Favoritos de gillydilly

More flowers from the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina in May 2021.
Bearcorn, American cancer-root - Conopholis americana
There was a big patch of this parasitic plan--very impressive. Look closely and you can see that some of the flowers appear to be in "full bloom", that is, they have stamens visible. Wow. A small insect is present on one flower, perhaps a fly. I see a few references to possible pollination by bees.

Plants and critters from Weymouth Woods, Moore County, NC (USA).
Fox Squirrel - Sciurus niger (melanistic), subspecies:
Southern Fox Squirrel - Sciurus niger niger
I have seen both dark phase and "fox-colored" squirrels at Weymouth Woods. Eastern Gray Squirrels also occur. This squirrel was gnawing avidly on the upper surface of the branch it was perched on (shown in one frame).

This is, I think, a fox squirrel and not a melanistic Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). I was not close enough to judge the size in any way. Looking at images on the Internet, Fox Squirrels seem to have a more robust, less-tapered "snout" than Eastern Gray Squirrels. That matches the images here, to my eye. Other features I notice:

• Toes of this squirrel are quite robust (and more hairy?) compared to what I have seen in gray squirrels. Toe pads are quite prominent. (That would make sense for a Fox Squirrel, as they are more terrestrial than Gray Squirrels.)
• Ears appear to be shorter and more rounded than in Eastern Gray.
• Pelage coarse and shaggy.

Some of the putative distinctive features noted above are marked in one detail image. Most references just mention the size and pelage to differentiate from Eastern Gray Squirrel. One historical reference has helpful notes on other characters:
"A large, arboreal Squirrel of rather variable color pattern - much larger and heavier in build than the Eastern Gray Squirrels; pelage coarse and harsh; hands and feet large, soles naked; nose and ears always white."

• Anthony, Field Book of North American Mammals, 1928, p. 275 (BHL link)

Bartram Trail, Franklin, North Carolina

This is the mass of the main body of the organism, exposed when the bark of the dead tree was shed, perhaps as the result of an animal grubbing for insect larvae.

Copperhead? I was out in the woods looking for spring ephemerals and didn't expect a snake yet to pop out of the leaf litter at this time of year. After startling each other, it quickly disappeared and I thought it would be best to leave it alone so this is the only picture I got.

One or both of the owls visit the nest almost every night. They usually do a lot of talking. I wish I knew how to post a video with its audio.
We hope the female will lay her eggs soon.
They mostly spend their days on spoil islands across the Intracoastal Waterway about 1/2 mile away.

Little Tennessee River Greenway, Franklin, North Carolina

I think the presence of external gills indicates these are Salamanders or Newts.

In a seasonal pool on the bank of a river, in a woodland. The pool is immediately downslope of a permanent seep/spring.

Crossing a bridge over a stream with friends, we had stopped to look at the streambed to the left. I glanced idly to the right and this owl was sitting calmly on a branch. Friends had cameras and got many great shots--I just had my phone, but did get one decent shot "digiscoping" through binoculars. (Edit. First frame here is with cell phone camera, cropped a bit. Second frame is through the binoculars. Owl was about 10 feet away and seemingly unperturbed by the three of us.)
It was still there an hour later when we came back.
Update. Going back to the site a few days later, I do not think there is a nest there, so I have made the location accurate.

I'm slightly disappointed with skunk cabbages. This time I did clearly smell some skunkiness, but still only very briefly and not very strongly. I also brought my IR thermometer to see if I could measure their thermogenesis, but it was a complete bust. Even things that were right next to each other were very different temperatures, and I couldn't cut through the noise and get unambiguous results.

Before actually finding them for the first time, I hoped that the smell would knock my socks off and that I could practically fry an egg in the flower*. Last time I saw them I chalked it up to it being so cold, but they really have no excuse right now. Reality strikes again.

*Hyperbole, of course.