May 2-4 Hiking in Virginia! Animal sounds

The night at Trimpi shelter had more animal sounds than I had heard most of the trip. They didn’t seem to stay away even though there were so many hikers camped all around.

👂The first sound I noticed was down by the spring. The spring was less than 50 yards away down slightly from camp. With so many ⛺️ set up, one could see a couple from the water source. As hikers were crawling into their tents or already there at hiker midnight ( 7 pm!), there was a series of snorting going on. I’ve learned from Indiana wilderness, these snorts are usually from deer, 🦌 namely bucks, who’ve come to the water, many times with other deer, to drink. He let us know we didn’t belong in his territory. He kept it up for awhile and eventually moved away, snorting as he went.

Just after the deer, the barred owls 🦉 started in. These owls are also common in midwestern states. I learned about them, however, down at Amicalola Falls. Barred owls have the distinct sound, their most known call, that sounds like “ Who- cooks- for-you” .

🦉 There were more than one of these barred owls talking back and forth to each other. They’d be in one area then kind of get worked up, and do their next call. They have 3 distinct calls they make. This next call they gave almost sounds like parrots or monkeys scolding. Then they’d fly to a different area and start over again. The third sound I’ve only heard twice that I know of. It sounds like a woman’s scream 😱 and will make your hair stand on end! They didn’t go to that extent, but they kept up their activity all night.

I’ve not seen any snakes, just birds and a few squirrels.

Except….Im staying at an Alpaca 🦙 Farm at the Long Neck Lair Hostel! What fun! More about that later.