Naturalist’s Notebook
Celebrating Appalachia’s magnificent biodiversity
The Shenandoah Salamander
The Shenandoah salamander is a woodland salamander, which has adapted to life at higher elevations away from water. This sparkling rarity lives among the dry leaves, cracked logs, and stony hillocks on the highest peaks of Shenandoah National Park.
Preserving Firefly Magic
Deep within an undisturbed forest in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, visitors may spot a continuous blue glow unlike anything they have ever seen before. That glow is the blue ghost firefly.
Saving the Ruffed Grouse, Appalachia’s Woodland Drummer
The ruffed grouse is a woodland bird that lives in young, regenerative forests in Appalachia and is considered one of the most commonly hunted birds for sport. The ruffed grouse has black or dark brown feathers on their neck, which they can raise into a distinctive collar — the ruff that gives them their name.
Home on the Range … in Appalachia?
In Letcher County, Kentucky, the Appalachian Rekindling Project, an Indigenous, women-led organization, is seeking to reintroduce bison to the region on 63 acres of a reclaimed mountaintop removal coal mine.
![“The hooded warbler is what I call my spark bird, which is [the bird that] gets you into birding,” Fox says. “You see a bird, and it gets you wondering what it is, and then suddenly you discover there's this whole world of birds that you didn't know about.” Photo by Kelly Fox](https://appvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/HoodedWarbler-1024x682.jpg)
Spotting Fall Warblers at Seven Islands State Birding Park
Birding enthusiasts may be able to spot these 36 New World warbler species at Seven Islands State Birding Park in Kodak, Tennessee, this fall migration season.
