West Virginia Bed Breakfast: Bright Morning Inn in Canaan Valley » Davis

Bird Banding in Dolly Sods September 2011

Susan Moore — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:00:30 +0000

Entrance to bird banding station at Dolly Sods

Merlin captured at Dolly Sods and about to be freed

Busy scene at Dolly Sods bird banding station

As if Dolly Sods wasn’t fascinating and beautiful enough, there’s an extra special attraction that happens every year in the fall, when birds migrate. Within the Wilderness Area area across from the Red Creek Campground, bird enthusiasts from the state’s Brooks Bird Club (among others) maintain a banding station along the Allegheny Front. The fine nets that are strewn along the rock outcroppings temporarily capture migrating birds as they travel up over the Alleghenies on their way south.

After gently extracting the captured birds, the volunteers who staff the station gather information to identify and track the various migratory species. The afternoon these photos were taken they had caught a beautiful Merlin, a type of falcon with a mottled breast and bright yellow feet.

After the birds are caught and observed some are banded and then released to continue their migratory journey.

The bird banding station in Dolly Sods operates throughout September and early October. It makes a great day trip for visitors to Canaan Valley and Davis, WV. And it’s just one of many fascinating reasons for exploring our beautiful West Virginia highlands.

Nets along the Allegheny Front capture migrating birds at Dolly Sods

Exploring the Magic of Mountain Laurel

Susan Moore — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:01:41 +0000

West Virginia Mountain Laurel in Blackwater Falls State Park

Every season in the WV highlands near Canaan Valley and Blackwater Falls is special. But some seasons are more spectacular than others, and as we approach the summer solstice, we encounter the magic of blooming mountain laurel.

Kin to rhododendron, which will bloom a little later here (near July 4th), mountain laurel have smaller leaves and delicate star shaped blossoms. Mostly they are pink, but occasionally you will find pure white ones.

They weren’t always beloved. Most early visitors to our mountains found the woods unpenetrable due to massive laurel and rhododendron thickets. They cursed the hellish “lorals” and moved on. It wasn’t until the 1890′s that lumberman and railroaders could tame the forest with saws and steam engines. But not completely, and certainly not the mountain laurel.

Along the roads outside Davis, WV, in Blackwater Falls State Park and woods of Canaan Valley, the wild display of laurel blossoms this time of year is simply stunning. You don’t realize how completely they occupy the understory of our woods until they bloom, trumpeting that summer, finally, is here.

This shot of laurel blooming at Blackwater Falls State Park was supplied by Bright Morning Inn guest Margaret Peterson, a birdwatcher from Oregon by way of DC. Somewhere near Lindy Point she found a bird’s nest hidden in a laurel thicket. At a time when birds, and wild places, are threatened everywhere, we rejoice in the marvelous resiliance of mountain laurel.

Snowy Winter Season at Bright Morning Inn!

Susan Moore — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:48:26 +0000

December at our Davis bed and breakfast means time to pull out the Christmas lights and stock up on salt — sidewalk salt, the kind that sits in sacks by the door to be sprinkled on nearby walkways. In snow country, plain old salt isn’t enough. Every year the town merchants collect money to pay someone to actually blow the snow out of the way, and this year it will be Tyler Elliott’s job. Once the snow flies, and it could be anytime really, Tyler will cut a swath down the two blocks of our main street, and keep it clear until spring. It’s miserable work, but not thankless. Every morning, as we walk down the cleared trench to the post office, we will think of Tyler and silently thank him for keeping the path clear and safe.