randy

I almost said "excuse me" as I walked past.  But he's not human, made up of recycled trash.  His face is a plastic bag, his hands, steel cans, his feet are plastic bottles.  He's an exhibit at the Blue Jay Point nature center.

Blue Jay Point

Blue Jay Point County Park juts out into Falls Lake.  It's a large area with multiple uses.  A big playground, a nature center and even a children's garden.

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

Sounds like you're insulting this bird to call him by name, but he really is a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. 

You can see the yellow belly better on this female.